Apple Turkey Meatball Kebabs

Today I am guest posting over at Frugal Antics of A Harried Homemaker.  Kristen is the hostess of the Improv Challenge that I participate in every month and she has started a series called "Introducing the Improv-ers". I am posting the recipe here, just so that it will be in my archives, but I hope that you will go check it out on Kristen's site to hear all the details and spend some time exploring her recipes while you are there. She's got some really great stuff that I am sure you will love.

Apple Turkey Meatball Kebabs


Ingredients:
1 cup soft bread crumbs
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 medium apple, peeled, cored, and coarsely shredded
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
½ tsp salt
1 lb. ground turkey
½ cup apple jelly
1 tbsp soy sauce


Directions:
Preheat oven to 400°.  Line a baking sheet with foil and coat with nonstick spray. 


In a large bowl combine bread crumbs, egg, apple, mustard, and salt. Mix well. Add turkey and mix to just combine. Shape into 24 1¼” meatballs .  Place on prepared baking sheet.  Bake about 20 minutes or until meatballs are cooked through.


Meanwhile, prepare glaze. In a small saucepan combine apple jelly and soy sauce.  Cook over medium heat until jelly is softened and mixture is smooth. 


Combine meatballs and glaze. Thread on skewers to serve. 


Makes 4 servings.



 

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Smoked Sausage, Peas, and Rice Skillet

This is a super simple, all-in-one dish that I've made a couple of times now.  It involves very little effort, but tastes great and is a total family-pleaser.  It's an adaptation of one I saw on MyRecipes, originally published in Southern Living Magazine.


Smoked Sausage, Peas, and Rice Skillet


Ingredients:
14 – 16 oz. smoked sausage
½ large onion, diced
1 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
1 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 cups cooked rice
1 cup frozen peas, thawed


Directions:
Cut sausage in half lengthwise, then into ¼” semicircles.  Sauté in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned.  Remove sausage slices and drain on paper towels, reserving 1 tbsp of drippings in skillet.


Add onion to skillet and sauté over medium-high heat until tender.  Stir cornstarch into chicken broth and add to skillet, stirring to loosen browned bits from bottom of skillet.  Add sausage back to pan, along with the smoked paprika, rice, and peas.  Bring to a boil.  When sauce starts to thicken, reduce heat to low and cook just until peas are warmed through.


Makes 4 servings.

The original recipe called for green bell pepper instead of peas, but we don't like peppers and the peas are a perfect replacement.  The smoked paprika was my addition; it goes so well with the smoked sausage.

This meal is so perfect for busy weeknights because it contains ready-to-use ingredients and only takes 15-20 minutes to throw together.  I bake brown rice earlier in the day to use in this recipe, but if you don't have time for that, you could definitely use Uncle Ben's Ready Rice or Minute Rice instead.  If using Minute Rice, cover the skillet after adding the rice and let it cook the amount of time stated on the box.  You might need to add a little bit extra chicken broth.  What I usually do is bake a whole batch of brown rice (4 cups cooked), and then whatever I don't need, I freeze in 1 cup portions.  I love having cooked brown rice on hand for adding into soups and recipes like this.  

A note on the number of servings: I get four servings out of this, but that's two adults and two little kids.  This probably wouldn't feed four hungry adults. But it's perfect for a family of four. FYI!

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Secret Recipe Club: Honey Mustard Roasted Salmon, Potatoes, and Mushrooms

It's a busy day for this blogger!  Two of my monthly blog challenges, The Secret Recipe Club and The Crazy Cooking Challenge, are posting on the same day at the same time.  This post is for the Secret Recipe Club, click here for my Crazy Cooking Challenge post: Smoky Steakhouse Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.

 It's Secret Recipe Club reveal day.  The Secret Recipe Club is a group of food bloggers who secretly make one of someone else's dishes and post them all on the same day at the same time.  It's really fun, choosing a recipe to make, making the recipe, then reading about everyone else's recipes.  It's a great way to "meet" other bloggers and check out some great blogs that you never knew about before.

This month I was assigned the blog Bizzy Bakes by Chaya.  Chaya is a grandmother who started the blog in order to share fast, easy recipes with few uncomplicated ingredients.  That sounded right up my alley!  I saw several recipes on her blog that caught my eye, such as Corn and Sausage Cakes with Tomato Topping, Asian Glazed Chicken, and Peach Rhubarb Cream Cheese Coffee Cake.  But the one I decided to go with was her Roasted Salmon and Potatoes.  We love salmon (my girls, ages 2 and 4, practically inhale the stuff!), so I am always eager to try new ways to prepare it.  This recipe sounded really good.  I made a few minor adjustments; here is my (slight) adaptation.  

Honey Mustard Roasted Salmon, Potatoes, and Mushrooms

Ingredients:

1½ lbs. small new potatoes, halved

8 oz. cremini mushrooms

3½ tbsp olive oil, divided

1½ tsp kosher salt, divided

4 (4 oz.) skinless salmon filets

1 tsp red wine vinegar

1 tbsp spicy brown mustard

1 tbsp honey

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°. 

On a rimmed baking sheet or roasting pan, toss the potatoes, mushrooms, 1½ tbsp of the oil, and 1 tsp salt.  Roast, tossing once, until the potatoes begin to soften, about 25 minutes.

Push the vegetables to the edges of the pan and place the salmon in the center. Season with ¼ tsp salt.  Roast until the salmon is opaque throughout, the mushrooms are tender, and the potatoes are golden brown, 15 to 18 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a bowl, whisk together the vinegar, mustard, honey, the remaining 2 tbsp of oil, and remaining ¼ tsp salt. Drizzle over the salmon and vegetables before serving.

Makes 4 servings.

Chaya didn't use mushrooms in her dish, but I looked at her recipe source (Real Simple) and mushrooms were included in that, and since I love mushrooms I wanted to try it that way.  Roasted veggies are amazing on their own, but then tossing them in a honey mustard vinaigrette? Awesome! I changed the vinaigrette ingredients a tad just to suit our own tastes.  It's a little bit sweet and a little bit tangy.  It pairs so well with the salmon.  My husband is not a huge fan of mushrooms, and will often pick them out, but he absolutely loved them with this vinaigrette.  He ate them all and asked for more!

The potatoes and mushrooms getting ready to roast.

I used a 9x13, so it was a tight fit getting the salmon in there, but it worked.

I think it would be fun to try this recipe with different veggies, provided they would have roughly the same cooking time.  The next time I make it I want to try it with Brussels sprouts.  Yum!

Thanks for a great recipe, Chaya!  I am sure I will be trying more recipes from your blog in the future!

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Crazy Cooking Challenge: Smoky Steakhouse Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

It's a busy day for this blogger!  Two of my monthly blog challenges, The Secret Recipe Club and The Crazy Cooking Challenge, are posting on the same day at the same time.  This post is for the Crazy Cooking Challenge, click here for my Secret Recipe Club post: Honey Mustard Roasted Salmon, Potatoes, and Mushrooms.

It's time once again for the Crazy Cooking Challenge!  In this challenge, all the participants make and blog about the same dish each month.  Each blogger is to scour other blogs for a unique version of whatever that month's dish is.  The goal is to highlight and promote personal food blogs. This month's assigned dish was grilled cheese sandwiches.  So we were to find a unique grilled cheese sandwich recipe, make it, and blog about it.

The timing was awesome for this challenge.  April was National Grilled Cheese Month, so grilled cheese recipes were EVERYWHERE.  This was a good thing, but it made it really hard to decide which to choose!   My head was spinning with all the possibilities.  I saw tons of grilled cheese recipes that looked amazing, and I probably bookmarked 5 that I JUST HAD TO MAKE.  While I saw recipes on several different blogs that caught my eye, one blog in particular had me drooling every day.  Suzanna at Galley Kitchen posted a unique grilled cheese recipe EVERY SINGLE DAY in April.  Yep, she now has 30 awesome grilled cheese recipes on her blog that you must go check out!  While I still have several of them bookmarked to try in the future, one of hers really grabbed me and I knew that it was THE ONE.  Her Roast Beef and Blue Cheese Grilled Cheese Sandwich sounded amazing to me.  It contains all the flavors of a steakhouse dinner: hearty beef, tangy blue cheese, and even the creamed spinach side dish!  It sounded incredible and I couldn't wait to make it.  I changed her recipe only very slightly; here's my adaptation.


Smoky Steakhouse Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Ingredients:
1 tsp olive oil
2 cups fresh baby spinach, packed
2 tbsp smoked bleu cheese crumbles
2 tbsp cream cheese, softened
4 slices Texas toast
8 slices very thinly sliced deli roast beef
Butter

Instructions:
Heat the olive oil in a skillet.  Add spinach and sauté until wilted.  Remove spinach to a paper towel to remove excess moisture.  Wipe out skillet with a paper towel.

In a small bowl, combine the cream cheese and blue cheese.  Mix well.  Spread the mixture on all 4 slices of bread.  Top two slices of bread with the roast beef and the other two with the spinach.
Close it up and butter the outsides of the bread.

Griddle on high heat until the cheese is melted and the bread is golden brown.

Makes 2 servings.

I used Texas toast instead of regular bread because I love how hearty it is.  It can really stand up to the bold flavors in this sandwich.  I also sauteed my spinach instead of putting it in the sandwich raw.   The only other thing I changed was that I used a smoked bleu cheese.  I didn't even realize smoked bleu cheese existed, but when I went shopping for bleu cheese, I saw it and couldn't NOT try it.  I love smoked gouda and other smoked cheeses, so I thought it sounded fabulous.  It was AMAZING in this sandwich.  The smoked flavor goes so well with the beef and the spinach; it's just incredible.

This is a very messy sandwich, but after one bite, you are not going to care one bit!  

Thank you, Suzanna, for all of your awesome grilled cheese sandwich recipes, but especially this one!

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Mexican Brownies with Cinnamon Dulce de Leche

Happy Cinco de Mayo everyone!  I love Cinco de Mayo and consider it a food holiday!  We love Mexican food and margaritas and think it's totally awesome that there's a holiday for them!  I created a new "Mexican" dessert the other night and want to share it with you now.  The name sounds really fancy, but really, it's just cinnamon and cayenne stirred into a brownie mix and topped with cinnamon-flavored sweetened condensed milk that's been cooked.  Easy peasy, but so good!


Mexican Brownies with Cinnamon Dulce de Leche


Ingredients:
1 (19 oz.) box brownie mix
Egg, oil, and water called for on brownie mix box
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp chipotle or cayenne powder
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
¾ tsp cinnamon


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350° (or whatever temperature the brownie mix box says to use).


Make brownie mix as directed on box.  Stir in 1 tsp cinnamon and chipotle or cayenne powder.  Bake according to box directions, in either an 8x8 or a 9x13 pan.  Remove from oven and let cool.


Meanwhile, remove the paper label from the can of sweetened condensed milk.  Place can in a large pot and completely cover with water.  Place on stove and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and let simmer for 2½ to 3 hours, making sure the can is covered with water at all times.  *IMPORTANT!* If the water level dips below the top of the can, add more water to the pot to cover it.  If the can isn’t covered by water, it will get too hot and explode all over your kitchen.  With tongs, remove can from hot water and allow to cool for several hours.


Open can and pour contents into a small bowl.  Add ¾ tsp cinnamon and stir to combine.  Pour dulce de leche over the brownies and smooth it out.  Cut brownies and serve.  Refrigerate leftovers.


Makes 9 thicker brownies (8x8 pan), or 15 thinner brownies (9x13 pan).

I made mine in an 8x8 pan and didn't use all of the dulce de leche topping.  I'm not totally sure it would be enough for a 9x13 pan, though, so if you are doing a 9x13 pan, make two cans of the sweetened condensed milk.  You will probably have too much that way, but it's better than not enough.  Also, the dulce de leche kind of soaks into the leftover brownies when you refrigerate them, so it's nice to have a little extra to drizzle on those.

This is a decadent dessert that finishes off a yummy Mexican dinner perfectly.  The cinnamon and ground pepper add just the right amount of spice and heat.  And you can't beat the convenience of a boxed mix!

I hope you are all able to celebrate Cinco de Mayo by enjoying some delicious food and don't forget the margaritas!

Shared at:

• Seasonal Inspiration at Crumbs and Chaos
• Sweets for a Saturday at Sweet as Sugar Cookies

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Buffalo Chicken Dip

Not a great picture, but it was the best I could do before the party crowd completely devoured it!  This is a dip I made for my daughter's birthday party in February.  You can find a million gazillion recipes for buffalo chicken dip online, but this is how I made mine.


Buffalo Chicken Dip


Ingredients:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
½ cup low fat sour cream
1½ cups chicken, cooked and shredded
¼ cup crumbled bleu cheese
¼ cup Frank’s wing sauce


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.


In a medium bowl, stir together the cream cheese and sour cream.  Add in the chicken, bleu cheese, and hot sauce. Stir well to combine.  


Pour into a small oven-safe dish.  Bake in oven for about 20 minutes, or until warmed through.  You can also put the dip into a small slow cooker set to warm.


Serve warm with celery stalks, carrot sticks, and/or crackers.


Makes 2½ cups.

It was a huge hit at the party.  It's great because it's a little bit spicy, but the creaminess and the blue cheese really balance it out well.  And I love the beautiful orange color; so festive!

I served it with carrot sticks, celery sticks, and crackers.  I think the crackers were most popular, though.  I kept it warm by putting it in a server with a tealight underneath.  I didn't have the right size slow cooker for this situation.  I think it would be good cold too, though.

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Lemon Roasted Potatoes

This is a recipe I made over the winter that I've been looking forward to sharing with you.  My sister got me an awesome cookbook for Christmas, Food Network Magazine's Great Easy Meals.  I subscribe to several food magazines now, but Food Network Magazine is hands-down my favorite.  My favorite day of the month is the day that Jim walks in the door with it in his hands after checking the mailbox.  I was so excited to get the cookbook for Christmas because it's like having a whole stack of the magazines, but all in one book. If you read the magazine, you know they have two major sections, Weeknight Cooking and Weekend Cooking.  This book is a compilation of  tons of the Weeknight Cooking recipes.  They are right up my alley: simple and easy to throw together, use everyday ingredients, but are very fresh and unique and very creative, I think.

The first recipe I made from this book is a side dish, Lemon Potatoes.  That's the other nice thing about this cookbook: all of the recipes are also on the Food Network website, so I can look them up and read reviews from people who have tried them.

Lemon Roasted Potatoes

Ingredients:

4 potatoes, peeled

⅓ cup fresh lemon juice

¼ cup olive oil

4 cloves garlic, smashed

4 oregano sprigs, or ½ tsp dried oregano

1 tsp salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 500°.

Slice potatoes into 1½” rounds.  Place in an oven-proof skillet.  Combine lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, and oregano.  Pour over potatoes.  Sprinkle salt over potatoes.  Add enough water to come halfway up the sides of the potatoes.  Cover, bring to a boil and cook 5 minutes.  Uncover and place in the oven for 30 more minutes.

Makes 4 servings.

These potatoes are so yummy! I love the beautiful brown color they get on the edges.  The combination of the lemon, garlic, and oregano is amazing.  The potatoes cooked through perfectly, not underdone and not too mushy.  Potatoes are quite heavy, so lemon pairs perfectly with them; it brightens up their flavor beautifully.  

This is a great go-to side dish to have on hand, and is perfect on nights when your main dish uses the stove top.  

Shared at:

• Tastetastic Thursday at A Little Nosh
• It's A Keeper at Chocolate, Chocolate, and More
• Thursday's Treasures at Recipes For My Boys
• Showcase Your Talent Thursday at What's Cooking, Love?

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Candy-Covered Chocolate-Dipped Pretzel Rods

I wasn't planning on blogging today, as I've got a busy morning, but then I opened up my email and learned that it is National Pretzel Day.  And I just happened to have a pretzel recipe on my "ready to blog about" list.  I couldn't let this opportunity pass by!  These are the food gifts I gave out to all of our family members last Christmas (hence the Christmas trees and red and green M&Ms, oh yeah, and the candy canes!).  They are really easy and really fun to make.  It's something I found on Pinterest.  The idea and method came from The Baker Chick; I added specific ingredient quantities.


Candy-Covered Chocolate-Dipped Pretzel Rods

Ingredients:
1 (12 oz.) bag semi-sweet chocolate chips 
1 tbsp shortening
Chopped candy toppings 
15 pretzel rods
White chocolate melts

Directions:
Prepare a cookie sheet or two with covered wax or parchment paper.

In a microwave-safe bowl, melt chocolate and shortening for 60 seconds. Remove and stir, and then warm in microwave for 15 second increments until it is smooth.

Start dipping the pretzels right away. Use a spoon to bring the chocolate up to where you want.  Set rods on the cookie sheet.

Dip about 5-10 pretzels and then start placing the toppings on. You will have to do this by hand because if you try to roll or sprinkle them on it really won't work and will end up with a sticky candy-glob mess.

Arrange the candy bits on each pretzel rod. (You have a good 5-7 minute window where the chocolate will still be soft enough to press the toppings in.)

If the melted chocolate in the bowl has started to harden, just give it 15 more seconds to get it back to its nice melty-state.

Repeat with the rest of the toppings.

Place tray in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes until chocolate has hardened.

Melt white chocolate (the same way you melted the chips) and place in a plastic baggie.  Cut off a tiny bit of one corner and drizzle over the pretzels.

Place them back into the freezer to harden and then wrap, eat, enjoy!

Makes 15 pretzels.

I didn't get a picture of the white-chocolate drizzled ones, but they turned out well too.

I used mini M&Ms instead of regular and I thought that worked well.  The third one up there is Heath Bits.  Yum!  They were easy because you can buy bags of those already chopped up in the baking aisle.

Even though I am a total control freak in the kitchen, the holiday spirit got to me and I let my three-year-old daughter, Lena, help me make these.  As you can see, at this point she had already sampled the chocolate!

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Cheesy Chipotle Beef and Noodle Bake

 This is a simple weeknight meal that is sure to please your family.  Think of it kind of as a beefy Mexican mac and cheese.  The inspiration for this dish came from Taste of Home, but I changed it quite a bit to better suit our tastes.


Cheesy Chipotle Beef and Noodle Bake

Ingredients:
3 cups uncooked egg noodles or other pasta
2 tsp olive oil
½ large onion, chopped
1 lb. ground beef
1 (8 oz.) can tomato sauce
1 (10¾ oz.) can condensed cheddar cheese soup
¼ tsp chipotle powder
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 cups crushed tortilla chips
Shredded lettuce, sour cream and/or salsa, optional

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.

Cook noodles according to package directions; drain. 

Meanwhile, heat oil in a large saucepan.  Saute onions until beginning to get tender.  Add beef and cook over medium heat until no longer pink; drain off grease. Stir in the tomato sauce, soup, and chipotle powder. Stir in cooked noodles.

Transfer to a 2½ quart baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until heated through. Top with tortilla chips. Serve with lettuce, sour cream and/or salsa if desired.

Makes 4 servings.

The original recipe called for nacho cheese soup, green chiles, and olives.  We don't like green chiles, so I changed the flavor profile to chipotle instead.  I also used tomato sauce instead of diced tomatoes because my husband is picky about chunks of tomato in casseroles.

I use chipotle powder in it because the first time I made it I didn't have any canned chipotles on hand.  But you could use the canned version instead of the powder if you like.  One quarter of a teaspoon of chipotle powder might not sound like much for a whole dish, but that stuff is potent!  It really has a nice heat to it, but not so much that my 4-year-old won't eat it.  If you like things hot, add a little more.

You can also use any kind of pasta you like in here, but the egg noodles are my favorite.

It's really good with crushed tortilla chips on it, but I didn't have any the night I took pics.  They add a nice crunchy texture to it.

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Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchilada Stack

It's time to share with you another fabulous meatless main dish that my family loves.  It combines several ingredients that don't seem to go together: sweet potatoes, salsa verde, cream cheese, and black beans, but actually they combine to form this wonderful enchilada casserole in stacked form.  It's an adaptation of one I found at Greens and Chocolate.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Enchilada Stack

Ingredients:

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 large clove garlic, grated

2 cups cooked sweet potatoes, mashed (2 medium)

½ tsp cumin

1 tsp chili powder

¾ tsp salt

1 cup salsa verde or tomatillo salsa

3 (9”) flour tortillas 

6 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°. 

In large bowl, combine the beans, garlic, sweet potato, cumin, chili powder, and salt.  Set aside.

To assemble the casserole, coat the bottom of a 9" round casserole dish or cake pan with ¼ cup of the salsa verde.  Spread ⅓ of cream cheese onto each tortilla.  Place one of the tortillas on top of the sauce.  Top with ⅓ of the sweet potato filling and top with another ¼ cup of the salsa verde.  Repeat to make three layers and top with cheese.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Cut into slices and enjoy!

Makes 4-6 servings.

Here are a few pics of the process.

Bottom: salsa verde, aka tomatillo salsa.  I use the Meijer Gold brand.

 Cream cheese.  This kind of holds everything together and brings a nice creaminess to the dish.

 Sweet potato and black bean mixture.

 Topped with cheese, of course!  My favorite is the Kraft Mexican blend.

 Isn't it pretty?

This dish is a huge hit with my family.  I love it because it contains ingredients that I almost always have on hand at any given time.  It's very filling and nobody misses the meat when I serve this.

 

Shared at:

• Midnight Maniac Meatless Mondays

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