Sage Parmesan Turkey Tenderloin

I really like getting those pre-marinated turkey breast tenderloins that Jennie-O makes. I buy them when they are on sale and sometimes they even have a coupon right on the package. While I like them, I got really bored with just throwing them in the oven as-is. So the other night I decided to coat it with a bread crumb mixture. This is what I came up with.

Sage Parmesan Turkey Tenderloin

Ingredients:

1 tsp olive oil

1 ½ cups Panko bread crumbs

½ cup flour

2 egg whites

2 tsp water

¼ cup grated parmesan

2 tsp dried sage

15 oz. pre-marinated turkey breast tenderloin (any flavor except teriyaki or tequila lime)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°. Line a baking sheet with foil and set a cooling rack on top. Spray with cooking spray. Combine olive oil and bread crumbs in a medium skillet, stirring until oil is evenly distributed. Toast over medium heat until uniformly golden brown. Pour into shallow dish to let cool.

Put flour in another shallow dish. Combine egg whites and water in a third shallow dish. Stir to combine, but do not beat.

When bread crumbs have cooled, add parmesan and sage and toss to combine. Lay out your dishes in this order: 1. flour 2. egg whites 3. bread crumbs. Open the turkey tenderloin package and give the meat a quick rinse to remove any excess marinade. Pat dry with paper towels. Dredge in flour, dip in egg white, and coat with the bread crumbs. Place on baking sheet.

I don’t know how long to tell you to bake this, as I always use a probe thermometer that has an alarm set to go off when the center of the tenderloin reaches 155°. It doesn’t take as long as it says on the package. I would guess it takes 35 to 40 minutes, but ensure it is at the proper temperature for poultry (160°) before serving.

Makes 4 servings.

I used the lemon garlic flavored tenderloin, but it doesn't really matter. The flavors of these tenderloins are pretty mild, so it's not a big deal. But like I said in the recipe, I wouldn't do it with teriyaki or tequila lime.

I served this with mashed sweet potatoes and roasted asparagus. Very yummy meal.

Notice my new plates? Aren't they pretty?

Read More

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

This recipe comes from my new favorite book, Perfect Vegetables.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Ingredients:

2 lbs. sweet potatoes, peeled, quartered lengthwise, and cut crosswise into ¼” thickness

4 tbsp butter

2 tbsp milk

½ tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in a 3 to 4 quart saucepan. Cover and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until potatoes fall apart when poked with a fork, about 35 to 45 minutes. Remove from heat and mash in the pan with a potato masher.

Season with pepper, if desired. Serve immediately.

Makes 4 servings.

In the book, it calls for cream, but I didn't have any, so I used 2% milk instead. Turned out just fine. These are really good. The sweetness of the potatoes comes through nicely without being too sweet. Makes a great alternative to regular mashed potatoes.

I served them with Sage Parmesan Turkey Tenderloin and roasted asparagus.

Read More

Better Ginger Carrots

I updated my Ginger Honey Carrots recipe. Check it out!

Ginger Honey Carrots

Read More

Cheddar Garlic Biscuits

These biscuits are very similar to Red Lobster's Cheddar Bay Biscuits. I found the recipe online at one of those restaurant knock-off websites (can't remember which one.) Super easy.

Cheddar Garlic Biscuits

Ingredients:

2 cups Bisquick

⅔ cups milk

½ cup shredded cheddar cheese

butter

garlic cloves, smashed

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400°. Combine Bisquick, milk, and cheese. Drop onto baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes or until middles are set. Meanwhile, put smashed garlic cloves and butter in saucepan and melt over low heat. Brush melted garlic butter over top of warm biscuits when they come out the oven.

Makes about 10 biscuits, depending on how big you make them.

The original recipe said to bake at 450° for 10 minutes, but they kept getting too dark on top and not done in the middle, so I tried them at 400° for 15 minutes and it's a lot better. I also found it works better to get the thicker shreds of cheddar instead of the finely shredded kind. That way you get more visible ribbons of cheese running through the biscuits. Don't skimp on how many garlic cloves you put in the butter. That's the only way of imparting garlic flavor since there isn't any inside the biscuits themselves. Also, I wouldn't use skim for the milk. Since they are biscuits, they have a tendency to be a tad dry, so I think the more fat you have in the milk, the less dry they will be. I make mine with 2% and that works.

I made these for an Advent dinner last week and they went over pretty well.

Read More

Lodge Cast Iron Grill Pan

Merry Christmas to me!  This year for Christmas, my lovely husband got me a Lodge cast iron grill pan.  It's something I have been wanting for a while now.  Rachael Ray got me interested in it, and I checked her line at foodnetwork.com.  Hers was more than twice the price of the Lodge; and I read somewhere that it is made by Lodge.  So I bought this one on Amazon.com.  It has like 196 reviews with an average of 4 1/2 stars (that's out of five).  They even gave me free shipping (which is a great savings considering it weighs about 15 pounds!)  And it came lighting quick.  I ordered it on Tuesday evening and it came on Thursday afternoon.  Wow!  

It is so nice!  It is a grill pan on one side, and a smooth griddle on the other side.  Both sides have a narrow grease gutter for draining. It lays across two burners on the stove.

I did have one problem with it at its inaugural use.  They don't tell you this, but apparently you are supposed to remove the paper label from the griddle side before heating it up!

OOPS!!!  Yeah, that stunk up the kitchen for a while!

I made some grilled chicken seasoned with a garlic and herb seasoning.  Very simple and delicious.  This will be a great substitute for the outdoors grill during the off season.

Thanks, Jimmy, for the wonderful Christmas gift!

Read More

Spiced Plums (or Pears!)

This was the dessert I chose to make for my Moroccan-themed meal.  It was the only one I found online that didn't involve some weird ingredient like rosewater or orange blossom water.  As you might have guessed from the picture, I didn't use plums.  Apparently plums are not available in Michigan in December!  So I had to use pears.  Having never cooked with pears before, I had no idea what variety to get.  I tried Anjou.

Spiced Plums 

Ingredients:

6 medium red plums or purple plums

½ cup pineapple juice or apple juice

3 tbsp packed brown sugar (divided)

½ tsp cinnamon

¼ tsp cardamom

⅛ tsp cumin

1 pinch nutmeg

⅓ cup light sour cream or nonfat sour cream

cooking spray

Directions:

Preheat oven to 450°. Prepare a 2 qt. baking dish with a good amount of cooking spray.

Prepare plums by slicing in half and removing pits. Place in the baking pan cut side up.

Combine juice, 2 tbsp of brown sugar, and the spices in a small bowl. Drizzle spiced juice over the plums.

Bake the fruit for 20 minutes or until the plums are tender. Note that actual cooking time will vary according to the ripeness of the fruit.

In a small bowl combine the sour cream with the last tablespoon of brown sugar.

Place plum halves in a serving bowl. Dot with sour cream and sprinkle of cinnamon.

Makes 6 servings.

It was okay with the pears, but I can't wait to try it with the plums.  The pears did not really get soft at all, even though I let them bake a lot longer than the recipe called for.  I don't know if it would be this way with all varieties of pears, or if the Anjou are firmer than most.  I am not really very familiar with pears at all.  Like I said, it was okay; just not as good as if the fruit had softened up during baking.

I think the next time I make it, I will also try increasing the amount of the glaze.  I didn't think it was quite enough.  And a lot of it runs off the fruit onto the bottom of the pan, so a little extra would be good, I think.

Read More

Lamb Tagine for Slow Cooker

This was the main dish of my Moroccan-themed meal.  A tagine is a slow-cooked stew.  It's also the name of the vessel it's traditionally cooked in.  I found a recipe for the slow cooker.

Lamb Tagine for Slow Cooker

Ingredients:

1 ½ lbs. butternut squash, peeled and cut into 2” chunks

2 medium tomatoes, coarsely chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed with press

1 can (15 – 19 oz.) garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup chicken broth

⅓ cup raisins

2 tsp ground coriander

2 tsp ground cumin

½ tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp pepper

2-3 lbs. boneless lamb shoulder or leg, cut into 1” chunks

½ cup pitted green olives

Directions:

In a 6 qt. slow cooker, combine squash, tomatoes, onion, garlic, beans, broth, and raisins. In a small bowl, combine coriander, cumin, cinnamon, salt, and ground black pepper. Rub spice mixture all over lamb; place lamb on top of vegetable mixture. Cover slow cooker with lid and cook on low 8 hours or on high 4 hours.

Stir olives into stew.  Serve over couscous.

Makes 6 servings.

It was pretty good.  The squash cooked down completely, as did the raisins, apparently.  We couldn't taste them!  And the beans held up really well.  I thought they would have turned to mush by the time it was done.  But they didn't.  The only thing I did differently from how it's written here is that I totally forgot to add the olives in at the end.  Oops!  Oh, and I didn't have as much tomatoes as it called for; I think I only had one plum tomato.

A note on the lamb: I couldn't find a hunk of boneless lamb shoulder.  I ended up using lamb leg (that I found at Sam's.)  It was really fatty, so I took the time to trim it really well before cubing it.  Here's an idea of how fatty it was: when I bought it, it was 4 pounds; after trimming, it was about 2.7 pounds.  Yikes!  That would have made a total mess out of the stew.  So be sure your lamb is lean.

Read More

Moroccan Carrots

I needed a vegetable side dish for my Moroccan-themed meal and found this recipe on Recipezaar.

Moroccan Carrots

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp brown sugar

⅓ tsp ground cinnamon 

¼ tsp ground cumin

1 dash cayenne

1 ½ cups carrots, peeled and julienned (about ½ lb.)

⅓ cup orange juice

2 ½ tbsp dried currants, soaked in hot water

fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over moderate heat.

Reduce the heat to low, add the sugar, spices, and carrots and stir for a few minutes.

Add the orange juice and the currants with some of their soaking liquid; bring to a boil.

Quickly reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the carrots are tender.

Add pepper and adjust the seasoning to taste.

Makes 4 servings.

These were very good. I forgot about them as I was waiting for the glaze to reduce, so they got a bit dark on one side. But it didn't ruin them.

Interesting tidbit about this recipe: I found out when I reviewed it on recipezaar that the woman who originally posted it is a fellow LCMS pastor's wife! There were about four different Moroccan carrot recipes on that site that I was deciding between. What a coincidence that I would pick hers!

Read More

Flaming Meredith

This is a cocktail that we created for our Moroccan-themed The Office watching party.  It is in no way Moroccan, but we found out ahead of time that on the episode, the character Meredith catches her hair on fire.  She is a redhead and it was a Christmas party so we chose cranberry schnapps. This drink is a variation on one that Hilary and I created back in 2001 or 2002 called the Flaming Mitsubishi.  (It was in memory of our tv that caught on fire.) That one was made with orange juice and raspberry pucker.

Flaming Meredith

Ingredients:

1 shot Crantasia cranberry schnapps

orange juice

ice, if desired

Directions:

Put ice in short tumbler.  Pour shot over ice.  Add desired amount of orange juice.

Makes one drink.

You can use pineapple juice instead of the orange juice, but the colors seem to mix more that way than with the orange juice. But it's just as tasty.

Read More

Stay tuned. . . .

Check back later for a post about the Moroccan dinner I made tonight.

Slow Cooker Lamb Tagine

Moroccan Carrots

Spiced Pears

I have pics too!

Read More