Greek Turkey Meatballs

Here is another great idea for ground turkey. This recipe has so many different flavors going on
you really don't need to serve a dipping sauce with them, however they go really really well with
tzatziki.

Greek Turkey Meatballs

Ingredients

1 Tbs olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ medium yellow onion garlic
1 slice bread pulsed into crumbs ( I used pita bread, I thought it was fitting )

zest of 1 orange
1 tsp oregano
½ tsp cinnamon
2 Tbs chopped fresh mint
Pinch of red pepper flakes
Salt and fresh ground pepper
1 pound ground turkey

Directions

In a sauce pan heat 1 tbs oil over medium heat and add the garlic and onion and red pepper flakes, cook for 1 minute then let cool.

Meanwhile crumble turkey into large bowl,

scatter the mint, orange zest, oregano, cinnamon, ½ of the bread crumbs and salt & pepper. Gently mix, then add the cooled garlic, onion mixture and continue to mix until combined.

Then form 1- 11/4 inch balls and transfer to a plate or cookie sheet. (see note for neato trick to rolling out meatballs)

heat a large pan over medium to medium high heat, and working in batched cook the meatballs until brown on all sides and cooked through. Serve with tzatziki!

*Neat trick to making meatballs, courtesy of another blogger

http://coconutlime.blogspot.com/

Roll about a cup of the meat mixture out into a log

then cut into pieces about 1 tbsp for your mini meatballs.

Then place the pieces into a wire mesh strainer and sprinkle some more bread crumbs over them.

Toss and roll the meatballs around in the strainer over a bowl or the sink and you’ll have lightly-coated, perfectly round meatballs.

How brilliant is that?

Cilantro Jalapeno Hummus

Since I now have a mini garden in my backyard I decided to make a cilantro jalapeno hummus to try some of my peppers. The jalapenos weren't very big so I used to two smallish ones, one really tiny red one and a serrano for the extra heat. There are so many recipes out there for hummus so I just picked one I had around for awhile. I didn't make any real changes to the recipe besides the fact that I couldn't find tahini paste, well actually I didn't look very hard. I should say they didn't have tahini paste at Trader Joe's but they did have a tahini sauce which i thought would suffice, and it did!

Cilantro Jalapeno Hummus

Ingredients

1/3-1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves

1-2 jalapeno peppers, ribbed and seeded (depending on desired flavor)

1 clove garlic, peeled

3 tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice

1/4 cup water

6 tbsp. tahini or tahini sauce from TJs

2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil

1 (14 oz.) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1/2 tsp. salt1/4 tsp. cumin

Pinch of cayenne pepper ( large pinch if you like it extra spicy )

Directions

Combine the cilantro, jalapenos, and garlic in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the ingredients have been finely minced.

In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice and water.
In another bowl, whisk together the tahini and olive oil.
Set aside. Scrape down the sides of the food processor bowl and add the chickpeas, salt, cumin and cayenne.

Process until almost fully ground, about 15 seconds. Scrape down the bowl.

Add the oil-tahini mixture and then continue to process until smooth and creamy, about 15 seconds, scraping down the bowl as needed.

Scrape down the bowl again and with the machine running add the lemon juice-water mixture in a steady stream through the feed tube. Blend for 1 minute, scraping down the bowl as needed!

Transfer the hummus to a serving bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let stand until the flavors meld, at least 30 minutes. Enjoy with whole wheat pita bread, chips or veggies!

The lighter side of Sonoma Chicken Salad

I love chicken salads and I especially like the Sonoma chicken salad from Costco, however it is anything but good for you dishing out around 400 calories per serving :0! So I made my version of it using most of the same ingredients just cutting down on the fat. Now you can just eat more of it right?

Skinny Sonoma Chicken Salad

Ingredients

1/2 cup light mayo

1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt

1 tsp apple cider vinegar

2 Tbs pineapple juice

4 tsp honey
1/2 tsp garlic powder

salt and pepper
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts shredded and cooled
1 1/4 cups dried cranberries

3/4 cup pecan pieces, toasted

Directions

In a bowl combine the mayo, yogurt, vinegar, pineapple juice, honey, garlic powder, salt and pepper.

Stir the chicken, pecans, and cranberries into the bowl with the dressing. Cover and chill until ready to serve.

Couscous cake take 2!

Ok!! So, the first couscous cake recipe that I tried wasn't as great as we hoped, I have come up with a few new recipes on how to make some yum yum cakes. This recipe has an Italian flare using sun dried tomatoes, basil and of course some garlic (powder)!

Couscous Cakes Take 2

Ingredients

2 cups cooked couscous, cooled

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1 tsp. garlic powder

1/3 cup Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup diced sun dried tomatoes

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

2 tbs flour ( i used whole wheat pastry but use what you got )

olive oil

Directions

In a bowl combine the couscous, basil, sun dried tomato, Parmesan cheese garlic powder, salt and pepper. Sprinkle the flour over the mixture and mix until combined.

Form 1/4 cupfuls of the mixture into patties ( i got 8 out of my mixture)

In a nonstick skillet heat the olive oil over medium heat, add 4 of the patties to the pan and cook for a few minutes on each side until golden brown.
Continue until all cakes are cooked. Let rest on paper towels until ready to serve!

Stevia! A better alternative to sugar and artificial sweeteners?

Made from the leaves of a South American shrub and marketed under names like Truvia, PureVia and Stevia in the Raw, it's the "new" sugar substitute. The pitch is zero calories, zero carbohydrates and a zero chance of a spike in blood sugar levels.


I finally jumped on the Stevia bandwagon and bought a box of it, I have decided to try to curb my aspartame use. Cutting down on sugar wasn't to difficult because I think Splenda can go pretty much unoticed in a lot of baked good, and I bought a plethera of it at Costco. However I find myself a little unsure of this new sweetener and was hoping to gain insight from any of you. Have you used it? Tried it? How is it in baked goods? I have so many questions!

Martha Stewarts Cupcake Contest

Sometimes I wish I was as domesticated as the folks who enter the Martha Stewart Cupcake Contest. You know, spend all day baking and decorating and baking and decorating....OK maybe not but that is why it's so fun to browse through all the fantastic photos of amazing cupcakes. I wanted to share a few of my faves!