Blueberry BBQ Turkey Balls

I think this bbq sauce would be great on ribs, pork tenderloin or chicken. I would double the recipe next time since it is just that good! We served this over turkey meatballs. I wish I could say I found this recipe but I didn't! I took my cue from The Noshery cooking blog.

Adapted from Cooking Light 2003

Blueberry-Balsamic Barbecue Sauce
2 cups fresh blueberries
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons ketchup
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Place all ingredients in a saucepan. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes or until slightly thick. Remove from heat; cool. Place blueberry mixture in a blender; process until smooth. (I used my immersion blender.)

Simple Turkey Meatballs
1 lbs of ground turkey meat
1/4 cup of minced parsley
1/2 large onion, minced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 egg
1 tsp paprika
1/2 salt
1/2 pepper

To prepare meatballs, combine all the ingredients into a large bowl, mix together working with hands. Shape meat into about 14 1 inch balls. Set aside. Place meatballs into the same saucepan used for sauce over a medium heat and brown. Pour sauce over the meatballs, cover and simmer for about 5 mins or until meatballs are done.

We served this with some steamed carrots and Caesar salad. It was really good!

Jason's Chicken and Pasta

This is an old recipe from college that had become a family favorite. There are not many things that I can say I still make from these years! I can name a few but I am not proud of the fact that I ate them! Ramen started out my freshman year, Taco Salad Surprise, (I can't even go into this one!) Cheryl created this "salad"! She also brought to the table Dirt Cake, which I love but haven't made in years! Jason came to visit Nichole and made the girls dinner one night and I can still picture all of us crammed into our little kitchen in Odells watching Jason make this dish. If I remember correctly this was something that his dad made. Well, who ever I need to give credit to I will because this one is a keeper. It has been over nine years and I still make it!

Jason's Chicken and Pasta
2 chicken breast
½ C Italian breadcrumbs
1 egg scrambled
3 T milk
3 T evoo
1 C chicken broth
1 14 oz. can of quartered artichokes
½ C kalamata olives
¼ C chopped sun dried tomatoes
¼ C freshly grated Parmesan
pinch of red pepper flakes
1 box of pasta- your choice

Cut chicken into bite size pieces and place in a bowl with the scrambled egg and milk Drain and toss with breadcrumbs in a plastic bag. Add more breadcrumbs is needed. Cook pasta according to directions. Heat oil in a large skillet until hot but not smoking. Add chicken in batches and brown on each side. Remove chicken to a paper towel lined plate. Add garlic, artichokes, sun dried tomatoes and olives to skillet and cook for two minutes. Return chicken to skillet and toss to combine. Add chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Add Parmesan. The sauce should thicken just a bit with the breadcrumbs and cheese. Cook for 3 minutes. Drain pasta reserving 1 cup of cooking liquid. Todd pasta in skillet and add reserved pasta water if it seems dry. Serve immediately with additional Parmesan cheese if desired.

The weeks ahead and the week behind!

After my brother-in-law Pete left early Tuesday morning I decided that I would take a break from visisting grocery store. I had been there each day for a week while Pete was here. Everytime we went out to do some activity it always ended with a "quick" trip to the store. I think the boys were catching onto a theme here but didn't say anything since a pretty decent dinner always followed!

A quick recap of the Pete visit menu:
Blueberry bbq sauce over turkey meatballs with sauted carrots and cesar salad
Shrimp del Mar
bbq pizza with pineapple and carmelized onions
Jason's Chicken and Pasta
Spring Rolls

I dedicated my research for our weekly menu to a seach for recipes with ingredients we had on hand. I think I did a pretty good job.

The menu consists of the following:
Made up Crustless Quiche (probably not blog worthy)

Turkey Kefta

Chicken Brunswick stew (from the freezer stash)

Pot Roast (never made it before but we had a piece of meat in the freezer that I beleive goes in this kind of dish)

Lemony Shrimp with white beans and couscous

Spanish Chicken and Rice

Black bean Chipotle Enchiladas

Black Bean Burgers, Sweet Potato Fries and Avocado Sauce

This was a very refreshing meal. I loved the avocado dip and was really excited about the spices on the sweet potatoes. The burgers were delicious and as you can see from the picture I don't think they needed a bun. The dusting of corn meal added a nice crunch to the burgers and complimented the black beans nicely. We used the avocado dip for both the burgers and fries.


Avocado Dip
1 avocado
1/2 C plain non-fat yogurt
2 T light sour cream
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
2 scallions, chopped
1 lime, juiced
salt & pepper, to taste

Place all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.

Sweet Potato Fries
2 sweet potatoes
2 T olive oil
1 t paprika
1/2 t ground coriander
1/2 t chili powder
salt & pepper, to taste

Cut potatoes into "fries" size pieces. Toss potatoes with evoo in a large bowl. Add spices and coat. Spread potatoes on baking sheet and bake at 450 degrees for 25 minutes, until lightly browned and crispy. Don't be alarmed if the potatoes loose their crispness. Sweet potatoes hold more moisture then other potatoes so they become a little limp after coming out of the oven.

Recipe Source: Erica's Kitchen Adventures

Black Bean Burgers
1 can black beans rinsed and drained
1 egg white
1/4 C corn
1/4 grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 T diced pickled jalapeno or fresh
2 T reduced fat sour cream
1/2 t cumin
2 T minced red onion
3 T chopped cilantro
1 T salsa or diced tomato
1/2 t salt and ground pepper
1/4 C corn meal

Lightly smash beans with potato masher leaving some beans intact. Add egg through salt and pepper and mix to combine. Form mixture into desired size burgers. They will feel very wet and may come apart. Place corm meal on a small plate and carefully dust burgers with corn meal. Let the burgers sit for at least 15 minutes to firm up. Heat skillet over medium heat add 1 T vegetable oil and cook burgers 6-8 minutes until lightly browned flipping once.

Vegetable Lo Mein Stir Fry

We have this fabulous heavy wok and I love using it. This vegetable noodle stir fry was perfect. With stir fry there typically isn't a recipe I follow. I think this is a good go to dish that can be created out of ingredients on hand. It just takes a bit of chopping. I like to prep everything prior to heating up the wok. After the preparation this is a quick cooking meal due to the high heat used.

Vegetable Lo Mien

1 box lo mien or Thai rice noodles

1/4 C soy sauce

1/2 C broth (chicken or vegetable)

1 t vegetable oil

1 t sesame oil

1/2 onion, chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped

1 C snow peas

4-6 mushrooms, sliced

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 large thump fresh ginger, minced or grated

2 carrots, sliced

1 small jalapeno, minced or a pinch of red pepper flakes

1 T corn starch

1 egg, beaten

Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain and rinse, set aside. Whisk broth and corn starch, set aside. Chop all vegetables, beat egg, measure out soy sauce. Heat wok over high heat for at least 8 minutes. Add vegetable oil and sesame oil to hot wok. Add vegetable is order leaving a few minutes between each batch- onion, carrots, bell pepper, snow peas, mushrooms. Vegetables should be tender-crisp. Add jalapeno, garlic and ginger and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Make a well in the middle of the vegetables and add beaten egg. Cook until just scrambled. Add soy sauce and mix. Add noodles and toss to combine. Finish with the broth mixture. Toss well to coat everything.

Vegetable Stuffed Zuchini

This is a delicious side dish or meal in its self. My best friend Tess made this for us when we were visiting her on Nantucket this Spring. It is really a versatile recipe. You can stuff them with whatever vegetables are on hand. As you can see from the picture, I used yellow squash. I of course couldn't make it as good as Tess's but it was still pretty tasty! Thanks Tess! Stuffed Zucchini
2 Zucchini (yellow or green)
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 small red onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 C flat leaf parsley, chopped
1/4 C goat cheese or feta cheese
1 t evoo
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut each zucchini lengthwise and carefully scoop out the membrane, leaving a bit of the "flesh" to hold its form. Chop up discarded zucchini. Place zucchinis on a baking sheet skin side up and bake for 5-8 minutes or until slightly softened. Mix tomato, onion,garlic, parsley, including discarded zucchini in a bowl. Mix in goat cheese, evoo and salt and pepper. Stuff each zucchini half with vegetable mixture and bake for 10-15 minutes until heated through.

Sausage Hogies with Green Peppers, Onions and Mushrooms

I don't think you can call this a recipe but I feel the need to post this to remind you that it is a good go to meal that we have actually never had in our house! It was also our first night using the grill.

Sausage & Pepper Hogies
Sweet Italian sausage or Italian turkey sausage (or your choice of sausage)
1 green bell pepper thinly sliced
1 a yellow onion thinly sliced
5 button mushrooms sliced
2 t Worcestershire sauce
evoo
salt and pepper
your choice of cheese (I used American this time)
hogie buns

Saute onions until they are soft and lightly browned. Add peppers and mushrooms. Grill sausage until cooked through. Add Worcestershire sauce at and salt and pepper at the end. Lightly toast hogies and place sausage in bun topped with cheese and vegi mixture.