Ground turkey. I know, right?
It’s awesome.
Pretty much overlooked.
Definitely not overrated.
What’s not to love? Possibly less fat, fewer calories, and less expensive.
Still hesitant? Here are three ways to make the switch from ground beef to ground turkey- and you are the only one who will ever know. Trust me. I have five kids. They have no idea.
Turkey Chili
Turkey Lasagna
Turkey Meatloaf
There are a couple of things to watch for when buying ground turkey.
Nutritional data from Walmart.com and Jennie O Turkey.
- Ground turkey is not ground turkey breast. Ground breast is practically fat-free (120 calories and 1.5 grams fat, 80 mg. sodium and 26 grams protein/serving). Similar in nutritional content to 96/4 ground beef (140 calories and 4.5 grams fat, 70 mg sodium and 23 grams protein).
- Ground turkey includes some leg meat and skin which increases the fat and calories, but lowers the price (220 calories and 17 grams fat, 85 mg sodium and 20 grams protein). Similar in nutritional content to 80/20 ground beef (290 calories and 23 grams fat, 70 mg sodium, 23 grams protein).
There is much debate over whether the move to turkey is wise or necessary based on the various states in which ground turkey and ground beef both exist. A determination must be made based on budget and nutrition, as well as on taste. I simply prefer the mildness of turkey in dishes where I want the bulk, but want other flavors to really shine through. I think ground beef tends to overpower meatloaf and tomato sauce. I simply like it’s lightness in chili because of the heaviness of the beans.
Don’t get me wrong, you won’t catch me grilling up any turkey burgers when the summer finally rolls around – I like my burgers the good ol’ fashioned way, but using turkey is a nice way to add some variation and maybe save a few pennies or calories. In the end, it’s a personal decision that you’ll make for your family. Maybe you’ll even make a turkey meatloaf cupcake with whipped potato frosting (anything for the kiddos, right?).
Since these are relatively common dishes and the idea is just exchanging the meat product used, I won’t bore you with recipes. Your Mom’s meatloaf will always be better than mine and your chili probably kicks my chili’s ass. I’m big enough to admit it when I know I can’t win. And seriously, nobody makes better lasagna than you.
I’ve got a great post on lasagna … and I’m going to put it up …
after we finish having all this fun … soon … I promise …
just not yet.
ps ~ Sorry I’ve been such a slacker … but, I am.
Comfort food. A cliché? Overrated? NO WAY!
I have tried for ages to find the macaroni of my youth. Not the macaroni and cheese made by my grandmother or my mother, but the macaroni and cheese served in the cafeteria at my school – not necessarily the flavor, but the texture. I thought I was the only one who might like that kind of mac & cheese, but I couldn’t have been more wrong. I served it on Christmas Eve to rave reviews from my friends and their families and in talking about that lots more have said that “cafeteria” macaroni has been what they were looking for as well. How strange is that?
There are millions of recipes out there. Martha has her $40 version, of course. I think this is one of those foods that is so engrained in us that anything less than “the one” is a waste of time, regardless of how expensive or exclusive the ingredients are. I am going to leave the cheese choices up to you, but I have made this with lots of cheesy cheeses in various amounts: Gruyère, cheddar, white cheddar, American, and bleu. The important thing to remember when experimenting with cheeses is to start slowly. Add a cup of cheddar and a cup of Gruyère. You’ll need more, but which way do you want to go? What flavor are you looking for? Want more zing? Go more Gruyère. Still more? Add a handful of bleu cheese crumbles. Taste and add, taste and add. You will finally find that thing you’re looking for and it will be your own wonderful creation.
Sadly, I have to admit that my favorite has no fancy-schmancy cheeses in it. I like mine with plain, sharp cheddar. It’s worth the bloody knuckle and the extra time to shred your own, too. The flavor is much better when you shred your own and you may be able to cut back the amount a little (saving you a calorie or two).
Macaroni:
Boil 2 cups of dry elbow macaroni in salted water until tender, drain, and rinse. Set aside.
Cheese Sauce:
Slightly beat 3 eggs in medium-sized bowl.
Shred 4 cups of cheese.
Combine: 1 tsp. salt, 1 tsp. pepper, 1 tsp. ground mustard, 1/4 tsp. grated nutmeg
Measure and set aside 4 cups of milk.
Start by melting 1 stick of butter (1/2 cup) in a large sauce pan over medium heat. Add four tablespoons of flour and whisk for three or four minutes.
Add two of the four cups of milk to the butter/flour. Whisk for about three minutes. Pour 1/3 of the milk mixture to the bowl of eggs (to temper). Beat eggs & milk and then add back to the sauce pan. Add the 1 1/2 cups of remaining milk and continue whisking until thick.
Add the cheese. If you are experimenting with flavor, add them slowly so you can taste as you go along. Whisk all cheeses until melted and add spice mixture. When the cheese sauce is smooth, pour over prepared macaroni.
Mix it all together and pour into a greased baking dish. Thick or thin – whichever way you like it. I make mine in a bigger, more shallow pan because I like the golden, crusty stuff that forms on top and you get more of it that way. HA!
Bake at 350 for about 35 – 40 minutes on the middle rack until he top is golden.
Yum. Welcome to my favorite 4th grade lunch. All you need now is some square fish.
This is a little different ~ not a recipe, but a memory brought to life by the seed catalogs filing my mailbox right now. I hope you enjoy it.
Each year, as the earth spun her garden patch closer to the sun, my grandmother would flutter fly around town gathering dead seeds to resurrect in her mossy paradise. She filled old Mason jars with potential sunflowers, shiny black and as large as cats’ eyes, some rescued from the crows and some purchased at Southern States, and lined them up on the salvage wood shelves of her cellar. Walls and walls of cold dirty glass jars foreshadowing deep walls of golden homegrown pride.
At the bottom of steps going down to the cellar was a dilapidated cabinet that she had learned to make bread on as a girl. The breadboard itself was ugly and uninteresting at a glance; its heritage undone by dust crusted milk paint. The larger of the three doors didn’t open to the side, but pulled forward revealing a large, rusty tin hopper used to store flour that could be milled out onto the porcelain board below by cranking the red wooden handle barely seen beneath. Once, I put an old tomcat in that hopper and he nearly ate me alive when I attempted to retrieve him. She grabbed the cat up by the skin of his neck and tossed us both out into the sunshine.
I should have put the cat in the hopper at the bottom where sugar would have been stored, but as a rule, it contained small wild-eyed potatoes awaiting burial or layers of chicken wire separating musty tubers that didn’t root the first time around. “Dormant does not mean dead,” she said once while scratching this-or-that with an old peppermint scented pocketknife she kept in her sweater pocket, along with tissues and candy, for just that kind of thing or for scraping the earth out from under her fingernails.
The rest of the cabinet was covered with more jars. Mason jars and Bell jars and mayonnaise jars containing dried beans and peas or the pods of various highly coveted flowers and even roadside daisy hitchhikers collected from the pants legs of children and dog ears as well as the previous year’s pickles and tomatoes. She was a master preserver who dragged laundry baskets of her harvest to the local cannery to put up hundreds of gallons of food that would never be eaten. Sealed jars of beefsteaks and brandywines resided in every cupboard providing endless hours of entertainment for my baby brother who shook them like bloody snowglobes, watching the meaty particles dance, red-on-red, until they clotted at the bottom with silent thud. She paid it no mind.
The future of all her toiling was of little personal consequence, her passion was in the moment, in the preserving itself – in saving and prolonging, in avoiding the inevitable. The mere suggestion that her collection might someday be considered “heirloom” would have elicited a guffaw and a twitch of her thin, miserable lips. It was simply what she did.
As a teenager, she had raised up her four sisters alone after her parents died at a time in this country when it wasn’t the right thing to do, but the only thing. A long marriage to a railroad man who would die of cancer and four sons later, she was as tough as hide and just as bruised with little to offer in the way other grandmothers entertained their grandchildren. Sadly, it wasn’t until she was dead and I was grown that I realized that what she had given me was much more valuable.
If you vowed to get skinny, to wear skinny jeans, or any other such thing regarding the new year and skinniness, this isn’t for you. This is full of fat … but, just get over it … it’s so delicious, you’ll just forget about that anyway!!!
If you vowed to not throw away fruit, regardless of it’s disgusting condition, then this recipe is for you. You want the bananas near black; soft and mushy on the inside … pretty disgusting if you want to eat a banana, but perfect for this recipe.
On a sheet pan, lightly toast about two cups of chopped pecans.
In the big mixer: Cream 3/4 cup butter and 8 oz. cream cheese (((the cream cheese and butter should be soft … I take for granted that you know that … so from henceforth, anytime the directions call for you to “cream” something … it’s soft … in case I forget to say it)))
Add 1 cup of sugar … mix for about 2 minutes. Add two eggs … one at a time.
Turn the mixer off. Mash up 3 good sized bananas in a bowl … mash them a lot!
Add 3 cups of flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp baking powder, and 1 tsp of salt to the mixing bowl. Depending on the size of your mixer, you might have to sort of pulse start (so you don’t blow flour all over your kitchen making it look like you just had a cocaine party). Get everything just barely blended. Add the mashed bananas, half of the toasted pecans and 1 TBS of good vanilla and mix well … but not too much.
Pour into well greased cooking pan(s) of your choice. You can make 2 loaves, 24 regular muffins, or 12 jumbo muffins with this recipe. I bake them all at 350 degrees. The regular muffins take about 25 minutes. The big muffins take about 35 minutes. 2 loaf pans takes about 45 – 55 minutes (after about 30 minutes I throw a sheet of aluminum foil over the top of the loaves to keep the pecans from burning or the top from getting too brown. Test with a skewer or toothpick before you turn the oven off.
Be sure to top with remaining toasted pecans before baking.
So if that wasn’t enough to make your pants tight, you can try this:
Mix 2 TBS cream cheese & 2 TBS butter with 2 TBS powdered sugar … frost your big ol’ slice of banana bread!!!
Or ~ my FAVORITE!!!
In a small sauce pan, melt 2 TBS butter, 2 TBS brown sugar. Bring to boil. Remove from heat, let cool for about 5 minutes. Add 1 sliced banana … pour over your big ‘ol slice of banana bread. To. Die. For!!!
OK, people … I know this isn’t how you wanted to start the new year … but you KNOW you want a bite … whatever will you do???
This is my very favorite gluten-free recipe that I have tried. These are delicious and if you are interested in making the move to gluten-free they are the perfect place to start. You will love these and you will make them again and again, even if you aren’t particularly interested in a fully gluten-free diet. Give it a whirl. It’s worth it. Totally worth it!
So here’s my friend, Lisa and her magnificent, Drunken Snowflake Cupcakes!
Today, Lulu and Phoebe bring you fabulously delicious gluten free (but drunken) snowflake cupcakes. There is something kid-like in all of us that loves frosted cupcakes. They are a guilt free way to eat an entire cake, even if the cake is only a few inches big.
This is another in the list of holiday goodies that we’ve turned into a gluten free treat. There should be no Celiac left behind at holiday face stuffing time! Everyone can eat these treats. No one will guess they are gluten free.
This recipe makes about 14 large cupcakes or 18 small ones depending on your cupcake pan. You should feel free to use lots of liquors in this recipe. It only makes them tastier. And feel free to change the topping. We like large flakes of coconut with a cherry on top just because it looks like festive snowflakes and tastes good. Some people might like sprinkles or other things, nuts, colored sugar that can be used as toppings. The method for getting the toppings on the cupcake is the same no matter what you use.
Be patient. While it takes no time at all to bake, cool, and brush them, you must wait patiently for the tops to dry, and um, sober up before frosting. These are probably an all day or overnight affair because of the waiting time. You can bake and brush and leave them for later or the next day. Of course, one or two without frosting can be sacrificed right away if you cannot wait.
Lulu and Phoebe’s Fabulous Gluten Free Merry & Drunken Snowflake Cupcakes
Equipment
- 2 cupcake pans and paper liners.
- Mixing bowl and hand held mixer, or mixer stand.
- Measuring cups.
- Large mesh strainer for sifting sugar.
- Whisk attachment for the stand mixer for the icing or hand held mixer.
- Pastry brush.
- Extra bowl for the flour mixture and then the sifted sugar.
- Icing spatula or spoon for applying icing.
- Bowl for the topping.
Ingredients
Cupcakes
- 1.5 cups sugar
- ½ cup (one stick) room temp European unsalted butter (for best results)
- 4 large eggs
- 1 and ¼ cup of sweet rice flour
- ¾ cup rice flour mix
- Pinch salt
- 1 tablespoon baking powder (gluten free)
- ¾ teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 very large teaspoon of Godiva liquor or another favorite
- 1 8oz. container crème fraiche
Cupcake Brushing or Liquid Lunch
- ¾ cup of water heated with tablespoon of sugar (you can nuke it)
- 3 additional tablespoons of your favorite liquors (kaluha, crème de cacao, frangelico)
Icing
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter softened (not melted, just really soft)
- 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
- A touch of vanilla
- Liquors like frangelico, Godiva, crème de cacao, cassis, cherry kirsch, rum
- large flaked coconut mixed with grated coconut for topping
- cherries with stems (brandied cherries are great)
Directions
Cupcakes
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Get cupcake tins lined with paper liners.
In a separate bowl, mix flours, xanthan gum, salt, baking powder together with a whisk to incorporate and lighten. Mix the butter and sugar until light and fluffy using a high speed. On a lower speed, add eggs, one at a time until incorporated. Add vanilla and other flavorings. Alternate mixing in on low speed the crème fraiche and the flour mix. One totally mixed turn off the mixer –don’t over mix or the batter will be tough.
Pour or spoon into the cupcake liners and fill about ¾ of the way. Slap the pan on the counter to remove air bubbles (see photo). Bake in the center of the oven and switch pans half way through and rotate front to back. It takes about 20 to 24 minutes to bake. They will not get very brown, but will get slightly golden. When a toothpick inserted in the center of the center cupcake comes out clean they are done. Start checking at 18 minutes for best results and don’t over bake!
Let the cupcakes cool in the pan until you can move them to rack (see photo).
Brushing with Liquid Lunch
Heat the ¾ cup of water and tablespoon of sugar on high in the microwave for about 40 seconds or until the water is warm and sugar is totally dissolved. Add the liquors of your choice, about a tablespoon of each. I use Godiva, Frangelico, and a Cherry Kirsch. Rum, or Kaluha or Orange liquors are good too (see photo).
When completely mixed together take a pastry brush and brush each cupcake generously once or twice around. The tops will seem wet but not soaked. Do not let those cupcakes drive until they are sober (see photo).
Leave them alone on the rack until the tops are almost completely dry. It takes a few hours on a cold day and a little less on a warm day.
Icing
First, sift the powdered sugar into a separate bowl and set aside. Sifting lightens the sugar and gets out all the lumps that are hideous in frosting so don’t skip sifting (see photo)!
Using the whip attachment on a stand mixer, or a hand mixer, whip the butter until it turns very pale yellow and is light and very fluffy. Add in the sugar a little at a time on low speed (or you will have powdered stuff all over the kitchen) and once it is all incorporated, add the liquids until the consistency looks like stiff frosting. Start with the vanilla and move your way to the liquors. Remember to pick them by smell and taste and make sure they go together. Once incorporated turn the mixer on high and let it whip away for almost five minutes. That creates that light buttercream frosting that everyone loves to eat off the spoon.
Now you are ready to frost and finish. Oh, and eat.
Frosting and Finishing with Toppings
Some people are handy with a piping bag. Go for it. I am not, so I use a tiny spatula and apply a giant gob of frosting to the cupcake and mound it up so the center is higher (see photo). Make sure you get all the way to the edges.
Have your topping prepared and ready in a large flat bowl. Turn your frosted cupcake gently upside down into the topping bowl and again, gently swirl to coat the frosting (see photo).
Turn it right side up and add a garnish like the cherry, or a piece of chocolate or whatever makes you happy (see photo).
Gluten Free Notes:
Brushing the cakes with the sugar water/liquor make them taste fabulous, and many high quality bakery cakes start out this way. It also helps when you bake Gluten Free cakes because they tend to become dry quickly. This remedies that dilemma.
Gluten Free cupcakes do not brown. I can’t emphasize not over baking. Over baked cupcakes are like rocks. Also, can’t over emphasize to not over mix either. They can come out dense and a bit tough.
Important to let the brushing liquid soak in and dry on the top otherwise the cupcake will be wet when you apply the frosting and get mushy. You should be able to touch the top and not have your finger stick to it. That is dry enough.
Frost gently – the cupcake is still cake and you can knock its head off. And be sure to make certain it has a rise in the center for the best look. The frosting will dry eventually so work relatively quickly to frost them all at one sitting. Don’t leave it and come back.
They last for about 4 days if stored in a tin. In plastic they last about 3 days. If you refrigerate them, let them come to room temp before serving.
The new year brought me new paint in my kitchen area. I can’t think of a better way to start the year OR a better color, “Sweet Annie”. Pardon the mess. I’ll get to that later. Right now I’m trying to think of ways to make “SWEET ANNIE” one of those replacements for cursing … like “fudge!” and “shut the back door!” I hope it catches on. I have always wanted to be part of an expletive (even a cleaned up one).
Of course, the boys thought the best part was this:
And if the wonderful new, shiny paint wasn’t enough, Mr. Fix-it showed up with this:
Ever heard of “Electric Switch Sealers”? Yhea, me neither. I admit, I was skeptical, but you won’t even believe how much frigid air pours in through that little space.
You just remove the faceplate, and apply the little foam barrier. It already has the cut-out for the switch and the little screw holes.
You won’t believe it until you try it (I know), but I swear, it stopped every bit of air that was coming through and it was a lot! Then you just screw the faceplate back on. How easy is that?
I dare you to try it. What a totally easy way to cut back on drafts and energy loss. I guess I need to go clean those dirty light switches now. The work never ends around here!
In other, less relate news, while Mr. Fix it was fixing stuff today, I saw this in the stripped-down old willow out back:
I’m pretty sure he saw me too. He’s got that “GET BACK TO WORK” look, doesn’t he?
I love peanut butter cookies. I love the little hash marks across the top, filled with sugar, that remind me of the cookies my ornery grandmother, Frances, used to make. I love them crunchy and sometimes I love them with a bog plop of blackberry jam on top. I really, really love that yesterday, I traded bags of these saucer-sized monsters for a couple dozen fresh farm eggs and a crock pot full of Taco Soup.
Can you believe that? It’s true. Peanut butter cookies for soup and eggs or soup and eggs for peanut butter cookies … either way, it was a win-win-win for everybody!
Jennifer made the Taco Soup. It’s loaded with ground beef, black beans, shoepeg corn, and chopped tomatoes. It’s zesty and a tad spicy and makes the house smell like a taco heaven. The kids LOVE it and I love it and even my soup-hating husband loves it. It’s a winner, especially when you’re trapped in the back corner of southwest Missouri on a frigid December day.
Emily gathered the eggs yesterday. Fresh eggs are magnificent. The varied colors and the smooth shell are almost too pretty to break open. However, I can’t often tell the difference in them when cooked, except in the color of the yolk and unless they are boiled. Did you know that fresh eggs won’t stink up your whole house when you boil them? It’s true. That alone may be the best reason to have fresh eggs. My son can tell the difference instantly. Every stinking time.
Back to the cookies -
These are so easy. No extra steps. No extra bowls. Almost everything is in a quantity of 1 and 1/2 … that is very strange, I know.
Let’s do this thing. Your neighbor might be making soup … or gathering eggs.
Butter. Oh wonderful, wonderful butter.
and peanut butter … my best friend during many a pregnancy ~
sugars, flour, eggs, vanilla, flour, baking soda, salt (makes this cookie) and honey roasted peanuts … oh my.
big, big, big … I used a regular sized ice cream scoop for these … not that wimpy little mini scooper
bake, bake, bake and voila!
serve with ice-cold milk – - – makes about 18 monsters or about 3 dozen “regular” size cookies
Get the recipe HERE! and then plan a swap with a few of your friends. Win. Win. Win.
Unless otherwise stated or linked, these images are my property and I'd appreciate it if you didn't use them without asking first. :)
