Buffalo Turkey Burgers

Ever since I started blogging, I have wanted to try different meats besides my usual chicken with an occasional pork or steak. A couple of months back, I came across this burger recipe at Thyme for Wine (clever name!) and it uses ground turkey rather than the usual ground beef. Perfect way to try a different kind of meat, I thought. Of course, like always, I had to make a few changes to suit our likings as well as cut the recipe down because it originally yields 6 servings but we were making enough just for the two of us. We ended up making four burgers total, but I should have known that there is NO way I could eat two of these! They are plump! So really I only had one burger, and didn't really need to make four total... I don't remember the exact measurements, so I will just supply the original recipe from Rebecca in regards to the ingredient amounts.

Buffalo Turkey Burgers adapted from Thyme for Wine

Printable recipe

*Yields: 6 servings

•  1.2 lbs lean ground turkey
• 1/2 white onion, finely chopped
• 1/3 cup bread crumbs
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/3 cup hot sauce/buffalo sauce
• 6 slices of mozzarella cheese (I used pepper jack cheese)
• 6 hamburger buns
• lettuce for serving
• celery sticks for serving

In a large bowl, combine the ground turkey, chopped onion, bread crumbs, salt and pepper. Once incorporated, form into 6 equally sized patties. 

In a large skillet, heat 1 tbsp olive oil over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the turkey burger patties to the skillet. Cook on each side for at least 7 minutes (depending on the thickness of the burgers). 

Once the burgers are done, toss them in a bowl of buffalo sauce. Set the burgers on a baking sheet lined with foil, place a piece of cheese on top and put in the oven to broil for two minutes (I put it on 'bake' at 200° just enough to melt the cheese). At this time, you can toast the buns in the oven if you like. 

When serving, place a small piece of lettuce on each bun, then the burger, and then any toppings of your choice like blue cheese crumbles or dressing on top. 

Note: You can serve them with celery sticks too for a real buffalo feel.

Unfortunately, I didn't really enjoy this meal. Dipping them in the hot sauce makes them very spicy, so just brush some on top if you don't want too much heat. And I found I didn't really like the ground turkey texture or flavor. It's probably a personal preference. Ok so maybe I'm not a ground turkey kinda gurl? Not 100% sure, but I don't think I will be making this recipe again. Maybe I will give ground turkey another try in another recipe, like chili or some other kind of burger.

Three Cheese and Chicken Stuffed Shells

I feel like I haven't been posting many recipes lately. Not as many as I want to, I guess. Hey, it's a busy life. I have been trying to work out more after work, and also have had many errands and things that need to be done lately, so I haven't had much time for blogging about recipes. It takes time to upload the pictures and edit them and write the posts! But I hope to get on it!

This here is a recipe that I found over at Deborah's Taste and Tell blog. Her blog is so nicely laid out, with a recipe archive for easy access to all of her recipes. Her pictures are beautiful, which I always look for! And she has an abundance of recipes to offer! This is just one of her many recipes which I have either tried or plan to try in the future.

I boiled a pot of water and cooked the large pasta shells according to the package instructions. While that was cooking, I combined the diced chicken, all of the ricotta cheese, only 2 ounces of the mozzarella cheese, all of the Monterey cheese, sour cream, bread crumbs, parsley, and salt and pepper - all in a large bowl. I mixed them all together well. I took this picture before I added the diced chicken... oops! But add that in too and mix it!

Then I sprayed my beloved casserole dish with some non-stick cooking spray and then  spread a thin layer of spaghetti sauce covering the bottom of the dish.  I stuffed that wonderful filling inside all of the cooked pasta shells and then placed the shells inside of the dish. You will need to stack them on top of each other because obviously just one layer isn't going to be enough! 

Then pour some of that spaghetti sauce over top of all of the stuffed pasta shells. And don't forget to top with the remaining mozzarella!

Then bake that bad boy at 350° F for 40 minutes. Try it, you won't be sorry.

Three Cheese and Chicken Stuffed Shells adapted from Taste and Tell

Printable recipe

*Serves 4

• 6 ounces large shell pasta
• 1 chicken breast half, cooked and diced (we used chicken thighs with the skin-on because that's what we had)
• 8 ounces ricotta cheese
• 3 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
• 3 ounces shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 1 tablespoon sour cream
• 3 tablespoons dried bread crumbs (I used Progresso's Italian style)
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 cup spaghetti sauce

Preheat oven to 350° F. 

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt water, then add pasta and cook according to package directions. Drain and set aside

In a large bowl, combine chicken, ricotta cheese, 2 ounces of mozzarella cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, sour cream, bread crumbs, parsley and salt and pepper. Mix well.

Spray a baking dish with nonstick spray and cover the bottom of the dish with a thin layer of spaghetti sauce. Fill each large shell with the chicken/cheese mixture and place in the dish. Cover with the remaining sauce and then sprinkle the remaining mozzarella cheese on top.

Bake at 350° F uncovered for 40 minutes. Serve warm.


I am linking this recipe to Foodie Friday.

Menu Planning - Week of 10/25/10

I am hopping on the meal-planning bangwagon. It can only be a good thing for our lives. We need order! So yesterday PJ went to Kroger and got everything on the list for the week. We planned out about 6 meals and sides, and some lunch ideas for me so I don't always have to eat out. I wanted to post this yesterday, you know, like a Monday kind of thing. But I didn't have the list with me. So here it is a day late. It would be nice if I could post a weekly meal plan every Monday! We will see how it goes...

Monday 10/25:  Baked Cod with Parmesan Sauce, and Lemon Butter Broccoli

Tuesday 10/26:  Chicken Tenders w/ Spicy Avocado Sauce, and Velveeta rotini  (or we may just order take-out because I have a grad school info session from 6 PM til 8 PM).

Wednesday 10/27:  Chili for two, and texas toast garlic bread

Thursday 10/28:   White Chicken Enchiladas w/ Green Chile Sour Cream Sauce, and horseradish parmesan potatoes adapted from this recipe

Friday 10/29:  Sole fillets in lemon butter, and asparagus

Saturday 10/30:   Cheesy BBQ Sloppy Joes, and Texas toast

Sunday 10/31:  HALLOWEEN! Anything goes!


I am linking up to I’m an Organizing Junkie for Menu Plan Monday.

Nacho Chicken Bake

I have already shared with you my love of a particular seasoning, and this recipe was a great place to use it. Well really, any recipe is a good one to use it if you ask me. Yes you guessed it, that delicious Grippo's seasoning! I wanted to use it in this Nacho Chicken Bake recipe that I discovered from my fellow blogging friend (and inspiration!) Krista. 

I made some modifications to Krista's original recipe. One of those was that I didn't use canned chicken. Instead, I had three bone-in chicken thighs with the skin on, so I seasoned them with the Grippo's seasoning before cooking.

Then I baked them at 350° until fully cooked and then diced them into smaller pieces. You can remove the skin if you would like, or use canned chicken or even boneless skinless chicken breasts. This is just what I had on hand. I probably would prefer the boneless skinless chicken breasts because the skin is useless in this recipe.

Another modification I made was that I halved the recipe, since I was making it just for the two of us. So I spread out 4 or 5 cups of cheesy Doritos on the bottom of a greased casserole dish instead of the 8 cups of Doritos that the original recipe calls for. You can grease the dish with butter or cooking spray. I'm pretty sure I used butter because I didn't have cooking spray at the time. I feel like I should have a picture for this step, but I don't. But you get the gist.  Doritos spread on bottom of dish.

Then in a large bowl, I combined a 10 3/4 oz. can of mushroom soup, 1/2 cup of salsa, 1 cup shredded Mexican cheese (I didn't half the cheese amount), 1/2 of a diced onion, 2 oz. diced jalapenos, and the cooked diced chicken. I mixed well and then poured it over the chips and spread evenly to cover the entire casserole dish.

Then I sprinkled some additional cheese on top of the uncooked casserole and then baked at 350° for 35 minutes. The finished product was delicious! You can eat it as is, or like PJ who ate it in a tortilla. 

He is a creative one, that man! I just ate mine as is, with a fork and a smile  :)

Nacho Chicken Bake adapted from Krista

Printable recipe

• 4-5 cups cheesy Doritos
• 3 bone-in chicken thighs with the skin on
• Grippo's Seasoning
• 1 can (10 3/4 oz.) cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 cup salsa
• 1 cup shredded Mexican cheese
• 1/2 an onion, diced
• 2 oz. diced jalapenos
• additional cheese for topping

Preheat oven to 350°. Season chickens with Grippo's seasoning, and then bake at 350° until fully cooked. Then dice chicken into small pieces.

Spread Doritos evenly onto the bottom of a greased casserole dish.

Combine soup, salsa, cheese, onion, jalapenos, and cooked chicken in a large bowl and mix together. Then spread the mixture over top of the chips, spreading evenly throughout to cover everywhere. Sprinkle the top with additional cheese.

Bake at 350° for 35 minutes.

**I am linking this one to Foodie Fridays.

Enjoy!

Restaurant Review : Arby's in Ft. Wright

I have a love/hate relationship with fast food. Sometimes I feel like I am in an abusive relationship with it. It beats me up, hurts my body, makes me feel horrible about myself. Sometimes I want to pack my bags and never visit another fast food joint ever again, other times I keep going back and giving it another chance. Seriously, it is like an unhealthy relationship... and I am the abused.

I really don't want to give in to the easiness of going back. I know it will mean disgust and regret, but I still do it anyways. I let these awful places lure me back in with their convenience and cheap prices. And then, once it is all over, like a battered wife who knows she can't go on like this, I am upset at myself for giving in to the temptation to return to such a hell. Maybe one day I will be strong and finally say "NO! I will not let you back in my life!"  Alot easier said than done. Obviously, because I ended up at Arby's the other day for lunch. Unfortunately.

I ordered my usual - Arby's cheddar melt, a small fry and a side of cheese. With a Dr. Pepper of course. Is it just me or have the Arby's melts gone up in price but gotten smaller in size? They just seem so much smaller than they used to, with alot less roast beef on it. The roast beef at Arby's, for me, is always a hit or miss kind of thing. Probably 80 times out of 100, it is a miss in my opinion. So why do I keep going back? I don't know. I just don't know.

To top it off, many times the fries are soggy and not cooked enough. I like my curly fries crispy. I think these were pretty crispy, but not hot. So I either get soggy, or I get cold. It's a lose-lose. You think I would learn my lesson. But I still haven't.

When Arby's is good, it's really good. But when it is bad, I am so turned off by the thought of eating there again. I have had some great Arby's food in the nicer areas of town. Where the workers care more about their job and the food they are serving their customers. Seems like all fast food places down by where I live could care less about what should be served. They don't care if food is cold, fries are soggy, anything. So.... I'm gonna finally put my foot down and stop going back to this one-sided relationship! They aren't fulfilling their part of the bargain, so neither will I. Time to stop wasting my time (and money) and move on to the better foods in life!

A SteakNPotatoes Kinda Meal

My name says it all - I am a steak and potatoes kinda girl. Put them together and that could just be the best meal I could ever ask for. The topic for this week at I Heart Cooking Clubs was "served-family style" with one of Giada's recipes. I saw this one on the Food Network website (that originally came from her cookbook Giada's Family Dinners) and thought it fit the theme perfectly, since it came from her family cookbook, AND I had wanted to make it so badly! It twas her Baked Mashed Potatoes with Parmesan Cheese and Bread Crumbs recipe. Mashed potatoes are lovely by themselves, and add some cheese and bread crumbs (which I hadn't thought to do before!)... well that just seems genius! So I knew I had to make these potatoes for this week's theme at IHCC. But I just didn't know what to make as the main course. Then I asked PJ to skim my lonnnng list of recipes to try, and he chose a delightful steak recipe. We hadn't had steak in awhile, and like I said before, I will never pass up an opportunity to eat steak and potatoes. Good thinking, Peej!

I modified Giada's recipe slightly. I made half of what the recipe originally called for, since I was making it only for the two of us.  I did not peel the russet potatoes, which was totally fine with us. I also used vitamin D milk instead of whole milk. I also used Progresso Italian bread crumbs rather than the plain kind it called for. And lastly, I waited to preheat the oven until after the potatoes were cooked. No big changes, just minor ones. Here is my modified recipe of Giada's delightful version.

Giada's Baked Mashed Potatoes w/ Parmesan Cheese & Bread Crumbs

Printable recipe

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 pounds russet potatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/2 cup vitamin D milk
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
• 3/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon Progresso Italian bread crumbs

Cook the potatoes in a large pot of boiling salted water until they are very tender, about 15 minutes. Drain, return potatoes to the same pot and mash well. Mix in the milk and melted butter. Mix in the mozzarella and 3/4 of the Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Preheat oven to 400°. Coat a 13x9 inch baking dish with 1 tablespoon of butter. Transfer the potatoes to the prepared baking dish. Stir the bread crumbs and remaining Parmesan in a small bowl to blend. Sprinkle the bread crumb mixture over the mashed potatoes.

Bake, uncovered, until the topping is golden brown, about 20 minutes.

*Note: This recipe can be prepared up to 6 hours ahead of time, up to the point right before you bake it. Cover and chill.

I am linking this potato recipe to IHCC for "served family style" week of Giada's recipes.

My favorite cut of steak is the filet - it is always so tender and juicy and doesn't have much fat on it. And I love an easy steak recipe, such as the one I saw over at Ashley's blog. She is a New York girl and she cooks fancy food and takes beautiful photos. I knew I had to try her recipe for steak with parmesan herb butter, but with our own modifications. Boy, am I glad we did! Um, steak... delicious. Parmesan... delicious. Herbs... always tasty. And butter... again, delicious! There was no way we weren't making this recipe! So we served Giada's potatoes with some filet mignon steaks with Parmesan Herb Butter. We just cooked the steaks in oil on a skillet, letting them get nice and brown on the outside, and cooking until steaks were medium temperature. I always have trouble with overcooking my steaks, or not cooking them enough. I used to have to cut into them with a knife. Now, I try to guess based on the touch. But I do also have to use a thermometer just to make sure that it is at an acceptable temperature. This is a skill I need to perfect... knowing how to cook a steak without cutting into it or using a thermometer. I'll let you know when I perfect it  :) Below is the recipe for the Parmesan Herb Butter that we used over top of the steaks.

Parmesan Herb Butter from Big Flavors from a Tiny Kitchen

Printable recipe

• 4-5 tablespoons butter, softened
• 2 green onions, finely chopped (can use scissors)
• 2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Mix all ingredients together and serve over top of steaks. 

This was absolutely divine! We will make both of these recipes again! Filet is not something we can have very often, but we are blessed when we can  :) These potatoes were good heated up the next day too for leftovers!

Monterey BBQ Chicken

I find a lot of my inspiration from Reeni over at Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice. Her photos are amazing, her food is equally so, and her posts are just so organized and appealing to the eye. Many of her recipes are on my list to try. Well, I can scratch one off the list... Monterey Chicken, which Reeni says was inspired by the Chili's restaurant version. I have never tried that one, so I don't have anything to compare it to, but I do know that it was delicious! As soon as I saw the ingredients, I knew there was no way that we wouldn't enjoy it!

Monterey BBQ Chicken adapted from Reeni

Printable recipe

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 cup Sweet Baby Ray's Honey BBQ Sauce
• 2 slices of bacon
• 1/2 of a large yellow onion, thinly sliced
• about 2 cups sliced mushrooms
• olive oil
• 2 oz. diced jalapenos
• 3/4 cup monterey jack shredded cheese
• 1/4 cup hot pepper shredded cheese
• salt and pepper

Season chickens with salt and pepper, as much as you like. Then marinate in a bowl with bbq sauce fully covering the chickens.

Preheat oven to 400°. You will bake the chicken until cooked through, about 20 minutes or a little more. But while chicken is baking, cook the bacon in a large skillet. Crumble bacon when done. Once bacon is finished cooking, add a bit of olive oil to the same skillet that the bacon was cooked in, and then add the onions and mushrooms and cook until tender. Then add the jalapenos and saute for a few more minutes. 

Once chicken is cooked, remove and sprinkle the cheeses on top. Then place them back in the oven to melt the cheese.

Top the chickens with the mushroom, onion, and jalapeno mixture and crumbled bacon.


****Thanks for sharing your goodness, Reeni!