Fiesta!

My sister-in-law Victoria introduced me to this recipe.  Over the past couple of years, I’ve modified it, especially now that Beth and I are on the Slow Carb Diet.  It tastes good, it’s not too complicated, and you get lots of leftovers making meals for the remainder of the week pretty easy.

Ingredients:

One pound of ground turkey
Two cans of black beans
Two cans of kidney beans
Two large cans of diced tomato
One can of Rotel tomatoes (we use the one with mild chilis)
Can of chopped chilis
Taco seasoning
Kale (quarter pound) (optional)
Turmeric (optional)
Avocado
Onion
Can of sliced black olives

Directions:

If using kale, I would recommend running it through a food processor before doing anything else, mincing it thoroughly.  

1. Brown turkey in a pan.  We use a really large skillet so we just add the rest of the ingredients to that, but you can use a crockpot after browning the turkey.
2.   Add one of the large cans of diced tomatoes.  Add can of chilis.
3.   For the taco seasoning, we bought one of the larger containers from Costco.  I use four tablespoons.  You can just buy some of the individual packets if you want. Add turmeric.  This is optional.  Don’t be surprised that everything turns orange.  Turmeric is added because of the extensive health benefits.  Stir everything up so that the turkey is coated with the spices.  
4. Add beans.  I empty the cans into a colander and rinse before adding.  
5. Add can of Rotel.
6. Add that second can of tomatoes.
7. Add kale.  Again, this is optional, and it’s added because kale is one of the most nutritious foods on the planet.  When I first did this, I used about a pound of kale - that was too much.  A quarter pound would be much better.
8. Mix everything up real well.  Cover, and let it cook.
9. While cooking, dice up the onion.
10. Dice the avocado.  
11. Periodically stir.  I usually consider it done when I see everything boiling a little bit.
12. Serve in big bowl.  Add some onion, avocado and olives.  
13. I also add some hot sauce.  I prefer Habanero Tabasco.  Beth like the Chipotle Tabasco.
14. Mix this last bit up in your bowl and eat!

As I mentioned earlier, Victoria introduced this to me.  Before we were on the Slow Carb Diet, we served it on a bed of rice and added cheese, as well as Fritos for texture.  Eliminating these items and adding the kale, I’m not sure if you can find a more nutritious one-pot meal.

Randy's Meatloaf Recipe

Ok, it's not really my recipe - I got it from Tabasco, but I've modified to make it a bit healthier.  If there is someone in your household who doesn't like ground turkey and they think it has to be beef, they will never know the difference.  Here's what you will need:

-One to 1.5 pounds of ground turkey - they generally come in packs of this weight
-Three slices of bread (I use whole wheat bread; like I said, I try to make this as healthy as possible)
-One cup of milk
-Two eggs
-1/4 to 1/2 of a minced/diced onion (I generally like sweet, yellow onions or Vidalia onions)
-One tablespoon of ketchup
-One tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce
-1.5 teaspoons of salt
-One teaspoon to one tablespoon of Tabasco (I use the original, but you could use others (e.g., Habanero) if you want more heat - you can also use another hot sauce if you like them better (e.g., Texas Pete)
-One teaspoon of garlic powder or granulated garlic

Get a big bowl and a meatloaf pan.  You can go ahead and spray the inside of the meatloaf pan with Pam or other cooking spray if you want.  Also, go ahead and pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Here's a hint - make sure the ground turkey is fully defrosted (I'll explain later).  Dump it into that big bowl.  On top of the turkey, start ripping up the bread into small pieces (about the size of your thumbnail) and putting that with the turkey in the bowl.  After the bread is in the bowl, add the milk, eggs (duh, crack them first - don't put the shells in), onion, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, salt, Tabasco, and garlic.  With all that in the bowl, start mixing it up with your hands.

It will probably be a bit cold.  That's why you want the turkey fully defrosted.  I did it when the turkey was still a bit frozen, and it was quite painful.

Now that its all mixed up, it should all be one big mushy consistency.  Put it into the meatloaf pan, pushing it down a bit to make sure it's filling the pan.

Now, here's another hint - get out a cookie sheet and put some aluminum foil on that sheet.  Set the meatloaf pan on the cookie sheet.  This way, if the meatloaf bubbles up and over during cooking, it will spill on the foil and not in the oven with a big mess.

Put it in the oven for 90 minutes - time and temperature is dependent on how well your oven matches temps.  The recipe calls for 350 degrees, I generally move mine up to 375 to be sure.

After cooking, let it sit for about 15 minutes, then slice and serve.  I like to dip mine in ketchup and my preferred side is black-eyed peas.

The wife loves this recipe - she always makes me cook two loaves so she can make meatloaf sandwiches through the week.

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Nuts, Bolts, and Screws

People now refer to it as Chex Mix, but growing up, my mom always called it Nuts, Bolts, and Screws.  You can buy it pre-packaged, but I'm not a big fan of what they mix together, so I like to make my own.  Here's the highfalutin recipe that I use:

Half box of Rice Chex

Half box of Corn Chex

Half box of Wheat Chex

Whole box of Multibran Chex

Half container of cashews from Costco

Half bag of pecans from Costco

Half bag of walnuts from Costco

Quarter container of peanuts from Costco

Half bag of thin pretzel sticks

Two sticks of butter

10 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce (I use French's because it's really cheap)

Three teaspoons of seasoned salt

For a little extra kick, add a tablespoon or two of Tabasco

Get one of those big aluminum pans.  I generally layer the above ingredients, alternating between Chex and nuts (e.g., Rice Chex, then cashews, then Wheat Chex, then peanuts, etc.).  After all the Chex, nuts and pretzels are in the pan, take the two sticks of butter and nuke it in one of those Pyrex measuring cups for 35 to 45 seconds.  In said cup, add in the seasoned salt, Worcestershire sauce and Tabasco.   Depending on your taste, you may want to go easier on the sauces and salt; I like it salty, so that's why I add more.  Stir it up.

Slowly pour over your pan of mix, going vertical and horizontal to get the most coverage.  Put the pan in the oven at 250 to 270 degrees for 90 minutes, stirring the mixture every 30 minutes.  

Pretty easy to do.  I generally make two batches (note that the above recipe calls for half-boxes/half-containers).  I rationalize making this because I have lots of nuts in it (you can't spell nutrition without nut!).