Asian Cabbage and Turkey Saute

Craving Chinese takeout but want a simple and healthier option you can make at home?  This is the recipe for you!  Its quick, tasty, and not full of unknown fat.  It is great on its own without rice as well, so that makes it even more healthy!  Even my husband, who is not the biggest fan of Chinese food loved this!

The recipe is pretty basic, but delicious in its simplicity!  Feel free to add more veggies at your discretion.  And you can use another protein if you would like!  I just happened to have ground turkey on hand, but would definitely make it with ground deer or anything else! 

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground turkey
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• pinch of sugar
• 1 t minced fresh ginger
• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
• 1 t white vinegar
• 4 sliced green onions, or owl pine leeks
• 1 lb shredded cabbage
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 T Sriracha or other hot sauce
• Salt and black pepper, to taste

Instructions

1. Brown the ground turkey in a skillet and season it with salt and pepper to taste.
2. Remove the turkey from the pan and set aside. Drain off the fat if you wish.
3. Heat up the sesame oil and saute the garlic, onions and  cabbage in there until the cabbage is cooked to the desired tenderness.
4. Stir in the hot sauce, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar and ginger.
5. Add the ground turkey back in and mix well to combine.
6. Serve with extra hot sauce for those spice fans at the table.

Spiced Pecans (Perfect with Salt-Roasted Beets)

These little nuggets are deliciousness are great to have on hand to throw into salads, especially ones with salt-roasted beets are goat cheese!  But really, these are great to have on hand to throw into your mouth at any given time!  And if you are lucky like me and married into a Southern Family, you will also be the proud recipient of large bags of pecans from the in-laws during the fall.  Oh the perks :)  I like this recipe because it doesn't use butter to bind the spices onto the nuts so it keeps it a bit healthier.  These also pack a nice kick with the sweetness, and I'm always a fan of kick!!

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp. packed dark brown sugar
• 2 tbsp. smoked paprika
• 1 tsp. cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp. kosher salt
• ½ tsp. ground coriander
• ¼ tsp. granulated garlic
• ¼ tsp. ground cumin
• ⅛ tsp. ground allspice
• 2 cups pecan halves
• ½ beaten egg white

Preperation

Heat oven to 300°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set aside. Mix dark brown sugar, paprika, cayenne, salt, coriander, garlic, cumin, and allspice in a bowl. Mix pecan halves and egg white in a bowl until combined. Toss nuts with spice mixture to coat completely. Spread on prepared baking sheet; bake until browned and crisp, 25–30 minutes. Let cool before serving.

Salt Roasted Beets

Salt-roasting beets is a fantastic basic way of cooking them.  By salt roasting them you are not only naturally seasoning them, but you are concentrating both the earthiness and sweetness by actually dehydrating them somewhat.  These salt-roasted beets can be used anyway you would use a regular roasted beet:  in salads with goat cheese and spiced pecans (recipe coming soon), as a side, or just on their own!  I hope you enjoy this new and improved method of cooking beets!!

Ingredients

1 lb beets

Kosher Salt

Preparation

Pre-heat oven to 375.  Select a baking dish large enough to accommodate your beets.  Fill baking dish with approximately 1/4 inch of salt.  Arrange washed and dried beets in bed of salt.  Cover with aluminum foil and roast for approximately 50 minutes.  Time necessary for roasting will depend on the size of your beets.  Large beets can take more that 1 and 1/2 hours.  Test for doneness by sticking a sharp knife into the center of the beets.  If it does not meet resistance, the beets are done.  Let beets cool and rub skin off with an old dish towel.  Rinse and dry beets.  They are now ready to go!

Christmas (or anytime) Eggs

My family traditionally enjoys this breakfast strata on Christmas morning, hence the name.  Although I have added it into my anytime-delicious-brunch repertoire because it is just that: Delicious!  The original recipe came from my Aunt Vickie, and she would make it for her family for holiday breakfasts as well.  I can honestly say it is one of my favorite breakfast dishes of all time!

When I saw the beautiful Chantarelles on Erica's table my mind immediately knew I would be making this asap.  The beautiful sweet onions only made it better  And what is great about this recipe is it is versatile.  In this version I used Chantarelles, onion, and garlic all from the CSA.  I happened upon some brioche and breakfast sausage left over from work brunch so I used that.  Generally I just use regular old white bread, bacon, and button mushrooms.  But you can even add veggies to it as well!  It would be great with some sauteed greens, asparagus, or even oven dried tomatoes folded in.  The possibilities are endless!  I hope that you all enjoy this strata as much as I do.  I guarantee you will be the hit of your next brunch party if you bring this!!!!  

Ingredients

 

1 8 x 12" pan
5 slices of soft brioche bread
1 C swiss cheese
1 C cheddar cheese

1/2 lb breakfast sausage, crumbled
1/4 lb chantarelle mushrooms

1 small onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can cream of mushroom soup
5 eggs

1 1/2 C milk

Salt and Pepper to taste

Procedure

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease bottom and sides of 9x13 pan.  Line bottom of pan with bread. Sprinkle ½ of each cheese over the top of bread.  Cook sausage, reserving drippings. Saute mushrooms, onion, and garlic in fat, seasoning with salt and pepper to taste.  Spread both on top. Poke holes through the layers with a large fork about 1/2” apart.  Whip eggs to a froth, and add milk and cream of mushroom soup to eggs and stir.  Pour over the layers. Top with remaining cheese.  Refrigerate 24 hours.  Bake 45 minutes at 350 degrees.  Let stand for 10 minutes.  Slice and serve.