Mmm Balls

There's a really great sandwich shop, South Coast Deli, about a block from my husband's place in Santa Barbara. The last time I went there I got their "Mmm Balls" sub and then decided to make a version of my own. This is super easy and really filling. I used frozen turkey meatballs from Trader Joe's, but you could use vegetarian meat balls, or make your own...which I've done before.

Ingredients
-loaf of French bread, cut into sandwich sized slices
-package of frozen meatballs
-one onion, diced
-3 cloves garlic, minced
-1 jar tomato sauce
~5 oz of fresh mozarella
-few springs of fresh basil, chiffonaded
-1 T EVOO

Steps
1. Saute your onion on medium heat with the EVOO for about 5 minutes, then add garlic and saute for another minute.
2. Turn down the heat to low-medium and add the sauce and frozen meatballs. Let the meatballs cook in the sauce for about 20 minutes.

3. Place about 3-4 meatballs, onions, sauce, few slices of mozzarella, and basil in the French bread and enjoy!

Turkey Bean Chili

This was a nice twist on regular chili. The broth was lighter and the lime juice added some tanginess.

Ingredients (Note: this made about 8 servings)
-3 cans white Northern beans
-4 cups chicken/vegetable broth
~1 lb ground turkey
-2 medium yellow onions, diced
-4 cloves of garlic, diced
-3 plum tomatoes, diced
-2 T chili powder
-1.5 tsp cumin or taco seasoning
-2 limes
-fresh cilantro
-salt and pepper (to taste)
-2 T oregano (optional)
~2 T EVOO
-dash of cayenne pepper (optional)

Steps
1. Heat EVOO in a dutch oven or large stock pot. Add onions and saute for about 4 minutes.
2. Add turkey and brown, breaking up into small pieces with a wooden spoon.
3. Add garlic, chili powder, cumin, oregano and saute until turkey is browned.

4. Add beans and chicken stock, bring to a boil, then simmer for 25 minutes.
5. After soup has been simmering for about 10 minutes, taste soup and add cayenne, salt, and pepper to taste. Add diced tomatoes.

6. After 25 minutes, take a potato masher and mash up beans in the pot.
7. After 25 minutes, add the juice of two limes to soup. Serve soup and top with cilantro.

Pesto Pasta Salad

This is a really easy recipe that can also be very easily be modified by adding or subtracting ingredients. Want it vegetarian? Leave out the pepperoni. Want it fancier? Sub prosciutto for the pepperoni. Like it salty? Add some kalamata olives and/or artichoke hearts.

Ingredients
-1 box wheat penne pasta
~4 oz pesto
~8 oz mozzarella, cut into small pieces
-2/3 package turkey pepperoni, cut into fourths
~8 oz sundried tomatoes
-1 green pepper, diced
~1/3 red onion, diced

Steps
1. Cook pasta al dente. Once done, run pasta under cold water for a couple minutes.
2. Add pesto to pasta and mix well.
3. Stir in the rest of the ingredients.

Pizza Pockets a la Noemi

I got this recipe from my friend, Noemi's, super awesome blog. You can find the link to the original recipe here: Cooking Through Life: Pizza Pockets.

These were so fast and easy to make, and they satisfied the pizza craving I pretty much always have without being as bad for me as real pizza.

Ingredients (makes 8 pizza pockets)
-1 package reduced fat turkey pepperoni
-2 packages reduced fat Pillsbury crescent rolls
-1 green onion
-1/2 red onion
-small jar of pizza sauce
~8 oz fresh mozzarella

Steps.
(preheat oven to 375)
1. Roll out one can of crescent rolls. Place two triangles together and pinch perforated edges together with your fingers. Repeat with second can.

2. Put about a tablespoon of pizza sauce in the middle of your dough.

3. Add about 6-7 pepperoni slices in the middle and green pepper, red onion, and mozzarella on the sides.

4. Next, fold the sides of the dough in toward the center until they almost meet (you'll probably need to stretch and work the dough a little bit to do this). Seal all edges except for the center seam.
5. Shove a couple more pieces of pepperoni in the center seam.
6. Bake until golden brown (only took about 10 minutes in my oven).

Bacon, Gouda, and Spinach Bread Pudding

This turned out to be a comforting, easy to put together type of meal. Also, the leftovers were great heated up in a toaster oven the next day. I like bread puddings, but I don't want them to remind me of pudding. In other words, I like mine really firmly set and crunchy on the edges. In order to achieve that I usually reduce the liquid and bake mine for longer than needed. If you like your bread puddings more pudding-like, then I suggest either adding more liquid or reducing the cooking time.

 Ingredients:
-1 large stale baguette, torn/cut into pieces (if your bread isn't stale, leave it out overnight or toast slices in the oven)
-7 oz Gouda, shredded
-3 large handfuls of fresh spinach
-1.5 red onions, diced
-4 slices turkey bacon
-1.5-2 C milk
-4 eggs
-salt & pepper to taste
-1/4 tsp nutmeg

Steps:
(preheat oven to 350)
1.  Cook bacon and chop into small pieces.
2. Saute onion for about 6 minutes, using the bacon drippings for oil.
3. Whisk eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and nutmeg together in a bowl.
4. Place bread pieces in a large bowl. Pour milk mixture over bread pieces and toss to coat all pieces.
5. Add bacon, onion, and spinach to bowl and mix together with bread pieces.
6. Scoop mixture out into a casserole dish or greased 13X9 pan.
7. Top with shredded Gouda.
8. Cook for 1 hour. (I put foil over mine for the first 40 minutes, and then removed to let the cheese get a little browned).
9. Let sit 5 minutes before serving.

Asian Turkey Lettuce Cups

I got this recipe, which I tweaked a bit (basically by adding more of the spices and herbs), from Cooking Light. These turned out to be really flavorful, and have almost zero fat.

Ingredients:
~1.25 lbs of ground turkey (you can sub tofu to make it vegetarian)
~12 medallions of ginger, finely diced
-1 bunch of green onions, chopped
~3 heaping T of mint, chopped
~3 heaping T of cilantro, chopped
~1 T diced jalepeno (I wish I would have added more)
~2.5 T ketchup (recipe called for fish sauce, but I've found ketchup works fine as a substitute)
-2 T brown sugar
~3 T EVOO (recipe called for 2 T EVOO, and 1 T dark sesame oil, but I didn't have dark sesame oil)
-Head of Napa cabbage (I couldn't find this so I used Romaine, which worked fine)

Steps:
1. Chop up all your herbs.

2. Brown turkey with ginger in a pan for ~7 mins. Break turkey up into small pieces with back of spoon while browning.
3. Add turkey to large bowl.

4. Mix in all other ingredients (except lettuce)

5. Spoon turkey mixture into lettuce cups.

Slaw Dogs

I actually based this (SUPER EASY) recipe off menu items from two Tallahassee establishments: the slaw is similar to Bagel Head's and Water Works actually serves slaw dogs (though they use a creamy slaw).

Ingredients:
Dogs
-Turkey dogs
-buns
-mustard (optional)

Slaw
-Package of pre-made coleslaw
- ~5 green onions
-1 package ramen (reserve spice pack)
-1/4 cup rice wine vinegar (it's actually a tad more than 1/4 C...I was paying close attention this time)
-1/8 cup EVOO
-2 heaping T of brown sugar

Steps
1. Chop up green onion.

2. Crush up ramen packet, then remove spice pack.
3. Whisk EVOO, rice wine, brown sugar, and ramen spice pack.
4. Put ramen, green onion, and slaw in a big bowl. Pour vinegar mixture on top and toss well. Let sit at least 15 minutes (it's better if it sits about an hour).

5. Cook turkey dogs according to package.

6. Top with mustard and slaw.









Note 1: If you want to serve the slaw as a side dish, it's really good with sliced almonds and sesame seeds on top.

Note 2: You can easily double the slaw recipe (which we usually do) because it's really good leftover and is as addictive as crack.

Note 3: I always eyeball the vinegar mixture, but you should end up with approximately 1/2 C of mixture, once all the ingredients are in. It's about this much liquid (see below).