Recipe Box

So, my wonderful, beautiful, fun, adventurous, encouraging sister-in-law (love) Allison, a.k.a. Aunt Bo, asked me to share some recipes on my blog. I’ll do my best to add to the recipe box as often as possible. Also, check out my Month-uf-Menus (MuMs) page. As always, leave me a comment or send me an email with your favorite meals and I’ll add them to my recipe box!

Desserts:

O.K., O.K.!! I know, but this recipe box IS Alphabetized sooooo, dessert has to be first! 😉

Dangerously Easy Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge

Ingredients:

• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 cup milk chocolate chips
• 1 cup peanut butter (I use natural most of the time.)
• crushed peanuts (optional)

Directions:

1. Prepare pan/dish for fudge-lightly oil/grease. Have a piece of wax paper or plastic ready to press the fudge out. Open the can of condensed milk.
2. Melt chocolate chips- I use the microwave-told you this was dangerous! (Make sure you use a bowl that is large enough to accomodate all 3 ingredients.
3. Add peanut butter  to chocolate and soften, don’t cook, in the microwave.
4. Add the condensed milk and stir quickly and vigourously-maybe the workout will burn 1% of the calories you’re about to consume? Seriously though, this will harden up quickly so move faaast!
5. Dump/move/scrape the fudge into your prepared pan, cover with wax paper/wrap and press to smooth the top. If you are adding the nuts remove the paper/wrap and sprinkle nuts over the top,return the paper and then press the nuts into the top of the fudge.
6. Let cool, cut up. We really like this frozen or at least refridgerated. ENJOY!

Poultry:

Turkey Cutlets with Plum Salad

(courtesy of Food Network Magazine) (with variations by Melissa-of course!)

Photograph by Antonis Achilleos

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds turkey cutlets
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground coriander
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 5 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 firm plums, cut into 1-inch wedges
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 8 cups baby arugula

• Melissa’s variation-(Inspired by my favorite salad from Zum Schwan.) Make dressing with listed ingredients, but add Dijon mustard, honey, Truvia and green onions. Also, add walnuts/nuts/seeds and whatever other fruit you’d like (orange pieces, strawberries, apple) to salad. Add red leaf lettuce or whatever greens you like to the arugula. The arugula is really good alone, but vary the greens to your taste. For extra flavor add cheese – extra sharp cheddar, blue cheese, gorgonzola, feta or Parmigiano Reggiano all would be great! Serve with roasted potatoes, brown rice, or a lentil salad.

Directions

Preheat a grill to medium high. One at a time, place the cutlets between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and pound with a meat mallet or heavy skillet until 1/4 inch thick. Transfer the cutlets to a bowl and toss with the cayenne, 1 teaspoon coriander, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon black pepper and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Set aside.

Toss the plums with the remaining 1/4 teaspoon coriander, a pinch of salt and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Grill the plums, turning once, until just starting to soften, 3 to 4 minutes. Set aside.

Grill the turkey until cooked through, about 2 minutes per side.

Finely chop a few of the grilled plum wedges; put in a large bowl. Stir in the lemon juice, the remaining 3 tablespoons olive oil and 1/4 teaspoon each salt and black pepper. Add the arugula and toss. Top the turkey with the salad and the remaining grilled plums.

Per serving: Calories 371; Fat 19 g (Saturated 2 g); Cholesterol 68 mg; Sodium 641 mg; Carbohydrate 7 g; Fiber 1 g; Protein 43 g

Soups:

View this document on Scribd

Turkish:

My friend Aysun taught me how to make lots of wonderful Turkish food. (Muhteşem Türk yemekleri çok yapmak nasıl arkadaşım Aysun öğretti.)

The recipes in this section are inspired by Aysun.

Lahana Sarma (Stuffed Cabbage Rolls)

This recipe is adapted from: This Blog

Ingredients:

• 1 head (very large) cabbage, white if you can find it (Babies not included)
• ½ lb ground meat
• 1 big onion chopped finely
• 1 cup rice, washed and drained (I like a medium/short grain like Nishiki)
• flat leaf parsley, minced
• mint, dried or fresh minced, to taste
• Salca (Pronouced Sahlchah) – Turkish Red Pepper paste  (I like Mis Tatli (sweet/mild)
•  ½ tsp cumin
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 1-2 tbsp canola oil
• 1 ½ cup hot water
• ½ lemon juice (plus more for serving) (My friend Aysun always added some Lemon Salt (Limon Tuzu) to the top of the pot instead of the lemon juice.)

Remove any damaged outer leaves of the cabbage. Cut an “X” in the core or carefully remove a cone-shaped piece of the core in order to allow easier removal of the leaves. Place the cabbage in a pot and cover it with lightly salted water. Bring it to boil and turn the heat down to medium high. Boil it till the outer leaves start to loosen and get softer (2-3 minutes). Remove the soft leaves from the core and place them on a big plate or tray. Return the cabbage to the pot and repeat the last step until each successive layer of leaves gets soft and remove each layer in turn. Let the leaves cool for 8-10 minutes. Cut out a piece/wedge of the thickest part of center stalks from the leaves with a knife. Then cut the large leaves into three triangular parts and the smaller leaves into two equal parts (see the picture).If you like small rolls you can obtain about 50 pieces, but if you like bigger ones then there would be 30-35 pieces. I prefer making bigger rolls, so I cut the bigger leaves into 2 and use the small leaves without cutting. Now, here’s where a BIG variation comes in. My friend Aysun stuffed the cabbage leaves with raw ingredients. She mixed all of the ingredients together thouroughly, as if you were making a meatloaf. So, that’s what I do next. Some people cook the rice (which I may try) and brown the meat and the onions. I don’t do that. So, mix the meat, rice, pepper paste, herbs and spices together. Take a small amount of the meat mixture, shape it into an elongated meatball/meatlog. Now it’s time to roll the stuffed cabbages. Take one piece of cabbage leaf and place your meatlog (about 2 tbsp of filling, according to the size of the leaf) on the wider side (see the picture) and fold the sides inside and roll (see the picture). Repeat this for the remaining leaves. Arrange cabbage rolls in a large pot (see the picture), trickle canola oil over the top. Pour lemon juice and cover half of it with boiling water. Once it starts to boil, turn the heat low and cover the lid. Simmer for 30-40 minutes, until the rice cooks thoroughly. Let it rest for 15-20 minutes. Serve Stuffed Cabbage Rolls with Ground Beef warm, with yogurt or yogurt sauce and a side of rice. ENJOY

                    (Abbage & the Cabbage, wasn’t she so cute?)

 

 

 

 

 

Turkish Leek Stew

6 leeks, washed and cut in 1/2 inch rounds

1 lb or more ground beef (some people like cooking leeks with lamb)

1 onion

2 carrots, cut in half rounds

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp parsley, finely chopped (pinch of thyme, cumin, and/or paprika optional if not using Salca)

1 1/2 cup water

salt

2-4 tbsp. Sweet (Tatli) Pepper Paste (Salca – pronounced Sahl-cha) if you want. I always use this. http://istanbulfoodbazaar.com/mis-tatli-paprika-paste-1900-g.html -Heat olive oil in a shallow pot and add ground beef. Cook until brown. (Add salca at this time & stir in)

-Add leeks, onion, and carrots, and saute for 6-7 minutes or until soft.

-Add water, parsley, lemon juice, and salt.

-First bring to a boil, and then turn it down to low, cover and simmer for approximately 1 hour.

-Serve hot with rice and/or crusty bread.

-Serve with Lemon wedges

-Serve with garlic yogurt sauce (Greek yogurt, with crushed fresh garlic to taste & thinned with water to a runny Ranch Dressing consistency)

Vegetables:

Roasted Carrots and Cippolini Onions

Recipe courtesy Guy Fieri, June 2008

Ingredients:

• 1 pound cippolini onions, ends trimmed and peeled, halve larger onions (I use whatever onions I have)
• 2 pounds baby carrots (I used carrots from my garden)
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1 tablespoon butter, melted
• 1/4 cup white wine
• 1/4 cup chicken stock
• Salt and coarsely ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves (add whatever fresh herbs you like)

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

On a sheet tray, toss onions and carrots with oil, butter, wine, and stock. Season with salt and pepper. Roast until golden and caramelized, about 25 to 30 minutes. Toss in a shallow serving bowl and garnish with parsley.

My Ground Beef Meal Options List:

 

Shepherd’s Pie

Meatloaf

Italian Stuffed Meatloaf

Hamburgers

Tacos

Tamale Pie

Pizza

Lasagna

Hamburg Soup

Spaghetti Sauce/Bolognese

Minestrone with meatballs

Turkish Meatball Soup with chickpeas

Turkish Meatballs –Kizartmasi

Adana Kebap

American Chop Suey

Piggies – Stuffed Cabbage Rolls