Did some planting!!

Well yes, it has been a LONG time since I posted. I will have some more time to blog about food in the up coming months since I will be a partial Stay at Home Mom.
I planted Basil, Rosemary, Cilantro, Beets, Romaine Lettuce, Green Beans, Butternut squash, yellow squash, and cucumber. It will be a long time before we get anything off of these, but I am excited to see how they go. We will be getting plants, like tomato, as well. Hopefully we get some great fresh veggies this year.

Now what to do with the Turkey Leftovers?

Turkey Barley Soup
I made a base of soup from the carcass of the turkey. I left a good portion of meat on the bones so I could get a meaty base. After straining the "bad" stuff out and picking through the remains I was left with some stock and a pile of meat. I just made a basic turkey soup starting with onion, celery, carrots and garlic. I added the meat back in and then the broth and a bit of water and simmered away. The taste was great but it was missing something. Instead of noodles or rice I thought barley sounded great. It sure tasted great.



Turkey Chili

Well I rarely follow a recipe with chili. But this is the basics.
1 yellow onion, diced
1 red pepper, diced (sweet)
1 yellow pepper, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tsp Southwest Seasoning
(I like to season the first ingredients to start)
Add the turkey meat back in and season to taste:
Cumin, Chili powder, salt, black pepper, Coriander, Franks Red Hot Sauce, red pepper flakes
2 Cans Diced Tomato
1 Can Tomato Paste
2 Cans Black Beans
1 Can Kidney Beans
1 Can Garbonzo Beans
1 Can White Beans

Simmer for a couple hours and enjoy!

Turkey 101

We get turkeys from work for Thanksgiving every year. It is hard to use it up right away because of balancing family and everything. So I tend to keep it stored away for another day. Since I doubt cooking a turkey will be on my my "fun list" for too much longer I decided to tackle it this weekend. The turkey I cooked for Thanksgiving last year was the first I brined. I was amazed how much more flavor there was in the bird. So this is a must with turkey. After brining for 24 hours I placed the bird in a cooking bag. Using a cooking bag is a great idea. It cooks faster and helps keep in tons of the juice. I used a generous amount of Montreal Chicken Spice Mix all over the bird and drizzled with a bit of honey. It cooked at 350 for about 3 hours.

Pork Loin on the Grill

I created a rub a few months back but this was the first time grilling the pork. It was just as good as oven roasting. I am a huge fan of pork.

Rub

Salmon Burgers with Citrus Basil Mayo, Sweet Potato Fries

We had some salmon burgers in the freezer. I decided to grill them up. I for some reason thought that lime and basil sounded good together. So I decided to try it.


1 Cup fresh Basil
1/2 Cup Mayo (Cottage cheese would work too)
1 Tbs Lime Juice
1 Tbs Lemon Juice
1 tsp Sugar



Mix all together in the food processor.

This really tasted great. I was impressed with myself. I served the burgers along side some sweet potato fries that I grilled with a bit of Olive Oil , S&P.

Garden Fresh Pasta

Well the pasta isn't garden fresh.. but the rest is. I just through together a pasta dish with garden tomato and basil, red onion, garlic and some Olive Oil. Simple and delish!

Black Bean, Corn & Tomato Salad

Such a simple side dish comes of these simple ingredients.



1 Can of Black Beans
1 Can of Corn (or equivilant frozen)
Diced Fresh Tomato (not sure how much I used, just all of what I could pull off the plants today)
We have yellow grape, cherry, and yellow/green stripped tomatoes in our garden

1 TBS Lime Juice
1 tsp Emeril's Soutwest Seasoning