Un-Stuffed Pepper Bake

We both love stuffed peppers! Since my husband buys bulk ground turkey meat at Costco, I often make stuffed peppers. I wanted to try something different this time to switch it up a little bit, plus I only had 2 peppers which I knew would not be enough. I decided to make an “Un-Stuffed” pepper bake using most of the ingredients I include in my regular stuffed peppers.

The main ingredients I used for the “stuffing” is ground turkey, a medium onion chopped, garlic powder, garlic, salt, and Italian seasoning:

I mix all of that together so the flavor incorporates throughout the meat:

I add the mixture into a cooking pan and brown the meat and soften the onions at the same time. Since ground turkey is very lean, there is not much fat to drain, but I remove any that may be in the pan:

I sliced up my 2 red peppers (any color can be used) and added them into the meat mixture to soften:

The flavoring I use in my stuffed peppers is usually ketchup, worcestershire sauce, garlic, a little bit of tomato sauce, fresh tomato, bread crumbs, and an egg white. Since the mixture does not need to form together into a “stuffing”, the bread crumbs and egg white is not needed. Therefore in the pan, I just added the ketchup, worcestershire sauce, garlic and a little bit of tomato sauce that I had leftover:

Instead of having chopped tomato in my filling for the peppers, I decided to thinly slice tomato and put them on top of the meat mixture since there is no filling. I lightly seasoned the tomato with garlic powder:

I then put the whole pan underneath the broiler so the tomatoes would cook down a bit:

Once they were done (probably 5 minutes), I added a bit of reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese since I normally top our stuffed peppers with cheese:

I again put this under the broiler and waited for the cheese to get bubbly:

This gives all of the flavors of stuffed peppers but it is just presented in a different way. Plus there is no bread crumbs or egg added, made with ground turkey, and low fat cheese is used making it a bit more healthy. The pepper bake scoops out like a casserole and is delicious:

This is just another example of how I like to switch things up in our Newlywed Kitchen! I am always trying to think of ways to make classic meals a bit different and I hope you look forward to new dishes to come as much as I do!

Beef Stew

This is literally the easiest stew that comes out perfect every time! This also happens to be my dad’s favorite thing that I make !! The best part about it is that it cooks in the crock pot for 8 to 10 hours and you have a meal.

I use carrots, celery, onion, and cubed sweet potato for the vegetables in my stew. I do not like regular potatoes in stews or soups, so I figured I would try the sweet potato and that happens to be my favorite part:

I throw all of those into the crock pot and make sure they are evenly mixed. I add a little bit of salt and garlic powder to season the vegetables:

I then pour a small can of tomato sauce over the vegetables and a large jar of beef gravy. You do not have to stir the vegetables or anything, just let the two ingredients sit on top:

I use a large roast as the meat in the stew. I generally get one that looks good or is on sale at the grocery store … I don’t even think I get the same cut every time, but it always turns out good:

After I put the meat on top of the veggies, I pour a can of au jus gravy over the meat. After the au jus is added, I sprinkle a packet of onion soup mix over the beef:

I then set the crock pot to low, cover it, and let it cook for 8 to 10 hours. When I made this dish, I put it on at 10 at night and it was ready when I woke up for work at 7 am to take for lunch with me. The house smelled so good and when I lifted the lid it looked like this:

The meat literally falls apart and is very moist:

Once I pull all of the meat apart, I mix everything together and the best stew ever is formed! Just like that:

The one time my parents came out to visit my husband and I, I made this as a part of my “fall” themed meal. My dad loved it so much that he wanted the ingredients to make it at home and made it that week. My dad likes good food just like I do, so for him to enjoy something that I made is the best! I used to try to make meals for him when I was younger for when he got home from work … they probably were not always that good, but he at least always ate some :) Me and my dad:

If you want a very easy meal with little ingredients, this beef stew is the right choice! It serves many bowls and the leftovers are just as good! My husband gets very excited when I come home from the grocery store when he sees all the ingredients for the stew, because he knows that our Newlywed Kitchen will have this delicious meal soon!

Dumpling Soup - Thai Style

So clearly from looking at the food I have made this week, I have been all about making food with different ingredients than I usually do. I was supposed to work tonight after working all day, but in the nursing world that can quickly change. This means that I did not have to go to work tonight and I had more time to relax and make a nice meal. I decided to make a warm soup since it is such a cold day, so I incorporated the ingredients that I have used throughout the week. Obviously these meals are not something that you have to try all in one week like I did, but as I like to get the most out of the money I spend shopping, I try to incorporate as many ingredients as possible so nothing goes to waste. So this warm soup I made is a Dumpling Soup – Thai Style.

As usual, it was a one pot meal making clean up very easy! I used fresh and some prepared ingredients which made it very fast to cook! I got a big pot and sprayed it with olive oil cooking spray, chopped up some celery (probably 4 stalks) and some mushrooms. I used shitake mushrooms because I wanted to try them out (much more expensive) but I do not think they added an extreme element to the dish so I think any mushrooms will be fine. I also put in some yellow curry powder with the vegetables and let them sauté for a couple minutes:

After that, I added chicken stock (I use the stock that comes in a box, and it was about one and a half boxes), added a can of light coconut milk, and a little bit of fish sauce (I have said this in a previous post … but I do not think fish sauce is necessary, it is very salty so if you wanted a substitute soy sauce would probably be good):

 I let these ingredients warm together and add some chopped pepper. I used red pepper mostly for the color, but any pepper would be good. Any vegetables that you wanted to incorporate would taste good in this dish:

After the peppers softened for a bit, I added “Asian dumplings”. I got this from the frozen international food section which are vegetable dumplings, just like you get at restaurants. They also have pork, chicken, or other meats, but every week I try to make a vegetarian dish. I put them in the soup frozen and let them warm through with the soup:

The dumplings come with a “dipping sauce” that I defrosted and added to the soup. It is basically like a soy/ponzu sauce but it tasted really good. I added a little bit at a time because I didn’t know how much or little I wanted, so just do this to taste. I served the soup with some scallions on top and it was delicious:

Normally most of these items in our house are not staples, however, many of them will now be some of our household items. You do not need to go out to dinner to get authentic tasting food from different ethnicities, instead stay in and try and replicate a meal in your kitchen, like we do in our Newlywed Kitchen.

Side note: My momma is a vegetarian so I try to be conscious of different things I can make. Being that my mom is a vegetarian, growing up I was able to eat different foods and try different things. I am happy that I had that opportunity because I am not picky at all when it comes to trying food. I think that is because I was exposed to all types of food early on! Me and my Momma:

Fake Gyro's

I used to work at a restaurant that was ran by a Greek family. The restaurant was fantastic, the bar is a fun place to be, and the food was amazing. Even more than the place itself, the people that I worked with are great! The Greek family that runs the place quickly became part of my extended family and I still remain close with them. The reason I bring this up is because while I was there I often ate or tried new Greek food, mainly the Gyro. This literally is one of my favorite foods and I really only ate it there! It really isn’t easy to make an authentic gyro at home, or at least the fantastic way that they do it, so I figured I would come up with a way so I could sort of have the same thing.

I decided to buy some ground lamb that I found at the grocery store. I have never seen this before but mainly because I was not looking for it. The flavor is amazing so if you haven’t tried it, you should. I also bought some whole wheat naan bread (obviously naan is not a pita, but it will do the job … plus I had previously bought it for another dish I made earlier in the week, and a dish I am making later in the week).  So I decided to make my version of a Fake Gyro.

I took the naan flatbread, wrapped it in foil, and put it in the oven with the temperature set at 250 just to warm the flatbread through:

Then in a skillet, I sprayed olive oil cooking spray, and sautéed sliced onion until it was soft. I then added the white part of a scallion (mostly because I love scallions and did not want them to go bad since I bought them for another dish) and let those sauté with the onions. I also added ginger (every time I say I use ginger, I am really using ginger paste which is very convenient and I have a picture below) and let that mix with the onions:

 

After those were sautéed, I added yellow curry sauce (also pictured below). I know that curry sauce is not really a traditional gyro ingredient, but I love curry and like to do things a bit different, or “drum to the beat of my own song” as my mom likes to say [or something like that].  The sauce not only gives the dish great flavor, but it makes a thick coating sauce to cover the meat:

Then I move the sauce to one side of the pan, and brown the lamb meat in the other side. Once the lamb is cooked, I mix the meat with the sauce, season with salt [and pepper if you want], and taste to make sure I like the way it tastes so far. Another nontraditional gyro thing that I did was add a bag of frozen green peas (I let them defrost a bit). The only reason I did this, well three reasons really, is because I love peas, I wanted to add a bit more nutritional value, and the peas allow the meal to make some more “gyros”. One pound of lamb meat is a little more expensive than other ground meats so by adding something else we get more for our money and still get great flavor:

I served the dish by putting the naan on a plate and served the “gyro” mix in a bowl on the side so everyone can make their own Gyro (this would also be good in lettuce wraps):

To put on the Gyro, I had chopped tomato on the side, Greek yogurt, and oregano. When I made up my mock gyro, it looked like this:

I can honestly say that this meal was delicious. It definitely is not a street corner gyro or a gyro from Harry’s (where I used to work), but it had all the delicious flavors that are composed in a gyro. I didn’t make the cucumber sauce that is usually on a gyro but the Greek yogurt was perfect! So this may not be your typical Greek classic dish, but I’m pretty proud of my own creation. If I am ever REALLY craving a REAL gyro, you can find me at Harry’s, but until then, my Fake Gyro out of Newlywed Kitchen will be just fine !

TIP: if you want some really great food, check out Harry’s. http://www.harryshotdogs.com/ they have an amazing staff, awesome food, 2 full bars, a grill, and the crowd is fantastic. You can always see Harry walking around (which is my favorite part) and you will ALWAYS get great food.

Coconut & Curry Mussels

This week I start a new job and a very new schedule. I am a nurse so my schedule changes often, but for the next 6 weeks I will be working 8 to 5 Monday through Friday, as well as working some nights at my other nursing job. This means I need hearty, healthy, and quick to make meals so I make sure that my husband and I can eat (who has a very busy schedule as well). Because of all of this, grocery shopping this week was a little different than usual and I am excited for the upcoming meals that I get to share with you.

For tonight’s dinner, I wanted to do something that we do not normally eat for dinner (or something that I have never made), since we are kind of celebrating my job tomorrow. While I was shopping, I saw mussels for sale so I bought 2 pounds (sounds like a lot but the actual meat of the mussel is not a lot). Since the rest of my grocery list had a lot of Thai and Asian inspired ingredients for the rest of the week, I figured I would get some extra use out of the things I had planned on buying.  So for this meal, I am using mussels, onion, garlic, ginger, curry sauce, coconut milk, fish sauce, lime, and cilantro.

First I sprayed a big pan with olive oil spray and put a sliced up onion in to sauté until soft (about 5 minutes).  After the onion was cooked, I added some chopped garlic and ginger paste and let that cook with the onions for a few more minutes. While this was in the pan, I rinsed the mussels and made sure they were all de-bearded and clean (I bought the pre-cleaned and de-bearded mussles but I just wanted to make sure). When the onions, garlic, and ginger are fragrant and soft, I added a jar of red curry sauce.  I do not like curry paste so in the international food aisle at the grocery store, I found some pre-made curry sauces that are healthy and taste delicious.  Because the sauce is already thick, I just let that warm through and mix with the other sautéed ingredients:

After the sauce is warmed through and mixed well, I add a can of light coconut milk and allow that to blend together.  (FYI – if you open coconut milk, it often separates in the can but that is normal ... no worries). Along with the coconut milk, I also added a tablespoon of fish sauce. I have never used fish sauce before and to be honest, I do not know if it specifically added something to the dish so if you do not have it at your store, do not worry about it:

Once the sauce is complete with all of these ingredients and is brought to a simmer, I added the mussels to the pan to waited for them to cook through (this takes about 8 minutes or so … I wasn’t really counting).  In order to know if the mussels are done, the mussels will pop open (the mussels that do no pop open need to be thrown away):

Since most of them had popped open, I added the juice of two limes to the pan, and then put the actual lime in the dish as well (obviously make sure the limes are cleaned well).  The reason I added lime is to give freshness to the dish, and a little extra flavor since there is no salt or any other spices:

After the lime is added and mixed around with the open mussels, I added a few handfuls of chopped cilantro (again for the extra flavor and freshness).  I picked through each mussel one by one to make sure they were all open and put them in my serving dish.  Although it was a lot of mussels to go through, I found about 6 that never opened so I am glad I took the time to do that.  Once the mussels were in my serving dish, I poured the leftover sauce over top and served the dish with naan whole wheat flatbread for dipping:

I was happy to make something for the first time, especially something that seems so complicated to do. The beauty about this dish is that it really isn’t complicated at all. Everything was done in one pan, mostly opening cans and jars, and a little bit of chopping, and some fresh ingredients which made for an awesome meal. My husband even asked to make it more often! To make it more of a complete meal, this can be served with or over brown rice to make it even heartier. Try making coconut curry mussels at home, or use a different inspiration for the sauce, and do not be afraid to try to cook something new… after all, being a newlywed is about doing and trying new things, especially in our Newlywed Kitchen.

Taco Lettuce Wraps

We do a lot of whole sale shopping at Costco, so naturally when we get ground meat; we get it in 5 lb packs. We individually wrap and freeze them into 1 lb each, giving us enough for 5 meals. We only buy ground turkey because it is much more lean and healthy! I decided to make ground turkey taco lettuce wraps for dinner last night and they were delicious. This is basically a standard taco night, but instead of the tortillas, we use romaine lettuce leaves which is much healthier and tastes fresh. I take the ground turkey, brown it in the skillet with a sliced onion. Once the meat is brown, I add taco seasoning and some water to form a thick sauce around the meat. When the meat is finished, it looks like this:

While it is cooking, I pull some romaine lettuce leaves, chop some tomato, get some reduced fat shredded cheese, fat free sour cream, and taco sauce. I put everything on a plate so everyone can make their own wraps:

As a side dish (although I like it in my lettuce taco wraps), I made yellow sweet corn. I added yogurt butter blend, fresh cilantro, and garlic powder to the corn just to give it extra flavor:

Once everything is together, it can be put out for everyone to begin making their food. I also think this dish is fun for kids because they get to “play” with their food. Also, it is so versatile because anything can be switched out to give it a different twist.

Once assembled, the tacos look great and are delicious!

My husband happens to be a taco lover and a salad freak!  Instead of making traditional tacos or taco salads, I like to do things a bit differently and more fun. He loves these lettuce wraps (even though he stuffs them way too full) and he doesn’t feel guilty eating a few (neither do I). Putting a new spin on everyday food makes cooking (and eating) more fun in our Newlywed Kitchen, so try to put a twist on dinner tonight!

Pineapple Chicken

My husband always loves to come home from the grocery store with the biggest pineapple he can find. We both love pineapple, but with the size he brings home, I have to think of many things to do with it. Often we eat it plain, grill it, put it in salads, but tonight I decided to make Pineapple Chicken with some of the bulk chicken we had in the freezer. I defrosted 4 pieces of chicken breast, split them in half, and pounded them out giving me 8 pieces of thin and tender chicken. I then patted the chicken dry (sears much better this way), added some salt and garlic powder (as always), sprinkled them with just a little bit of flour, and seared them in the pan with a little bit of yogurt blend butter. The only reason I used the flour in the dish is because it helps the sauce in the end to stick better. I sear them until golden brown and look like this:

I sear them in 2 batches so I do not over crowd the pan. Since they were pounded out and thin, the cook time is incredibly fast. After they are all cooked I put them on a plate altogether while I am preparing the sauce:

The sauce literally is things thrown together. I use the same exact pan (makes for easy clean up), and throw in some pineapple chunks. We obviously use fresh pineapple because we have so much of it, but you can also use canned if your husband isn’t the type to come home with a big pineapple. I also chop up some onion to throw in the pan and I let both of those caramelize for a few minutes. After they soften, I add a generous amount of soy sauce (low sodium), some garlic, ground ginger paste (found in international aisle, but you could also use ginger powder … or not use ginger at all), a very small amount of sesame oil (I love the flavor of sesame, but I can’t have sesame seeds), and I just let the sauce sit there and thicken up a bit (leftover flour left in the pan also helps thicken). The sauce is on the thin side, so I add some Dijon mustard, mix it in, and the sauce forms perfectly. The sweetness of the pineapple, salty-ness of the soy, tang from the mustard, and fresh flavors of garlic and ginger makes the sauce go great on top of chicken (also would work with pork, shrimp, or vegetables):

After the sauce is complete, I pour the sauce over the chicken and serve it “family style”. This makes for easier clean up and makes the dish look appetizing. Although tonight I did not make any side dishes, this would go really well with some whole wheat rice and a vegetable on the side. The finished plate looks something like this:

On a Friday night, it is nice to make a dish all in one pan and serve it all on one plate! This means less time for clean up in the Newlywed Kitchen and more time with the one you love.