Ranch Turkey Burgers

ingredients:
1.5 lb ground turkey
4 heaping tbsp. ranch powder
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 large white onion
1 clove garlic
2 tbsp olive oil
1 egg
1/2 cup seasoned panko breadcrumbs
3/4 tsp salt
pepper to taste

hardware:
nonstick pan
spatula
mixing bowl

procedure:

1. Chop the onion and mince the garlic, saute together in the olive oil until the onions look translucent. When done, remove from heat to cool.
2. In the mixing bowl, mix the turkey, ranch powder, Worcestershire sauce, eggs, breadcrumbs, sauteed onions, salt and pepper.
3. Make into patties and cook in the olive oil at the notch below medium heat (this is a 4 on my stove) for 5 minutes on each side. I use a meat thermometer to ensure they're cooked to at least 165°.

comments:
If that seems like a lot of salt and ranch powder, it IS. I've been experimenting with these burgers for a few weeks now, and I'm finding that if you don't put plenty of salt and flavoring into turkey burgers they come out overwhelmingly plain.

If you don't like onions, feel free to omit them. I really love onions, so I put them in everything.

These burgers are more like hamburger steaks, to me. You can, of course, eat them on a bun. But I prefer to melt swiss cheese over them and just them as-is.

Another note, Trevor says that my recipe names are too lackluster. He suggested I call this the "Gobble Gobble, Motherfucker".

Gina's Turkey Meatloaf

Shamelessly stolen and slightly modified from here.

ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil

1 package (8oz) of sliced mushrooms
1 large white onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
Pinch red pepper flakes or dash of cayenne powder
2 tbsp chicken stock
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 package (~6oz) crumbled blue cheese
2 lb ground turkey
1 8oz. can tomato sauce
salt and pepper to taste

hardware:
baking pan or dish
large mixing bowl
saute pan
chef's knife
chopping board

procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Slice vegetables and saute in olive oil for about 5 minutes.
3. Add red pepper flakes or cayenne pepper and saute for another minute. Add chicken stock and Worcestershire sauce, stir and remove from heat and allow to cool.
4. In the mixing bowl, combine the egg, panko, blue cheese, and sauteed vegetables. Add the turkey and mix, but don't stir too much.
5. Shape into an oblong loaf on the baking pan/dish. Spread tomato sauce over the loaf with a spoon.
6. Bake for 1 hr and 10 minutes.

comments:
I have begun venturing into ground turkey territory. I am one of those people with a very slow metabolism, a sedentary job and mostly sedentary hobbies, so if I don't watch what I eat and exercise, I can quickly grow obese. I am fine with eating the same thing over and over, so I generally just eat chicken breasts and vegetables for dinner. Trevor doesn't like eating the same thing over and over, so I'm trying to change things up a bit.

I decided to buy ground turkey and had no clue what to do with it. I've never cooked with ground beef much, unless it was Hamburger Helper provided by food stamps when I was a little Catsass. I grew up intermittently poor and always neglected, but that's a story for a different sort of blog. I've also never made meatloaf, so I thought it would be a great time to try my hand at a few new things.

I adore the Neelys' cooking show on Food Network. It's Southern, but not Paula Deen Southern. Not hating on Paula at all, but she makes all the same stuff I grew up eating. Sometimes you need comfort food with a twist. I knew the Neelys would come through for me on this one.

Gina's Turkey Meatloaf is hands-down the most delicious meatloaf I've ever had. The blue cheese isn't at all obvious or overwhelming, and is the perfect touch. If you really hate blue cheese and can't stomach the thought of eating it, I'm sure feta would work fine in this recipe. Among my changes to this recipe are to use only about 2 tablespoons of the chicken stock, and 2 tablespoons of the Worcestershire sauce. Because ground turkey is already very moist, and sauteeing vegetables always results in extra liquid, adding an entire 1/4 cup of chicken stock resulted in my meatloaf being a bit too moist. I made it exactly as the recipe instructed, and mine didn't quite hold its shape. Ended up a blob with a mound in the middle. Tasted amazing, so that's no big deal.

I also ix-nayed on the shallots, because those are really just for decoration and ain't nobody got time fuh dat.

Crispy Ranch Baked Chicken

ingredients:
1 package of thinly-sliced boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 cups seasoned panko breadcrumbs
2/3 cup of italian blend shredded cheese
1 cup of water
2 tbsp of ranch dip (sour cream and ranch powder packet)
1 tbsp olive oil
cooking oil spray

hardware:
baking rack that fits over a baking pan

procedure:

1. Preheat the oven to 400° and line your baking pan with foil to conduct heat.
2. Combine the breadcrumbs and cheese in a dish wide enough to put the chicken in. I just used a wide Tupperware bowl.
3. In another bowl, combine the water, dip, and olive oil and mix well, until no lumps of dip are visible.
4. Dip each chicken breast in the liquid mixture, then coat them with the breadcrumb mixure as much as possible. This may require a few flips and packing the crumbs on with a spoon.
5. Spray the baking rack with the cooking spray, then place it over the baking pan and put the chicken on it.
6. Bake for 30 minutes, flipping the chickens halfway through to properly brown them on both sides.

comments:
This isn't the healthiest, but I try to eat pretty low-calorie throughout the week so I buy large amounts of boneless skinless breasts. So anyway, I had some leftover ranch dip I had made when Trevor had friends over, from light sour cream and a packet of ranch powder. Then a bunch of chicken breasts, and some breadcrumbs left over from making meatloaf, so I whipped this up. I was pretty satisfied with the outcome, although they were a little bit soggy on one side so I decided baking them on a rack over a baking pan would make better sense.

You can always buy the regular boneless skinless chicken boobs and thinly slice them yourself. I used water and the dip instead of a milk/egg mixture to try to lower the calorie count a little bit. You can always use any thick sauce that you enjoy, honey mustard would be pretty good.

As a Southern woman I love few things more than fried chicken, and this is a very decent substitute.

Stovetop Mac and Cheese

ingredients:
2 cups dry elbow noodles
1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp. flour
3 tbsp. butter/margarine
2 cups milk
1 tbsp. sour cream
1.5 cups of sharp or extra sharp cheddar cheese
dash of dry mustard powder
dash of seasoned salt
salt and pepper

hardware:
large nonstick pot
colander
chef's knife
chopping board

procedure:

1. Boil the noodles in salted water (should taste as salty as seawater) with the olive oil for 9-11 minutes, to your preferred doneness. Drain and leave in the colander.
2. Peel the garlic, finely mince it, and then crush it into a paste with the side of your blade.
3. Melt 1 tbsp of the butter/margarine over medium heat in the pot you used for the pasta, then scrape the garlic paste into the pan. Saute the garlic for about a minute.
4. Add the rest of the butter/margarine to the pan and melt, then stir in the flour. Cook until it combines into a paste.
5. Add the milk to the pan gradually, stirring constantly. This forms a roux, the base for almost all of my cheese sauces. It makes the cheese break down evenly into a smooth, uniform product rather than being stiff and stringy.
6. Simmer the milk down until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Add the sour cream, dash of mustard powder, dash of seasoned salt, and pepper; stir to combine.
7. Add the cheese gradually, stirring constantly.
8. Add the noodles back to the pot and stir to combine. Taste it to determine whether you need additional salt, and add some if so. Heat until it reaches your desired temperature.

comments:
Macaroni and cheese is my absolute favorite food. Any pasta and cheese combination is the most delicious thing to me. I refuse to eat Easy Mac (it's really gross) so anytime I have a craving I just whip this up right quick.

I always like it with mustard powder, and I've seen recipes saying you can substitute the wet mustard from your fridge, but it is just not the same. It tastes like you have mustard in your macaroni, which is okay but not preferable.

I started making my macaroni with seasoned salt after a guy I used to date way back when made it for me that way. Every time I make it for people like that, I get great feedback and requests to make it with seasoned salt again next time. My biggest suggestion is not to use too much, you don't want it to be obvious or overpowering.

The Perfect Steak

I don't have a grill. I hope this will change in the near future. But it's okay, because I prefer my steaks pan-seared. I was going to make a post detailing how I do this, but I recently began re-watching Alton Brown's Good Eats series and saw that he had already done it for me.

I make my steaks EXACTLY as Alton Brown does in this clip. I use ribeyes, because I adore fatty, flavorful cuts of meat. As he does, I cook it in a cast iron pan. I also eat my ribeye medium rare and only season it with salt and pepper.

Watch this video to learn how to make my idea of a perfect steak.

Applebee's 3 Cheese Chicken Penne

ingredients:
1/2 chicken breast, cooked (see this recipe for an idea)
2 cups dry penne pasta
1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp. flour
3 tbsp. butter/margarine
2 cups milk
1 tbsp. sour cream
1 cup Italian blend shredded cheese
1/2 cup shredded parmesan cheese
salt and pepper
1/2 small tomato
1 tsp lemon juice
dash of oregano

hardware:
large nonstick pot
collander
chef's knife
chopping board

procedure:

1. Boil the noodles in salted water (should taste as salty as seawater) with the olive oil for 9-11 minutes, to your preferred doneness. Drain and leave in the collander.
2. Peel the garlic, finely mince it, and then crush it into a paste with the side of your blade.
3. Melt 1 tbsp of the butter/margarine over medium heat in the pot you used for the pasta, then scrape the garlic paste into the pan. Sautee the garlic for about a minute.
4. Add the rest of the butter/margarine to the pan and melt, then stir in the flour. Cook until it combines into a paste.
5. Add the milk to the pan gradually, stirring constantly. This forms a roux, the base for almost all of my cheese sauces. It makes the cheese break down evenly into a smooth, uniform product rather than being stiff and stringy.
6. Simmer the milk down until it thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Add the sour cream and salt and pepper, stir to combine.
7. Add the cheese gradually, stirring constantly.
8. Add the noodles back to the pot and stir to combine. Heat until it reaches your desired temperature.
9. Dice the tomato and pour the lemon juice over it. Drain any excess. Throw a dash of oregano over the tomato.
10. Serve the pasta with the tomato and chicken on the top, and a sprinkle of extra parmesan cheese.

comments:
Story time! I used to work at Applebee's and I simply could not get enough of their 3 Cheese Chicken Penne. Except that I was a vegetarian at the time, so I got it without the chicken. Also, I grew up not liking raw tomatoes, so at first I would order it without the bruschetta. But then I tried it one day, and realized that I had grown to love tomatoes, especially in cheesy pasta. Then another day much later, I realized that my life is too short to not eat food that I love, like chicken and steak.

Anyway, since I don't work at Applebee's anymore, but I still crave this pasta all the time, I figured out how to make this recipe at home. They serve it with garlic bread, but I've never seen a huge need to add even more starch onto rich pasta dishes.

Cajun Chicken Breasts

ingredients:
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts or however many you want to cook
cajun seasoning
water
2 tbsp. lemon juice
2 tbsp. butter/margarine
salt and pepper to taste

hardware:
deep pan with a lid

procedure:

1. Bring enough water to come 1/3 of the way up the sides of the chicken, lemon juice, and margarine to boil in the pan.
2. Coat one side of the chicken with the cajun seasoning of your choice. I like Zatarain's Blackened Seasoning.
3. Once the water mixture is boiling, add the chicken to the pan seasoning-side down. Season the other side now that it is facing upward in the pan.
4. Once water begins to boil again, reduce heat to medium and cover.
5. Cook for 11 minutes, then flip the chicken breasts and cook for another 11 minutes on the other side.

comments:
I say 11 minutes on each side, but I still always cut my chicken open to make sure it's done. It's pretty hard to time it exactly when chicken breasts come in widely varying sizes and thicknesses. I'm also paranoid about food poisoning, although I've never had it.

This might seem like a weird way to cook chicken, by cooking it in a salted broth, but I find that it keeps the chicken very juicy and it gets the flavor all the way into the meat of the chicken.

Another note: you can use ANY spice or spice combination you want with this basic recipe. I make chicken like this every single week. To make lemon pepper chicken, I up the lemon juice to enough to cover the bottom of my pan, then use lemon pepper seasoning. I also enjoy using Grill Mates Montreal Chicken seasoning in this recipe. Change it up, experiment. I do this often with garlic, onions, mushrooms, tomatoes and balsamic vinegar in the pan. Go wild.

Side note: Trevor swears he doesn't like any chicken that isn't breaded and fried, but he will eat this.