My work hours are still really unpredictable. Because of this, I like to find foods that I can make in big batches and freeze. I rely on meals like this to get me through super busy weeks. I ended up making a double batch of the meatballs and freezing half of them for later. I mean, let’s be real – this dish is super easy to make after the meatballs are cooked and it sure beats a bowl of mac & cheese or ramen for dinner!
After I typed up this post I went digging through the freezer to find the rest of the meatballs… there were none. I guess I cooked them up already. Sad, sad day. Guess I’ll be making some mac & cheese 😉
Meatballs in Creamy Dill Sauce
for the meatballs:
1 pound lean ground beef
1 slice of day-old whole wheat bread, processed into crumbs (or 1/3 cup whole wheat bread crumbs)
1/4 cup skim milk
1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper
1 egg
for the sauce: 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced
2 tablespoon flour
2 cups beef broth
8 ounces cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/4 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
cooked egg noodles or other pasta of your choice for serving
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Combine beef, bread crumbs, skim milk, salt, pepper and egg in a large bowl. Stir to combine. Roll into 1″ balls and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake for about 40 minutes or until browned and no longer pink in the middle.
Heat olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add onion and cook until translucent and slightly browned. Stir in flour and cook for 1 minute. Stir in beef broth, mushrooms, and meatballs. Bring to a simmer and cook until sauce reduced and slightly thickened, about 10 minutes.
Remove sauce from heat and stir in Greek yogurt and dill until well combined.
Serve meatballs and sauce over egg noodles. Serve immediately.
Happy Monday! I hope you all had a good weekend full of good food, good company, and perhaps a drink or two!
If you like drinking Guinness, you will love this stew. If you’re like me and prefer whiskey over beer, you will still love this stew. So, if you happen to have a bottle or two of Guinness left, give this stew a try. And if you don’t have any Guinness left, go out and grab yourself a 6 pack of the stout because you will definitely want to make this.
I’ll let you in on a little secret – I didn’t actually use Guinness when I made this. The Irish stout I used was actually home-brewed by Mike! It was the first beer he made and he reluctantly sacrificed one for the stew. I thanked him by giving him a bowl of the stew 🙂
1.5 pounds boneless chuck roast, cut into 1″ pieces
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup flour
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 bottle Guinness or other Irish stout
4 cups beef broth
freshly ground pepper, to taste
8 ounces cremini mushrooms, quartered
3 medium carrots, peeled and sliced into 1/2″ pieces
4 stalks celery, sliced into 1/2″ pieces
3 medium potatoes
flat leaf parsley for garnish, optional
Sprinkle beef with salt and then dredge in flour. Heat canola oil in a Dutch oven over medium high heat. Add half the beef and cook, turning until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes. Repeat with other half. Remove beef from pan and set aside.
Add onion and garlic to pan and cook until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and cook 1 minute, stirring frequently. Stir in broth and stout, scraping up the browned bits on the bottom of the pan. Stir in pepper and beef and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Uncover and bring to a boil. Add mushroom, carrot, celery, and potato. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Uncover and bring to a boil and cook until vegetables are tender, about 10 more minutes.
Chicken nuggets bring out the kid in all of us! Mike told me that he used to put down a 20 piece McD’s chicken nugget “family” sized box like it was nothing. Gross. Impressive, but gross. I decided to cook him a little pick-me-up after I got him sick (oops). These little bites are far from the nuggets that you would find in a drive-through. They’re made with chicken breast and packed with flavor. Best of all, they’re baked, not fried! And there’s no limit to how much dipping sauce you can have either 😉
4 chicken breasts
1 tablespoon lemon juice
3/4 cup skim milk
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups panko bread crumbs
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3 large eggs, whisked
Lightly pound chicken breast to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut into 1.5 – 2″ pieces. Set aside in a large bowl.
Combine lemon juice and milk in a bowl, stir to combine. Let sit for 15 minutes. Stir in garlic powder, Worcestershire, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Pour over chicken and stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 475°F. Spread panko on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 5 minutes or until golden brown, being careful not to burn.
Transfer panko to a shallow dish. Once cool, mix in grated Parmesan and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Set aside.
Set out flour in a second shallow dish and whisked eggs into a third shallow dish.
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Remove chicken from the fridge and discard marinade. Working a few pieces at a time, dredge chicken through flour and shake off excess. Dip in the egg, and then lastly coat with panko. Transfer to baking sheet. Continue until all chicken has been coated.
Bake for 12 minutes, turning halfway through, until panko is lightly browned and chicken has an internal temperature of 165°F.
Serve with spicy ketchup and honey mustard dipping sauces, recipes below.
Mapo tofu is delicious. It might be the soft, silky tofu that melts in your moth. It might be the in-your-face kick of Szechuan peppercorn. But, I think the real reason it’s delicious is because it’s traditionally made with very, very fatty ground pork. I was afraid that when I “trimmed down” this recipe by subbing in lean turkey for fatty pork it would lose its great depth of flavor. After all, I’ve tried to make healthier version of various dishes and ended up with not-so-appetizing results (I’m looking at you, rock-hard muffins).
Fortunately, this healthier version of mapo tofu is far from being unappetizing. In fact, I would say that it’s pretty dang stellar. I challenge you tofu haters to try this. It just might change your mind about tofu. If you still don’t like it, then I guess you can mash it up and pretend like it’s just a huge bowl of ground turkey.
Healthier Mapo Tofu serves 6
1 tablespoon Szechuan peppercorns
1 tablespoon corn starch
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon canola oil
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1.5″ piece of ginger, minced (about 2 tablespoons)
6 green onions, thinly sliced; whites and greens separated
1 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons hot chili bean sauce
14 ounce package soft tofu, drained and cut into 1″ cubes
1 pound extra lean ground turkey
1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
steamed rice, for serving
Toast peppercorns in a small dry skillet over medium-high heat until fragrant, about 1 minute. Allow to cool and then grind in a spice grinder.*
In a small bowl, whisk together cornstarch and water until well combined. Set aside.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add in canola oil and swirl to coat. Add garlic, ginger, and white parts of the scallion and stir fry until fragrant, about 2 minutes. Add turkey and cook until meat is no longer pink.
Add in chicken broth, soy sauce, and chili sauce, stirring to combine. Bring to a boil and add corn starch mixture and stir until the sauce becomes thick and clear. Gently stir in tofu and cook until heated through, about 2 – 3 minutes. Stir in Szechuan peppercorns, to taste. Drizzle with sesame oil.
Serve immediately with steamed rice. Garnish with remaining green onions.
*I don’t own a spice grinder. I tossed the cooled peppercorns into a zip-top bag, shut it, and then rolled and lightly pounded it with a large rolling pin. It worked!
Shepherd’s pie is one of my favorite foods. Sweet potatoes? Not so much. I like the color, but that’s pretty much it. I do, however, love regular ol’ mashed potatoes chock full of butter, salt, and pepper. As much as I love indulging, not every meal can be an indulgence. There’s only so much exercise I can fit into a day after all!
So I took the classic shepherd’s pie recipe and trimmed it down to something a bit lighter, yet every bit as fulfilling. And surprisingly, I actually liked the sweet potatoes on top! So, give this dish a try for St. Paddy’s Day instead of the traditional shepherd’s pie!
Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie inspired by Alton Brown’s recipe on Food Network
3 pounds sweet potatoes
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup skim milk
Peel and cut sweet potatoes into 1/2-inch pieces and place into a large pot. Cover with 1 inch of water and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes, or until fork-tender. Drain and return to pot. Add in butter, salt, pepper and milk and mash until smooth.
Meanwhile, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add in ground beef and cook until no longer pink. Remove to a separate bowl and set aside. To the same skillet, add in onion, carrots, celery, and garlic. Cook until onions are translucent, about 3 minutes. Stir in flour until well distributed. Stir in tomato paste, broth, and Worcestershire sauce. Add beef back to skillet. Bring to a simmer and cook until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Stir in peas, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper. Continue cooking for another 3 minutes.
Spread beef and vegetable mixture into an 13×9 casserole dish. Top with mashed sweet potatoes. Spread potatoes out to edge of dish with a spatula. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until potatoes are lightly browned and filling is bubbling.
I don’t even like pie that much, but I will take a slice of it just to eat the crust. Then I’ll mash the rest of it around on my plate to make it seem like I ate it. Or I’ll shovel it onto my husband’s plate (while at the same time stealing his crust).
I’m that crazy person that will sit and stare at your piece of pie and then creepily ask if I can eat your crust.
Needless to say, this is my kind of soup. It’s filling and creamy and flavorful and… Real talk though. This dish is mainly about the crust. This soup is what makes it acceptable for me to eat massive amounts of pie crust for dinner. As an added bonus, this was super easy to whip together and it made for a ton of leftovers. Leftover soup that is. There will be no leftover crust. Oops.
Chicken Pot Pie Soup
for the crust:
2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup shortening
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup skim milk
for the soup: 2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
2 chicken breasts, cooked and diced
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced (2 cups)
3 celery stalks, diced (1 cup)
2 medium carrots, peeled and diced (1 cup)
1 medium onion, diced (3/4 cup)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
5 cups chicken broth
2 ears of corn, kernels removed or 1 1/2 cups frozen corn
1 1/2 cups frozen peas
salt and pepper, to taste
To make the crust: in a large bowl, stir together flour and salt. Cut in shortenings until well blended and mixture is crumbly. Gently stir in milk with a fork; mix until just combined. Pat dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425°F. Roll dough out on a well-floured surface to 1/8″ thick. Cut into 15 3″ circles with a biscuit or cookie cutter. Lay dough on ungreased baking sheet and bake for 12 – 15 minutes, or until lightly browned on top. Set aside.
To make the soup: heat 1 teaspoon olive oil in a large dutch oven over medium high heat. Add in potatoes, celery, carrots, and onion and cook until onions are soft and translucent.
Stir in flour to coat vegetables well. Slowly stir in chicken broth 1 cup at a time. Bring soup to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer until soup thickens and add in corn and peas. Stir and cook until peas are heated through.
I’m not really sure what happened. I grew up living, breathing, speaking, and eating Chinese. Now here I am at 25, barely able to string together a sentence in Mandarin. My Chinese cooking is even more pathetic. I’ve tried countless times to watch and learn from my mom. The Wonder Woman who can throw together 6 dishes with ease, and in under an hour, too. It’s impressive (and kind of scary).
Unfortunately for me, she seems to invent most of her recipes or just has them stored in the depths of her brain. I tried to recreate a dish that I grew up with, zha jian mien, a sort of Chinese bolognese. This is my take on the classic Chinese dish. I’m not sure it even tastes close to what it’s supposed to, but Mike and I enjoyed it very much!
Zha Jiang Mein (Chinese Bolognese)
1 pound Chinese noodles (I used Shan Dong noodles)
1 pound ground pork
1 large yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon hot soybean paste
2 tablespoons black bean sauce
1 pound extra firm or baked tofu, cubed
1 cup frozen peas
1 medium seedless cucumber, julienned
Black vinegar or rice wine vinegar, optional
Cook pasta according to package directions.
While pasta is cooking, heat a large pan over medium-high heat. Add pork and cook for 3 – 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in onions and garlic and cook until onions are translucent and pork is cooked through.
Reduce heat to medium and add in hoisin sauce, soy sauce, black bean sauce, and soybean paste. Stir until well combined.
Gently mix in tofu and frozen peas. Cook until heated through, stirring frequently.
Portion out 1 1/2 cups of noodles into bowls and top with 1/2 cup of meat sauce. Garnish with cucumber and a splash of vinegar, if desired.
Asian lettuce wraps. Everyone loves them. It’s crazy how something so simple looking can pack in so much intense flavor. So, cook up a batch, sit down with a large pile of napkins, and enjoy!
Want to know my little secret? Make extras. The leftovers are just as tasty 🙂
Another secret? I make it into a salad of sorts – chopped up lettuce, some steamed rice, and the filling all drizzled with some of the dipping sauce. It’s a little less messy than eating it burrito-style.
Lettuce Wraps serves 4
1 pound lean ground pork
1 large or 2 small heads Boston Bibb/butter lettuce
1 large onion, chopped
1 tablespoon minced garlic
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 cup hoisin sauce
2 teaspoons minced ginger root
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 teaspoons Sriracha or other Asian chile sauce
1 8 oz can water chestnuts, drained and minced
1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
2 teaspoons sesame oil
For dipping sauce:
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon Sriracha or other Asian chile sauce
Carefully remove leaves from lettuce head. Rinse and pat dry. Set aside.
In a non-stick skillet over high heat, brown ground pork. Stirring often. Drain and set aside.
Add onion to pan and cook, stirring frequently, for 2 minutes. Add garlic, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, ginger vinegar, and Sriracha and stir, cooking for another minute. Stir in water chestnuts, green onions, sesame oil and cooked pork. Continue to cook for 2 more minutes.
Combine dipping sauce ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together.
To serve, spoon a portion of the meat onto a lettuce leaf, wrap up like a burrito and enjoy with the dipping sauce!
TGIF!! Even though I’m loving my rotation in school food service, I’m still so so so very happy that it’s Friday. So, here are my Friday Favorites for this week.
Favorite Fitness Must Have: Garmin Forerunner 910XT with HRM. Ok, calling this $450 fancy watch a “must have” is a bit of a stretch. Maybe I should say it’s a “Lust Have” instead. The watch is seriously awesome. The price is a little steep for a student budget, though. Eh, maybe when I get out of school and find a job I can reward myself with one of these babies with my first paycheck.
image from runningwarehouse.com
Favorite Cold Treat: Kemp’s Java Chip Ice Cream. Oh boy. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I love this stuff. A bowl full of this + some espresso chocolate chip cookies = the best dinner ever.
Favorite Restaurant Meal Copy Cat: Burrito Bowls! I made these on a night where I had a craving for burritos. They were so good that we made them again the next night with different toppings. The best part? They were SO easy to make! Seriously, we put them together in the time it would have taken us to drive across town, wait in line, and drive back home. It’s an added bonus that they were so cheap to make, too! Now that’s my kind of meal – delicious, quick, and cheap.
Copy Cat Burrito Bowl
3 cups brown rice
1 lime, zested and juiced
1/2 cup cilantro, roughly chopped, divided
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon olive oil
2 roma tomatoes, chopped
1/2 red onion, diced
salt and pepper, to taste
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup reduced fat cheddar cheese, shredded
Other optional toppings:
Sour cream
Jalapeños
Avocado
Queso
Hot sauce
Cook brown rice according to package directions. I use a rice cooker and use a 1 cup brown rice: 2 cups water ratio. When rice is cooked, mix with 1/4 cup cilantro, lime zest and lime juice.
Meanwhile, mix chili powder, onion powder, garlic powder, cumin, and oregano together and sprinkle generously over chicken breasts.
Heat olive oil in a medium-sized skillet over high heat. Cook chicken until cooked through. Remove to cutting board and chop.
In a separate bowl, make the pico de gallo. Combine tomatoes, 1/4 cup cilantro, red onion, salt and pepper. Toss to combine.
To assemble: place rice in bowl and top with black beans, chicken, pico de gallo, shredded cheese, and any other toppings you desire. Enjoy!
Before I went to bed on Friday I checked the weather for Saturday at 8 am. 4°F and an inch or so of fresh snow on the ground. I had an 8 mile run scheduled and I couldn’t decide which was worse: running for 8 miles in the unbearable cold or 8 miles on the dreadmill.
I woke up Saturday at 6:45 and checked the weather as I ate my pre-run Greek yogurt. Currently -6°F and 1°F at 8:00 am. I grumped around the house until 7:30 when I decided to just suck it up and at least try. Worst case scenario? I run the shortest loop with the running group (4 miles) and run the other 4 at the Y.
I quickly searched the world wide web for guidance on what to wear. I normally peek at the Runner’s World What to Wear Running App, but that never seems to work out for me. And guess what? There aren’t a whole lot of people out there talking about running in the cold. Some blogs talked about running in the “cold” where cold = 30°F. Pfft! To me, that’s nice running weather.
So, what did I end up wearing and how did it work?
Basically, I looked ridiculous. It turns out that I dressed pretty darn well for the weather. I was cold at first, but warmed up after about 2 miles. I kept slipping the Wooly Mitts on and off. I think the only part of me that was a little too cold were my thighs. My shins were pretty well covered between the higher socks and my tights, but the tights alone were not enough for my legs! Maybe next time I’ll try compression shorts under the tights.
I’m proud to say that I made it the entire 8 miles in the cold. I might even dare to say that I was enjoying the cold by the end. Moral of the story? Get outside and just run; you will end up loving it 🙂
The best bet after a nice, cold run? A warm bowl of soup and a long, hot shower. Sick of the soup you’ve been slurping down? Try this Chinese Noodle Soup!
Noodle soup, or as my family calls it – noup. Inspired by a Kung Fu Panda viewing with my lovely family last Christmas.
Every bite of this put the biggest, goofiest smile on my face. It’s so hard to get us all together now that we’re growing up. It’s little things like this that bring joy into my life (and my stomach). It’s just a bonus that this is soup-er (har har) easy to throw together!
I entered this into fellow blogger Branny Boils Over‘s Souper Bowl, Round 2 fundraiser. For every entry she receives, she will donate $1.00 to the ASPCA. As a dog owner (and lover) I couldn’t resist.
Chinese Noodle Soup serves 6
8 ounces dried Chinese noodles
1 pound lean ground turkey
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon hot chile sauce, such as Sriracha
1 bunch green onions, sliced
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced ginger root
6 cups chicken broth
4 cups thinly sliced bok choy
5 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 cucumber, cut into matchsticks, for garnish
Cook noodles according to package directions.
Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add ground turkey, scallions, garlic and ginger. Cook, stirring frequently, breaking up the turkey. Cook until turkey is no longer pink. Transfer to a plate.
Add broth, bok choy, soy sauce, vinegar, 1 tablespoon sesame oil and chile sauce to pot. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring occasionally, until bok choy is tender.
Return turkey to pot and stir to combine.
To serve, place noodles in bowl and top with broth. Garnish with cucumber and serve.
DoughSeeDough 