Turkey Vegetable Soup

Had cooked up a half turkey breast, and with the left over carcass decided to boil it down for some light, but healthy soup. You could use chicken too.

In a big stock pot with strainer inside:
1 turkey carcass - from whatever size turkey or breast you've cooked.
Water to cover the carcass, without overflowing the pot.
Cracked black pepper.

Let it cook on low for about 4-5hrs. (You can probably turn the heat higher and cook it faster, but I wanted to go out and run errands, and not have the broth boil away.)

Pull the strainer/carcass from the pot, removed any good meat and tossed it back into the pot along with:
1 large onion, quartered and cut in half - so kinda chunky/bite-sized
1 small head of bok choy chopped up
1 bunch of baby kale, stems removed (basically rip the small leaves off and toss them in)
2 large jalapenos (stems, seeds and ribs removed) chopped small
3 cloves garlic chopped small
3-4 small carrots - peeled and chopped bite-sized
3-4 ribs of celery sliced bite-sized 1 can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 packet of Herb-Ox sodium-free chicken bouillon

You can add anything else such as: mushrooms, cabbage, tomatoes, other beans or whatever veggies you like or have on hand. You can also add noodles. Or even put some rice noodles in a bowl then pour the hot soup over. Add some fish sauce, ginger, bean sprouts, lime, chopped peanuts, lemon grass and make it sort of an impromtu PHO-type or Asian-style soup.

Let that cook on low/med til the carrots are tender, but not mushy - was maybe an hour. The broth will be pretty bland, as I don't add salt, so salt at will/to taste. Instead, I put some in my bowl and added a few shakes of my favourite health spice mix of turmeric, cayenne and ginger.

A nice, spicy, light, late-night meal on a rainy summer night. Plus the house smells amazing! Mmmmmuy Bueno!

Mujadara - of sorts...

Today while cooking up some staples for this week's meals, I decided to do a Google search for "Lentils and" and there were several recipes right off the top that sounded interested and included veggies I am trying to eat more of in new ways.

Anyway, the recipe for Mujadara (Lentils and Rice with Fried Onions) called for tons of Olive oil (6T) and was very plain (no spices), and another called for 1/2 cup and several spices I love. I figured I could do it with less oil and more spices.

*Note, the second recipe called for 1 t. cumin seeds, I had none, so I just used 1/2 t. ground cumin.

Since I was already cooking lentils, quinoa and black beans, I didn't really follow the recipe fully either. You can look here a them and decide for yourself which you like best and do it that way, or try it my way. It was my first time making this, and I think it turned out pretty tasty - but then again I've never had Mujadara before, so what do I know! *shrugs* I also figured this would be a recipe my mom might like cuz she loves lentils and she LOVES Fried Onions (not to mention plain yogurt).

In a large skillet on medium heat add:

2 T coconut oil (virgin expeller pressed)
1/2 t ground cumin
1/2 t ground black peppercorns (it's supposed to be 1/2 cracked black peppercorns - but I only had the grinder kind - winged it!)

(Let the oil get hot, then spoon the cumin in and swish it around the pan - then grind the pepper over it all and let heat - then stir/swish it around again to cover the pan.

While that heats for a minute or two slice thinly or in circles then add to pan:
1/2 large red onion
1/2 large sweet onion

(If it seems to be a little dry add about 1/4-1/2 cup water and stir all around and spread out onions to cook somewhat evenly.)

Once 'fried' then add and stir in well:
1/2 t. ground cayenne pepper
1/2 t. ground cumin
1 cinnamon stick
1/2 c water

(Here you can pull out some of the onions for garnish if you wish - since it was just me, I skipped that step - then later just threw on a few on top for the photo *wink*)

To this mixture add:
2 c cooked Quinoa (the recipes call for long grain or basmati rice, but since Quinoa is rice-like to me and healthier than rice - I booted the rice)
1.5 cup cooked lentils - in their water from cooking - I just scooped it over from the sauce pan without rinsing the lentils, so the mixture would have that added lentil broth (instead of adding more plain water).
You can also cook the lentils in a broth (I'd maybe use a packet of Herb-Ox Sodium Free Beef or Chicken Broth next time.)

Stir this all well and cover and reduce to low for about 5-10 min to absorb the spices.

Spoon Mujadara into a bowl, slop on a dollop of plain fat free yogurt, a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, then toss some onions on for garnish and enjoy!

You can also use sour cream (regular, or lite or fat free - your call) in place of yogurt.

I wasn't going to use anything, but I have a full container of yogurt I need to use, so on it went. I used one heaping teaspoon, as I have plans for the rest of the yogurt - some very healthy dessert treats!

Note: I did not add any sodium to the water for the cooking of the Quinoa or the Lentils, so the only sodium in this recipe came from the yogurt. The yogurt, Land O'Lakes Plain Fat Free is 120 calories, 150 mg sodium per 8oz serving. I used one heaping teaspoon - so it was pretty minimal overall.

I also think that next time, I'd add some more veggies: red pepper, broccoli, quartered grape tomatoes, maybe even some chopped kale or spinach, and maybe even some shredded cooked lean chicken for a variation. Or maybe even some sliced apple!

In the comments for recipe 2, the spicier one, some people thought that there was too much heat from the 1/2 t cayenne. I like food hot, and really didn't notice any 'heat', so I'd probably up the cayenne some too.

Overall this was pretty tasty. So tasty I had another bowl without the yogurt and lemon this time and you could really taste the cinnamon. Mmm.

Hot Italian Turkey Sausage

***I recently made my own Italian Turkey meat - using 16oz/1lb rolls of plain turkey meat (Super One Plaza had it - a weird brand - it was like 2/$3 and had no extra additives (unlike the turkey store, and other brands do - I was pleasantly surprised and happy it was just ground turkey without all the crap). I ended up making 5lbs at once and froze the rest - using about 1.5lbs in that lasagna I was tellin you about, and some of the larger browned chunks I saved for making a pizza as 'sausage' - was super flavourful, but not sausage - so healthier and delish! Would be great for spaghetti or any other Italian dish you want meat in.

I used a combo of spices found in a couple of online recipes for making turkey sausage - OMG - so good. The recipes were for like 20lbs of meat, so I just reduced it down some for 3lbs.

For 3 lbs ground turkey (or chicken) If you only wanna make 1lb just divide up the recipe.

Mix all in a bowl:

1/2 to 1.5 tsp sea salt

1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp finely minced garlic

1 tsp onion powder and/or finely minced onion

1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp ground white pepper

2 tsp paprika

*1.5 tsp cayenne pepper

1.5 tsp poultry seasoning
1.5 tsp italian seasoning

2 T basil**

2 tsp mexican oregano**

1.5 tsp summer savory

1 tsp anise seed (I used a little over 1 tsp cuz I love anise)
1.5 tsp ground fennel seed

1 tsp fennel seed (I used a little over 1 tsp cuz I love fennel)

*1 tsp red pepper flakes (grind up with mortar/pestle or whatever you have - I didn't bother)

1.5 Tablespoons Olive Oil.

*If you don't like it hot - don't add cayenne or red pepper flakes (this was mild to me - I'd use more next time or when I thaw my package and cook it, as I like HOT Italian sausage)

**You can use Italian seasoning too - just omit the basil/oregano

Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl, then add in olive oil, and mix well.

Mix that with the ground turkey  - really mixing well. I did this by hand in a large mixing bowl - divided the wet mixture like in half with half the meat at a time. Then mixed it all together - if you have a heavy duty mixer or something(food processor?) maybe use that. I didn't so I did it by hand.

Cover the bowl and let the mixture sit for a full 24 hours in the fridge so the flavours blend with the meat.

Divide into 3 -1lb packages - freeze.

When I browned the meat, I left it more chunkier like sausage would be - not broken way down as ground poultry tends to do.

I set aside a few dozen chunks for pizzas - so yum!

And way healthier too - not greasy/fatty like sausage is, but had all the Italian flavour.

Secret Health Spices!

Well, not so secret.

I've been doing a lot of reading about the benificial properties of various spices.
Specifically ones that are supposed to help with Arthritis, Joint Pain and even Cancer Prevention.

The four I've read most about are Cayenne, Ginger, Turmeric and Black Pepper. Black Pepper activates the curcumin in Turmuric.

Basically, I've made a concoction of all four.

Equal amounts in a spice shaker.

Then I sprinkle it on my eggs, into my juice or smoothies, soups and more.
Whenever I want a bit of a kick (instead of added salt) I just give 2-3 good shakes into the beverage or dish. Heck, it's even good in a Bloody Mary!

The shaker is small enough that I can take them anywhere to flavour my food or beverages.
I try to have at least one or two items per day with a shake of 'kick'!

Try it!

*Note: I realise that I've used some cheap store spices, but only to use up what I have. Once gone, I will be purchasing organic spices, or making my own when possible, using a grinder and dehydrator, or whatever works best.