Eyeballs and Brains

This is a great recipe any day of the year but adding an olive to the top of the meatballs makes it a fun and festive way to have a Halloween dinner! Eyeballs and Brains is healthy and delicious!

The Ingredients:

• 1 pound lean ground turkey (could use ground chicken)
  
• 1/4 cup pesto
• 1/4 cup breadcrumbs
• 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
  
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 cups spaghetti sauce (jarred or homemade)
• Spaghetti Noodles

Cooking It Up:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Spray a baking dish with non stick spray and dump the spaghetti sauce into it.
• Place all of the other ingredients into a bowl and using your hands, combine until everything is well mixed.
• Roll mixture into balls and drop them into the sauce.
• To make them look like eyeballs: Press one black or green olive slice into the top of an uncooked meatball. Make sure the olive is secure (I didn't push them into the meatball enough and a lot of them fell off while cooking). Place olive side up in sauce.
• Cover the baking pan with foil and bake until meatballs are no longer pink and are firm to the touch, about 20 minutes.
• Cook spaghetti noodles while the meatballs are baking.
• Serve meatballs (eyeballs) over cooked spaghetti (otherwise known as brains!).

Happy Halloween!!

Donair Wraps

We grew up in the Maritimes where donairs seem to be a common thing. They are delicious and sold at many restaurants and pizza joints. They are not as popular where we live now but we still love them. Here is a healthier (and easier) version of a donair. So so yummy, and pretty close to authentic! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Donair:

• 1 pound of ground turkey
  
• 1 pound of ground beef (lean or extra lean)
• 4 tsp flour
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 3 tsp Italian seasoning
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• dash of ground black pepper and salt
  
• 1-2 Roma Tomatoes (they have less juice and pulp which makes them perfect for a wrap!)
• 1/2 yellow onion, raw and finely chopped
• 1 head of leaf lettuce
  
• 6 flour tortillas (or greek pitas)

Donair Sauce:

• 3-4 tbsp mayonnaise
• 2 tbsp milk (I used skim)
• 1 tbsp white sugar
  
• 1 tsp white vinegar

Cooking It Up:

• Preheat oven to 375 F.
  
• Mix the meat and spices in a medium sized bowl. Mix with your hands for a full 4-5 minutes (or a food processor for 2-3 minutes). This is very important and will lend to the final consistency of the donair meat.
• Form the meat into a narrow (1 1/2 inch height) and long loaf. Place on a baking sheet and cook for 55-60 minutes.
• While the meat is cooking, make the sauce by mixing the ingredients together until no longer lumpy. Set aside in the fridge until you are ready to serve.
• Slice meat into thin slices, if you aren't serving it immediately out of the oven you can reheat the meat in a frying pan (a few minutes over medium heat).
• Place the meat onto tortillas, top with diced tomatoes, diced onion, leaf lettuce, and a good amount of the donair sauce.

Serves 4-6.

Grampy's Homemade Turkey Soup

When we were little and visiting our grandparents we loved this soup and left their home with ice cream buckets full of it; there were 4 of us and it never lasted very long, we all loved it so much! Luckily my grandfather made a lot and froze it; so there always seemed to be lots to go around. ;)




My mom then started making it; but, since she spends the wintertime in Florida, I ventured this year and made it myself. It was incredibly easy and now that I know it’s so easy – I will definitely be making it more often for sure! Plus, it freezes well, so you can always take some out at a later date when you are looking for some comfort food on a cool night. It’s a fantastic hearty soup – delish!




Ingredients:

Broth from cooking Turkey (some but not too much fat in the broth)

Chicken Bouillon

Salt and Pepper

Turkey

Carrots

Celery

Turnip

Cabbage

Potatoes

(It doesn’t take many vegetables – a little goes a long way!)




Directions:

Grind or grate your veggies; I used a small food processor and it worked perfectly; but if you don’t have one you can grate them – a longer process but works. Then add these to your stock, as well as, Bovril or Watkin’s chicken bouillon and lots and lots of salt and some pepper.




You want to add your meat close to the end, if you add it too soon, then it will disintegrate and become mushy. It takes a long time for a good sized soup to cook. Use your judgment but a couple hours or more is perfect.

Enjoy!

Mexican Lasagna

The Shopping List:

• 1 lb ground beef or turkey
• 2 cups of chopped onions
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 cups green pepper, chopped
• 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 cup salsa
• 2 teaspoons cumin
• 1 (15 ounce) can mixed beans (or any variety you like, black or kidney work well) drained and rinsed
• 12 (6 inch) tortillas
• 1 1/2 cups Monterey Jack cheese
• 2 small plum tomatoes, diced
• 1/3 cup green onion, chopped

Cooking It all Up:

Spray a large saucespan with no-stick spray. Brown beef or turkey.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Add onions, garlic, and green pepper. Cook and stir over medium heat until vegetables are softened, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, salsa, and cumin. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered for 10 minutes.

Stir in beans. Remove from heat.
Spray a 13X9 inch baking dish with cooking spray.

Spread 1/3 of the mixture over the bottom. Cover with half the tortillas (0verlapping as needed), and half the cheese.

Spoon another 1/3 of mixture on top of cheese, followed by remaining tortillas, and last of the bean mixture. Sprinkle remaining cheese on top.

Cover and bake for 35 minutes or until hot and bubbly.

Let cool for 10 minutes before serving. Garnish with tomato and green onions.

If desired serve with sour cream.

Chicks Note: You could make this a vegetarian meal by omitting the meat and adding an extra 15 oz can of beans!

Sloppy Joes

The Grocery List:

• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 1 lb. lean ground beef
  
• 1 small onion , diced
• 1 medium carrot , peeled and diced
• 1/2 medium green bell pepper diced
• 2 cloves garlic , minced
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1 can (398 ml) reduced sodium tomato sauce (I used Hunts)
  
• 1/2 Tbsp. chili powder
• 2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 5 warmed whole wheat buns
• cheese (optional)
  

Cooking It all Up:

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat.

Add the olive oil, beef, onion, carrot, pepper,and garlic.

Sauté, stirring occasionally, until the beef is cooked and the onions are translucent, 7 to 10 minutes.

Add the ketchup, tomato sauce, chili powder and Worcestershire sauce. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes or until desired consistency is reached.

Serve over the buns and top with cheese.

Chicks Health Note: You could easily ramp up the veggies by adding shredded zucchini, mushrooms etc. and you could reduce the calorie/fat content by using lean ground turkey instead of beef.