Turkey Taco Casserole on the Grill – No Heating up that Kitchen!!!

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bbq, grill, Grilling, ground turkey, healthy, one pot meal, outdoor cooking, summer, taco casserole

Here in inland Northern California, our summers are pretty warm. We’ve had a series of days over 100 degrees, so I’ve been experimenting with more and more cooking on the grill. I’m trying to do anything I can to not heat up my house! This dish did the trick!!!

My experience cooking over an open fire when camping had scared me off from using my pans on the BBQ. BUT the gas grill does not cake your pans with soot the way an open fire does, so I’ve been using my cast iron skills on the grill more. I do have to admit, I’m not ready to put my Le Creuset pans on the grill!

So this casserole was cooked from beginning to end on our gas grill. The other great part about this dish is that most of the prep can be done ahead of time and stuck in the fridge for when you’re ready to cook. I love me some early dinner prep!!! Not to mention, it’s one of those all in one dishes! I didn’t make any other sides to go with it. It stood alone!

Turkey Taco Casserole

Makes 4-6 servings

1 pound ground turkey

2 tbsp oil (avocado or vegetable)

1 – 14 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 cup diced green onions

1/2 cup diced cilantro

1 small can sliced black olives

1 diced fresh jalapeño (if you want less spice, remove the seeds and ribs)

1 small can diced green chiles

1 1/2 cups diced tomatoes (I used fresh, but you could use canned)

1/2 cup salsa

1 tbsp Tapatio hot sauce (optional)

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp paprika (I used hot, smoked paprika. We love our spice!)

1/2 tsp chili powder

Salt and pepper

1 cup crushed tortilla chips

1 1/2 cups grated pepper jack cheese (cheddar or plain jack would be good too.)

Our gas grill has 3 burner strips. I started by putting the 2 tbsp oil in my large cast iron skillet and then the ground turkey. I browned this over two of the burner strips. While that was cooking or even before, I mixed the next 12 ingredients (everything except tortilla chips and cheese) in a bowl and set aside or stick in the fridge if prepping ahead.

Once turkey is lightly browned, add the bowl of other ingredients and stir well until mixed. Sprinkle crushed tortilla chips over the entire top of casserole and then sprinkle grated cheese over that.

I turned all but one burner off and moved the skillet to the cooler side of the grill away from the burner that was on. I closed the grill and tried to maintain a temp of about 350 in the grill. I cooked for 40 minutes, turning it about 1/2 way through, so both sides of the skillet would cook evenly. You can check with a spoon to see that the center of the skillet is nice and hot.

I hope you enjoy and stay cool!!!

Watermelon – The Sweet and the Savory!!!

Tags

appetizer, balsamic, Cocktails, drinks, Goat Cheese, reduction, snack, summer, Watermelon

Nothing tastes better on a hot summer day than ice cold watermelon! I recently got creative with this wonderful fruit and my friend Lisa insisted I post my recipes, so here we go! At our Father’s Day gathering I wanted to serve a creative appetizer, so I drizzled watermelon with a balsamic reduction and sprinkled it with some super creamy goat cheese. Yummm! You get the sweet of the watermelon with the savory of the balsamic and creaminess of the cheese.

Those watermelons are so big that I always seem to end up with some leftover. For some reason it dawned on me to blend up my leftover melon with a little sugar to make a type of nectar that could be used to make a variety of drinks. It could be mixed with sparkling water for a nice refresher or with a little rum or vodka for cooling cocktail! I hope these recipes help to cool down your summer a bit!!!

Balsamic Watermelon With Goat Cheese

Ingredients

1/2 Seedless Watermelon

1/2 cup good quality Balsamic Vinegar

2 tbsp Sugar

1/2 cup Crumbled Goat Cheese (or Feta Cheese for a more pungeant flavor)

In a small saucepan, whisk together vinegar and sugar. Cook over medium heat until reduced by about half and syrupy.  This will take about 5 minutes. After cooking, chill in refrigerator. Cut watermelon into square shaped bite size pieces.  Round shapes don’t work as well for capturing the cheese in your bites. Arrange melon on a plate and drizzle with chilled balsamic reduction and then sprinkle with crumbled cheese. Serve and enjoy!

Watermelon Drinks

1/2 Seedless Watermelon

1/4 – 1/3 cup sugar

You could use a blender or an immersion blender to combine your chunks of watermelon and sugar to make your necter.

Watermelon Margarita – Blend necter, ice, margarita mix or lime juice and tequila.

Watermelon Refresher – Mix necter, lime juice and sparkling water.

Watermelon Mojito – Mix necter, lime juice, mottled mint and rum.

Enjoy!

Peach Cobbler – The Perfect Summer Dessert for Your Barbecues

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cobbler, dessert, Easy, fresh, fruit, Peach, recipe, summer, vegetarian

Happy Father’s Day!!! One of the desserts we’ll be enjoying today is peach cobbler. My husband got some beautiful fresh peaches from a neighbor’s tree. One of the great thing about living in Northern California, is the amazing, local produce that we have access to. These peaches were perfectly ripe, so sweet and delicious. Cobbler was calling to me! It’s so good, but rather easy to make. This came of the oven a wonderful bubbly golden brown! If you have access to fresh fruit (peaches, berries, nectarines) I highly recommend this recipe!

Peach Cobbler

1/2 cup butter

4 large peaches or about 5 cups, sliced (or other fruit)

2 1/2 cups sugar, divided

1 1/4 tbsp lemon juice

1 1/4 cup milk

1 1/4 cup flour

1 1/4 tbsp baking powder

Dash of salt

Cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375. Put butter in medium size baking pan and put in oven to melt butter. Meanwhile, add peaches, 1 1/4 cup sugar and lemon juice to sauce pan and bring to a boil over medium high heat while stirring constantly.  Once butter is melted (do not let brown!), remove baking pan from oven. In a mixing bowl, combine 1 1/4 cup sugar, milk, flour, baking powder and salt until just mixed. Pour over butter in baking pan, but do not stir any more. Pour peach mixture over batter in baking pan, but do not stir. Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon. Bake for 45 minutes or until golden and bubbly. 

This is delicious served with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream!

Enjoy and again, Happy Father’s Day!

Garden Salad with Herbed Ranch Dressing – My New Favorite Salad!!! So Flavorful!

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Cooking, Dill, Food, Green Salad, healthy, Herbs, lowfat, Ranch, recipe, salad, side dish, summer

  
I made a green salad this weekend that was so delicious, I have to share! It’s nothing complicated, but it was so fresh and flavorful that I thought others should enjoy it as well!
Our family had a friend visiting this weekend. She is a young college student and is trying to improve her cooking skills. Every time she comes for a visit, I get her in the kitchen and try and teach her a few of my tricks. This time we decided to make homemade marinara and then use that to make lasagna (look for a blog entry soon on these two things). Since lasagna can be time consuming, we thought we would keep the rest of our dinner pretty easy and just serve it with a salad and some fresh baked bread (the bread machine makes this part a breeze!).
I don’t cook with dill very often, but it really was the star of the night!!! This was an ingredient in the salad dressing, as well as the bread. Maybe I’ll include the bread recipe in another post, but I basically added dill and fresh garlic to a basic white bread recipe. It was delicious without being overpowering.

So what’s in that salad you ask???

Dressing

½ Bottle Light Ranch Dressing

¼ cup Finely Chopped Fresh Dill

½ cup Finely Chopped Fresh Flat Leaf Parsley

2 tbsp. Finely Chopped Fresh Basil

 

Salad

4 cups Baby Spinach/Baby Arugala Mix

3 diced Roma Tomatoes

1 diced Cucumber

2 oz Tri-color Tortilla Strip Salad topping

I made the salad dressing a few hours ahead and put the covered container into the fridge. This makes dinner time work easier and gives all the flavors some time to mingle. When ready to eat, toss all salad ingredients into a serving bowl and then spoon in some dressing. I think I used a little less than half of the dressing I made. I like a good amount of dressing, but you don’t want to drown your salad. Plus, you’ll have more for another salad later or you can use it as a spread on sandwiches or burgers.

Happy summer!!!

Classic Potato Salad – It Wouldn’t Be Summer Without A Delicious Potato Salad!

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barbecue, classic, entertaininng, outdoors, picnic, potato, potato salad, potato salad recipe, potatoes, potlluck, recipe, recipes, salad, side dish, summer

  
A decade (or two!) ago I first made a Best Foods Mayonnaise potato salad recipe and eureka! I had found the potato salad of my dreams! Over the years, I made it so much I kind of had it committed to memory, so I quit referring to the recipe and made it on the fly. Depending on how many people I was feeding, the quantities went up and down, so I started tasting as I went and adjusting ingredients accordingly. My friend Vickie, suggested I blog about my potato salad, so I figured I better work on putting a recipe together.

As time went on, I started experimenting with my creamy potato concoction! Tried it with dijon mustard. Husband didn’t like it! Tried adding dill. He didn’t like that either. I like to think paying attention to his opinions is one of the reasons we’ve been married almost 30 years!

As I mentioned in yesterday’s Mexican Pinto Beans post, cumin is my all-time favorite spice, so at some point that made it into the recipe and everyone would ask about that pleasant, but “different” flavor. Am I in a spicy mood? Sometimes yes, sometimes no, so if I am I will add some hot sauce or crushed chili flakes. (Here’s where a confession comes in: Today’s potato salad will not be made spicy! I made my Mexican Pinto Beans and I didn’t notice the can of diced green chilies I added were labeled “hot” and then I added jalapenos on top of that! I think that’s enough fireworks for one 4th of July!)

Another change I made to the potato salad recipe over the years as I struggled with my weight, is to use low-fat or fat-free mayonnaise. This is a big way to lower the fat and calorie content. I’m still happy with the taste and I still get lots of compliments, so it works for me, but you may be a mayo purist and want to stick with the full fat version.

If you haven’t found your favorite potato salad recipe, I hope you’ll give mine a try. Let me know what you think! 

You all have a wonderful, safe and flavorful Independance Day!!!

Kel’s Classic Potato Salad

7 medium russet potatoes, peeled, washed and halved

2-3 hard boiled eggs, peeled and chopped – I sliced one to add to the top

1 cup mayonnaise (If you use regular mayo, also add a tsp of sugar. I find low-fat/fat-free mayo to be sweeter, so I pass on the sugar)

1 medium red onion, chopped

2/3 cup sweet pickle relish

1 tbsp yellow mustard (I sometimes use Sweet/Hot Mustard)

1/2 tsp cumin

1 tbsp vinegar (use white or apple cider)

1 small can of chopped olives

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Optional: 2 tsp hot sauce or crushed pepper flakes

Boil potatoes for about 20 minutes and then remove from water and cool. Cut up potatoes into bite-size pieces. In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients and refrigerate. I think this is best served cold, so it will need a couple hours in the fridge. This is one of those dishes that is even good made a day ahead as it improves as the flavors mingle.

Mexican Style Pinto Beans – A Great Add to Any Barbecue

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4th of July, barbecue, beans, Cooking, Food, Independance Day, July 4th, mexican beans, mexican style beans, pinto beans, recipe, recipes, slow cook, slow cooked beans, slow cooker, slow cooker recipes, summer

  

Since everyone I know will be barbecuing tomorrow in celebraton of July 4th, I thought I would share my awesome bean recipe with you! They are a perfect barbecue side dish and their make-ahead recipe clears up time for more amusing pursuits! My pinto beans are soaking as we speak, in anticipation for their date with the crockpot tomorrow morning!

These beans are really easy to make, low-fat and so very tasty! They are very flavorful as is, but feel free to spice them up by adding additional hot peppers or hot sauce. These are a great add to any barbecue, mexican feast, Super Bowl party, or just any time you want tasty beans!

What goodies are you making for the 4th of July?

Mexican Style Pinto Beans

1 pound pinto beans, sorted for any stones/bad ones and rinsed

1/2 pound turkey bacon (You can leave this out if you’re meat-free or want to cut fat and calories)

1 – 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes in puree

1 – 4 oz. can of diced green chiles

1 onion, chopped (I prefer the flavor of red onions in this dish)

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp cumin (My favorite spice IN THE WORLD!!!! It reminds me of my childhood and the wonderful, exotic aromoas that came out of our Lebanese neighbor’s kitchen. Man that woman could cook!!!)

2-3 crushed & chopped garlic cloves (I use my garlic press here. Love that tool!!!)

3/4 cup cilantro, rinsed, dried and chopped

Salt and pepper to taste (I once heard someone say, “Salt is to food, what breath is to life!” So true!)
Place your rinsed pinto beans in a large pot or bowl and cover the bean with water, enough for 3 inches over. Let them soak overnight.

Drain the beans and place into slow cooker. Pour in enough fresh water to cover the beans. Stir in all ingredients except the cilantro. Cook beans on low for 6 hours or high for 4 hours.

About 1/2 hour before the beans are due to be done, stir in the chopped cilantro. Continue cooking beans until they are soft. Give them a taste to see if you need to add any more salt and pepper.

I hope you and your family enjoy these beans as much as we do! I make them pretty regularly and they are always a hit. 

Tip: Have a large amount left over? No sweat! These little wonders freeze beautifully!!! So you can enjoy them on a busy night when you don’t have time to cook!

White Wine Spritzer – A Refreshing, Low-cal Cocktail Choice

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cocktail, Cooking, Drink, drinks, eating, Food, low calorie, spritzer, summer, weight loss, white wine, white wine spritzer, Wine

  
I had always heard of a white wine spritzer and Weight Watchers always mentioned them as a good lower calorie drink choice, but I never tried one until recently. What on earth was I waiting for??? On a hot summer day, this is such a refreshing drink choice and it doesn’t weigh you down like straight wine can. We recently enjoyed these at my birthday picnic (see previous post). They are especially great for people that aren’t big drinkers. My inlaws don’t drink much, but they really enjoyed these!

These are a commonly made drink, so you can easily order them when you’re out on the town. They are also super easy to make, so they’re perfect for home parties or picnics. The other great thing about spritzers is that you can make them to suit your tastes and desires. Below I’ll share a suggested recipe, but if you want to lower calories or alcohol content just increase the amount of club soda to wine ratio. Club soda has zero calories so you  get the bubbly without the alcohol calories!

If you’re like me and are late to the spritzer game, I hope you’ll give this refreshing beverage a try!

White Wine Spritzer

1/3 part club soda

2/3 part white wine (I really like to use Sequin – Delicately Bubbled Pinot Grigio)

1 lime wedge – squeeze into spritzer and then drop in

Just add all ingredients to glass and gently mix. I guess you could make it by the pitcher for a party, but it might go flat over time. I also like to start with ice cold ingredients, so I don’t have to add ice, which will water it down when it melts.

Cheers!

Non-alcoholic Sangria – Our New Favorite Party Drink!

Tags

Drink, drinks, Food, fruit, healthy, juice, low calorie, non-alcoholic, non-alcoholic sangria, sangria, summer

Between Easter, Mother’s Day and family birthdays, we have had a few warm weather get togethers at our house lately. I concocted this non-alcoholic sangria that everyone just loves!!! My young nephew was trying to figure out how he could take every remaining ounce home with him!

It’s such a pretty drink with the colorful juices and cut up fruit floating in it and it’s incredibly refreshing! I usually serve it in a clear beverage dispenser that has a serving spigot. You know the type! This way you can see all the fruit. This does prevent people from getting the fruit in the dispenser into their cup, but I usually set out a bowl with all the same type of fruit, so people can add some to their glass of they choose. Another great thing about this recipe, is it’s family friendly and suitable for all ages. If you want to spike it, that’s completely possible too! We usually have a bottle of wine open and available for adults that might want to add a splash of that! You can use either a white or a red wine.

So here’s the recipe! Party on!!!

• 1 part club soda
• 1 part pomegranate juice
• 1 part white grape juice
• 1 part cranberry juice
• Sliced fruit: strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, lemons, limes, oranges, etc. Go crazy!!!

Healthy note: To lower the calories in the recipe, you can use the light versions of the juices mentioned above.

Tip: I want to keep it cold, but ice would just dilute it and my dispenser doesn’t have one of those handy ice compartments. I put some of the sangria mixture with fruit in it, in a plastic cup and freeze it. Keep in mind that your frozen juice needs to be small enough to fit through the opening of whatever dispenser you are serving from. As the frozen juice melts, it doesn’t dilute the sangria, but it does keep it cold. I also recommend starting with cold bottles of juice. If everything is room temperature to start, your frozen juice won’t last very long and your sangria won’t stay cold very long. Also, feel free to try different types of juices; experiment and have fun with it! You can also substitute sparkling lemonade for the club soda if you like your sangria on the sweeter side.