Turkey Taco Lettuce Wraps

It's rare for me to look at a super healthy dish and think, "Oh man, that looks really good." Sad, but true. (Am I the only one?) This recipe actually looked good to me, AND was pretty healthy, so I knew I had to make it. Here's the recipe -


Turkey Taco Lettuce Wraps
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 4 • Serving Size: 2 taco wraps • Old Points: 3 pts • Points+: 4 pts
Calories: 134.1 • Fat: 1.7 g • Carb: 9.7 g • Fiber: 2.4 g • Protein: 21.3 g • Sugar: 4.3

Ingredients:

• 1.3 lbs 99% lean ground turkey
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• 1/2 small onion, minced
• 2 tbsp bell pepper, minced
• 3/4 cup water
• 4 oz can tomato sauce
• 8 large lettuce leaves from Iceberg lettuce
  

Directions:

Brown turkey in a large skillet. When no longer pink add dry seasoning and mix well.Add onion, pepper, water and tomato sauce and cover. Simmer on low for about 20 minutes.

Wash and dry the lettuce. Place meat in the center of leaf and top with tomatoes, cheese and salsa or whatever you prefer. (Toppings extra points)


This was actually the first time I've ever cooked with ground turkey. I decided that I think ground beef is better, but ground turkey is pretty okay too. And the taco lettuce wraps? They were mediocre. Certainly not bad, but definitely not super good. They didn't have much flavor, (maybe I should have doubled the spices?) so we had to add a ton of extra toppings like cheese and sour cream and salsa.... which made the meal a lot less healthy.... which kind of ruined the whole point of me making it in the first place. I ended up just wishing I was eating a taco. Still, at least I gave it a try, right? And it really was pretty okay, so it's not like a it was a total failure.

"Best Peanut Butter Cookies EVER"

Whenever a chef claims a recipe to be the best EVER, it catches my eye. Surprisingly, I don't see it as often as you'd think. Anyway, I don't have an absolutely amazing peanut butter cookie recipe, so I decided to try this one since the chef claimed that it was awesome.

Make your own:
1 ¼ cups creamy peanut butter
1 cup margarine
¾ cup white sugar
¾ cup packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

In a large bowl, cream together the peanut butter, margarine, brown sugar and white sugar. Then, beat in the eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Gradually stir the flour mixture into the peanut butter mixture. Stir in chocolate chips if desired.

Form dough into walnut sized balls and place them 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheets. Crisscross each cookie with a fork to flatten slightly.

Bake for 10 to 11 minutes in the preheated oven, until just lightly browned. Don’t over bake them—over baked cookies might as well be crackers. Ick!

Let the cookies cool and chow down. These go best with a cold glass of milk.

***If you don’t have time to bake these, just get a spoonful of peanut butter and sprinkle chocolate chips on top. It’s like a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie for slackers.

I used butter instead of margarine, so they weren't as fluffy as they'd normally be, but they were still super delicious. I'm not sure that they are any better than any other good peanut butter cookie recipe, but since the only recipe I'd used before this one was pretty blah, I was super happy with it. I didn't have chocolate chips to add to it, (bummer) but the peanut butter was good enough for me. I think I ate like five of them right out of the oven.

Pulled Chicken Sammies

I was craving something easy for dinner the other night, and this recipe looked pretty simple. I know that all my recipes are fairly easy, but I really wanted something that required minimal effort. I guess it was one of those days. :) We love both chicken and sandwiches around here, so easy pulled chicken sammies seemed like it would do the trick.

Pulled Chicken Suiza Sammies

by Taste at Tell

Serves 4

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 small red onion, chopped (all I had was half an onion)
2 cloves garlic, chopped
juice of 1 lime
1 tablespoon honey
1 1/2 cups salsa verde (I used Goya brand)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 rotisserie-style chicken, skin discarded and meat shredded
4 sandwich rolls, split
1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese

Preheat the broiler. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook until softened, about 2 minutes. Stir in the lime juice and honey, then stir in the salsa and heat through. Mix in the sour cream. Add sauce a little at a time to your bowl of shredded chicken. YOU MAY NOT NEED ALL THE SAUCE depending on how much shredded chicken you have. Stir in the sauce to coat.
Pile the chicken mixture on the roll bottoms. Top with the cheese and broil to melt. Set the roll tops in place and serve with the chips. *I have lettuce in my picture but I liked it better without!

*Recipe Notes: My meat was a little on the wet side because I didn't get all of the dark meat off the chicken so my meat to sauce ratio was a little off. You may want to make the sauce and then add as much as you like to your meat.



I followed this recipe pretty closely except that I didn't use salsa verde - I used my own salsa because I still had a ton of it. This probably made it taste relatively different, but that's okay. It was still pretty good. Not amazing, but good. The only thing I would change for next time is that I would use regular white onion instead of red onion. I usually like red onion, but I didn't really like it on this sandwich. And next time, I might try it with salsa verde to see if that makes the difference between a good sandwich, which we had, and an awesome sandwich, which the chef claims that she had. :-)

Creamy Sausage and Tomato Pasta

Sometimes I forget how much I like certain foods because I don't eat them very much. Sausage is one of these foods. Whenever I actually eat it I'm like, "Oh yeah, this stuff is actually yummy!" I saw this recipe and thought it would only be so-so, but I wanted to try it anyway because I am big into trying different things right now... obviously. :-) It ended up being much better than I thought!


Creamy Sausage and Tomato Pasta
Source: Wylie Tidwell
Makes 4-6 servings

4-5 Italian sausages (about 1 pound) found in the fresh meat department (I used spicy turkey Italian sausage; I really think a spicy sausage adds a lot of flavor)
1 cup chopped onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 (16 ounce) can Italian style diced tomatoes
1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup heavy cream
5-6 big leaves of fresh basil, chopped
12 ounces penne pasta (get a 16 ounce box and use 3/4 of it)
grated Parmesan for topping

Directions:
1) Cook the pasta in salted water al dente, according to package directions.
2) While pasta is cooking, brown the sausages and cut them into slices - little circles (I actually removed the casings and then browned and crumbled the sausages like you would ground beef).
3) Add the onions and garlic to the sausage and saute for a couple of minutes.
4) Pour in the entire can of diced tomatoes and the tomato sauce and heat through.
5) Pour in the cream and heat through. The longer you cook the sauce the thicker it will get so simmer it until it is the consistency you want.
6) Add the fresh basil and let it simmer for a few minutes.
7) Finally, mix the sausage sauce with the pasta and serve. Top each serving with a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese. Serve with crusty garlic bread.


It seems to be rare for me these days, but I actually cooked this one exactly like it says to, with all the exact ingredients that it calls for. Like the chef, I also used spicy sausage and I thought that was a nice touch. The more flavorful, the better. Me and my husband both enjoyed this pasta a lot. It isn't amazing, and if you don't really like sausage all that much then you definitely shouldn't make this, but it is something that I'll definitely make again. Simple, different, and flavorful. That's right down my alley.

Buttermilk Blueberry Breakfast Cake

I LOVE breakfast foods. I seriously wish that I had all the time in the world in the mornings so that I could make myself an awesome breakfast every day. My husband doesn't love breakfast foods nearly as much as I do, but he does love blueberry muffins. When I saw this recipe, I thought it would be similar enough to blueberry muffins that he would like it, but also different enough to spice things up a bit. Here's the recipe:

Buttermilk-Blueberry Breakfast Cake

Serves 6-8

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tsp. lemon zest or more — zest from 1 large lemon
7/8 cup* + 1 tablespoon sugar**
1 egg, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 cups fresh blueberries
½ cup buttermilk

* 7/8 cup = 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons
** This 1 tablespoon is for sprinkling on top

1. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Cream butter with lemon zest and 7/8 cup of the sugar until light and fluffy.

2. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Meanwhile, toss the blueberries with ¼ cup of flour, then whisk together the remaining flour, baking powder and salt.

3. Add the flour mixture to the batter a little at a time, alternating with the buttermilk. Fold in the blueberries.

4. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan (or something similar) with butter or coat with non-stick spray. Spread batter into pan. Sprinkle batter with remaining tablespoon of sugar. Bake for 35 minutes. Check with a toothpick for doneness. If necessary, return pan to oven for a couple of more minutes. (Note: Baking for as long as 10 minutes more might be necessary.) Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.



I don't have kosher salt so I just used regular salt. Also, I didn't feel like doing the whole lemon zest thing so I actually just used a little bit of lemon juice instead. Because of this, it may not have turned out exactly like it was supposed to, but it was still so yummy! It didn't take long to make either, which is always a good thing. It wasn't very sweet like most cakes, but that was perfect for a breakfast food. (I'm a sugarholic, but I don't normally start my sugar-eating until noon-ish). :-) My husband loved it too. I made the cake the night before we were going to eat it for breakfast and he ate a ton of it right out of the oven. It was totally gone the next morning. I'll definitely make this again within the next few days since I still have lots of blueberries!

Oh, and I cooked it for only 30 minutes (and it was totally done), but my oven cooks things really fast.

James's Salsa

I absolutely love chips and salsa. I could eat them forever. My stomach turns into a bottomless pit when I'm eating them. Kinda bad, I know. Why doesn't that ever happen when I'm eating broccoli or spinach? Anyway, I haven't ever really bought a salsa from the store that I loved. There are several okay ones, but all the best salsas seem to come from restaurants.... or are homemade. Here is the best homemade recipe for salsa that I've had so far. It comes from James, who sits next to my husband at work and was kind enough to give us his salsa recipe. Gracias James!


James's Salsa

4 cans petite diced tomatoes
1 can (8 oz) diced jalapenos (for heat)
1 can (8 oz) diced green peppers
2 fresh green jalapenos, seeded and diced
4 green onions, sliced or diced for preference
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 bunch cilantro, finely chopped
1 sprinkle of lime juice
salt & pepper (freshly ground if possible)

Mix everything in a bowl, or blend it up. Eat.

NOTES:
*Strain the canned jalapenos for less heat, or throw out completely for a no-heat garden salsa.
*If blending, do NOT include the cilantro. (It gets bitter). Put it in after.
*Will keep for one week but try to eat within first few days.
*For guacamole, add one spoonful of salsa per avocado and mash and mix.


This recipe makes a LOT of salsa, FYI. I didn't realize how much until I was done. So, feel free to half the recipe if you're not throwing a party or feeling like you want to give salsa to your neighbors. And yes, this salsa is pretty dang good. I blended mine and the consistency was perfect. I probably could have chopped up the cilantro better at the end, but I got lazy. Whatever- still tasted great!

BBQ Chicken Pizza

Homemade pizza.... delicious, and in many cases, cheaper than buying it! Well, unless you get the Little Caesar's $5 Hot and Ready, (which is a good deal) but that one definitely isn't the most delicious pizza out there. My favorite pizza to make myself is BBQ Chicken Pizza. I got the idea from my sister. She actually makes her own dough, and it's delicious, (I really need to put that recipe on here) but I only make my own dough maybe 1 out of every 5 times. I am so lazy when it comes to making my own bread. Seriously. My poor KitchenAid really needs more love.

Anyway, I bought my dough from the store. Only a couple dollars. As for the rest of the recipe, I just kind of throw my ingredients on the dough. I cook a couple of chicken breasts in BBQ sauce, cut it up into pieces, and then spread these ingredients on the pizza in this order:

BBQ sauce
mozzarella cheese (I just used the grated kind from the store)
chicken
red onion
tomatoes

The Pioneer Woman has a similar recipe which you can find here. She uses a little less BBQ sauce and also adds cilantro.

I add a TON of chicken to make sure that one pizza will be enough for us for dinner as well as provide enough leftovers for my husband for lunch the next day. We are always happy with this pizza. Super good.

Dip it in Ranch dressing for an extra kick.

Broccoli-Cheese Soup

This recipe is from The Pioneer Woman, and my mom recommended it to me last week. It was perfect timing because I had just bought a bunch of broccoli on sale and was wondering how I was going to use it all before it went bad... (heaven knows I'm not the type to just eat broccoli more than once or twice a week). Here's the recipe:

Ingredients

1 whole Onion, Diced
1 stick 1/2 Cup Butter
1/3 cup Flour
4 cups Whole Milk
2 cups Half-and-half
4 heads Broccoli Cut Into Florets
1 pinch Nutmeg
3 cups Grated Cheese (mild Cheddar, Sharp Cheddar, Jack, Etc.)
Small Dash Of Salt (more If Needed)
Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Chicken Broth If Needed For Thinning

Preparation Instructions

Melt butter in a pot over medium heat, then add the onions. Cook the onions for 3 to 4 minutes, then sprinkle the flour over the top. Stir to combine and cook for 1 minute or so, then pour in milk and half-and-half. Add nutmeg, then add broccoli, a small dash of salt, and plenty of black pepper.Cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the broccoli is tender. Stir in cheese and allow to melt. Taste seasonings and adjust if needed. Then either serve as is, or mash it with a potato masher to break up the broccoli a bit, or transfer to a blender in two batches and puree completely. (If you puree it in a blender, return it to the heat and allow to heat up. Splash in chicken broth if needed for thinning.) Enjoy!

So I made two mistakes while making this, and it still turned out super yummy, so this recipe must be a dang good one! My first mistake was not making sure I had enough cheese, (and I didn't) so my soup definitely could have used a bit more cheese. My other mistake was that my soup turned out super thick and I didn't thin it out at all with broth. So yeah, I think it was the thickest soup I've ever eaten. However, like I said, it was still delicious, so I'll definitely use this recipe again.

Oh, I definitely blended mine completely. I'd recommend doing that if you make this.

Creamy Cajun Chicken Pasta

I found this recipe almost a year ago (when I was first starting to spread my cooking wings) and was pleased with it. I made it last night for the first time in several months and was happy to find that I am still pleased with it. :-) Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

Servings:

2 2

2

Units: US | Metric

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts , cut into thin strips
• 4 ounces linguine , cooked al dente
• 2 teaspoons cajun seasoning
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 thinly sliced green onion
• 1 -2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 tablespoons chopped sun-dried tomatoes
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon dried basil
• ¹⁄₈; teaspoon ground black pepper
• ¹⁄₈; teaspoon garlic powder
• ¼ cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. 1
   Place chicken and Cajun seasoning in a bowl and toss to coat.
2. 2
   In a large skillet over medium heat, sauté chicken in butter or margarine until chicken is tender, about 5 to 7 minutes.
3. 3
   Reduce heat add green onion, heavy cream, tomatoes, basil, salt, garlic powder, black pepper and heat through.
4. 4
   Pour over hot linguine and toss with Parmesan cheese.

So I change it slightly by adding fresh tomatoes instead of sun-dried tomatoes (for the record, I prefer it with sun-dried tomatoes but sadly my husband doesn't like them....and he adores fresh tomatoes whereas I don't absolutely adore sun-dried tomatoes, so he wins....haha) and I usually don't add the parmesan cheese.... not because I don't like it with parmesan cheese, but because I always forget. Also, I usually cut my chicken into cubes instead of strips - this makes it cook faster and easier to eat.

I use lots of cajun seasoning because I love the strong (and somewhat spicy) flavor, but you can adjust how much seasoning you use to what you prefer. Also, I use heavy cream like the recipe calls for, but you could also probably also use half and half. Oh, and it says to use "1-2 cups" of cream, but I always use just one cup and it's more than enough.

Very easy and delicious. Enjoy!

Baked Asparagus Fries

I love asparagus. I'm pretty happy with the way that I normally cook it, but when I saw this recipe I thought that it couldn't hurt to spice things up a little. :) Here it is:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1 cup panko breadcrumbs
1 lb asparagus, ends trimmed and cut in half
3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 eggs, lightly beaten
salt and pepper to taste
cooking spray

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Place almonds and panko in a food processor and pulse until the almonds are finely ground and well mixed. Pour mixture into a shallow dish.
3. Dredge cut asparagus spears in flour and shake off excess (not much flour will stick to the waxy spears, but that’s okay).
4. Dip each spear into the egg wash followed by the panko mixture. Cover each spear in the panko mixture until fully coated. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Place coated spears onto a parchment lined baking sheet and spray with a light coating of cooking spray. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until crisp and lightly browned. Season with salt and pepper.


On the link above you can also find recipes for dipping sauces, but I was way too lazy to make any of those. (When it comes to my side dishes, I prefer them to be very simple). I also didn't include almonds because I didn't have them, didn't think they were necessary, and didn't want to go buy them. And the finished product was okay, but I definitely could have gone for something more flavorful. I think this is because I usually cook my asparagus in butter, garlic, and some lemon juice- all very flavorful ingredients. My husband thought it was pretty good too, but told me that he prefers the way I "usually" make it. :)

I'm pretty sure it turned out too bland because I didn't make any of the dipping sauces. Those recipes are there for a reason, right? We tried dipping ours in Ranch dressing instead, and that tasted kind of weird, so then we just ate them plain. If I make these again, I'll either make one of the dipping sauces or add my own spices to make them more flavorful.

Grilled Cheese.... Adult-Style

When I found this on Pinterest, (where else?) I thought it looked gross because although it called for cheese and avocado, it also called for pepperoni. Yuck. I love pepperoni on my pizza, but that's about it. However, I saw that another pinner had commented, "Try with bacon or turkey." Hmmm.... so I thought about it, and decided that those BOTH sounded good.

So, I made a very quick and very delicious dinner tonight. Grilled cheese sandwich with mozzarella cheese, turkey, bacon, avocado, and tomato. (You can tweak it however you'd like to fit your taste). Took about 5 minutes to make.... with very easy clean-up. Delicious. It got a thumbs up from my husband as well. I didn't have any side dishes, but there are a million side dishes you could serve it with. A few that sound good to me are soup, chips, or fruit.

Oatmeal Cookies

Oatmeal cookies don't get much love. Even I, a major cookie lover, used to turn down oatmeal cookies all the time. I think one of the main reasons why people don't seem to love oatmeal cookies is because they so often have raisins in them. Blech! Come on people- very few people like raisins in anything other than Raisin Bran. Anyway, I was blog stalking a friend of a friend and stumbled upon this recipe. For some reason, oatmeal cookies sounded good to me at the time, so I made them. Here's the recipe:

3/4 c. shortening
1 1/4 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/3 c. milk

Beat until creamed then add:

3 cups quick oats
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Mix at low speed just until blended. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls unto cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.

Feel free to add:

butterscotch chips
mini peanut butter cups
white chocolate chips with macadamia nuts
raisins
m&m's
white chocolate and dried cranberry
chocolate, mini marshmallows, and chopped almonds

I didn't add any of the 'extras,' I just doubled (almost tripled) the amount of cinnamon I put in. And man oh man, they were so delicious! I even pretended like I was being healthy since oatmeal is good for you. Oh, and I used softened butter instead of shortening. I pretty much never use shortening.

I cooked mine for only 8-9 minutes and they were totally ready, so be careful not to overcook! And eat them warm- oatmeal cookies are the best when they're warm. (But I guess most cookies are like that....)

Crispy Southwest Chicken Wraps

When I first saw this recipe on Pinterest, I thought it looked too bland to be any good. However, I noticed that a few of my friends that had pinned it had commented that they had tried it and liked it. So I decided to give it a try. Here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup cooked rice, warm or at room temperature
1 cup cooked, shredded chicken
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 green onion, finely sliced (white and green parts)
1/2 red or green pepper, diced
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
juice of 1 lime
1/2 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
2 cups shredded cheese (I used a combination of monterey jack and sharp cheddar)
Sour cream (optional)
6 burrito-sized flour tortillas

DIRECTIONS:

Mix rice together with chili powder, cumin and garlic salt. Add remaining ingredients except for cheese and sour cream. Sprinkle cheese over tortillas, leaving 1/2-inch border around edges, then arrange chicken and rice mixture down the center of each tortilla. (Optional: on some of the wraps, I dotted the cheese with about 1-2 tablespoons of reduced fat sour cream before arranging chicken and rice mixture down the center – it made the wraps delightfully creamy.)
Roll stuffed tortillas, leaving edges open. Spray the tortillas all over with cooking spray.

Heat a large non-stick skillet (or griddle) over medium heat for 1 minute. Arrange 2 wraps, seam-side down, in pan and cook until golden brown and crisp, about 2-3 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate and repeat with remaining wraps. Serve.

Okay, so I didn't add the onion, green pepper, OR the cilantro, and guess what? It was still SO good! I guess the spices and lime juice added a lot. Not bland at all. I definitely added the optional sour cream (yum) and we also dipped it in hot sauce. (our own idea) We like Cholula, but you can use whichever is your favorite. I made a lot so I had enough for four extra- two for my husband's lunch the next day, and two for his friend/coworker's lunch. :)