Three Easy Meat And Veggie Meals Concocted With Whatever Happens To Be In The House

If I wait too long after creating a dish before blogging about it, it takes even longer to translate my notes about said dish. For instance, the nameless creation pictured next was hastily noted on a small piece of paper as ~

“Leafy Green lettuce, Smokey deli Turkey, Polar..., Grand Cru..., Spinach cooked.”

What it means is ~ I cleaned, dried and laid out individual leaves of Leafy Green Lettuce. Each leaf was topped with a slice of Smoked Deli Turkey, then drizzled with a stream of mild Polar Mango Sauce (easily replaced with any favorite sauce). Grand Cru is a version of Gruyere Cheese that is produced in the United States. A strip of it goes on next and the final ingredient is cooked spinach.

Really quite good and I liked picking the leaves up and eating them with my fingers.


******


Another note I came across, slightly more decipherable ~

“1 T. Scallions - Squirt EVOO, 1/2 c. Canned Beets, 10 stalks Asparagus, 1/4 c. Shredded Carrots, Spaghetti Squash 2 c., 1 T. Parmigiano Reggiano”

Here are the actual steps I took ~ First cooked a small spaghetti squash in the oven. After cooled slightly, cut in half and used a large fork to pull out the innards in spaghetti-like strands. Squirted a small amount of extra virgin olive oil in a medium casserole dish. Filled bottom with a layer of spaghetti squash; topped that with cut-up (leftover) cooked asparagus. Arranged canned beet slices around edges and scattered shredded carrots and small pieces of scallions (green onions) on top. Sprinkled with Parmigiano Reggiano.

Can’t remember whether I heated this one in the oven or in the microwave. Anyway, after it had time to heat, I sprinkled it with more Parmigiano Reggiano. Can never have too much cheese!


******


Lastly, and I’m lacking notes on this one, so will go with my memory and the photo ~

A bed of torn lettuce, topped with bite-sized pieces of cube steak (cooked and seasoned however you like it--I simply used Salt & Pepper), pineapple chunks, sliced cooking onion, shredded carrots (the pineapple, onion and carrots were cooked with the cube steak). To top it all off, Polar Mango Sauce.

Such fun to mix and match whatever is in my refrigerator and cupboards.

Breakfast, Brownies and Mini Turkey Loaves

I’ve been so lazy this past month. Have you noticed?! No food posts since August 27, but I continue to cook and eat. Can’t avoid it.

Just for today, some photos of foods I’ve been eating ~ no detailed recipes, only brief descriptions and comments.

BACON, EGG & CHEESE CUPS
This breakfast (or brunch) dish starts with bacon, so why in the world would you need to grease the muffin tin? Because, in spite of the bacon grease, they stick to the muffin tin. Maybe lining each “cup” with parchment paper would work. Start with bacon, sprinkle with shredded cheese, pour in eggs mixed with chopped chives or green onions, salt & pepper. Bake in a preheated 350-degree fahrenheit oven 30-35 minutes until the bacon is crisp and the egg mixture is “set”. If you don’t eat them all, wrapped them carefully and freeze for future consumption!

A HEARTY BREAKFAST
Scrambled eggs, toasted homemade English Muffin Bread, strawberries and what I believe was a slice of Spam.

BROWNIES
I bought a brownie divider pan and just love it. After baking them, I decorated with nuts, chocolate chips and Reese’s PB cups. After they cooled, I simply lifted the divider out and was left with twelve equal sized brownies.

MINI TURKEY AND VEGGIE MEATLOAVES
Yes, it’s the brownie divider pan. It worked on mini turkey loaves, too. Follow the Food Network recipe and each piece (when using this divider pan) is about 125 calories. I ate two, then wrapped and froze the rest individually. For this recipe, I placed the brownie pan in a cookie sheet to catch any grease... the pan consists of three parts and the bottom part has a big square opening that is covered by the second part. While the brownie batter didn’t leak through, I knew the grease would.



******


My other blog is CORNING NY STEP BY STEP -- a view of the city where I live.)

CORNING NY STEP BY STEP is now on Facebook. LIKE it and you’ll see when I post a new entry to that blog, plus there will be extra photos of people, places and things of Corning that didn’t make it into the blog.

Grilled Turkey-Olive Burgers

For my second time preparing Ellie (Food Network) Krieger’s light (as in fat content) Better Burger with Green Olives, I used my George Foreman grill and made my life easier by covering the grill in foil.

I read somewhere that covering these indoor grills with foil makes for easier cleaning. I hate cleaning all the nooks and crannies of my GF, so this is a win-win situation in my opinion.

Using two pieces of foil, one for the bottom and one for the top, wasn’t exactly the best idea. Next time I’ll use one piece for the whole thing. Also, it makes better sense to turn the foil edges on the bottom sides up just enough to keep any liquids from dripping on the counter. Also, the bottom, front edge needs to be turned down so liquids will run out into the little “catch basin”.


BETTER BURGER WITH GREEN OLIVES
(adapted from Ellie Krieger’s recipe)

1 pound lean ground turkey (or beef)
1/2-cup coarsely chopped green olives
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley, or 2 teaspoons dried
3/4-teaspoon cumin
1/3-teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Combine all ingredients and shape into 4 patties.

On a George Foreman grill, cooking will only take about 5 minutes. In a grill pan or on an outdoor grill, allow 5 minutes for each side.

After I placed two patties on my GF, and closed it, I decided to open it back up to take a photo. That’s why the odd colored lines in the patties.

Did you notice that there is no salt added? That’s because olives are very salty.

See how nice and clean the grill is after removing the foil.

Fix the grilled burger “your way”. My way was mustard, ketchup and whole wheat bread. Absolutely delicious!