Chipotle Mango Pulled Turkey Breast
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Chipotle Mango Pulled Turkey Breast

I thought it would be too dry, I thought I rather use pork, I thought I would go along with her. I think she was right.  The Mangos gave you sweetness and the chipotle gave it that little heat. There were leftovers galore and my lunch salads taste mighty fine these last two days. The rest into the freezer for a quick defrost and eat meal at a later date.

Ingredients

  • 3 pounds boneless, skinless boneless turkey breast
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 1/4 cup tomato paste
  • 1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
  • 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
  • 2 sweet onions (such as Vidalia), thinly sliced
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 chipotles in adobo, seeds removed, and chopped, plus 1 tablespoon sauce
  • 2 mangoes, diced, or 2 cups frozen mango chunks, thawed set aside
  • 1/4 cup chopped cilantro set aside

How

Season turkey with 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and 1/4 teaspoon of the pepper.

Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet on medium-high heat. Brown all sides of turkey, about 6 to 8 minutes. Set aside.

In the crock pot, stir tomato paste, brown sugar, remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper into chicken broth. Add onions, garlic and chipotles. Place browned turkey on top. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 hours.

With 30 minutes remaining, add mango and re-cover.

Remove turkey, stir in cilantro.

When turkey is cool enough to handle using two forks pull /shred the turkey and return to crock pot, stir to mix and serve.

Chipotle Mango Pulled Turkey

Roast Leg of Lamb with Lemon, Garlic, and Rosemary
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Roast Leg of Lamb with Lemon, Garlic, and Rosemary

The longer the lamb marinates in the seasoning paste, the better flavor you’ll have. Anywhere from 1 to 24 hours will work, but overnight is best. Slice the leftovers for pita stuffed sandwiches topped with tabbouleh.

Mike and Laurel came over for Easter but we started them off with Charoset on Matzah and some Matzah (Matzo) Ball Soup. Happy Eastover Day (The Day was for Laurels birthday we had boston cream pie for that.

From Martha Stewart – Mad Hungry, October 2010 Yield Serves 6 to 8 we served with mash potatoes and asparagus and my wife made a nice mint sauce with pomegranate molasses.

Ingredients

  • 2 whole lemons, washed, seeded, and chopped
  • 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves removed
  • 5 to 6 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 1 tablespoon coarse salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 2 to 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1 boneless leg of lamb, butterflied, boned, and cut to lay flat (about 5 pounds)

Note: I was handed the recipe and rolled this not realizing that it was to cook flat. I found the video today and am red-faced. I thought 45 minutes was a pretty short time.

How

  • Place the chopped lemon, rosemary, garlic, salt, pepper, and olive oil in a food processor. A blender can also be used, if done in batches. If you have neither, finely chop all ingredients together.
  • Open up the lamb and lay it flat. Spread and massage the lemon paste evenly over the inside and outside of the lamb. Place in a baking dish and cover, or in a large resealable plastic bag. Refrigerate overnight to marinate, turning occasionally.
  • Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Remove the meat from the refrigerator 30 to 60 minutes before cooking. Place the lamb FLAT on a rack in a foil-lined roasting pan or rimmed baking sheet. Place the meat in the oven and after 5 minutes, reduce the temperature to 425 degrees. Roast for 45 minutes (rolled about 1 to 1/12 hrs) , or until medium rare, 140 degrees on an instant read thermometer. Allow the meat to rest for 10 to 15 minutes before carving and serving.

Raosted leg of lamb cooking flat   Raosted leg of lamb  Rosted Leg of Lamb rolled

Note: I think besides trying it roasting flat LOL, I would cut the lemon rind down to maybe 1 lemon it just had a little too much of the bitter taste, it was not overwhelming by any means and everyone else seemed to enjoy. I’m just saying. 

Matzah (Matzo) Ball Soup
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Matzah (Matzo) Ball Soup

The call would come out from the kitchen how many knaydelach does everyone want.  The calls of 1, 2 or the youngest kids proudly boasting 3 please, how did the kitchen keep it straight?  Soon steaming bowls of soup with these light and fluffy balls of wonderfulness would start to appear around the table.  Matzah balls are more traditionally known as knaydelach (Yiddish for dumplings). Matzah ball soup is generally a very thin chicken broth with two or three 2 inch ball sized matzah balls (or sometimes one very large matzah ball) in it. Sometimes, a few large pieces of carrot or celery are added. Matzah balls can be very soft and light or firm and heavy (not my preference). Matzah ball soup is commonly served at the Passover Seder, but is also eaten all year round.

Ingredients

  • 1 teaspoon plus 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup onion, finely minced 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
  • Coarse salt and ground pepper
  • 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons matzo meal
  • 2 Tbsp.  club soda

Soup

  • 1 small onion cut into 1/2-inch dice (for soup)
  • 1 whole chicken breast, skin removed
  • 1 celery stalk, cut crosswise into 1/4-inch pieces
  • 1 carrot, halved lengthwise and cut crosswise into 1/4-inch pieces
  • 1 box  (32 ounces) reduced-sodium chicken broth
  • Optional pinch of red hot pepper flakes.

Note: you can form the ball, cover and refrigerate up to a day before.

How

In a small nonstick skillet, heat 1 teaspoon oil over medium heat. Add minced onion, and cook until tender, about 5 minutes; let cool.

In a medium bowl, combine remaining 2 tablespoons oil, eggs, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and matzo meal. Add seltzer and cooled onion; stir to combine. Cover and refrigerate at least 45 minutes.

If making soup right away, if not wait until ready

Meanwhile, in a large saucepan, combine chicken, celery, carrot, and diced onion. Add broth and 4 cups water. Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer, and cook 30 minutes.

With oiled hands, shape matzo mixture into 8 balls, about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 15 minutes.

Remove chicken from broth; shred meat, and discard bones. Return broth to a boil; reduce to a simmer. Add matzo balls; cover, and cook until expanded, 30 to 35 minutes. Stir in shredded chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Hint my knaydelach soaked up the salt this time so the soup got season with every bite.

My Favorite Brisket recipe
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My Favorite Brisket recipe

Funny story we originally had planned on a candied brisket and went shopping on Friday night instead of our usual Saturday morning. Wholefoods was very crowed at the meat counter and I forgot to get the brisket so we looped back to the crowed counter and without thinking purely out of habit asked for a single cut brisket instead of a corned beef. To top it off it was kids night and I had to fight for the samples.

So what does one do when they get home, adapt. When it was all said and done we voted that my original Jewish style recipe was better it created thicker richer tasting gravy the meat absorbed more of this flavor. This had a soupier more wine tasting gravy which flavored the meat as such. Don’t get me wrong it was very good but could have used a little kick. Maybe more garlic and onions or some sweetness.

Ingredients

  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • Freshly ground pepper to taste
  • 1 5-pound brisket of beef, shoulder roast of beef, chuck roast, or end of steak
  • 1 garlic clove, peeled
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 3 onions, peeled and diced
  • 1 10-ounce can tomatoes
  • 2 cups red wine
  • 2 stalks celery with the leaves, chopped
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 sprig fresh thyme
  • 1 sprig fresh rosemary
  • 1/4 cup chopped parsley
  • 6 to 8 carrots, peeled and sliced on the diagonal
  • I added about of whole berry cranberry sauce.

How

  • Sprinkle the salt and pepper over the brisket and rub with the garlic. Sear the brisket in the oil and then place, fat side up, on top of the onions in a large casserole. Cover with the tomatoes, red wine, celery, bay leaf, thyme, and rosemary.
  • Cover and bake in a preheated 325-degree oven for about 3 hours, basting often with pan juices.
  • Add the parsley and carrots and bake, uncovered, for 30 minutes more or until the carrots are cooked. To test for doneness, stick a fork in the flat (thinner or leaner end of the brisket). When there is a light pull on the fork as it is removed from the meat, it is “fork tender.”
  • This dish is best prepared in advance and refrigerated so that the fat can be easily skimmed from the surface of the gravy. Trim off all the visible fat from the cold brisket. Then place the brisket, on what was the fat side down, on a cutting board. Look for the grain – that is, the muscle lines of the brisket – and with a sharp knife, cut across the grain.
  • When ready to serve, reheat the gravy.
  • Put the sliced brisket in a roasting pan. Pour the hot gravy on the meat, cover, and reheat in a preheated 350-degree oven for 45 minutes. Some people like to strain the gravy, but I prefer to keep the onions because they are so delicious.

From JEWISH COOKING IN AMERICA by Joan Nathan (Alfred A. Knopf, 2001)

You say Charoset, I say Haroset
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You say Charoset, I say Haroset

For some reason my nice gentile wife was craving a good Passover dinner so she made the charoset and I made the matzo ball soup and brisket. I had to run to Ace hardware to get a clothes dryer vent hose and half way there was a call. Picture this she was on the phone batting her eyes asking me to stop and get some matzo. Don’t know what it is but it works every time, those eyes I tell you, I stopped at Shaws grabbed a box and headed home with a hose and matzo.

Not sure about you but the taste always brings me back to when I was a kid, the wooden bowl, curved red handle metal chopper and the job of making the charoset. I felt so important and then there was the taste testing.

Charoset for Passover

Ingredients

  • 3 honey crisp apples
  • ½ cup chopped pecans
  • 1 Tbsp. honey
  • 1 Tbsp. sweet wine
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 188/2 cup raisins

How

Place the apples and walnuts into a large bowl. Mix together the cinnamon and sugar; sprinkle over the apples. Stir in the honey and sweet wine. Serve immediately, or refrigerate until serving.

Mornin Oatmeal
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Mornin Oatmeal

I guess the older one gets the more set in their ways they become. Look around everyone has their quirks from the same breakfast routine to one who has to enter office from a certain door, drive a certain route, getting ready for bed……. Routines they are there with us all the time once set are hard to break you can chuckle at them they are kind of funny. What are a few of your routines? One of my many is my mornings, I come down stairs around 5 AM have my juice and daily supplements, turn on the coffee maker, go to the living room and do my 33.5 minutes of Qi Gong, then I make my oatmeal and coffee sit and watch the news until I see the weather (heh I am getting older for some reason it has become important), then I write my “morning” email to my family, get ready for work and leave. That was one long sentence I told you I am a flow of thought writer.

Ingredients

½ cup organic rolled oats

1 cup water

Pinch or 2 of ground cinnamon

Small hand full of raisins

Small hand full of whole raw unsalted almonds

Morin Oatmeal

How

Combine all ingredients in small pot simmer to desired thickness.

You can serve with cut up banana, apple whatever I like it without.

You can prepare with walnuts

You can use milk if you like

I’m just telling you my routine

Spinach, Cheddar and Rice Pie.
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Spinach, Cheddar and Rice Pie.

Continuing theme a night dinner plan it was vegetarian night again. We have fallen very nicely into the flow and I don’t have to peek at the calendar as much to figure out what tonight brings theme wise.

We love the taste of spinach and cheese but can’t say that I have tried this combination. The best thing was that I came home from work and the house smelled soooooo good. Lyn worked from home and had everything ready for me including a nice glass of wine with cheese and crackers. How lucky am I!

 Ingredients

  • 3 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 1 small onion, finely chopped
  • 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 10 oz. package frozen chopped spinach, thawed , and squeezed dry
  • 3 cups cooked brown rice (small grain)
  • 1 cup diced extra sharp cheddar cheese
  • ½ tsp. freshly ground black pepper
  • ¼ tsp. salt
  • 4 large eggs
  • ¼ cup nonfat milk (we use lactose free)
  • 1 roasted red pepper cut in strips

How

Make sure your wife is working from home 🙂

Preheat the oven to 4250. Generously coat a 9 inch pie pan with cooking spray.

Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat.

Add Onion and cook. Stirring frequently until beginning to brown, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more. Transfer to a large bowl. Add rice, cheese, pepper and salt to the bowl and stir to combine.

Note: We thought after that some red-hot pepper flakes would be a nice touch if you wanted a little more heat.

Whisk eggs and milk in medium bowl then stir in rice mixture. Transfer to the pie pan and smooth the top with a spatula and arrange the roasted red pepper on top.

Bake the pie until lightly browned in spots about 25 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before cutting into wedges.

Spinach, Cheddar and Rice Pie   Spinach, Cheddar and Rice Pie

White Turkey Chili
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White Turkey Chili

After a week of temps in the 80’s, spring decided to return with temps in the 40s and with the chill in the air something that warms the belly was called for. So we decided that the Sunday which according to our new menu plan was special meal day and what better than a steaming hot bowl of chili.

 Ingredients

  • 2 Tbsp. olive oil, divided
  • 2 pounds ground turkey breast
  • 1 green bell pepper, cored, seeded and diced
  • 1 medium yellow onion, chopped
  • 1 tsp. ground coriander
  • 2 Tbsp. ground cumin
  • 1 tsp. dried oregano
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 2 (16 oz) jars of Salsa Verde medium heat
  • 1 (4 oz) can diced green chiles, drained
  • 1 small jalapeño, seeded and finely sliced
  • 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
  • 2 (15.5 oz) cooked Great Northern small white beans, drained
  • Chopped cilantro, for garnish
  • 7 tsp. grated Monterey Jack cheese, for garnish (optional)
  • 7 tsp. sour cream, for garnish (optional)

White Chili ingredients

How

Heat ½ of the oil in a large pot over medium high heat.

Add turkey and cook, stirring often, until browned. Transfer to a bowl and return pot to heat.

Add remaining oil, bell pepper and onion and cook until softened and not brown.

Return turkey to pot and add coriander, cumin, oregano and salt. Stir well to combine.

Add bay leaf, salsa verde, chiles, jalapeños and broth, reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 45 to 50 minutes.

Gently stir in beans and cook for 35 minutes more.

Ladle chili into bowls and garnish with cilantro, cheese and sour cream, if you like.

Yesterday I added a small amount of red bell pepper for a little color

Lyn’s Blueberry Oatmeal pancakes
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Lyn’s Blueberry Oatmeal pancakes

Sunday morning the newspaper, waffles, pancakes or even eggs and bacon what could be better? We have made these plenty of times before each time the memory never lets us down. With this much oatmeal, you can expect it to be pretty hardy. Two of these fills me up for most of the morning but I cheat and have a third they are just so good. I caught Lyn sneaking another this morning, at least she did not put pepper on them she is a pepper head after all.   You can cook the entire batch then freeze them, separated by parchment or wax paper and warm one for a quick breakfast of breakfast for supper.

Ingredients

  • 8 Tbsp. powdered buttermilk and 2 cups water or milk  you can substitute with 2 cups real buttermilk
  • 1 ¾ cups quick-cooking rolled oats
  • ½  cup oat flour
  • 2 large eggs, beaten
  • ¼ cup light olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/3 teaspoon salt

Warm maple pancake syrup

  • 1 cup pure maple syrup
  • ¼ to ½ cup frozen blueberries.
  • Chopped walnuts

How

Mix together all ingredients in a blender let stand in frig for a short while or if hunger plow ahead.

Heat a griddle or heavy skillet over medium heat until a drop of water skates over the surface and lightly grease. Pour about a ¼ cup for each pancake onto the griddle. Cook until bubbles form on the surface, the edges are dry and the bottoms are golden brown, about 2 minutes. Turn once, cooking the other side until golden, about 1 minute. Serve immediately, or keep warm in a 200° oven until ready to serve.

To make the warm pancake syrup, combine the blueberries in a small saucepan or microwave-proof bowl. Heat

Serve immediately top with chopped walnuts.

Makes 6-12 pancakes

Lyn's oatmeal pancakes ingredients

Double click to enlarge pictures

   Lyn's oatmeal pancakes pulse to mix   Lyn's oatmeal pancakes let's eat

Feta Stuffed Chicken Breast with Red Wine Sauce
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Feta Stuffed Chicken Breast with Red Wine Sauce

What does one do with a chicken breast that you took out of the freezer and had no plans for. My wife had mentioned stuffing chicken with feta last week so I guess that was my main influence. This was a real cook from the gut, open the frig and see what I have kind of creation. Boy you would think that with our new plan of a theme a day cooking I would be a little more organized but then some of my better meals came from the gut. Ok feta, red pepper, onions, mushroom, red wine, lemon and cherry tomatoes. Here we go!

Ingredients

  • 1 Chicken breast bone in with skin
  • About ¼ cup minced red bell pepper
  • About ½ cup feta crumbled
  • About 1 Tbsp. Dried Greek oregano
  • About 3-4 mushrooms roughly chopped
  • Fresh ground pepper (for my wife the pepper head)
  • 1 small onion quartered
  • 12 cherry tomatoes
  • 2 Tbsp. Lemon juice
  • About 1 cup red wine
  • Cornstarch and water combined.

How

Preheat oven with rake in middle to 450◦

In a small bowl mix pepper, feta, oregano, pepper together well.*

Rinse and thoroughly dry chicken

Sprinkle salt (lightly) and pepper all over the chicken

Gently loosen the skin on chicken with finger or fat end of butter knife to create a pocket.

Stuff the feta mixture into the pocket and then stick mushroom under skin on top of the feta.

Place in roasting pan (I used a corning ware dish) and drizzle olive oil over chicken.

Add the onions and tomatoes, enough red wine to cover the bottom and lemon juice.

Place in oven and turn heat down to 350◦

Cook until instant thermometer reads about 165◦ about 40 minutes. I started checking around 20 minutes because I was paranoid of drying out the chicken.

I crisped the skin by turning on the broiler for about 8-10 minutes still on middle rack.

Watch it though I kind of…what do they call it now on TV when the burn something. Oh ya look how beautifully caramelized it is!

Set chicken aside, pour the drippings into sauce pan add cornstarch bring to boil reduce heat slightly and simmer until thicken.  When it boiled I had to add more cornstarch to thicken a little more. Pour over chicken when plated.

Feta Stuffed Chicken Breast Prep 1  Feta Stuffed Chicken Breast Prep 2   Feta stuffed chicken breast prep 3

*Steve note: You could mince the mushroom and mix with feta but to tell you the truth I forgot them and stuck them in after. That’s what happens when you empty from frig to counter then move to preparation area and forget something.