Happy Thanksgiving for TWO!

Hey Y’all! I am still around and thought it be nice to pop in and wish everyone (well if I still have any readers) a Happy Thanksgiving! This year I didn’t want to go anywhere. While I’m very thankful for our friends always offering my mama and I to come over, it just seemed right to enjoy this day with my mama. We worked out this morning, hit up Old Navy and Wholefoods (YES we had to do a little shopping!) and made our dinner together. We took a very easy approach to Thanksgiving and one I like because it is SIMPLE and you don’t have to feel guilty about gaining any extra weight.

We only eat white meat, the dark meat usually goes to my father or in the trash. This year we opted to buy a turkey breast on the bone, rather then a whole turkey. We stuffed it with fresh herbs and drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper. Instead of roasting the turkey in the oven, we did the slow cooker approach instead. It was DELICIOUS! Super juicy, very flavorful and easy clean up. We followed this approach when making our turkey.

I roasted the sweet potatoes, sliced in circles, olive oil, salt and pepper. My mom handled the green beans (steamed) and homemade cranberry sauce. We added 2 tablespoons white sugar, 2 tablespoons stevia, 1 tablespoon maple syrup, splash of orange juice and a dash of cinnamon.

For dessert, we used the slow cooker and I prepared a homemade apple crisp. It was gluten free and I made sure to just make enough (3 large apples), so we wouldn’t have a ton of leftovers. The house smelled amazing and this is something I’ll be making more often going forward. I will share the recipe with you next week.

Cheers,
Fallon

I Keep Saying I’m 25 but Really I’m 26!

Ben and Jerry’s ice cream cake. They make the best!

Birthdays come and go. We all get older and we all say, “Oh I don’t want to celebrate.” Well I know I’m one of them but deep down in my heart I know that it is a good excuse to just go out and have fun. Drink, fun dinners, silly laughs, dancing etc. Just today I had a compliment, someone thought I was 20. Umm thank you! Hehe. I get that a lot actually and I’m taking it!

My birthday was on July 30th and I actually had a weird fear of turning 26. In 4 years I’ll be 30, is what I kept repeating in my mind. Well it happened, I turned 26. I think I will be okay. This birthday was probably one of the best birthdays ever. I felt like a princess the whole day and it was the people I surround myself with. I never felt so good and so loved. Thank you to everyone who came to my dinners and had a few drinks with me. Thank you for the fabulous birthday cards too!

I know it has been a minute since I’ve made a post. I always use the excuse I’m really busy but I’ll just be honest. I don’t have the heart of cooking like I once did. I try to continue loving it and blogging about what I’ve made but I had to force myself to do it. It just wasn’t feeling right. I don’t cook as much as I use too. Thank goodness my mom has learned how to cook because I’d be drinking smoothies for dinner every night! I want to change the feel of my blog. I want you guys to know my personality and who I am. I tend to be very random and my posts will become very random. The blog will still focus on food but I’ll add in other tidbits like workouts and cool projects I’m working on. How does that sound? Perhaps a blog name change will be in the future as well!

Summer Veggie Slaw, from my favorite blog, Proud Italian Cook: http://prouditaliancook.blogspot.com/2012/07/summer-veggie-slaw.html

I sent my mom the recipe and she made it for my birthday dinner. Boy was this delicious!

My favorite Spinach and Mozzarella Turkey Burgers and honey mustard chicken.

Honey mustard glaze: dijon mustard, honey, olive oil, parsley, salt and pepper. Season raw chicken with salt and pepper, grill and then glaze chicken while grilling.

My birthday meal! The only thing I cooked were the sweet potato fries and protein.

Dessert!

The best ice cream cake ever. It had a layer of vanilla ice cream, brownies, and a buttery toffee ice cream with huge chunks of heath bar and swirls of caramel. Whip cream icing and sprinkles! Oh and my Happy Birthday Fallon was in fudge, not the icky artificial frosting stuff! <3

Adios my friends!
Fallon

Spinach and Mozzarella Turkey Burgers

Summer is here and my favorite thing is to use the grill! Luckily ours is a gas grill and I can just light it up whenever I want. Charcoal grills are nice but for me I don’t like the fuss. I want my grill heated up quickly and get my food on there so I can eat. Grilling is easier and causes a lot less mess in the kitchen. I know that is something my mom can appreciate. She thinks I make such a mess in the kitchen. I think she is wrong! ;)

I made these turkey burgers on a whim. I’ve discovered that the only way to have moist turkey burgers is if you start throwing in random ingredients. It gives the turkey flavor and adds moisture. I sautéed up a few handfuls of spinach with garlic and olive oil. I set it aside to cool off before I added it to about 1.25lb lean ground turkey. With the spinach I added in a handful of shredded mozzarella, 1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs, 1 large egg white and seasoned with salt and pepper. Form it into burger size patties, throw on the grill till no longer pink in the middle and then serve.

  

I had mine bunless with grilled sweet potatoes, grilled asparagus roasted cauliflower. It was one of the best meals I made to date in a long time. I enjoyed this meal with a new friend of mine and she was truly impressed. She mentioned no one ever cooks for her and one random night I knew I had all this food to cook and she finally had a home cooked meal made by someone else. Now all she ever wants me to make are these turkey burgers!

Enjoy,
Fallon

Quick and Healthy Turkey Bolognese

I always have to find a way to make ground turkey just taste good. I can’t stand how dry it is when made into turkey burger and usually flavorless. Turkey is a great alternative for lean protein but trying to find ways to make it taste good is tricky. My favorite way to enjoy ground turkey is cooked to be taco meat for Mexican night. That sounds good but I was really in the mood for a hearty tomato sauce. I remember last year I tried out Barefoot Contessa’s Weeknight Bolognese. I used grassfed beef and my own homemade sauce. This time around I wasn’t going to spend several hours in the kitchen making my sauce again (no time!) and I had this turkey that needed to be cooked up.

My favorite store bought sauce was in the pantry and then a light bulb clicked. I can make a bolognese sauce with ground turkey and my favorite sauce, it will be just as delicious and will be very quick to put together.

I didn’t use this sauce to top on pasta, instead I used it to top on sweet potatoes and roasted vegetables. It was a quick meal to take to work and kept me satisfied for hours. This recipe makes a lot and you can easily freeze it but that wasn’t the case for me.

Quick and Healthy Turkey Bolognese
By Fallon

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound organic ground turkey
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 1/4 cup red wine (make sure it is a wine you love to drink)
2 cups of your favorite red sauce
2 tablespoons tomato paste
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons coconut milk (cream or half and half works too)

Directions:
Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the turkey and cook, crumbling the turkey with a wooden spoon, for 5 to 7 minutes, and has started to brown. Stir in the garlic, oregano, and red pepper flakes and cook for 1 more minute. Pour 1 cup of the wine into the skillet and stir to scrape up any browned bits.

Add the red sauce, tomato paste, salt and pepper to taste, stirring until combined. Bring to a boil, lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes.

To finish the sauce, add the coconut milk and remaining wine to the sauce and simmer for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until thickened. The sauce will be thick and hearty.

The reason why I used coconut milk is because when I use it for my iced coffees, it is super creamy and delicious. You really can’t taste the coconut and I wanted to see how it worked in the sauce. My mom who isn’t a coconut lover said she didn’t even detect any flavor of it after I told her I added coconut milk.

If you are a pasta fan this will be delicious with rigatoni pasta or if your trying to watch your carbs like me, sweet potatoes and vegetables are just as good!

Enjoy,
Fallon    

Turkey Meatballs

My boyfriend and I love our pasta! Of course he can eat more the me but it is a meal we always enjoy. He likes his Italian sausage and I’m not really a fan of it. I mean 1 sausage link is almost 300 calories! I can eat a lot more food compared to 1 sausage link. I had lean ground turkey breast in the freezer and decided I will enjoy my baked pasta with turkey meatballs. For my boyfriend’s dish I was inspired by this recipe from The Foodie and The Family, Farfalle with Spicy Sausage and Spinach. I ended up using mostacholi shaped pasta, my homemade red sauce and nixing the heavy cream. I topped his pasta dish with 2 slices of mozzarella and 2 slices of provolone. He was able to enjoy his dish with Italian sausage and I ended up enjoying my dish with turkey meatballs.

The cooked sausage with the spinach tossed in.

I used a cast iron skillet to bake his pasta, it was perfect!!

I’ve made turkey meatballs and shared them on the blog before but I’ve never shared this recipe for turkey meatballs. Back when I was counting calories religiously, this was a recipe I enjoyed because it was a big meal that clocked in around 300 calories, and allowed you to have 2 meatballs and 1 1/3 cups of pasta and sauce. When I mentioned turkey meatballs to my boyfriend he gave me that “look.” Turkey is known to be dry and rather tasteless but I kept telling him this recipe is great! It produces super moist turkey and the flavor is delicious. I pretty much followed the recipe exactly but I used some different ingredients and used my food processor to finely grate my carrots, onion and garlic. Who really measures exactly when cooking?? The more vegetables the better, IMO!

Turkey Meatballs

Adapted from Ellie Krieger

Ingredients

Cooking Spray

1 pound ground lean turkey breast

1/4 cup Italian bread crumbs (whole wheat is a nice substitute)

3 tablespoons grated parmesan

1/2 cup finely grated carrots

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

3 large cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons fresh basil, julienned

1 teaspoons dried thyme leaves

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper

Direction

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. In a food processor, add 2-3 handfuls of baby carrots and pulse till broken down.  Then add in chunks of half an onion and the garlic cloves. Pulse until combined but not pureed. This releases all the juices and makes for an extra moist meatball.

Combine the turkey with all the other ingredients in a large bowl. Form into 2 1/2- inch balls and place on the baking sheet. Cook for 20 minutes. Flip over and cook for another 7 minutes or until browned and cooked thoroughly. Remove from oven and let cool. Continue to leave the oven on to finish baking up the pasta dish.

 

Makes a great meatball sandwich or as a pita pizza topping!  

To make baked pasta with turkey meatballs

Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling water, cook pasta till tender but still firm. It will continue to cook in the oven or else you will end up with mushy pasta. Drain pasta and return to pot. Add tomato sauce, handful of spinach and 2 chopped up meatballs. Mix till combined and add to a baking dish. Top with cheese and bake uncovered for 15-20 minutes. (This is the pasta I also baked up for my boyfriend’s dish, I used 3/4 a box of pasta.)

 

I used about 1 cup of pasta as a single serving for myself. I ended up making 2 meals out of this for myself! I used fontina cheese on top of my dish. I love this cheese when it melts, very nutty and creamy. The only default was we were sweating while eating this meal, I guess it’s going to start to get too hot for baked pasta dishes! Oh and my boyfriend tried a meatball from me and said not bad. ;)

Buon Appetito,

Fallon

Leftover Turkey Cranberry Sandwich With Goat Cheese

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

I can’t believe another year has almost gone by. I want to wish everyone a wonderful Thanksgiving. Take the time to enjoy the moment with your friends and family. Forget about all the other crazy things going on in the process. That is my plan and I’m sticking to it!

And just because it is only Thanksgiving today..  I’ve already been preparing myself for the best part, LEFTOVERS! I love to make my leftovers into a sandwich. A few weeks ago my mom picked up a turkey breast already cooked. I’m usually a bit weary on something like that but wow I was super impressed. Not salty, good flavor, all white meat, and moist! Probably better then most turkeys I’ve had. I could only think of one thing and it was to make a delicious sandwich. I tweaked my sandwich by adding in fresh baby spinach and goat cheese. It looks festive and tastes delicious.

Leftover Turkey and Cranberry Sandwich With Goat Cheese

Ingredients

Leftover turkey breast

Goat cheese, softened

Cranberry sauce

This is my choice of sauce from TJ’s!

Baby spinach

Salt and pepper

Grainy bread (I Love Great Harvest!)

On both slices of grainy bread smear the softened goat cheese and cranberry sauce.

On one side add the turkey and the other side add the spinach. Salt and pepper to taste.

Put the sandwich together and enjoy!

 

I think the most important part of this sandwich is the bread. You want a bread with nuts, seeds and whole grain goodness. I love Great Harvest for that reason. I was MMMing my whole way through this sandwich.

What is your favorite way to enjoy a leftover sandwich?

After Thanksgiving only follows the craziest shopping day ever. Black Friday! If I had a choice I’d hide in my closet on this day but since I work in retail, I get to enjoy the craziness. What is even crazier is I’m working from 10pm-7am.. because hello Old Navy opens at MIDNIGHT!!

Stay tune for a giveaway next week. I’m debating on what I want to actually do. I need to think quickly!!

Have a great Thanksgiving and don’t forget to be thankful. ;)

Love and Kisses,

Fallon

Turkey-Ricotta Meatballs

Looking for a lighter version when it comes to meatballs? Ground turkey is always a great alternative but not always as flavorful or moist. Well after going through old magazines I came across a recipe for Turkey-Ricotta Meatballs in the September 2008 edition of Cooking Light.

Fresh basil smells so GOOD!

These were easy and fast to make. They were very moist and full of flavor. I loved the green specks of basil in the meatballs, it made for a nice presentation and pure basil sweetness. As for the sauce I whipped up my own creation using canned plum tomatoes, tomato paste, olive oil, fresh basil, garlic, sweet onion, salt and pepper. All on top of Italian spaghetti with a lovely side salad this dinner had me humming the whole way! These meatballs can be made into an appetizer by rolling out into smaller meatballs and served with a sauce to dip in. I'll be making these a lot more once the weather starts to get chilly!

 
Turkey-Ricotta Meatballs (From Cooking Light, September 2008)  
Ingredients
1 pound extra lean ground turkey
1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1 large egg
1/2 cup dry Italian bread crumbs
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
Pepper and Salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine one pound extra lean ground turkey with the above ingredients in a bowl, then shape mixture into about 18 meatballs. Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add meatballs, and brown on all sides. Remove from skillet; transfer to broiler pan coated with cooking spray, and bake for 15 minutes or until done.  

To Freeze: Follow cooking directions, then allow meatballs to cool to room temperature. Place on a baking sheet, making sure they don't touch one another, and place in the freezer for an hour. Next, transfer hardened meatballs to an airtight container, and store in the freezer. Thaw meatballs in the refrigerator, then bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until heated.

I love extra sauce, I swear there is a meatball under there. ;)

Enjoy!!
Fallon

Grilled Turkey Breast

I think it is silly to wait all year for Thanksgiving to roast a whole turkey, and make up all the lovely sides to go with it. It is July and I want turkey breast!! The Proud Italian Cook had the same thing in mind with grilling up a turkey breast and sweet potatoes. She inspired me to buy a turkey breast and grill it up. I used her technique when it came to the rub except I used dried seasonings and lime zest.

I used basil, oregano, parsley, smashed garlic, salt, pepper, lime zest and olive oil. I kept tasting till I felt it was right, and pasty enough to rub down the entire turkey. The garlic was key and I added extra!

I kept the grill on a medium heat and cover down. I kept checking back on the turkey every 4-5 minutes. Since my meat thermometer broke on me, I didn't have one to test the temperature, so I had to cut into it to make sure it was fully cooked and juices were running clear. I believe the whole cooking process took about 30-40 minutes. It was probably a bit overcooked, but once I cut into it to serve it was very juicy and full of flavor from the rub. 

This was the best dinner by far this summer. The turkey was juicy, not dry. It had that grilled taste that you can't get from roasting. The rub was delicious, and the garlic/lime zest combination added a huge burst of flavor. I paired it with some steamed brussel sprouts, 1/2 a baked sweet potato, and a butter lettuce salad with red wine vinegar and olive oil.

Please check out the Proud Italian Cook. This is definitely one of my top 10 favorite blogs. She has great photography along with simple, quick, and healthy meals!

Buon Appetito!! ;)
Fallon

MMM CHILI!

Hey Guys. I just wanted to share with you an awesome Chili Cook Off Roundup from Aggie's Kitchen. I submitted my mom's recipe for Turkey Taco Chili topped with spaghetti squash and made it on the page! It is a great recipe to always have on hand because it makes a great meal. Plus it is fun to add in new toppings. I was checking out some of the other chili recipes... I'm kind of drooling over here. I already bookmarked a few. ;) Mind you I just ate dinner and I'm pretty full but looking at chili makes me kind of hungry! Come back on Thursday, I finally made pancakes using a new pancake mix and they is awesome!! Fallon

Turkey #2

Check out that baby! We were so disappointed in our Thanksgiving turkey that we went out and bought a new turkey. This time we went with a different brand that we have been successful with before. This was a winner winner turkey dinner for several nights! I'm actually not turkey out yet and wish we had some leftovers still. Just a few more weeks and we will pick one up for Christmas to have. Can you say yummy protein?? I love oranges and this year the navel orange crop has been looking rather unappetizing. An orange isn't called an orange for nothing! I don't want a yellow or green looking orange. So I've been opting for different varieties. Like the Satsuma I have pictured above. A bit pricey but worth every bit of it. They are sweet, juicy, and incredibly easy to peel! I usually eat about 2-3 as a serving because they are so small. I got these at Wholefoods. You should try them if you haven't yet. You won't be disappointed. This post was sort of a recap from this week. Just been busy and relaxing. Getting in as much gym time as I can too! I haven't been doing any "exciting" cooking to actually share. I did make some Gingerbread Squares yesterday which I will share with you sometime early this upcoming week. I love gingerbread and thought it helped me get into the holiday spirit! Well not really. I'm just not in the holiday mood at all this year. It is totally weird, but I'm trying. :) My boyfriend should be here Christmas Day. I was talking to him today and said to him isn't that so "clique" that you are in the army coming home on Christmas Day?? LOL. Like a movie. I don't care I'm excited and I know he is too. Maybe he is what I need to get into the holiday mood. ;) One last thing, I have a few new readers on my blog and just wanted to say thank you for taking the time to read my blog and I hope I don't disappoint! Oh yeah... I found the most amazing yoga class on Friday. Too bad I have to work next Friday but I can't wait to try it again. I've never been so challenged in a yoga class before and this is what I need! Have a great weekend, Fallon

Thanksgiving 2009.. Flop?!?! :)

Hey bloggers! I've been enjoying everyone's Thanksgiving posts, and figured I better get my picture's edited and blogged about tonight. I must say some blogger's entire Thanksgiving spread looked beautiful, especially the "turkey." Thanksgiving this year was just my mom and I. We had plans to see a movie, go shopping at the Forum Shops, or go to our friends house for wine and dessert. I really wanted to go out and do something, but once I came home I didn't want to leave. It was definitely a lazy day for me. Constantly working the days leading up to Thanksgiving and knowing I had to work on black Friday, I just needed the lazy time.

It is tradition that my mom and I will go to a spin class Thanksgiving morning and then afterward to Starbucks. I always feel a good workout before a big event/meal is needed because then I don't feel guilty! Definitely was a much needed workout and we had fun looking at all the black Friday deals while having our Starbucks. If you notice in my title I said flop because well this year our turkey was not very good. We thought it looked sick when cleaning it. I did my usually stuffing aromatics into the cavity and stuffing fresh poultry herbs into the breasts and cavity. Rub down in olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Well I saw somewhere to cover the breasts with tin foil and then the last hour of cooking to take the foil off and let the top brown. They said this keeps the breast moist and from drying out. Made sense right? FLOP! Turkey breast was DRY and my bird still wasn't finish cooking after almost hitting the 5 hour mark and was only a 12 pound turkey. We picked through the breast with the parts cooked but basically felt "weird" eating it and just chucked the bird out. Major flop :( But I'm still here to show you the other wonderful things we had and already have a fresh turkey to cook up tomorrow since my dad will be home. He can take control and hopefully turkey #2 will come out delicious! I love my turkey and cranberry sauce.

Before going into the oven, apples, pecans and butterscotch chips definitely NO mistake here. ;)
 

I'm going to start backwards. Tuesday I made our dessert, Butterscotch Apple Cake from the lovely Noble Pig. I've had this recipe bookmarked for several months and that when I knew this was a Thanksgiving dessert. I decided to cut the recipe in half since my family is small, 3 people. Worked perfectly. I used a pink lady apple and granny smith apple. The combo worked perfectly with the cake, and my mom loved it so much she wants me to make this for her bunko coming up on December 14th! Good because I already want another piece! At least dessert made up for the bad turkey!

The cake smell the whole house up and was 
very hard to not have a piece till Thanksgiving.
 

I loved the apple contrast from light pink and grassy green. 
Definitely made for a very festive cake!
 

Don't get me wrong I like a good glass of Pinot Noir, but give me a good glass of champagne and I can't stomach it! Just something about the taste that I don't care for. I think it is over-rated! Well my mom's good friend mentioned this great Prosecco she picks up from Trader Joe's for only $6.95 a bottle and said she goes through a bottle a night. Yeah she likes to drink a little ;) I knew about Prosecco because they use that in a Peach Bellini and I know those are delicious. We picked up a bottle along with some pomegranate juice to give a splash of color to our drink. Umm can I say I found my new favorite holiday cocktail? Prosecco with a splash of pomegranate juice was delicious! It was a very smooth sparkling wine, and the juice took away from the slight dryness from the Prosecco. Yeah I usually don't drink 2 glasses but that day I had 2 glasses!

Glass #1 of course. This was very refreshing!
 

If you see this brand pick it up because I think you'll like it! 
I'm not a champagne girl, I'm a Prosecco girl!

With my first drink I also had a mini appetizer. I was going to actually eat this with my meal but figured it be way too much all at the same time. I was already a bit snacky so I sat down with a bowl of my tomato cucumber salad and a pumpkin cornmeal muffin!

But my snack didn't stop there. My dad was heading into work soon and I promised he could have his dessert then. I figured it was time for my dessert too and then my mom said, "Well if everyone having dessert, I want mine too!" Okay let's have dessert!

I heated the cake for a few seconds in the microwave, 
so it be warm as if it was fresh out of the oven!
 

 Noble Pig used whipped cream, I thought vanilla ice cream would be even better!
 

It is Thanksgiving and I want the real stuff! This was DELICIOUS vanilla ice cream. 
It was light and rich. Easily scoop-able straight from the freezer.

Which brings me to the "main event." The turkey that was a flop! I'm so glad everything else turned out delicious or else we would of been scrambling up some eggs for dinner.

I love the fall colors. I added a gala apple, sweet onion, carrots, lemon, and celery. 
This was stuffed into the turkey cavity. Perhaps it was over stuffed?
 

After all our snacking, we realized it was almost 5 hours and the turkey was still cooking! We couldn't wait no longer. I guess a few drinks down, anything looked good at this point to eat. haha.

Looking at this turkey now, it is still PINK! We need a meat thermometer. 
I'm glad no one got sick off the turkey.
 

The turkey breast were so dry.. we almost used up this whole bottle to hide the 
dryness. Verdict? I missed the jelly cranberry sauce, it has a more 
pungent flavor and I don't need to use as much.
 

We were so hungry, that I forgot to take a picture of my plate before digging in! 

Basically licked clean! So something must of been good ;)
 

This was one of our sides, roasted brussel sprouts and carrots. 

We also had baked sweet potatoes with butter and cinnamon! I totally forgot to take a picture of this, but I think you get the idea! ;) It was nice spending the time with my mom! We finished watching up all the Biggest Loser shows from that week and just relaxed. I was so tired but I ended up staying up to watch the Beyonce concert on TV. That girl can sing! I was literally out by 10pm and up early to get ready for the Black Friday shoppers! I've been working in retail for 6 years now and I KNOW what to expect. It was a very successful day and this holiday season will be very busy. I'm just happy to see people out shopping and spending money! I hope this makes for a better year economy wise in 2010!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday because tomorrow is Monday. That means we all go back to work! Be well,
Fallon