21 Cray Cray TURKEY Leftovers Ideas!

Happy Day AFTER Thanksgiving!  You survived?  How did you do?  Now it is time to deal with Thanksgiving leftovers while getting back on track!  Please check out the pp friendly leftover TURKEY recipes below. Most are Eat Me favs, just sub the meat for TURKEY! Let us know if you have any questions!!

Crock Pot TURKEY Stock
TURKEY Dumpling Soup
No Bean TURKEY & Sweet Potato Chili
Asian Lettuce Wraps with TURKEY
Good Earth TURKEY Sandwiches
TURKEY Lettuce and Tomato Sandwiches LT's
TURKEY Cranberry Quesadilla
TURKEY Cuban Sandwich
Brie TURKEY Wrap 
TURKEY, Apple & Blue Cheese Wrap
TURKEY & Feta Stuffed Peppers
Buffalo TURKEY Salad
Salsa Verde TURKEY Enchiladas 
Mini Pepper TURKEY Nachos
BBQ'ed TURKEY Pizza
Jerk TURKEY Salad w. Grilled Pineapple
Buffalo TURKEY Salad
TURKEY Pot Pie
TURKEY & Egg Frittata
TURKEY Eggs Benny
Sweet & Sour TURKEY Meatballs

Xoxo - Katie

We're Baaaaaaaaaaaack! + Stuffed Pork Chops

We're baaaaaaaack!  Eat ME is BACK (and better than ever??) Thank you for being patient as Megan and I took a short break from our blog so we could focus on other life events.  Things have settled down a bit and we are back and ready to cook - just in time for the holidays! In my opinion this is the BEST time of year for food.  Besides holiday cooking, baking and treats there are things like squash and root veggies and pumpkin!  It is also an important time to stay focused, so you can enter 2014 with a bang, and not 10+ lbs heavier.  So stay tuned for some delish recipes and motivational tidbits to help you stay on track this holiday season, while not missing out on any of your holiday favs! So without further adieu...

Anyone who knows anything about eating healthy will tell you to avoid anything stuffed! But sometimes you just, you know, NEED something stuffed.  Stuffed doesn't always have to come with a lot of fat and cheese. Check out these easy and delish stuffed pork chops that are easy, tasty and filling.  I barely ever eat meat, and consequently am not super good at preparing it.  But I am going to change that, starting with this recipe.  This recipe was adapted a bit from this Weight Watchers one.  Also - I needed breadcrumbs for this recipe but didn't have any, so I made my own! Enjoy!

Servings: 2

Size: 1 chop

Points Plus: 8pp

Level of Difficulty: Easy

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes
Rating: 4 stars - Very Good

Ingredients:
Two 5oz pork chops
1 piece of bread
Cooking spray
Garlic salt
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1/2 white onion, chopped
1 T. dried sage
1 T. dried rosemary
1 egg
Kosher salt + pepper
Tin foil

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Cut bread into small cubes and lay them on a rimed cookie sheet.  Spray them with cooking spray and give them a sprinkle of garlic salt, salt and pepper.  Throw them in the oven and bake about 4 minutes, or until crunchy.

Thaw pork chops and cut a deep pocket in the with a sharp knife (I used a pairing knife and it worked super). Season them with a bit of salt and pepper. When breadcrumbs are cooked put them in a small bowl.  Add the celery, onion, sage and rosemary. Beat your egg and add about 2 T. egg to the breadcrumb mixture and mix to combine.  Add a pinch of salt and pepper.  Stuff each chop with the breadcrumb stuffing mixture.  Heat a skillet on the stove and add the porkchops, browning for about 3 minutes per side.  Put the chops on your cookie sheet and cover with foil.  Toss them in the oven and bake for 10 minutes covered, and then 10 minutes uncovered.  Remove from your oven and recover, letting stand about 5 minutes before eating!

Tip: 
Don't get me wrong, I love my food scale.  BUT, I also love Omaha Steaks. I have found, that when buying high quality meat, it many times comes with each piece individually portioned and wrapped.  This makes it easy to just thaw two chops that I know are 5 oz each without putting them on the scale.  It just makes things easy!

XOXO - Katie

Bacon Wrapped Filet Stacks

It is finally, maybe, grill season! This recipe is a fun and creative take on grilled filet, and helps you get in a veggie serving.  Impress your guests with these bacon wrapped filet stacks, that can be customized for your taste.  Also, who doesn't love meat wrapped in meat?  I actually barely ever cook with meat, but I will for sure make these again this summer.

Servings: 2

Size: 1 steak

Points Plus: 5

Level of Difficulty: Medium

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Rating: 4 - Very Good

Ingredient List:

2, 4 oz lean and trimmed uncooked filets

4 slices uncooked reduced fat bacon

1 vadallia onion

1 green pepper

1 tomato

Salt & pepper

Toothpicks

Directions: 

Turn your (outside) grass grill on low. Salt and pepper steaks and seat aside.  Slice green pepper, onion and tomatoes in half inch slices.  Take two pieces of bacon and set on your work surface in an X.  Place one filet in the center of the bacon.  Top with onion slice, green pepper and tomato.  Bring bacon up around filet like a present ribbon, and secure on top of filet with a toothpick.  Repeat with second filet.  Place on grill and cook on low heat without flipping for 40 minutes (depending on how you like your steak).  Enjoy!

Tip: 

If you want you bacon crispy, consider placing under a broiler for a few minutes after removing meat from the grill.  For a few more pp add a piece of cheese to the top after cooking.  YUM!

XOXO - Katie

Asian Lettuce Wraps

This recipe was a kitchen disaster SAVED at the last minute. I wanted to make some Asian lettuce wraps inspired by the popular PF Chang's app. When cutting the lettuce I got three 'cups', but everything else ripped. SO, I improvised and created three lettuce wraps and one lettuce salad.  Both were very good and nothing went to waste.  Also, sesame oil is like the best oil ever!

Servings: 4
Size: 1 cup meat mixture, unlimited lettuce cups
Points Plus: 6pp
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Rating: 3 stars - Good

Ingredients:
1.25 pounds ground turkey, 93% lean
1/4 cup water chestnuts, cubed
1/4 cup mushrooms, cubed
1/4 cub red onion
1/4 cup carrots
1 T + 1/2 t. reduced sodium soy sauce
1 1/2 t. sesame oil
1 T. rice vinegar
1/2 t. sugar
Kosher salt
Pepper
Iceberg lettuce, cut into cups or cubed (for salad)*
Siracha
Cooking spray

Directions:
Prepare lettuce.  Either rip into cups, or cube. Mix soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, sugar, a pinch of salt and a some ground pepper.  Whisk together and set aside. Add 1/2 t. to wok and saute ground turkey. As turkey cooks spray a skillet with a dash of cooking spray and saute the carrots and onion, about five minutes. Add the water chestnuts and mushrooms and cook 4 minutes longer.  Add veggie and sauce mixtures to ground turkey and saute until meat is cooked through. Add more salt and pepper to taste.  Remove from heat and divide into four, 1 cup servings. Put in cups or over lettuce and squeeze

 a little hot sauce over the top!

Tip:
After some internet research I found that Bibb or Butter* lettuce works well for lettuce wraps.  I cups may have turned out better if I would have had a little more patience when disassembling the head!

Buffalo Turkey Burgers with Blue Cheese Slaw

Ground turkey, although healthy, can sometimes be a little blah. Not the case with this recipe!  These buffalo turkey burgers come together quickly and taste GREAT!  The buffalo seasoning is just enough to add flavor, but it doesn’t completely overwhelm your burgers.

Servings:  6

Size:  1 burger + bun; ¼ cup slaw

Points Plus: 9 pts

Level of Difficulty:  Easy

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time:  15-20 minutes

Rating: 4 stars – Very good

*Recipe is originally from Skinnytaste with some slight adaptations.

Ingredient List:

Coleslaw –

1 ½  cups broccoli slaw

¼ cup light blue cheese dressing (I used Wishbone variety)

Turkey Burgers –

1.25 lbs. ground turkey

2/3 cup grated carrots

¼ cup breadcrumbs

1/8 cup red onion, grated

¼ cup Frank’s hot sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

Cooking spray

6 slices of reduced fat cheddar

6 whole wheat hamburger buns

Directions:

Combine the broccoli slaw and light blue cheese dressing in a medium bowl.  Chill in the fridge until you are ready to serve the burgers.  In a larger bowl, combine the ground turkey, carrots, breadcrumbs, red onion, hot sauce and salt and pepper.  Mix well and shape into 6 patties.  Place the patties on wax pepper.  Lightly coat a grill pan with cooking spray.  Add the burgers and cook over medium heat, each side should take about 4-5 minutes.  Once you have flipped the burgers and are cooking the final side, add a slice of cheese for the last minute of cook time.  While you are cooking the burgers, toast the hamburger buns.  Place burgers on the toasted bun and top with broccoli slaw.  Serve immediately and enjoy!

Tip:

The original recipe from Skinnytaste has a link to a recipe for a skinny homemade blue cheese dressing – I saved time by buying a store-bought light version instead.  Also, these burgers were delicious from a grill pan on top of the stove, but we think they would be even better on an outdoor grill.  Try it and let us know what you think!

XOXO - Megan

Beef - It's What's For Dinner

When cooking, one of the food groups that intimidates me the most is MEAT!  I don't LOVE meat and I rarely cook it, but I am trying my darnedest to experiment, practice and be open minded.  We recently purchased a box of sirloins from Omaha Steaks and decided that since it is not warm enough to grill outside yet, we would broil them in the oven.  By following Omaha's instructions of setting the rack 1" fromt eh broiler, I think these turned out pretty good!  I can't imagine eating a steak without mashed potatoes, so I whipped some up and also served with a side of peas (please excuse the abnormally large portion of potatoes in the below picture.  What can I say, it was Friday night and time to PARTY!)

Oven Steak (for when it's too cold outside to grill)
Servings: 2
Serving Size: 1 5 oz filet
Points Plus:  5 pts
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 1 minute (not including thaw time)
Cook Time: For medium rare, 13 minutes
Rating: 3 stars - Good

 Ingredient List:

2 5 ounce filet of good local quality

Kosher salt

Fresh ground pepper

*Feel free to add your favorite grill seasoning

Directions:

Thaw steaks completely.  Set oven to broil and move rack to 1" under flame.  Season steaks with salt and pepper and place on broiling pan.  When oven is heated, broil for 7 minutes, flip and broil for 6 more minutes.  Adjust cook time if you like your steak mroe or less done. Voila! Whip up some mashed potatoes and enjoy!

Tip:

Having a broiling pan WOULD have been great for these, but I had to use a cookie sheet.  I was imagining a world where I had a broiling pan above, because I am assuming the steaks would have been even better with that tool.  In a pinch, use a cookie sheet lined with foil.

XOXO - Katie