Greek Turkey Meatloaf “Roll-Up”

I love making Spanakopita, even though all those delicate layers of pastry dough are my nemesis (nemeses??).  That said, all those Greek flavors – spinach, feta, a little lemon, and dill – are some of my very favorites.  Could we take those and incorporate them into a turkey meatloaf?  Yes.  Yes we could.  This was delicious, and I didn’t tell B what I had added, but he noticed the light lemon and dill flavor after a couple of bites.  They definitely add a different dimension to your typical turkey meatloaf, but in an awesome way. Rolling this up makes it so pretty, too!
 
GREEK TURKEY MEATLOAF “ROLL-UP” (serves 4-6)
Ingredients:
– 2 lbs ground turkey
– 1 Vidalia onion, diced
– 5-6 packed cups fresh baby spinach (approx. a 10-oz. bag), wilted, drained, and chopped
– 1/2 cup feta cheese, crumbled
– 1 egg & 1 egg white, slightly beaten
– 1 cup panko bread crumbs
– 2 tbspns olive oil (or 1 tbspn olive oil and 1 tbspn butter)
– salt and pepper
– dried dill (1.5 tbsps)
– juice of 3/4 of a lemon  (approx. 1.5 tbsp)
 
1. Preheat the oven to 400. 
 
2. Heat 2 tbspns olive oil (or 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon butter) in a large saute pan over medium heat.
 
3. Dice the vidalia onion like this:
Half an onion, slice off the top part (but keep the “root” part intact) and then make slits along the ridges of the onion, almost down to the root. You can kind of follow the natural lines of the onion.  Then flip it on its side, and slice it horizontally. The onion will “dice” itself naturally.
 
4. Saute the onion in the oil or oil/butter combo until soft, add salt/pepper to taste.
 
5. Meanwhile, in a mixing bowl, combine turkey, dill, breadcrumbs, the lemon juice, the egg, 1/2 a teaspoon salt, and 1/2 a teaspoon pepper.
 
6. When onion is soft, remove from the pan and put on a plate to cool slightly.
 
7. Put pan that previously contained onions back on the heat, and add spinach to it.  Lower heat and stir until just wilted, then remove spinach and drain by either pressing spinach against the sides of a sieve, using a cheesecloth to wring it out in bunches, or squeezing most of the liquid out with your hands (but let it cool first, obviously). When the spinach is drained, roughly chop. Set aside.
 
8. Add cooled onions to the turkey mixture, stir everything to combine. You can really get your hands in there to mix it up, which is probably easiest. Form turkey mixture into a ball, and then press into an oblong shape on a piece of wax paper, and flatten minimally.
 
9. Top turkey mixture with chopped spinach, and then top with the crumbled feta:
10. Using the wax paper to help get things moving, roll the turkey meatloaf, beginning at either short end of the roll. It should look like this when you’re finished:
12. Put the meatloaf in a foil-lined baking pan, and bake in the oven at 400 for approx. an hour, or when the internal temperature reaches 160 Degrees 160 degrees.  About 45 minutes into this, I took it out of the oven and drained off the fat/liquid that had pooled in the foil. You don’t have to, but it probably helps.
 
This is really pretty, so tasty, and is even better for lunch the next day, hot or cold.

Linguini with White Clam Sauce

This recipe has been my simplest go-to meal to cook for company since I got my first apartment. It’s comfort food that seems fancier than it really is, it takes almost no time at all to throw together (minus the simmering), and if you make it with fresh pasta (please do) it’ll be immediately added to the rotation.  I have never known anyone who didn’t completely love this recipe.  Thanks Mom!


LINGUINI WITH WHITE CLAM SAUCE (serves 3-4)

– 3 cans whole baby clams (& juice of 2 of those cans)
– 1 vidalia onion, sliced into thick half moons
– 2 garlic cloves, minced
– handful fresh parsley, chopped
– 3/4 cup good white wine (optional, but lends a nice dimension of flavor)
– 1 tbsp. butter
– 1 tbsp. EVOO
– 1/4 c. grated parmesan cheese, plus more for topping
– pasta, approx. 1/4 lb., or 3-4oz. for each guest 

1. In a large pan, melt the butter and EVOO over medium heat until combined. Add the garlic and stir until fragrant, approx. 60 seconds.  Add the onions and saute until soft, approx. 5-7 minutes.

2. Add the wine and let the alcohol burn off, approx. 3-5 minutes. 

3. Add juice of 1 can and all the baby clams.  Take 1 can of juice and discard. In the remaining can with the juice, add 1/4 c. grated parm, combine, and add to the pan.

3. Stir to combine, then turn heat down to low.  Cover and simmer for about an hour, stirring every now and then.


4. At the very end, throw in the chopped parsley and stir to combine.  Cook the pasta, then top with the white clam sauce.  There will be quite a bit of juice, which is delicious, so keep the pasta separate so it doesn’t soak it up (if you’re going to have leftovers).

5. Serve, per my Mom’s instructions: “with a salad & of course a good bottle of white wine.  Invite a friend over for a real treat!”

That’s a well-used recipe card from my Mom, right there!

In other news, I am super psyched for a weekend yoga workshop with the amazing Pradeep at Balance Yoga  despite this snowstorm that’s meant to be bombarding the Northeast this weekend.  Also, snowstorm “Nemo”?  Seriously??

Shaved Cauliflower & Radicchio Salad with Honey-Toasted Walnuts & a Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette

Did you need something super healthy and fresh to kind of ease you back into a week following the over-indulgence of Super Bowl weekend?  I did.  I also got to use one of B’s Christmas gifts to me for the first time, this ridiculous Cuisinart Food Processor, which made making this salad a 10 minute process instead of maybe a 20 minute one.  Shaving the cauliflower and radicchio into paper-thin slices really “takes this salad from a meal to an event” (we do the same thing with the radishes and avocado for our Favorite Salad Ever), so a julienne will work just as well if you don’t have a food processor that will accomplish this.  You can also just shave these into thin slices with a really sharp knife.  This salad is so pretty and crunchy, the dressing gives it a little lift of sweetness, and the honey-kosher salt toasted walnuts finish it perfectly.  It also makes a ton of it (this would be great for parties), so I just kept the salad and the dressing separate so we could combine them when we were ready to have this over the next day or so.  A paper towel in the bowl with your salad will keep the ingredients from getting soggy.


SHAVED CAULIFLOWER & RADICCHIO SALAD WITH HONEY-TOASTED WALNUTS & A MEYER LEMON VINAIGRETTE (makes a really big bowl of salad – adapted almost exactly from the lovely Happy Yolks)
– 1/2 a head of cauliflower (not cored)
– 1 head radicchio, cored
– 4-5 celery stalks, with leaves
– 1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley
– 1/2 c. honey-toasted walnuts
– 1-2 tbsp honey
– 3 meyer lemons, juiced
– 1 tbsp. dijon mustard
– 1/4 c. EVOO
– kosher salt & fresh ground black pepper

1. Cut a head of cauliflower in half, then shave it either with a julienne, a food processor, or a very sharp knife. Include the stem of the cauliflower. Throw this all into a big bowl.

 


2. Core a head of radicchio, and shave that as well. Do the same with the celery sticks, and also roughly tear  the celery leaves.  Add to the bowl. Chop the chives and the parsley, add to the ingredients, and stir everything to combine.


3. For the meyer lemon vinaigrette, juice the lemons, then add (in this order, to help it all blend together) kosher salt, pepper, dijon mustard.  Whisk together (or shake it up, if you’re using a little mason jar), then add the olive oil. Whisk or shake it to combine, then add to the salad (or keep separate if you’re planning to eat this over the next day or so, too).

3. To make the walnuts, drizzle them with honey and then sprinkle lightly with kosher salt.  Bake for approx. ten minutes at 350.  Remove, let cool slightly, then top the salad with these.  Serve and enjoy.

 

Family = Love

I went to a bridal show in the Poconos with my mom and little sister this weekend, which was so much fun. Collyn and I have lived away from home (in Boston, Western Massachusetts, Paris, NYC, Philly, Colorado, & Montana, between the two of us) for so long, & being back in the same place as our parents for the first time in a long time is something I really treasure. Wedding planning has been really fun, but one of my favorite parts about it has been, hands down, the quality time I’ve been able to spend with my mom and my sister.

Four-Ingredient Fruit Snacks

There have been a bunch of recipes for fruit snacks on Pinterest popping up in my news feed lately, and blueberries were on sale at Wegman’s, and we’re always looking for snack alternatives to our beloved hummus and Pretzel Chips. So….fruit snacks it is! As someone who likes to know what we’re consuming, and where it comes from, the fact that there were 4 ingredients in this, total, was really appealing. Organic blueberries, local organic honey, and lovely Meyer Lemons make up for the fact that these include gelatin.  Let’s just think of the detoxifying benefits of the lemons cancelling that right out, though!

HOMEMADE FRUIT SNACKS (makes approx. 2.5 cups)
– 1.5 cups blueberries (or your choice of berry)
– 3/4 cup meyer lemon juice (approx. 4-5 meyer lemons) These are a cross between a clementine & a lemon (a friend of mine calls them “lemontines”), which makes the recipe sweeter, and better, than the sourness of traditional lemons
– 2 tbsp. honey
– 2 tbsp. gelatin

1. Wash the blueberries, juice the lemons, then combine in a saucepan over medium heat until the berries start to soften.



2. Remove from heat and let cool approx. 5 minutes.


3. Puree – ideally with an Immersion Blender – or in a blender.  Strain to remove the blueberry skins.  A lot of these will just come up with the immersion blender, so if that’s good enough for you it’s good enough for me (it was).

4. Add honey, stir to combine.  Taste at this point – what it tastes like now is what it’ll taste like when it sets, so modify the recipe as needed.  More honey, more juice, etc. 

5. Whisk in gelatin a tiny bit at a time, until fully incorporated.

6.  Pour mixture into an ungreased shallow glass dish, and refrigerate for approx. 45 minutes until set.  


7. Cut them into whatever shapes you like, remove from the glass dish, dust with a tiny bit of cornstarch to prevent them from sticking together, and store in a tupperware container (in the fridge) to enjoy.  These had kind of a jello jiggler texture, which we liked, but if you want them to be more of a traditional “fruit snack” texture, I’d add maybe 2 more tbsps. of gelatin.

Avocado Chicken Salad – No Mayo!


In the last post I mentioned that I’ve made some of my favorite chicken salads with avocado as a substitute for mayo, so I thought I would post that recipe this time around.  This, again, is a super easy recipe – very light and flavorful, and really healthy too.  It’ll keep for a day or two, but it’ll probably be gone before then!

AVOCADO CHICKEN SALAD (makes approx. 2 servings)
– Shredded cooked chicken, approx. 2 cups
– 1 avocado, cubed
– juice of 1 lime (a Rosle Citrus Reamer works great for this)  
– 1 tbsp. cilantro, roughly chopped
– 2 scallions, chopped

1. Cut an avocado in half, remove the pit, and dice it.  Add to a bowl and mash roughly with a fork to break it up a bit.


2. Once the avocado is mashed, add the cilantro, lime juice, scallions, and kosher salt/pepper (a pinch of each to start – then add more to taste).  You want to kind of make a guacamole base, and then add the chicken to it. 



3. Add the shredded chicken to the mix, then stir to combine.


4. Taste, season, then taste again.  Delicious!

Chickpea, Avocado, & Feta “Smash”


I felt like Maria von Trapp making this, because: Chickpeas? Avocados? Feta? These are a few of my favorite things…

Avocado is a great substitute for mayo – I’ve made some of my favorite chicken salads with avocados as a base – but mashed with chickpeas, combined with a little feta, lemon/lime juice, and cilantro, this was beyond delicious.  The citrus keeps the avocado from browning, so you can keep this for a full day in the fridge for a healthy snack, or a sandwich filler, or a scoop on top of some salad greens.  You get the picture. It’s healthy, it’s filling, and it’s ready in no more than ten minutes, tops.  Enjoy.

CHICKPEA, AVOCADO, & FETA “SMASH” (serves 2-3)  
– 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained (I use Eden Organic beans, because they’re fully organic, their cans are BPA-free, and they’re only slightly more expensive but significantly better for you than the alternatives) 

– 1 avocado, cut into chunks
– 1/2 lemon, juiced
– 1/2 lime, juiced
– Approx. 3 tbsp. crumbled feta
– smallish handful of cilantro, chopped (approx. 2 tbsps)
– kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper


1. Rinse the chickpeas well and drain them, then add to a mixing bowl.

2. Cut an avocado into chunks. The easiest way to do this is to cut an avocado in half, lengthwise:  

Then, carefully but firmly, thunk (that’s a made-up cooking term) the knife blade into the avocado pit, twist it a bit, and gently pull out the pit. 
those are some balancing skills, right there!




Then, in the avocado half itself, cut the avocado into a grid, run your knife around the perimeter of the avocado, and squeeze out the chunks into the bowl with the chickpeas:

2. Combine the chickpeas and the avocado, lemon/lime juice, and kosher salt & pepper, and smash it all together.  If you have a Potato Masher, this helps to get things started, but finishing smashing with a fork until you have the chickpea/avocado consistency that you want.  If you want more of a chunkier avocado texture, smash the chickpeas until they’re 75% to the texture you want, then add the avocado to finish. Say smash again.  Smash!!
pre-smash


smashed
3. Add cilantro to taste, then feta, then add salt/pepper/lemon juice or lime juice as needed.


Sandwich filler?  Salad topper? Solo?  Any way (or “S”) you serve it, it’s a winner.

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Homemade Pasta

There are few things I love more than pasta.  In an effort to eat more healthily, though, over the last year or two I’ve tried to limit myself to eating pasta in one of two instances: 1. at really great restaurants, and 2. when I make it myself.
 
I got an Imperia Home Pasta Machine for Christmas two years ago, and while the process takes a little while, the end result is SO MUCH BETTER than any pasta you’ll ever find in a box. The mixing of the dough was a production until we realized that the dough hook on our KitchenAid mixer would take care of this in no time flat.  You need two ingredients for this (and a little olive oil).  Ready?
 
HOMEMADE PASTA
– flour
– eggs
 
1. The basic mix goes like this: for every 3/4 C. flour, add an egg.  I used a combination of Semolina Flour and Whole Wheat flour this time, but honestly, all-purpose flour alone is probably your best bet. If you’re using the KitchenAid mixer, beat the eggs lightly and then add the flour little by little with the dough hook running.  Then let the dough hook work its magic for approx. 5 minutes, and you’ll come back to a ball of dough. It should pull cleanly off the dough hook – if it’s too sticky, add a little flour, too dry, add a little olive oil and mix some more. 

 — If you don’t have a KitchenAid Mixer, form a little volcano shape out of the flour, and crack the eggs into the volcano’s “crater”.  Working from the outside in, gently combine the eggs and flour together.  Then knead the dough, pressing it out and flipping it back up on itself, for probably 10 minutes or so.  

 
2. When the dough has been kneaded, rub a tiny bit of olive oil onto your hands (my mom’s Sicilian mother used to swear that this was the secret to youthful-looking hands, but that’s just a bonus).  Work the dough into a more structured ball, then wrap it tightly with plastic wrap and let stand for 20-30 minutes at room temperature.

3. Now comes the fun part.  Get a helper, and assemble your Imperia Pasta Machine. Working with approx. 1/4 inch of a piece of the dough at a time, work it through the roller (usually until the second to last thickness setting). Then, lightly flour the pasta cutting attachment, and work the rolled out sheet of dough through the pasta cutter.  Arrange the freshly cut pasta on a Pasta-Drying Rack (or, ahem, an ironing board covered with paper towels and lightly dusted with flour) and let dry while you cut the rest of the pasta.

 

 
 
 
4. Bring a pot of water to boil.  When boiling, add salt, then add the pasta all at once.  It should be al dente at 3 minutes, so be careful not to overcook it.
 
5. Drain the pasta and top with your favorite sauce.  Fresh pasta is a game-changer; it’ll be tough for you to go back to the boxed stuff after this!

 

— On a side note, congratulations to President Obama on his Inauguration Day. Here’s hoping that both parties will be able to work together on bettering our country with the good of the people in mind.

Spinach, Roasted Butternut Squash, Feta, & Toasted Walnut Salad with a Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette

I’ve been dying to try anything with Meyer Lemons for over a year now.  They only show up around here is in January – February, so when I saw a bag at Wegman’s the other day, I knew the time had come.  Meyer Lemons are kind of a cross between a clementine and a lemon (my friend Klob calls them “lemontines”), so they’re a little lighter and sweeter than traditional lemons.  The vinaigrette plays well against the roasted butternut squash, the feta adds a little saltiness, and the toasted walnuts add a little heartiness and crunch.  The spinach pulls this all together for a super satisfying, really easy salad.

SPINACH, ROASTED BUTTERNUT SQUASH, FETA, & TOASTED WALNUT SALAD WITH A MEYER LEMON VINAIGRETTE (makes 4 individual side salads)
– 1 9 oz. bag of spinach
– 1/4 – 1/2 Roasted Butternut Squash
– 1/4 C. crumbled Feta
– 1/4 C. toasted walnuts
MEYER LEMON VINAIGRETTE
– 2 Meyer Lemons, zested and juiced
– 1 tbsp. honey
– 1/2 – 3/4 C. EVOO (start with 1/2, then add more to taste)
– Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

1. Roast the butternut squash. Basically, turn the oven to 400, throw in the squash for maybe 15 minutes, then remove to cut off the bottom and slice it in half easily.  Scoop out the seeds, rub a little olive oil on both sides, then place the squash cut-side down on a baking sheet for 30 – 45 minutes, depending on the size of the squash.  Remove from the oven, peel off the skin, and cut as needed. I has some leftover from the other night’s chicken, kale, roasted butternut squash, and black bean enchiladas, so I just used that.

2. Add the spinach leaves to a large bowl, then and add a little kosher salt or Herbamare (lettuce is a vegetable, and should be dressed like one). Stir to combine.


3. In a small pan, toast walnuts over medium-high heat.  This should take about 5 minutes – just watch the pan closely, and shake it around a lot to flip the walnuts evenly.  You’ll see (and smell) when the walnuts are toasted – just be careful not to burn them!

4. Add toasted walnuts, cubed butternut squash, and crumbled feta.  Mix gently to combine.


5. In a smaller mason jar (or similar), combine the ingredients for the Meyer Lemon vinaigrette. Put a lid on the jar, shake well to combine, then season to taste if necessary.


6. Pour about half the dressing over the salad, mix gently to coat. Add more dressing if you like, or refrigerate for up to 3-4 more days.  Yummo.