Hearty spinach and chickpea soup with turkey

Since I had "mushroom success" with my winter greens and mushroom pasta, I decided to give mushrooms another go. I had tried this recipe before, omitting the mushrooms and adding ground turkey as a protein instead. The soup was wonderful the first time. I find that some good ground turkey adds amazing flavor to soups. Anyways, I decided to make this again with both the turkey and mushrooms.

For some reason, this soup has sort of an Asian feel to me, but that is somewhat strange because it also has dried rosemary and calls for grated parmesan as garnish. Whatever feel you get from this soup, it is a really solid recipe and one that I know I will be going back to again and again. And Zack loves it too.  And it's a nice detour from my usual, go-to tomato-based chilies. 

Plus, you can be assured that this soup is good for you. According to Power Foods, mushrooms are "bursting with compounds that can reduce cholesterol and improve immunity." I didn't realize, but apparently they have not only nutritional benefits, but curative abilities also. I know, it sounds a little hokey-pokey, but they've been shown to have antioxidant and cancer-fighting properties. Guess I'll be cooking with mushrooms more often. And we all know spinach is wonderful - vitamin K, anyone? Lastly, brown rice offers up the antioxidant vitamin E, B vitamins, and plenty of fiber. There's your nutritional overview.

Hearty spinach and chickpea soup with turkey

As adapted from Power Foods - 150 Delicious Recipes with the 38 Healthiest Ingredients.

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients:

1 1/3 cups water

1/2 cup short-grain brown rice

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped (1 1/2 cups)

2 garlic cloves, minced

3/4-1 pound ground turkey

8 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, stems removed, caps cleaned and thinly sliced (4 cups)

6 cups reduced-sodium chicken stock

1/2-3/4 teaspoon dried rosemary, crumbled

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas, drained and rinsed

8-10 ounces baby spinach

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 ounces (1/2 cup) grated parmesan cheese (optional)

Bring the water to boil in a saucepan. Sir in brown rice, return to boil, and reduce heat to simmer. Cover and cook until rice is tender and has absorbed all liquid, 30-40 minutes. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan or dutch oven, heat oil over medium. Cook onion and garlic, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Push onion and garlic to edges of pot, add additional olive oil if necessary, and add ground turkey to middle of pot. Break up turkey into chunks with a spoon, then add dried rosemary, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper, mixing to combine. Cook turkey until it is browned and just about cooked through, mixing in the cooked onion and garlic. Add mushrooms, gently stirring, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add chicken stock and bring to boil. Stir in rice and chickpeas; return to boil. Reduce heat to simmer, cover, and continue cooking 5 minutes more to allow flavors to blend. Stir spinach into hot soup immediately before serving and sprinkle with parmesan, if using. 

This soup was actually a little exploratory for me because I had to shift around the original instructions a bit to incorporate the ground turkey and mushrooms. I also added the crushed red pepper flakes for a bit of heat, and chose to add the spices sooner (since I wanted them to really penetrate and flavor the ground turkey). I also "eye-balled" my rosemary and red pepper flake measurements, adding a bit more than called for, to compensate for the added turkey. What can I say, maybe I'm starting to make some of my own judgement calls and am becoming some sort of cook. (Ha ha.)

This is a great, wholesome soup with wonderful flavor. Try it and enjoy! We did.

Chili with turkey and beans

Everyone loves a good chili. Although Cooking Light's beef and beer chili is one of our go-to favorites, this Power Foods chicken chili is a contender. However, I make it with ground turkey instead of chicken pieces, just because I often have ground turkey on hand in the freezer. I also feel like the ground turkey adds some really great flavor.

Also. Be warned. This chili will make your kitchen smell like a fiesta. I take that back - it will make your whole house smell like a fiesta. Especially if you live in a small house or an apartment, for that matter. I mean, Zack walked in after work and was overcome by this simmering goodness coming from our stove. Furthermore, when I got to work the next morning, I realized that I smelled like chili because I had thrown on the same sweatshirt that I had worn while I was cooking the night before. That went in the wash pretty quick. It did smell good, but it kind of reeked of onion and the smells of cumin and chiles. You get the picture: delicious, but very fragrant.

Chili with turkey and beans

As adapted from Power Foods - 150 Delicious Recipes with the 38 Healthiest Ingredients

Serves 6.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon cumin seeds

2 onions, finely chopped (about 3 cups)

5 garlic cloves, coarsely minced

1 green (or red, orange, yellow, etc.) bell pepper, ribs and seeds removed, finely chopped

1 3/4 pounds ground turkey

2 teaspoons chili powder

A heaping pinch of cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 dried bay leaf

1 can (28 ounces) chopped tomatoes

1 can (4 ounces) green chiles, drained and finely chopped

2 1/2 cups reduced-sodium chicken stock

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 cans (15 ounces each) kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1/4 cup plain low-fat Greek yogurt, for garnish (optional)

Fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish (optional)

In a Dutch oven or large soup pot, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil and cumin seeds over medium, stirring, until cumin is lightly toasted and aromatic, about 1 minute. Add onions, garlic, and bell pepper; cook, stirring occasionally until vegetables are soft and lightly golden, about 15 minutes. Push onion mixture to edges of pot, add remaining 1 teaspoon oil, and increase heat to medium-high. Add ground turkey, chili powder, cayenne, and oregano; cook until turkey is browned and cooked through, breaking into chunks and stirring until spices are evenly spread throughout. Add bay leaf to pot, then add tomatoes and their juice and green chiles; stir to combine. Bring to simmer. Add stock, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and beans; season with pepper, and stir to combine. Bring to simmer again. Stir, reduce heat to medium-low, and gently simmer, uncovered, until bean mixture thickens, about 45-50 minutes. Serve immediately, garnished with yogurt and/or cilantro leaves, as desired.

Evidently, this chili has a lot of ingredients, many of which could be played around with. You could switch out the turkey for chicken or ground beef, and you could also try different varieties of beans. I would normally use green bell pepper for this recipe, but they were out at the grocery store, so I threw in a combination of orange and yellow. The options are endless!

If you need a good, but healthful chili, this one is great. Here's to good and wholesome comfort food. Cheers.

Week Six: Turkey, Leek, and Butternut Squash Noodle Soup, Parmesan-Crusted Halibut with Rosemary Roasted Potatoes, and Chicken Breast Cutlets with Cauliflower and Sweet Potatoes

Well, that's a long blog post title. Despite that, "week six" of meal planning was pretty simple. I knew I wanted to make a soup of some sorts, so I turned to Pinterest for inspiration. And I wanted pumpkin something (of course), and the pumpkin-corn combination (two of my favorite things, as you know if you've been reading here for awhile) for the muffins was too good to pass up. We also had some wild halibut fillets in the freezer, and Zack had parmesan crusted fish on his mind. I proceeded to find a Seattle Times recipe for that. Lastly, I've had this cauliflower and sweet potato side dish recipe on hand for awhile, so I decided to keep it simple, and pair it with some chicken breast cutlets. A couple of the recipes could use some tweaks to make them a little bit better, but hey, you don't know until you try!

Turkey, Leek, and Butternut Squash Noodle Soup

with Pumpkin Cornbread Muffins

I love butternut squash. And they've been tempting me as they are in season and everywhere I look when I'm at the produce stand or grocery store. Like pumpkin or sweet potato, their beautiful color lures me in, and when I see vibrant-colored fruits or vegetables, I think to myself: "this must be really good for you." I know not everything that is bright- or dark-colored is good for you, but it seems to be true for a lot of produce. That being said, butternut squash, turkey, leek - delicious.

So, I kind of had an amateur moment making this soup. The recipe calls for a turkey carcass, but to my defense, it does say it's optional. I ended up using ground turkey because it is so easy to brown it along with your onions, leeks, or whatever vegetables you're starting your soup with. And it adds great flavor. But I don't know if it was quite enough this time...

Essentially, this recipe has you making a stock as you make your soup. It calls for vegetables, water, turkey (and the optional carcass), and herbs. But if you're not using the carcass, you may need some store bought stock to substitute some of the water.

As previously mentioned, this recipe was adapted from a Pinterest find and can be found here: Turkey, Leek, and Butternut Squash Noodle Soup. It could definitely be compared to a chicken noodle soup in that it is warm and comforting, but I think the broth lacked a richness that probably could have been obtained with the turkey carcass.

And to satisfy my pumpkin craving, I located a pumpkin cornbread recipe (also found on Pinterest). The recipe can be found here: Pumpkin Cornbread. I love pumpkin. I love cornbread. So pumpkin cornbread sounds like a dream to me. The recipe gave instructions for muffins, so that is what I made. These were really hearty and delicious, but still sweet like a dessert. I think they would be especially good with chili. Although, I re-heated them the next couple days to eat with leftovers, I would say that they are really best straight out of the oven.

Parmesan-Crusted Halibut

with Rosemary Roasted Potatoes

This halibut recipe was pretty basic. We used the last of our frozen wild halibut fillets from Costco (again, such a great way to have fresh, wild fish on hand) for this meal. Secondly, we used pre-grated parmesan, but I think you could play around with the cheese grate size. Ours was so fine, it was almost powdery; however, the parmesan flavor was very rich and strong. Fresh herb crusts are also nice for fish, and actually, I think I prefer that. Check out Dijon Herb-Crusted Salmon, a past post of mine from March 2012.

The recipe is from the Seattle Times and can be found at the link as follows: Parmesan-Crusted Halibut. They pair it with a roasted garlic butter, which I'm sure is delightful, but we omitted it for a lighter meal. 

Instead, I decided to serve the fish with some roasted potatoes (okay, I know...not super light, but hey, vegetables are better than butter). This is a recipe I tried out about a month ago, and it is wonderful. Probably because it is one of Ina Garten's recipes. And pretty much any Ina Garten recipe you try is going to be delicious. The recipe can be found at the following link: Rosemary Roasted Potatoes. The garlic and fresh rosemary is so delicious; your kitchen will smell wonderful.

One thing I have learned about roasting potatoes, or other vegetables for that matter, is this: you've got to give the potatoes room if you want them to crisp up a little. If you've piled your potatoes on a baking sheet, they are going to steam each other and they will never brown or toast so that they have a nice crust to them. I know this isn't rocket science and some of you more experienced may be thinking, "well, obviously," but I learned this by doing and giving space makes such a difference! I just do two full baking sheets now.

Cauliflower with Sweet Potatoes

and Chicken Breast Cutlets

Well, the chicken part of this meal was pretty straightforward. I chose a couple nice chicken breasts and butterflied them into two cutlets each. Sprinkled with a little kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, and simply sautéed.

The cauliflower with sweet potatoes was the real feature of this meal. I was drawn to this recipe because in the picture it looked like curried vegetables, and we love curry. However, this recipe actually calls for fresh ginger, coriander seeds, cumin seeds, and turmeric. Find the recipe here: Cauliflower with Sweet Potatoes.

This was really tasty. And who would think to pair cauliflower with sweet potato? I wouldn't. But it was good. And the spices complemented really well. 

Another week, some more recipes, and some more great food. Get excited for the week to come because I think I have some more delicious meals in store! Cheers.

Week Two: Lentil and Sweet Potato Stew, Pasta with Light Turkey Ragu, Tortilla Soup, Applesauce, and Pumpkin-Spice Rice Krispie Treats

We are cookin' over here! I don't really know how something as boring as "meal planning" could get me so excited about cooking. I don't know about you working folks out there, but sometimes making dinner isn't the first thing you really want to do after a long day at work. Let alone, making up lunches to take to work the next day after you do dishes from dinner, when you really just want to relax or maybe exercise or hangout with your husband.

Now, I've realized it's not the cooking that I dread doing after work. It's the stress of, "oh, shoot, I need to run to the store because I don't have that on hand" or "wow, I wish I would have realized that this recipe takes like 4 hours to make and we won't be eating until 9 o'clock tonight." That's the thing! If you set aside a little time over the weekend or on Monday to plan out the week and grocery shop, you save yourself so much stress. Plus, it gives you more opportunity to eat more healthily and less of an inclination to grab take-out for lunch. And the idea of being able to pull good menus to use that I have from the past sounds just great.

Lentil and Sweet-Potato Stew.

Alright. So, Lentil and Sweet-Potato Stew. This was really delicious. And again, a recipe I found on Whole Living, one of Martha Stewart's websites. I know, I know...I keep going back to it, but all the recipes are so good! And this stew was no exception. Mildly spicy, with a subtle curry flavor, and packed with vegetables including sweet potato (evidently), onion, carrot, celery, and green beans. I almost considered adding some sort of meat, but I figured that the sweet potato and lentils would make it hearty enough, and they did. This soup stands alone.

When it comes to my next recipe, I have a confession. I do not have a Pinterest account (yet), because if I did, I would spend way too much time browsing recipes, home decor, arts and crafts, and whatever else happened to strike my fancy. Therefore, I have resorted to browsing through recipes only and I am already addicted. Now you may find a wide range in terms of quality when it comes to recipes on Pinterest, but there are also many gems which I simply take a screen-shot of and save for later. He he.

Now that you all know about the values of Pinterest, we can talk about the Penne with Light Turkey Ragu. So simple, and very tasty. Ground turkey, leeks, oregano, basil, tomato...delicious. I love leek; such a great vegetable. The recipe calls for penne, but I just used the pasta I had on hand which happened to be a mix of whole-wheat and regular rotini.

Tortilla Soup with Black Beans.

My third dinner recipe this week was Tortilla Soup with Black Beans, another Whole Living find. This is so easy, but definitely more than satisfactory. I added some ground beef, which I had been saving in the freezer for a time like this, and I'm glad I did. My mind must have been elsewhere when I was making this, however, because I neglected to add spices until towards the end of cooking, and then I forgot to squeeze fresh lime over the soup before serving. Oh well. I think my version will be better tomorrow after marinating in the refrigerator all night, and we still have limes. Ha ha. But even so, it was really delicious and a great go-to weeknight soup. We crushed our tortilla chips over our individual bowls right before serving, so as to prevent tomorrow's leftovers from being full of soggy chips.

To top it all off, Tim and Amy visited us last weekend, and were so kind as to bring us a big bucket of farm-fresh (I believe, Jonathan...?) apples and a watermelon. They even brought us pumpkins they had grown, which was so cool because we were considering getting pumpkins the day before but didn't. So, what to do with a bucket of apples? First thing we thought of was applesauce. My mom makes some great applesauce. Actually, she made an amazing batch with some Gravenstein apples that Tim gave us last year. So I thought she would be the best person to seek applesauce-making advice from.

She uses an adapted version of Julia Child's recipe from The Way to Cook. Basically, wash, peel, and quarter apples (you can leave on peels or reserve some peels to put in the pot, then sieve out later (Julia says they give flavor and body to the sauce)). Place apples in a heavy-bottomed pot with fresh squeezed lemon juice, lemon zest, and a little cinnamon. Cover and set over low heat (this is key); the apples will slowly soften, rendering juices. Stir and mash frequently until tender, about 30-45 minutes. At this point, if using apple peel, you can push the sauce through a sieve, return to pot, and add some sugar and vanilla extract, cooking a little longer.

I, being an amateur, just kind of threw some peels in with my peeled apples, thinking I would just pull them out later. But they kind of got mashed up too. Oh well. We skipped the sieving and ended up with some delicious, chunky applesauce. The apples were not quite as tender as I would have liked (I think we man-handled the apples a little too much with aggressive mashing), but Zack thought it was perfect and our friends enjoyed it too. Oh, and we used brown sugar instead of granulated sugar.

And lastly, our dessert of the week was Pumpkin-Spice Rice Krispie Treats, another Pinterest find. We made these to take over to our friends' house on the evening of Halloween. So festive, so tasty. It's amazing what a little pumpkin, cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg will do for a traditional treat.

Pumpkin-Spice Rice Krispie Treats.

Well, that's all for Week Two. Cheers.

Rice Bowl with Ground Turkey, Edamame, and Toasted Chickpeas

This was one of those saw a good-looking recipe, took what I liked, and made it my own types of meals. Okay, it was the toasted chickpeas that lured me in. If there are chickpeas involved, I am a goner. I'm toast. I'm taken. I just love them. I don't really know why; I mean, they're not that incredible. They're mainly known for being mashed and processed into hummus. Never the less, I like them. A lot.

This rice bowl was really delicious. Because I made a ton, we've been eating it the last couple days and I think it keeps getting better. The first night, I think I was overly consumed with all the flavors because I had been standing over all the skillets and saucepans for too long. I found it to be mediocre when I had a bite. But the next day, it was really good! All about texture and the subtle Asian flavor that come through.

Get some brown rice cooking first. Then, steam florets of cauliflower and thinly sliced ginger in a steamer basket over a saucepan of simmering water. Season with salt and cook until tender, adding in some frozen edamame towards the end of cooking. Meanwhile, saute ground turkey in some neutral-tasting oil (such as canola) until cooked and browned, breaking into little bits. Also, heat sesame oil in a skillet over medium-high and add chickpeas (drained and rinsed), toasting until slightly crisp. Add a little butter and thinly sliced scallions, stirring to combine, then remove from heat.

Combine the vegetables, ground turkey, and chickpeas, then spoon over brown rice. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds. And enjoy.

Hearty Spinach and Chickpea Soup

Another winner from Power Foods. Although, I left out the shiitake mushrooms (for the sake of not going out to the grocery store), I did add some leftover ground turkey to hopefully make up for it. Brown rice, chickpeas, and spinach make for a hearty soup. And again, you can't go wrong with that ground turkey; its flavor just overwhelms whatever stock you use. It's delicious. Onion, garlic, and rosemary just add to the flavor.

I was mostly excited to make this soup because I had all ingredients on hand, and I got to use my new Dutch oven that Zack got me for Christmas. Yessssss. In fact, I never thought I would get this excited about receiving cookware for Christmas. But oh my word, it's pretty much the greatest. Thanks to Zack's dad, we also have ourselves some mighty fine stainless steel skillets and saucepans. And my parents overjoyed Zack and I with a Sur La Table gift card, which we promptly used to purchase some much needed items we've been somehow living without. The blog will surely benefit; no doubt.  

So. About the soup. Start by making the brown rice. Meanwhile, cook onion, garlic, and ground turkey in your large saucepan or Dutch oven. Throw in a couple sprigs of rosemary. Add stock, bring to a boil, stir in rice and chickpeas, reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook for a few minutes allowing the flavors to blend. Wilt in some baby spinach, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, then serve with grated parmesan.

I made 6 servings of this soup, so Zack and I will be pulling some out of the freezer to warm up and enjoy in the future. Really comforting. Great variances in texture and flavor. Here's to another delicious soup fit for winter cuisine.

Ground Turkey and Vegetable Soup with Split Peas and Barley

There's nothing like a hot bowl of soup during fall and winter; hence, we've been eating a lot of it. And sharing some too. So I decided to double the recipe this time and wowzers. We've got enough soup to last us a lifetime. But it's okay. Because this is good.

This soup is a variation of a recipe from Wholesome Kitchen, as is the Moroccan Harira that I have previously blogged about. Both have been huge hits and I'm excited to try more "delicious recipes with beans, lentils, grains, and other natural foods" from this cookbook.

This recipe calls for basically throwing all ingredients (dried split yellow peas, onion, celery, carrot, potato, pearl barley, ground turkey, fresh flat-leaf parsley, chicken or vegetable stock, sea salt, and freshly ground black pepper) into a pot, bringing to a boil, and reducing the heat to a simmer, cooking for 2 hours. However, for soups, I've realized that I really like to sweat the onions in a bit of extra-virgin olive oil and butter before adding the stock and remaining ingredients. Also, since I was using ground turkey as a meat substitution, I browned that in the same pot before adding the stock as well.

 
This soup is hearty and jam-packed with wholesome goodness. The barley and split peas add great texture. I tried extremely hard to keep the soup at a low simmer (didn't want it to bubble too much and fall apart), so it kept shape this time. The chunks of vegetables were cooked to perfection and the ground turkey dominated the flavor.

When making soup, I've found that I kind of have to amplify the flavor with additional spices like curry or ground cayenne red pepper, in addition to bay leaf among others. This necessity may mean one of a few things: it's time for homemade stock. I think this may be in our future. We'll see. Cheers.