Paleo Turkey Nuggets

We had our Thanksgiving a little early.  We hosted some of my paternal extended family on Saturday for a mostly dairy-free Thanksgiving dinner (everything I made was dairy-free... the mashed potatoes and rolls that others brought were the only things with dairy in them).  I roasted two turkey breasts, made some homemade sausage stuffing (I subbed out the normal butter for lard), roasted vegetables (carrots, beets, butternut squash, and green beans), and made a cherry pie and a pumpkin pie.  Everything was so delicious!  And no one could even tell that dairy was missing from most of the meal, until I pointed it out.  :)

With two turkey breasts and four people that did not end up coming at the last minute, we had a lot of leftover turkey.  So to change up the leftovers a bit, I made turkey nuggets for dinner last night.  I made them the same way I make chicken nuggets (or chicken tenders, as Kevin insists they are called).  I used almond flour to keep them paleo, but any flour would work.  Just substitute whole wheat, coconut, rice, or even all-purpose flour in the recipe below.  These were so yummy!  And a nice change from regular ol' leftover turkey.  So keep these in mind for your Thanksgiving leftovers later this week.

Paleo Turkey Nuggets

leftover turkey
1 egg
1-cup almond flour
seasonings - onion powder, sea salt, pepper, to taste
lard or coconut oil, for frying

Heat lard or coconut oil in a stainless steel saute pan over medium-high heat.  Chop your leftover turkey up into nugget sized pieces.  Crack the egg into a bowl and whisk until frothy.  Mix seasonings into flour in a shallow bowl.

Once oil is hot, drop turkey pieces into egg.  Then dip into the flour mixture and place gently into the lard or oil.  Fry until golden brown, about 2-4 minutes, and flip over until golden brown.  Remove turkey nuggets from oil and place on a plate covered with a paper towel.  Enjoy!


This post is linked to:
Monday Mania @ Healthy Home Economist
Fat Tuesday @ Real Food Forager
Slightly Indulgent Tuesday @ SS&GF

LaBamba Casserole

I have been making this casserole for years. It's been awhile, though. It comes from the October 2002 issue of Cooking Light. This is a super easy casserole to make and it comes together pretty quickly, too. And it's pretty versatile. I've used ground chicken in place of the turkey and I'm sure any ground meat would work well. I've also added black beans in the past and its been very good, too. This week, I made it to the recipe written below.

La Bamba Casserole

1 (5.25-ounce) can whole green chiles, drained (I usually skip these)
Cooking spray
1 pound ground turkey breast
1 cup chopped onion
2 teaspoons chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 (10-ounce) can diced tomatoes and green chiles, undrained
2 cups frozen whole-kernel corn, thawed
1 (16-ounce) can fat-free refried beans
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup chopped tomato (I usually just use salsa)
1/2 cup chopped green onions (I usually just use salsa)

Preheat oven to 375°.

Cut green chiles in half lengthwise. Arrange chiles in a single layer in an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray.

Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add turkey, onion, chili powder, cumin, salt, and garlic; sauté 5 minutes, stirring to crumble. Add diced tomatoes; cook 5 minutes or until liquid evaporates.

Spoon turkey mixture over chiles. Top with corn. Carefully spread beans over corn. Sprinkle cheese over beans. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes. Let stand 5 minutes; top with chopped tomato and green onions.

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 1/3 cups)

NUTRITION PER SERVINGCALORIES 344(28% from fat); FAT 10.7g (sat 6.3g,mono 2.9g,poly 0.8g); PROTEIN 32.2g; CHOLESTEROL 77mg; CALCIUM 269mg; SODIUM 902mg; FIBER 7.4g; IRON 3.2mg; CARBOHYDRATE 30.7g

Thanksgiving Leftovers Shepherd's Pie

After thinking we wouldn't end up with any Thanksgiving leftovers this year, we actually ended up with a lot of them. We brought home all of the remaining turkey (enough to make this and fill three freezer containers!), mashed potatoes, and corn that the rest of my family didn't want and we had a ton of roasted veggies (brussels sprouts, red potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, cauliflower) leftover from dinner at Kevin's mom's house. So I decided to make a shepherd's pie. I made an Emeril recipe for shepherd's pie using Thanksgiving leftovers last year. I was tempted to just do the same thing this year, but decided to make it super simple and just use a pint of my homemade and home-canned cream of mushroom soup. This was very good - all three of us really liked it. Carson ate two helpings and Kevin just wants me to make another one tonight using the rest of the leftover roasted veggies and corn. I didn't follow a recipe, just used what I had.

Thanksgiving Leftovers Shepherd's Pie

1 pint cream of mushroom soup
leftover veggies (I used corn and roasted carrots/sweet potatoes/brussels/cauliflower)
leftover mashed potatoes
leftover turkey
shredded cheese

Use whatever quantities of each to your liking. I used way more veggies than meat... I probably only used about 1 cup of chopped turkey, the rest was all veggies. Mix your soup into the veggies and meat in a 9x9 glass casserole dish. Spread out evenly. Top with mashed potatoes and sprinkle some shredded cheese on top. Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes.

Peanut Turkey Burgers

So I changed up the menu again this week. I did make the ham yesterday, but I ended up making the smallest one that I had in the freezer, so I didn't have the leftovers I needed for the casserole I had planned to make today. My SIL Mary made some peanut turkey burgers earlier in the week that I had also seen originally on A Good Appetite, but had forgotten about them. I had all of the ingredients on hand already, so I decided to make them for dinner tonight. And I'm so glad I did because, wow, these were awesome turkey burgers! So moist and flavorful - a delicious asian flavor with just a little kick. I think these were probably the best turkey burgers I've had so far. Kevin and Carson both liked them a lot, too. These were very easy to make and will definitely be a keeper recipe for me! I doubled the recipe below to get four very good sized burgers.

Peanut Turkey Burgers

1 medium carrot, julienned (I grated a handful of organic baby carrots, probably had about 1/2 cup of grated carrots)
1 scallion, chopped (I used half of a vidalia onion, diced)
1/8 t ground ginger (organic)
1 t kosher salt
10 oz ground turkey
1 1/2 T chunky peanut butter (I used organic creamy b/c that's what I had)
1/4 t sesame oil
1/2 t sriracha chili sauce (you definitely need the sriracha sauce, don't substitute other kinds/brands)

Place all the ingredients together in a bowl. Work with hands to mix but to do overwork. Cook on a griddle/grill pan (turkey burgers tend not to hold together well on a grill) until done, about 6 to 7 minutes per side.

Serve with lettuce leaves, more julienned carrots & garlic mayo. (We had ours with some co-jack cheese, light mayo, and organic ketchup. Served with a side of roasted asparagus.)

Makes 2 burgers

Turkey and Cornbread

Tonight I roasted my first turkey. I couldn't believe how easy it was to cook a turkey. I don't know why I always thought it was some difficult, time consuming thing to do... because it wasn't at all. I bought one of those Rival roaster ovens this week, so I wanted to try it out with the turkey. It turned out awesome! I made a 12-pound turkey and we invited my parents over for dinner. We still have tons of leftovers, which I'm happy about. I put the leftovers in different containers to freeze - some shredded for BBQ turkey sandwiches, and most of it is chopped for use in casseroles, soups, etc.

I tried out a new recipe for cornbread today, too. My ambition was to make cornbread stuffing, but when it came time for it, I just didn't feel like doing it. So we just had cornbread with our turkey... and some StoveTop stuffing that needed to be used up (not buying that stuff anymore). Back to the cornbread. I got this recipe off of the cornmeal package (Bob's Red Mill Organic Medium Grind Cornmeal). I think I will make it again, just with some modifications (more sugar and maybe throw in some creamed corn, too). I thought it was really good as is, but Kevin thought it was too crumbly and needed to be sweeter. My dad thought it was good as is, too, but would like a little more sugar.

I'll update with pictures later on.

Golden Cornbread

1 cup cornmeal
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened

Sift together the dry ingredients into a bowl. Add egg, milk and butter. Beat until smooth, about 1 minute. Do not overbeat. Bake in a greased 8-inch square pan for 20-25 minutes at 425 degrees.