Applesauce Pancakes

In the United States, most of us will be celebrating Thanksgiving Day (Tday) on the 27th of November, and I'm sure you've seen many Tday recipes floating around the blogosphere.

Crockpot Applesauce

As a child and young teenager, I loved applesauce. I anticipated the soft, sweet, cinnamony, gentle taste as I eagerly ripped open the aluminum top of the plastic, kid-sized package. One second later, I had eaten all of the applesauce and was always disappointed there was no more.

Baked Turkey Tacos

When I'm on track with my diet, I prefer to eat raw in the mornings and evenings and eat a healthy, cooked meal for lunch. When I'm craving something a bit more naughty, I make these guiltless, turkey tacos.

Healthy Fried Brown Rice

Healthy Salmon Fried Brown Rice with Kikkoman Soy Sauce (not low-sodium.)

I love Chinese-American food, and I love making Chinese-American food. In the past I have made Orange Chicken, Lemon Chicken, and Chicken Fried Rice. At Chinese-American restaurants, I usually order Orange Chicken or Fried Rice; however, these dishes are usually high in fat and sodium due to the amount of oil, sugar (in the sauces), eggs, and soy sauce.

Mom's Blueberry Salad

As you can see, I didn't bother styling this salad. I just let it be. . .

A little more than 24 hours ago my mom arrived safely at home after spending more than 3 weeks with her favorite and only offspring - me :). While I love her dearly and enjoy spending time with her, I have to admit it is nice to have my bed and my place to myself again. 

On the day I made the pasta on the previous post, my mother volunteered to make the salad *gasp!*. My longtime readers know that my mom doesn't like nor knows how to cook. However, she is the master of chopping veggies and throwing together salad-like meals (case in point - the pizza she decorated).

After spending too much time eating salads from Panera Bread as a graduate student in upstate New York, my mother's tastebuds changed somewhat drastically. So, upon her return to Texas a few years ago, I was surprised when she told me that she now likes olives, which she at one point detested. To make matters worse Also, she became fond of adding various fruits, onions, and nuts to her salad. Now, I know that most foodies like these additions to salads, but I am boring a purist. All I fancy on my salads are lettuce (the simple kind like the water-drenched, nutrient-lacking iceberg lettuce or healthier, romaine lettuce), red tomatoes (mom and I agree on extra tomatoes), cheese, and ranch dressing. If I feel like eating a "fancier" salad, I may add on hard-boiled eggs and cucumbers but nothing more than those two ingredients. 

My favorite thing about this salad? The ratio of tomatoes to everything else.

So, when my mom volunteered to make this salad, I had completely forgotten about the changes in her food preferences until I saw the salad she placed in front of my camera. I instantly gave her my shocked look and promptly said, "Mo-om, it has blueberries, olives, and walnuts in it!" While rubbing her hands together in delight with a fork in one hand she said, "YUM! I know! (pause) Oh! I forgot you don't like those things in your salad! (proceeds to flick her hand nonchalantly) You can just pick them out. They won't hurt!" Thanks a lot, mom!

Fortunately the salad was pretty photogenic. Once we sat down to eat our meal, I did remove the unwanted items immediately to the disappointment of my parental figure. I also made sure to get the part of the salad withOUT the yucky bleu cheese dressing on it. Her pour/action shot was cute, but I wish it would have been ranch dressing instead. 

Anyway, there's no real recipe for this salad. I will just list the ingredients she used and likes to use just in case you feel like venturing out with salads - if you haven't already. I apologize now for not joining you. . . :)

Mom's Blueberry Salad

Arugula

Roma tomatoes

Black or green olives

Fresh blueberries

Chopped walnuts

Hard-boiled eggs

Freshly-chopped mushrooms
Purple onions

Other possible ingredients (feel free to add more in the comments section):

Strawberries

Orange slices (including mandarin oranges)

Chopped Pecans
Romaine Lettuce
Feta cheese

Cream of Tomato Soup

Here's another dish I had to consume during my wisdom teeth "saga" (I exaggerate, of course). This soup was very good and hearty. However, it didn't take long for me to get tired of soups. What I liked about this recipe was that it had a small enough yield for one or two people compared to the soup recipe from Ina Garten (why do most of her recipes yield so much?).

Anyway, make sure you season this soup well. If you're eating this soup right after an extraction, purée the soup more than I did. I ate this after 3 or 4 days of my extraction, and I was lazy, so I didn't purée it. I will be sharing one more soup I consumed during my extraction, then we can move on to solid foods again hehe. On the top of the soup, I added small squares of a grilled cheese sandwich as garnish!

Cream of Tomato Soup

adapted from Life's Ambrosia and Ina Garten

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 medium yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp flour
1/4 cup chicken broth or dry white wine (I don't drink alcohol, so I used extra broth)
1 28-ounce can fire-roasted or regular crushed tomatoes (I always use a box of Pomì)
3/4 cup vegetable or chicken broth
1/2 tsp granulated sugar (to reduce the acidity of the tomatoes)
Black pepper
Kosher salt
1/2 cup half-n-half or heavy cream

Garnish:
Chopped fresh basil
Grilled cheese sandwich chopped into squares

In a large saucepan heat olive oil and butter over medium heat. Once butter has melted add onions and garlic, cook until onion is softened about 5 minutes. Add in 2 Tbsp of flour to form a roux. Cook the roux for 3-5 minutes. Pour in broth or wine, and allow to cook for 1 minute. Add in crushed tomatoes, vegetable or chicken broth and granulated sugar. Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low.

Slowly stir the cream/half-n-half into the soup, and allow to simmer for 30 minutes.

For a smoother soup, blend the mixture, and process it until smooth. Just before serving, sprinkle with chopped fresh basil and/or grilled cheese sandwich squares.

Enjoy!

Blackberry Cobbler w/ Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

When strawberry season was well underway, I wanted to go to a berry farm near where I live. I saw a link to all the picking farms in the United States (and many other countries) and found 2 places that sounded promising. Then, after I saw photos of some beautiful, enticing strawberries on Monica's photo site, Natural Lighting, I had to ask where she got the berries (actually, I just found out that strawberries are NOT berries. Read more about it here.). She told me that she got them from Sweet Berry Farm in Marble Falls, Texas.

Because I don't like to go to public places by myself (yeah, I have issues), I waited for my mom to arrive to go to the farm. Well, rain happened; my mom didn't want to go to the farm at first; and then, finally we went the day before she left....and guesss what?! We came the very day after the strawberries were in season there!! ARGH! I was so disappointed. I had been wanting to go for so long. Next time, I will have to get over my fears and go alone haha.

My mom washing her hands after berry picking. Her box was empty because we were going on our second round to look for any leftover strawberries. We were unsuccessful in our quest. :(

Anyway, even though the strawberries were no longer in season there, the blackberries were coming in with fury. So, my mother and I grabbed a box each and picked a bunch of these dark beauties. I thought I'd add that I picked the most berries*.*sidenote: Ignore the comment my mom is going to make about her picking the hard-to-get-because-they-were-deep-behind-or-in-the-middle-of-a-bunch-of-thorns blackberries for me. Don't believe her! She was just delirious from the hot sun! LOL!

So, what did I do with these luscious berries?! I made the only type of fruit cobbler I like - the one with a pie-pastry-like topping as opposed to cobblers with biscuits on top of the fruit.

I searched everywhere for the right recipe for a pastry-topping cobbler. I remember finding the perfect one over a year ago that I had made with peaches two or three times. Since I have a new laptop (I'M STILL A PC AND AM DARN PROUD OF IT! WOOHOO!), I no longer had that website bookmarked. Fortunately, I found the site again because the recipe is popular even though it was posted in 2006. In addition to his recipe, I picked and chose other ingredients and methods from three other recipes to end up with the one that is warm and settled in my tummy right now as I type. YUM!

This cobbler was amazing. My only mistake was not mushing up the berries. I think it is definitely a personal preference, but I didn't like tasting the less-hot interior of the berries after the first two bites. I think it would have been a better balance of crunchy, butter pastry taste and sweet, sour, berry taste if I had mushed them a bit. Nevertheless, it was still amazing.

I had run out of butter *GASP THE HORROR!* due to a 3-STICK ERROR (it still makes me sad to know I wasted that much butter) in a chocolate frosting I made, so I had to use butter-flavored shortening in the crust. I think the shortening caused the crust to be harder to handle. It still worked out in the end.

If you would like to use another pie pastry recipe, feel free to do so. I doubled the pastry recipe and used 2 extra cups of fruit because of the size of my dish (I will be blogging about this dish very soon). I like the double layer of pastry because you get a good amount of contrasting, yet complementary flavors.

Don't forget to make some vanilla bean ice cream to go with it!

Blackberry Cobbler - The Pie Pastry Variation
adapted from Stephen Cooks and other sites

Yield: 6 - 8 modest servings

Pastry (I doubled this for an 11" oval dish):
1-1/2 C flour
6 T butter
3 T shortening
1/2 tsp salt
3 T ice water
1/4 C sugar

Fruit Filling:
6 C blackberries
3/4-1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup AP flour
2 T cornstarch
3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
3 T melted butter

To make the pastry, place the flour, butter, shortening, salt and sugar in the processor bowl with the steel blade. Pulse a few times until the mixture is like cornmeal. Add the ice water and pulse a few times, just enough to mix the water into the other ingredients. Turn the mixture out into a plastic food storage bag (it will be crumbly, not yet like dough) and quickly knead it through the bag a few strokes, till it just starts to hold together. Refrigerate for an hour or more.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 475º. Combine the blackberries, sugar, flour, cornstarch, cinnamon and nutmeg in a large bowl. Stir mixture until you see mostly the color of the berries.Taste and correct seasoning and sugar content. Stir in the melted butter (I didn't have butter, so I added the 1/2 Tbsp left of COLD butter to the top of the filling right before baking. See photo below).

Reserve and keep cold 1/3 of the dough. Roll out the rest to the approximate shape of your dish. (I used an 11" oval baking dish with double the pastry, but with the recipe as is, you can use a 5" x 9" oval baking dish about an inch and a half deep or a 6" square dish or 7" round dish). Butter the baking dish and spoon in half of the fruit mixture. Lay the pastry sheet over the fruit.

Bake about 12 minutes in a preheated 475º oven, until the pastry is just starting to brown. Spoon in the rest of the fruit mixture.

Ooops! I messed up on the collage of process photos. Just ignore the first and last photos.

Roll out the reserved dough, cut in strips and lay in a lattice pattern over the fruit.

Sprinkle with sugar and bake about 15 minutes more, until the fruit is bubbling and the lattice is browned.

Allow to cool for a few minutes before serving with vanilla ice cream.

Jerk Chicken with Rice and "Peas"

When I make international dishes, I try to be as authentic and traditional as I can possibly be as I was with the Murgh Makhani, Tamales, and Lasagne al Ragù. However, there are times when I work so hard one part of a recipe, that some component of the side dish fails a bit in authenticity. Such is the case with this Jerk Chicken with Rice and "Peas".

The first time I ever tried Jerk Chicken was in New York City (is that right, mom?) a few years ago when my mom was attending NYU for her grad degree. We went to a small Jamaican restaurant in the outskirts of the major city. I had heard of the dish before but had never tried it before. After my first bite, I fell in love instantly and never forgot about that experience.
Unfortunately, I never had the opportunity to eat the dish again until I made it a few days ago. So, this is my second time tasting this flavorful, spicy chicken dish that originated in Jamaica. Once the marinade is mixed together, everything else is very easy. So, the key to Jerk Chicken is the marinade. It is comprised of many ingredients that vary from recipe to recipe. However, the universal ingredients are Scotch Bonnet or Habañero (don't forget the "ñ"! Without it, the pronunciation changes) peppers and pimiento or allspice berries.

I did research on Youtube and did a regular search as I always do when I look for an authentic recipe, if I don't have a traditional cookbook. I looked for Jamaicans preparing the meal to see how they did it and then compared their methods with others found online and other sources. I finally settled on a recipe from a website called Jamaica Travel and Culture.
Okay, here is how I broke the code of authenticity: First, I grilled the chicken in the oven instead of on the grill. Second, I didn't play reggae as I cooked :). Third, for the rice and "peas" (the recipe calls for "red peas", which are really kidney beans), I used black beans instead of kidney beans because I didn't have the latter. Fourth, I did add in coconut milk. I just couldn't. I already don't like coconut very much, so I just couldn't pour 1/2 cup of the stuff in my rice and beans. I just couldn't....and I didn't. Lastly, I didn't have 1/2 cup worth of soy sauce, so I used what I had.
Nevertheless, everything tasted really good. The chicken was still too spicy even though I used only half of the marinade. I reserved some of the marinade, and used it as a sauce. If you use all of your marinade in with the chicken, be sure to boil the sauce before using it. I just kept some of the marinade separate from the raw chicken. The rice and peas dish was really flavorful and helped cool the tongue down from the spicy chicken. Okay, I'll shut up now and give you all the recipe. Please visit the cook's website to see process photos or watch the video of her in action.
GIVEAWAY REMINDER: If you haven't already, don't forget to enter in my giveaway! The deadline is at midnight! If the number of questions is deterring you from entering, just tell me which cookbook you would like in order to qualify.

Jerk Chicken
halved & adapted from Jamaica Culture and Travel (full version)

One 3 1/2 lb chicken (3lb of chicken breasts may be used if preferred)
6 sliced scotch bonnet peppers (I used 2 habañeros in my halved version, & it was still hot.)
2 Tbsp. thyme (I used a few sprigs of fresh thyme, roughly chopped)
2 Tbsp. ground allspice (I crushed allspice berries in a mortar and pestle)
8 cloves garlic, finely chopped (I used 1 Tbsp of leftover ginger/garlic paste)
3 medium onions, finely chopped
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. salt
2 tsp. ground black pepper
1 to 2 tsp ground cinnamon
1-2 tsp nutmeg
1-2 tsp ginger (I used 1 Tbsp of leftover ginger/garlic paste)
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup soy sauce
Juice of one lime
1 cup orange juice (I used 2-3 fresh oranges)
1 cup white vinegar

Chop the onions, garlic and peppers. These do not need to be chopped too fine as they will be liquidized by the blender or food processor. Blend all of the ingredients (excluding the chicken) in a blender to make the jerk sauce.

The marinade added to the raw chicken.

Cut the chicken up in to 4 pieces. Rub the sauce in to the meat, saving some for basting and dipping later (I made slits in the chicken like I did with the murgh makhani). Leave the chicken in the fridge to marinade overnight up to 2 days.

OVEN: Bake in the oven for 30 minutes, turn the meat then bake for a further 30 minutes. OR Slow cook the meat at 212 degrees (100 degrees C) for 45-60 minutes per side.

GRILL: Grill the meat slowly until cooked, turning regularly. Baste with some of the remaining marinade while cooking. For best results, cook over a charcoal barbecue (ideally over a rack of pimento wood).

Chop each quarter chicken portion in to 5 or 6 smaller pieces using a heavy cleaver. Use a wooden spoon (or something similar) to hold the chicken in place whilst chopping and NOT YOUR HAND (you will be chopping with enough pressure to cut through bone!!!). (This step is not necessary if you're using chicken parts or drumsticks, like I did). While chicken is baking, make the rice and peas.

Rice and Peas
adapted from Jamaica Culture and Travel

3 cups of rice (I used regular, long grain rice; however, I assume you could use brown rice)
1 can of tinned or 1 cup of fresh red peas (use kidney beans or pigeon peas; I used black beans)
5 cloves of garlic (finely chopped)
1 uncut scotch bonnet pepper (1 habañero or jalapeño pepper. I didn't have any more peppers)
3 Scallion (spring onions may be used as a substitute)
1 tin (or one cup) of coconut milk (if you dare! hahaha)
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of black pepper
2 sprigs of fresh thyme (2 teaspoons of dried thyme may be used as a substitute)

FRESH PEAS/BEANS: If you are using fresh peas or beans, then wash them. Pour on three cups of water and leave to soak overnight.

CANNED PEAS/BEANS: Skip this step.

Crush the garlic and add to seven cups of boiling water. If you are using FRESH peas add them now and boil for 45 minutes. Test to see if the peas are cooked by crushing a few of them. If they crush easily, you are ready to move on to the next step.

Add your CANNED beans (if using), coconut milk, rice, salt, black pepper and thyme to the mix. Crush the scallion (do not chop), and add to mixture. Also add the UNCUT scotch bonnet pepper, to give it a subtle peppery flavor.

The rice and peas should be ready after about 40 minutes (exact cooking time will depend on the brand of rice used).

Colcannon

Only a few of you guessed which statement was true about me for the Honest Scrap Award. I was waiting until today to tell you all what the truth is. So, let's go through each one, shall we?

1. I speak 5 languages fluently.
I wish!! I speak about three languages fluently enough to have long conversations and even arguments haha: English, Spanish, and Portuguese. (My mom would tell you that I know 7 to 99 languages. Please don't listen to her; she's biased.) I can read, conjugate all verbs, and understand Italian, but I still have a long way to go with that language. I have a reading knowledge of French. Now, I'm learning Korean, and I love it!

2. I used to be a cosmetologist.
Almost true! For about 2 semesters, I took cosmetology courses to help pay for "real" school later on and realized I was wasting my time because I wasn't good at doing any of the stuff except for the written tests. So, I was too much of a book nerd to be a cosmetologist. On top of that, I caused a lady to walk out of our school building with one barely-gone eyebrow! OOPS!

3. I am a member of the "Mile-High Club".
NO WAY, JOSÉ! I have nothing else to add to that. LOL! (Shame on you, Jorge, for thinking this was true hahaha)

4. I have some Irish in my blood.
YEP! This is the truth! Also, it is the reason I made this yummy cabbage & potato dish today! I guess one of the only beneficial consequences of slavery in the United States was the blending of cultures and races that especially came about as a result of secretive, amorous or sexual relationships between slave masters and their subjects.

5. I love nuts and alcohol!
Well, I'm sure almost all of my readers know that this one is so NOT true. I do, however, like nuts in Snickers and Toblerone. I guess it is because I can't taste the nuts; I like the crunchy texture mixed in with the soft nougat, chewy caramel, and smooth chocolate in Snickers.
Well, I know you've seen this dish EVERYWHERE on the blogosphere. I chose this popular dish because I don't like corned beef, and I don't know of many traditional, Irish dishes as I should. Whenever my mother and I make a trip to Ireland, I hope to remedy that.
This dish was easy to put together. It tasted insanely good for a vegetarian, healthy meal. You've probably noticed that not many veggies are showcased on my blog, so embrace this post!! I did add some thick, turkey ham to the dish, though. The carnivorous addition intensified the dish.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig oraibh!

Colcannon
reduced and adapted by Good Mood Blog (Donal, a true Irishman with lovely photos) and Tasty Traveller

2 med-large Russet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 Tbsp butter or margarine
1/2 an onion, chopped into small or large pieces (your preference)
1/4th of a cabbage, chopped (Donal suggests savoy cabbage, but I couldn't find it)
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup of fresh parsley, chopped (I used a few Tbsps of dried parsley)
1/4 cup milk (I used whole milk)
2 Tbsp butter

Chop the potatoes, onions, and cabbage before starting.

Place the prepared potatoes in a saucepan and fill with water to boil. Once the water has boiled, turn down the heat, and allow to simmer for 15 minutes, until fork easily goes through the potatoes.
Meanwhile, place 1 Tbsp of butter in a hot skillet, and sauté onions until translucent, then set aside.
Drain the potatoes, reserving the water for the cabbage. Place the cooked potatoes in a big serving bowl or casserole dish. Pour the reserved water back in to the saucepan, and boil the water. Place the chopped cabbage into the water, and cook for 6-8 minutes.
Place the onions, salt, pepper, and parsley into the serving bowl or dish with the cooked potatoes. Then add the cooked cabbage, and stir with a wooden spoon. Place 1-2 Tbsp of butter on top, and salt and pepper to taste.
Serve, and enjoy!!

Iced Green Tea

In 2008, I decided to stop drinking soda for good. I upheld that promise for over a year and then started drinking soda again. I don't know why really. It may because of the mistake someone made at Wendy's when I ordered a tea and received a Coke instead.

Anyway, even though I've started drinking soda again, I never buy soda for the house. I drink it only if I go out to eat. I haven't purchased cans or bottles of soda for myself in over 3 years. Instead of drinking soda, I rely on water, skim milk, juice, and iced tea as my beverages at home.

Out of those abovementioned drinks, my favorite has got to be this iced greeen tea. I make big quantities of it 1-2 times a week. The recipe is very simple. I'm sure you could use another type of tea, but I love using green tea. You could also use agave syrup, Splenda, or some other sweetener aside from granulated sugar to make it healthier.

Iced Green Tea

8 cups of cold water
1 1/4 - 1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar (or Splenda or about 3/4 c of agave syrup)
6-8 bags of green tea (I use Lipton, but I'm sure there are better brands out there. Any suggestions welcomed!)

In a big pot, pour in cold water and sugar. Turn on the heat, and stir the sugar until the water becomes translucent again. Cover the pot of sugar water, and allow the mixture to boil. Meanwhile, place the green tea bags in a large container (with a lid) that can handle hot water and quick temperature changes. Once the water boils, turn off the heat, and immediately pour the sugar water into the large container. Cover the container (with the lid or foil), and allow the tea to sit or steep and cool for 10 minutes. Then place the container in the refrigerator, or pour yourself a glass with a bunch of ice!

Enjoy!

Slow-Cooker Turkey Chili

More than two posts ago, I promised you all that I would write about a healthy recipe I made for my dieting mother when she came to visit me. Years ago, when I was on my diet, I made a turkey chili for her in my slow cooker that was so good that I didn't miss the fatty food! Somehow, I'd lost that recipe and tried many times to recreate the recipe but to no avail.

So, before my mother came to visit this time around, I asked her what she wanted me to cook for her. She immediately replied, "I want that turkey chili you made for me a long time ago." (Yes, it was that good.) I told her for the umpteenth time that I had lost that recipe, and she told me that I needed to try to find it again before she came to visit. She is demanding! haha
So, I turned to one of my favorite sites for recipes, allrecipes.com. I found a recipe called "Laura's Quick Slow Cooker Turkey Chili". It is considered to be quick because of the use of canned beans as opposed to soaking dry beans and slow because of the use of the slow cooker (duh). I added a few extra spices to ensure success because I didn't want my mother to complain. I now think the chili was the real reason she came to visit me hmmm.

Since I knew she was leaving Sunday afternoon, I started preparing the chili Saturday night so that she could have something to eat at home (my mom doesn't like to and doesn't know how to cook very well. Sorry, mom!) Anyway, I asked her to chop the veggies for the chili. Then, I put together everything else while I made her flour tortillas and the cheesecake for my Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake. I was busy in the kitchen, and this was all happening late at night! I set the slow cooker to low for 8 hours, and at 10am the next morning, the chili was ready.
I prepared a bowl of chili for my mom and sat across the table opposite her all while waiting intently for her response. She loved it! She absolutely loved it! I asked her if it was comparable to the other chili I'd made for her many years ago, and she said that it was very close. She also said that I was missing her favorite cornbread (because I didn't make enough for her already haha).

This chili is very good; it really is. Also, if you add enough cheese to it, it could be a good dip for nacho chips. You can make this dish extremely healthy and flavorful or very unhealthy and flavorful. What a win-win situation that is! Don't forget to make the cornbread!

Laura's Quick Slow-Cooker Turkey Chili
very loosely adapted from allrecipes

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2-3 stalks of celery, chopped
2 carrots, chopped

2 tablespoons chili powder

1 teaspoon red pepper flakes

1/2 tablespoon garlic powder

1/2 tablespoon ground cumin

1 pinch ground black pepper

1 pinch ground allspice

salt to taste

1 pound ground turkey
cumin to taste
Lawry's Seasoning Salt to taste
pepper to taste

2 (10.75 ounce) cans low-sodium tomato soup (I used one can low-sodium tomato soup and one box of Pomì chopped tomatoes)

2 (15 ounce) cans kidney beans, drained

2 (15 ounce) cans black beans, drained

Worcestershire Sauce (optional)
Hot sauce (optional)
Small block of favorite type of cheese, grated (optional) (I used cheddar and monterey jack)

Heat the oil in a skillet or dutch oven over medium heat. Season ground turkey with cumin, Lawry's Seasoning Salt and pepper (all to taste). Place the veggies in the skillet, and add all the seasonings (from the chili powder to the salt to taste). Next, place the seasoned, ground turkey in the skillet over the veggies, and cook until evenly brown; drain.

Coat the inside of a slow cooker with cooking spray, and mix in turkey, cooked veggies, tomato soup, kidney beans, and black beans. Season with additional chili powder, red pepper flakes, garlic powder, cumin, black pepper, allspice and salt ONLY if you feel something's missing. You could also add Worcestershire or hot sauce for an added boost of flavor and heat.

Cover, and cook 8 hours on Low or 4 hours on High.

Breaded Baked Chicken Tenders

Not the prettiest photo, but these chicken tenders were great!

This will be a very quick post because I have a lot to do before my mom's arrival this weekend!! I'm so happy she's coming. Maybe I'll try to coerce her to get in the kitchen and help me cook. Hah! Yeah, right! She's on a diet, so maybe I'll be posting some healthy dishes on here for a change.

Anyway, I made this chicken at the last minute last week to accompany my homemade bread. It was very good. So good that my neighbor took all the chicken you see on the plate in the photos. I only had the two in the sandwich. He almost took the rest of the bread, too!
I don't have a set recipe for this, but I'll post what I did below.

Breaded Baked Chicken Tenders

Oil or cooking spray
1 package of boneless, skinless chicken tenders (about 8-10 pieces)
Lawry's Seasoning Salt
Pepper
1-2 cups AP flour
1-2 eggs (I'm selfish with my eggs (hah!), so I use one egg and only crack the second one if necessary)
1-2 cups Breadcrumbs (homemade or storebought; Italian or plain)

Oil or spray a jelly roll pan, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Wash the chicken tenders, if necessary. Season the chicken with seasoning (or regular salt) and pepper. Dip the tenders in flour, then egg(s), and then breadcrumbs. Place the coated tenders on the jelly roll pan.

Bake the tenders for 15-20 minutes, then flip over the tenders and cook them for 5-10 more minutes.

Serving Suggestions: Serve the tenders as is with sides or in a sandwich or with a dip! Enjoy!