Thai Turkey Meatballs

No doubt these meatballs would be better with ground pork, but in the interest of using what you got, and being cost-efficient, these Thai Turkey Meatballs were born of necessity!  They were still delish, and the turkey has such a mild flavor it really lets the bold thai flavors shine.

Thai Turkey Meatballs
1 package ground turkey (mine was about 20 oz)
2 tbsp gluten free soy sauce
2 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
about an inch of ginger, minced

2 tbsp sweet chili sauce (optional)
1 tbsp garlic chili paste
additional soy and fish sauces

In a large mixing bowl, combine your ground meat and other ingredients, form into balls and brown in a dutch oven over high heat with a bit of oil, you'll want to brown both sides.  When all meatballs have been browned, turn the heat down to medium and pour a bit more soy and fish sauce in with some chili garlic sauce and sweet chili sauce, mix well, and cover for 20 minutes to finish cooking.  Serve with a simple salad and you're done!  Easy peasy. 

Thai Beef with Basil

Or in this case, thai ground turkey.  Beef would have been more appropriate but it was easy and "licious" as S calls things she likes.  Most recipes call for a few additional ingredients that would have made this really shine, but for a quick weeknight dinner this is really great.  A huge bump up for plain old ground meat for sure.  If you can get your hands on some thai chiles and thai basil, instead of the regular kind, good for you!  And of course some sliced red peppers would be great and another pop of color.

Thai Beef with Basil
1 package ground meat, mine was about 22 oz
2 tbsp Thai Chile Garlic Oil (HUGE shortcut, rather than mincing garlic and chopping up thai chiles!!! find it at your specialty olive oil store)
2 cups french green beans
juice of one lime
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp gluten free soy sauce or wheat free tamari
1/2 packet of stevia (i used pure via)
1 cup chopped basil, use thai basil if you can, and throw in some mint too for extra authenticity

Heat your oil in a large pan and add your meat, cooking on high until starting to brown.  Throw in your green beans and salt and pepper liberally.  In a small bowl, juice your lime and add sweetener (optional) soy sauce and fish sauce.  When the beans have cooked, add your sauce and coat evenly.  Turn off the heat and sprinkle in your chopped basil.  Serve and enjoy!  Drizzle some extra thai chile garlic oil if desired.  This is not very spicy, so feel free to turn it up a notch with some red pepper flakes.  But for the discerning toddler's palate, I chose to keep it on the milder side.

Enjoy peeps!

Ground Turkey Taco Cups and Homemade Guacamole

Even if I weren't a GFG, I think I'd still prefer these super cute little taco cups to actual tacos.  They are so much fresher and more fun to eat, and look how pretty and green!

I pretty much made this recipe exactly-except with ground turkey instead.  It came out great and I highly recommend not only the recipe, but the blog.  Check it out!  Served this with refried beans and homemade guacamole.  If you are going to try out this recipe- definitely don't scimp on the spice mixture- and maybe even double it to save some for next time!  It's that good.

Want some easy, delish guac to go with it?

Here is my foolproof guac recipe:

1 avocado
1 cup of grape tomatoes, halved
1/4 red onion, chopped finely
juice of one ripe lime
2 tsp kosher salt

Masy your avocado and throw in your tomatoes and onions, and then add your (fresh) lime juice.  Add your salt and combine.  Let this sit in the fridge for a bit and cover the guac with plastic wrap- not the bowl, but the guac itself.  The lime juice will keep it from oxidizing.

Happy eating! XoXoGFG

No Sugar Turkey Sloppy Joes

After realizing I had basically no ingredients to prepare any of the ground turkey recipes I googled, I decided to try my hand at sloppy joes.  I might be the only person in America who has never actually had sloppy joes, but they've always looked pretty good.  MKG has had plenty of sloppy joes and was slurping up the juice.  S also enjoyed them.  Once again, super easy and super fast.  I even managed to make most of it one-armed, as S is teething pretty badly and wailed every time I put her down. 

No Sugar Turkey Sloppy Joes
1, to 1 1/4 lbs ground turkey
1 cup ketchup (I used my homemade version but I hear WF has no sugar ketchup)
1 can diced tomatoes and juice
2 tbsp Worcestershire
3 tsp yellow mustard
2 tbsp raspberry balsamic vinegar
S&P to taste

Most Sloppy Joe recipes call for a few key ingredients.  Ketchup/tomato sauce/paste, onion, and vinegar.  Then there are varying degrees of sugar and/or barbecue sauce, or even grape jelly.  I didn't want to use conventional ketchup and also did not want to use any sugar, so instead of regular vinegar, why not raspberry balsamic?!  It worked out GREAT!  I would definitely recommend it in place of sugar.  If you have an onion, by all means, dice it up and brown it in your saute pan, then adding in the ground turkey.  Once the turkey is browned (I poured some of the fat out, I don't like how the grease looks in the bowl!) add in your ketchup, diced tomatoes with juice, mustard, worst, balsamic, and salt and pepper.  Make sure the seasonings are to your liking, and add more liquids if you desire.  Then bring to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes, or until the sauce has reduced and thickened.  By now, we are so accustomed to breadless meals that we really don't miss buns at all, and happily, this is a great meal in a bowl.  I threw in some spinach at the last minute to bulk it up a bit, or you could serve this over a bed of lettuce.

GFG has been having a tough couple of weeks.  I am trying to roll with the punches and maintain good spirits and stay positive, and remind myself that things always have a way of working themselves out.  I am a control freak though, and nothing scares me more than the unknown.  I think of what's going to happen and obsess over how things are going to play out, creating endless scenarios in my head.  I think too much.  I've always been jealous of people who just are.  There are just a few too many unknowns for this crazy-lady to handle right now, and I am having a difficult time managing.  But then I think, gosh if my problems I'm having right now are the worst I'll ever have, then I have ZERO to complain about.  Based on the fact that I actually am spending time writing about sloppy joes, I'd have to say I can't be doing too bad.  I guess that's what I truly love about cooking and nutrition.  How it can transcend a bad day, a bad week, a bad month, bad whatever.  You can control the ingredients and cooking preparation and create something totally original and unique and be proud of it.  Even better when it's good for you.  That's pretty cool, and I feel a lot of gratitude that I found something I love that is so rewarding for me.  I hope it's that way for you too!  Have a great weekend, XoXoGFG

Protein Style Turkey Burgers, and Chia Pudding!

HIIT is kicking my butt!  It is hard!  I'm sure you eventually become more adapted to it- but yikes!  Luckily I had a fun dinner planned to look forward to.  As usual- there was a lone package of ground turkey in my freezer that I was itching to use, and having just watched the new Barefoot Contessa epi about burgers, I was inspired to make some.  Of course in this episode, they're making beef burgers with like 80/20 ground beef or something ridiculous- but what I liked was how simply they prepared them.  Usually with burgers I'll throw in a ton of things- an egg, Worcestershire, scallions, bbq sauce, etc- and then in the process I overmix it and the burgers come out mealy.  Ick!  On this show, they formed the meat into patties, brushed them with butter, and seasoned them before grilling.  Awesome!  Rather than using butter, I glazed the patties with EVOO and then used some sea salt and black pepper.  I thought it was great and am never going to mess with the meat again.  Why bother?  We had burgers a la In-n-Out's Protein Style- with butter lettuce as the bun, grilled onions, tomato, and avocado, and TJ's frozen haricot verts on the side (the best green beans ever- seriously).  S ate an enormous plate of turkey burger, avocado, and green beans.  Good girl!  I am so thrilled she is now saying mama all the time- I didn't really mind that she wasn't saying it- I knew she would when she was ready, but now that she is- I swear my heart melts everytime I hear it!  Should I be offended she started saying ELLLLLLLMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO a good two weeks before she even tried to say mama???  haha. 

Soooooooo Chia Pudding.  Yeah......  This was one of those times where the whole scenario played out in my head beforehand- I knew I wouldn't like it but I have seen different recipes on pretty much every single blog under the sun and every blogger is like- OMG it's the best it's so delicious and easy and all the Omegas and blah blah blah- and I figured- there's hardly any ingredients I may as well try it.

It wasn't god awful.  I actually kinda liked it.  Not enough to eat more than a spoonful or so- but it really wasn't bad.  Am I the only one that thinks that Chia has a sort of lavender-y flavor?  Not bad at all- and goes great with fruit in my protein smoothies- but this particular pudding was of the cocoa variety and they didn't go together too well.  I think if you went in a more cinnamon/vanilla direction it would end up resembling tapioca pudding- so I'll try that next.  I mean, Omega 3's people come on!  Anyways- if you are familiar with that lavender taste I mean and think you'd enjoy with chocolate- give this a whirl. 

Chocolate Chia Pudding
2 tbsp chia seeds
1/4 cup filtered water (don't use tap!)
1/4 cup milk (all I had was whole- if you use skim make it a 1/2 cup and lose the water, or use nutmilk to veganize it)
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tbsp stevia in the raw

Mix ingredients and refrigerate for a few hours.  Gets nice and puddingy.  Next time I'll try vanilla almond milk with cinnamon.  haha- typing cinnamon makes me laugh- yesterday I had a little incident with cinnamon.  I've been taking cinnamon supplements this week- and I'm not sure why exactly but I actually burped cinnamon after swallowing a pill and it actually came out of my nose!  Like a little cloud of cinnamon!  It kind of hurt!  It was not pleasant!  TMI I know- but how many people have actually had cinnamon come out of their nose?  Not many.  Guess that makes me pretty darn special.  XoXoGFG

Use What You Have Friday

These are LIFESAVERS

Trader Joe's Melange of Bell Peppers has saved use what you have night on more than one occasion.  This bag of frozen veg is honestly becoming one of those "go-to" products that I absolutely can't live without.  The number of peppers you'd have to buy and then slice is just totally not worth it once you've gotten a bag of these one-pound wonders.  They are phenomenal.  I'm tempted to maybe never buy fresh peppers again.  Of course I will, for grilling, but for a simple veggie stir fry these cannot be beat- I think they are $1.99 a bag.  

Tonight was a turkey kielbasa (also from TJ's, fully cooked and 94% lean and delish!), red onion, and bell pepper stir fry.  Yum!  I heated up EVOO and cooked some onion until browned, then threw in the remaining grape tomatoes I had in the fridge, and sauteed.  A few minutes later adding in the peppers and juice, and finally the sausage, just to warm through.  Served with a rosemary Socca- it was a great, easy, and efficient meal!  And that was Use What You Have Friday!  Tonight's socca was an improvement over the last two- because I baked it by itself in the oven for 35 minutes at 425.  I used 1 cup chickpea flour to 1 cup water, plus 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper and 1/2 tsp dried rosemary.  I would really like to find a 10 inch cast iron so I can try it again on the stovetop.  

I also had a few minutes to whip up some more coconut butter (which has gotten 100% easier to make since I got the ninja- I process 2 cups of coconut powder from the Indian market in the cuisi for about 5 minutes, then another 2 min in the ninja et voila! perfect coconut butter.) as well as some chocolate peanut raisin balls and cherry almond bites.  

Cherry Almond Bites

1 cup dried unsweetened bing cherries

1/2 cup blanched slivered almonds

1 tsp vanilla

Blend, then shape into bites!

Chocolate Peanut Raisin Balls

1 cup raisins

1/2 cup peanuts

2 tbsp peanut butter

2 tbsp cocoa powder

Blend, then form into balls!

We had a nice, somewhat relaxing evening- as relaxing as an evening with a 1 year old can be right?  Usually S likes peppers but tonight- not so much.  Luckily- she happily ate everything once it was slathered in tomato basil hummus- again from TJ's.  I know, just get a job at TJ's already. 

Homemade Chocolate Hazelnut Spread Freezer Fudge, Frozen Banana Cookie Crust Fruit Pie, and this week's dinner recipes

After Moroccan Chicken GFG is getting a little chickened out, which I'm sure happens to most of us fairly regularly.  So this week, I'll be trying out a couple non-chicken recipes.  Although TJ's did have boneless skinless chicken breast wayyyyyy on sale, which was awesome.  Tuesday, it's use what you have night, so I'll be defrosting some frozen orange roughy (which belongs to the slimehead family of fish, um gross?!) and cooking it gently with lemons and some leftover white wine from this weekend, maybe toss in a few capers, and the amazingly gorgeous french green beans I found at Trader Joe's.  Friday, I'm going to try cooking with fish sauce, something I've never cooked with before, so that will be interesting!  I was inspired by this recipe from August's Real Simple.  But we don't eat pork and not sure if I'll ever get around to picking up some chilies.

Example!  Not my pic.

Orange Roughy with White Wine, Lemons, and Capers
-1 lb orange roughy
-1/4 cup dry white wine, use what you got!
-1 teaspoon lemon zest, plus 2 tablespoons lemon juice
-1 tablespoon capers
-1 tablespoon EVOO
-salt/pepper to taste

Marinate fish for 20 minutes in white wine and capers.  Heat oil to medium-high in saute pan and place marinated fish fillets in pan, seasoning with salt and pepper.  Add marinade and cook 2 minutes then flip and season other side. Cook another 2 minutes, lower heat, then pour in white wine and caper marinade, lemon juice, and sprinkle with lemon zest.  Cook for a few more minutes to allow flavors to come together.  Serve with veggies!

Here is the Real Simple recipe, adapted by me:

Real Simple

 Thai Ground Turkey Salad with Peanuts

• 2 teaspoons coconut oil
• 1 pound lean ground turkey
• 5 tablespoons Asian fish sauce
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 1 large jalapeño peppers, seeded and thinly sliced
•  1 head of romaine, chopped
• 4 green onions, thinly sliced
• 2 medium carrots, coarsely grated
• 3/4 cup fresh mint leaves 
•  1 red pepper, sliced
•  1 cucumber, sliced
• 1/4 cup salted, roasted peanuts, chopped

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the turkey and cook, breaking it up with a spoon, until no longer pink, 2 to 3 minutes. Add ¼ cup water, 1 tablespoon of the fish sauce, and stir until liquid is evaporated.
2. In a small bowl, stir together the lime juice, peppers, and the remaining 4 tablespoons of fish sauce.
3. Divide the lettuce among bowls, top with the turkey mixture, onion, carrots, mint, and peanuts, and drizzle with the lime dressing. 

Today I'm having fun making dessert for dinner at our friends house tonight.  As usual Spoonful of Sugar Free served as an inspiration.  I will tinker with the recipe a bit, since it's actually raw, I'm not quite as concerned about ruining it with my tweaks as usual.  But it is very very simple!


Frozen Banana Cookie Crust Fruit Pie
-4 frozen bananas
-1 cup walnuts
-3 or 4 dried pitted dates
-2 tablespoons cocoa powder
-2 cups sliced berries (I have strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries)

Process/blend walnuts, dates, and cocoa powder until mixture is clumpy but well incorporated.  Transfer mixture to pie dish and spread out evenly with your hands, to form the pie crust, and freeze.  Blend frozen overripe bananas until creamy, adding a bit of vanilla or cinnamon if you desire.  Pour bananas into frozen pie crust, and return to freezer.  Thaw a bit before serving, then top with sliced berries!  You could also jazz up the filling anyway you want- with cocoa powder, unsweetened shredded coconut, or even some blended berries!  You could also drop in some chocolate shavings or chopped nuts.  Tons of different fun variations!  This pie is for kids too so I don't want to complicate it too much this time around.

This morning I also tried homemade nutella.  True to form, I did not follow the instructions.  I threw everything in the cuisinart and started blending, then realizing I was supposed to add ingredients in a specific order.  I don't really think it made a difference in the end, the result was realllly good, although I ended up adding a bit more salt.  It's also a bit too sweet for me so next time I'll halve the amount of sugar I used.  The recipe also says to toast and skin the nuts.  Well, I toasted them, and tried to skin them, but got sick of skinning them half-way through so just threw the rest in the bowl.  Eh, again, don't think it really mattered.  I think in the end it made a little more than a cup?  I transferred the mixture to a glass jar and stuck it in the fridge.  But that got me thinking, what a yummy freezer fudge flavor that would be!  So after S eats her half banana at lunch, I'll use the rest for a nutella fudge variation.  2T coconut butter, 2T hazelnut spread, 1T cocoa powder, half banana, and pinch of salt.  May need a teensy bit of sweetener.  Yum!

Homemade Nutella Freezer Fudge
-1/2 overripe banana
-2T coconut butter
-2T homemade chocolate hazelnut spread
-1T cocoa powder
-pinch of salt, touch of sweetener if necessary

Blend and freeze!

Today's experiments

I feel pretty successful about my two coconutty creations!  And I had fun doing them!


First, I tried Vegan Freezer Fudge!  YUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I posted about it earlier in the week.  OMG how easy and delish!  Love it!

2 tablespoons coconut butter
2 tablespoons organic all natural peanut butter (no additives, peanuts only!)
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 ripe banana, although mine wasn't too terribly ripe and it was more like 3/4 of a banana, baby S ate the first 1/4!
1/2 teaspoon sugar substitute
1/16th teaspoon salt

Blend everything until smooth in blender, then transfer to square tupperware and press until evenly layered, and freeze!  It is delish.  Seriously.  I'd like to try a vanilla version with no cocoa or PB and some vanilla extract.  Yum!  Easy and fun.  And no baking for me to screw up!

Later on while S was napping I tried my hand at Pumpkin Spice Bread, adapted from like twelve different pumpkin break recipes I found.  All of them call for an enormous amount of eggs and I just can't do it.  It just seems gross to me.  So I finally settled on the following:

3/4 cup coconut flour, sifted
1 15 oz can pumpkin puree
2 eggs
2 flax eggs (2 T ground flax meal with 6 T water, blended well and then let sit for five minutes)
1/4 cup liquified coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 tablespoons sugar substitute
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

Preheat oven to 350.  Blend flax eggs and combine with real eggs.  Pour in vanilla, coconut oil, and pumpkin puree, sugar substitute and stir.  Sift coconut flour, salt, baking soda, and spices in separate bowl and combine.  Pour in wet mixture, add walnuts, and stir, then transfer to greased loaf pan.  Bake 45-50 minutes. 

The end result is good, not sweet at all, but still getting used to the mousse-iness of coconut flour baked goods.  I wonder if anything can be done about that?  And also, I wish it would rise more.  I wonder if a bit more baking soda would help?  I think only further experimentation with more/less eggs and liquid will tell.  I have seen other blogs add chocolate chunks to pumpkin bread, but I remember last thanksgiving my aunt made a chocolate pumpkin cheesecake and the flavor combos did NOT sit right with me, or anyone else really, so I'm kind eh about trying that out.

This week, I'll be trying a few more items, like this one from Spunky Coconut that I'm excited about, with quite a few tweaks, of course. 

Chocolate Raspberry Cookie Bars:

Add to bowl:

3/4 cup coconut flour

1/3 cup almond meal flour

1/3 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

4 tbsp coconut oil, liquified

Combine and pour into lightly greased square baking dish.

Spread evenly.

Melt over lowest heat:

1/4 cup coconut milk (or other non-dairy milk)

1/4 cup cocoa powder

2 tbsp sugar substitute

Combine and immediately remove from heat (so the chocolate doesn't burn).

Add to measuring cup:

3/4 cup coconut milk + 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and 2 tbsp sugar sub

Pour over crust.

Drop chocolate mixture (or chips if substituting) on top of crust and coconut milk.

Drop 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp sugar-free raspberry jam like this:

Top with 1/2 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

and 1/2 cup chopped nuts.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.

Refrigerate about 8 hours.

It solidifies from chilling.

We'll see how it goes with my many tweaks and substitutions!  Yikes!  The orig recipe calls for Quinoa flakes and stevia and ghee- no thanks!

Here are two other Grain-Free entrees I'll be trying this week:

Spicy Turkey Sausage with Flageolets and Cauliflower
1 lb spicy turkey sausage or kielbasa
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1 can rinsed and drained Flageolet
1 head cauliflower, chopped into florets and blanched
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
salt and pepper to taste

Saute cut up turkey sausage, browning evenly.  Remove from pan and transfer to plate.  In same pan, adding coconut oil, saute onions for a few minutes until transparent, then add spices, then beans.  Cook for two minutes.  Add blanched cauliflower florets and cook 5-7 minutes.  When browned and cooked through, add turkey sausage to warm through.  Serve with arugula and lemon vinaigrette!

Coconut Flour Chicken Curry

• 1 whole chicken cut into 6-8 piece
• 3 Tablespoons coconut oil 
• 2 Tablespoons coconut flour 
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 
• 1 teaspoon ginger powder
• 1/4 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon curry powder 
• 2 cups chicken stock
• 1/4 cup water 

Sauté garlic, onion, ginger, with coconut oil. Add the cut-up chicken, slightly brown the chicken. Add chicken stock, simmer for 15 minutes. Add salt, black pepper and curry powder. Cover the pan. Continue cooking for another 5 minutes. Dissolve coconut flour in 1/4 cup of water. Stir it into the pan. Continue cooking for another 5 minutes.

What else?  Well I'm excited that baby S is finally really embracing solid foods!  This morning she ate 1/4 of a banana with her oatmeal, and then at lunch ate cut up fruit pieces from a fruit cup!  So that is really great.  She is also way into cottage cheese, which is awesome.  And while I am not a fan of edamame or soy products in general due to their phytoestrogens (which flaxseed has as well?), she did enjoy some edamame last night at Oakwood.  Yay!  Next I want to try cooked broccoli and cauliflower.  

Have I mentioned my shortcut muesli yet?  It was pretty simple, although the flaxseed gives a somewhat odd smell and texture.  Now that I make flax eggs in baking all the time, the snot-like texture that flax gets when mixed with water is grossing me out, alas, I ate it!

This is sort of in-line with CCK's volume oatmeal, just in that I stole her trick of adding tons and tons of water.  

Lazy-ass Muesli

1/4 cup irish steel cut oats

2 tablespoons flax

2 1/2 cups water

pinch of salt

Combine ingredients in bowl and put in refridge for 2 days.  Oats will increase in volume 250%!  I ate mine with 6 ounces of yogurt.  Adding some nuts would make it more nutritious, or some sliced berries.  Yes I am aware oats are a grain and no I will not be making a habit of this- but I felt like the extra protein, fiber, and good fats from this particular combination were worthwhile.  This is, I believe, gluten-free, just not grain-free.  The cool thing about my Lazy-ass Muesli is that because the oats grow so much, you can actually end up eating half of a serving and feeling like you just ate a ton, so the muesli itself ends up being only about 100 calories.  All that water it absorbs makes it quite filling!  

Ok S is tearing up the room and needs a bath, until next time grain-free groupies!