Meat – Page 2 – Fervent Foodie

How to make your own ground meat

February 1, 2011 14 Comments

So, did everyone else know how crazy easy it is to make your own ground meats? I had no idea until I saw a blurb in Cooking Light about putting chicken breast in a food processor. Sound odd to anyone else? I was intrigued so I decided to give it a go over the weekend.

Take a looksie at these chicken tacos I made!

I don’t mean to brag, but that may be the most beautiful taco I’ve ever laid eyes on. What’s even more beautful was how super easy it was to make. First I started by tossing 1 jalapeno and 2 tsp minced garlic into a food processor:

I gave that a good pulse:

Then added 8 ounces chopped chicken breast:

And literally 10 seonds later I had my very own homemade (slightly green tinted) ground chicken breast!

Isn’t it funny how something so simple can give you such a great sense of pride and accomplishment? 😀

I threw the ground chicken into a pan and seasoned with S&P and some cayenne pepper:

The meat cooked up in no time!

Next I sliced up some fresh avocado. Delicioussssssssnesssssss:

I used some Tumaro’s Low Carb tortillas (only 60 calories a pop) for my taco base, then added 2 ounces of the chicken, some chopped red onion, tomato, shredded cabbage, chopped cilantro, a little dribble of fat free sour cream, about 2 tbsp of avocado, and a little drizzle o’ lime:

A little overboard on the toppings? Perhaps…

I also added some Frank’s red hot for good measure (its hiding under the veggies)

8 ounces of chicken made me enough for four tacos. I ate two for dinner, and wrapped the remaining two up in plastic wrap for dinner the next night (by the way, the tacos were equally delicious cold 🙂 ).

So tasty and SO colorful!

Stats on 1 taco: 194 calories, 21g carbs, 7g fat, 19g protein, 10g fiber

Stats on dos tacos: 388 calories, 42g carbs, 14g fat, 38g protein, 20g fiber

Recipes

Ahmygawd Breakfast Sandwich

January 31, 2011 12 Comments

Yesterday morning, I was the picture of perfection and actually woke up at the time I had intended and did NOT sleep through my alarm for a solid hour. Let’s hope I can keep this up all week!

I rolled out of bed, and headed straight to the gym for a 30 minute round-and-round on the ~~hamster wheel~~… elliptical. Then, straight from the gym (in all my sweaty glory) to the grocery store to buy all my foods for the week. Silly me forgot to pack a Luna bar or nourishment of any variety for my grocery conquest.

Bad news bears.

Needless to say, I was FAMISHED by the time I got home, and I was unfortunately facing a dilemma. Issue #1: I wanted eggs. Hot and dippy with ooey gooey smooth-as-butter yolk. Issue #2: I was also craving sausage…. as in Mary’s special eggs. I wanted yolk, but I wanted sausage. And I’m not talking sausage on the side. I’m talking sausage all up in my yolk.

It was at this precise moment that I concocted my PERFECT breakfast sandwich. The best of both of my worlds.

The Ahmygawd Breakfast Sandwich.

First, I sautéed half of a Honeysuckle Hot Turkey Sausage link (casing removed) in a pan:

Hello sausage! Ima eat you.

THEN I cracked an egg right on top of this mound of sausage:

The egg white dribbled down around the sausage and formed a glue to hold the whole shebang together. Once the underside was cooked, I flipped her over:

Whattttttt????? Insane.

And once that side was cooked (though not TOO cooked –we’re going for oozy yolk here) I slid the egg/sausage combo onto a toasted whole wheat English muffin:

World = Rocked.

Ah.my.gawd.

Stats on the life changer: 255 calories, 24g carbs, 10g fat, 20g protein, 3g fiber

What you’ll need:

1 link turkey or chicken sausage, casing removed
1 egg
1 English muffin
5 minutes to eat your face off

Recipes

10-Minute Taco Salad for One

January 7, 2011 3 Comments

When I was a kid, there were a few dinners that I got off the charts excited about. Spaghetti, Meatloaf, Stuffed Cabbages, Steaaaaaak, anything involving potatoes, Paella, Hamburgers, Pizza, Macaroni and Cheese… ok maybe there were more than a few…. But one of the ULTIMATES was Taco Salad Night. Just thinking about it makes my tummy rumble!

Last night, in anticipation of my very own Taco Salad Night, I pulled 4 ounces of 93% fat free turkey breast from the freezer to defrost. I swear, freezing individually portioned meats (and meals) never ceases to bring me joy!

Four ounces of love:

All I could think about ALL DAY at work was TACO SALAD! I’m talking a serious unable-to-computate-numbers craving. I could barely make it til 5. Thankfully, my tasty taco salad for one cooks up in ten minutes flat—sooooo, I didn’t have too long to wait once I finally arrived at home.

Feast yo’ eyes!

First up, I seasoned the defrosted turkey breast up with a little salt and pepper and cooked in a sauté pan until no longer pink. Then I sprinkled on 1 tbsp of McCormick’s taco seasoning blend and a 1/4 cup a water, reduced the heat, and let the turkey simmer away until the liquid thickened.

Meanwhile, I put 1/2 a bag of romaine lettuce on a plate and topped with some chopped tomato, onion, banana peppers, 2 tbsp fat free sour cream, and the secret ingredient: 10 smashed up baked nacho cheese Doritos.

10 minutes to tasty!

When the hot meat hits the smashed Doritos and mixes in with the sour cream you get this deliciously cheesy slightly spicy oh-so-creamy sauce.

LOVE this taco salad!

Stats on the taco salad: 368 calories, 34g carbs, 11g fat, 26g protein, 8g fiber

Recipes

Jambalaya. Jealous?

November 1, 2010 9 Comments

Every time I think of New Orleans, I hear the Zatarain’s rice commercial in my head. You know… Zatarain’s! (Said with much sass and flavor while jazz music wails in the background). Even before my trip to the Big Easy, I had this funny mental quirk.

This thought popped into my head tonight when I began to think about what to make for dinner. I was presented with the following challenge: what do you make when you’ve got leftover meats out the wazoo?

JAMBALAYA of course! It seems like ages since I last made Jambalaya! Well at least four months anyway. I had some chicken leftover from last week’s lunch and the turkey sausage was leftover from my Zuppa Tuscana…

Lucky for me, I keep frozen shrimp in the freezer at all times in case of emergency. So whipping together a 3-meat entre was easy peasy tonight!

3 meats, one dish:

The meats were ready to roll, so I heated the oven up to 400 degrees and got to choppin 2 roma tomatoes, 1/2 a white onion, and 1 green pepper:

I tossed the veggies into a bowl with:

1 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp onion powder
2 tsp minced garlic

I gave everything a good toss, then added:

1 cup brown rice
1 cup low sodium chicken broth

I intended on using 1.5 cups of brown rice, but I ran out! Ooops! That’s what happens when I grocery shop without taking inventory first! Dangit!

I divided the mix up evenly among three foil packets that I had sprayed down with some nonstick cooking spray:

One for my dinner, one for my lunch, and one for the BF’s lunch because I’m clearly dabomb.com.

I popped the packets into the oven for 30 minutes, and VOOOOILLLAAA!

Oh so spicy, and ohhhhh so delicious!

Yes, the jambalaya we had in New Orleans (and again) was a teensy bit tastier than my healthified version, but I’d like to see NOLA try and stack up to these stats:

Stats on 1 serving: 314 calories, 33g carbs, 9g fat, 27g protein, 3g fiber

Jambalaya Ingredients List (serves 3):

6 large shrimp, tails removed
2 links Jennie-O Hot Turkey Sausage
3 ounces grilled chicken
1 green bell pepper
2 plum tomatoes
1/2 a white onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp onion powder
1 cup reduced sodium low fat chicken broth

Restaurants, Travel

Big Easy – Part 1

October 15, 2010 9 Comments

Here’s a recap of our first day in the Big Easy:

Jarrod almost fell down the escalator in the airport. Sadly, I did not capture this on video.

We hopped in a cab and headed to the hotel, which is right on the border of the business district and the French quarter.

Our hotel is super old and super charming:

After we cleaned up, we headed to the French Quarter and stopped in at the first restaurant that caught our eye: Jean Lafitte Bistro… though oddly that wasn’t the name on the front of the building… Peculiar…