Cabbage Casserole

I had half a red cabbage left over from the bierocks and I needed to figure out something to make with the rest of it. The casserole looked pretty easy and healthy.  I know it's not much to look at but believe me it tasted fantastic. I am thinking about putting this dish into the normal rotation, I'll call it the Cabberole, see what I did there? Anyway, onto the recipe:

1/2 a head of red cabbage 

1 lb of ground turkey 

1 small onion 

1 of raw brown rice, cooked 

about a cup ricotta cheese

1 can tomato puree

2 tablespoons asiago cheese 

1 tablespoon Italian seasoning 

1 teaspoon ground ginger 

2 tablespoons of garlic powder 

salt and pepper to taste 

First cook the rice,  then in a separate pan  season meat with salt and pepper and cook with the onion until meat is done. Once rice and meat are done mix together and set aside. Then I made a simple tomato sauce.

1 can tomato puree

Italian seasoning 

garlic powder 

asiago cheese

 While that is cooking, cut up the cabbage and boil it until it is limp (the best part about this step is you get some awesome cabbage broth, going to freeze it and make some soup later.) 

CABBAGE BROTH <3

Once everything is cooked, Layer it in a casserole dish starting and ending with the cabbage. Cabbage, meat mixture, sauce, ricotta cheese, repeat. I put it in the oven at 375 for an hour and a half. About half way through cooking I saw the cabbage crisping up so I covered it with foil. 

Bierocks

I was thinking about making these for awhile now, my mom use to make them when I was a kid, love them so much. Today I had the time to make them and what a treat. I have been working a lot more lately, that means I get home late and sometimes I am too tired to really cook anything. I love the fact this recipe makes about 18 and I end up with tons left to freeze. 30 seconds in the microwave or 20 mins in the oven at about 375. I eat them with a little ketchup and sauerkraut if I have it around.

The recipe:

1 pkg. frozen bread dough

1 med. head of cabbage (I used red cabbage today)

1 large onion

2 lbs. of ground beef

3-4 cloves of garlic 

1 tsp ginger 

1 tsp italian seasoning 

salt and pepper to taste 

2 tbsp of olive oil 

I heated up the oil and cooked the onion, garlic and cabbage, while that was cooking in another pan I cooked the ground beef until it was brown. When the beef was done I drained the fat and put it in with the cabbage. Then I aded my seasoning. I cooked it on low for about 2 hours and then let it cool.  

I took the defrosted bread dough and took about 3 inch balls of bread dough and rolled it out. I put about 3 tablespoons of the meat and cabbage mixture and folded the dough over it. I baked them at 375 for 25 mins or until golden brown. 

Lentil Soup

Today I made some lentil soup from the left over ham bone and ham from Christmas. It has been super cold here lately, so it was pretty awesome coming home to this baby that has been slow cooking all day. This soup also contains my turkey stalk I made, I love that I can go into my freezer now and whip out a soup. The recipe I used for this soup was a big combination of online recipes and me making it up as I went along. 

recipe:

1 ham bone

about 3 cups of chunked cooked ham

3 med sized carrots, diced  

2 c turkey stock

3-4 c water

1 onion, diced

1 can of diced stewed tomatoes
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp ginger
1 tbsp garlic powder
1/4 c heavy cream
2 c mixed lentils
1 tbsp italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

I combined the bone with the both and tomatoes and cooked that for a few hours, then I added the rest of the ingredients besides the cream. I let that cooked for about 4 hours, then I added the cream cooked that for about an hour.

Artichoke and Spinach Pesto

I have recently become interested  in artichokes, I have always really enjoyed them, though I have never cooked with them ever. After reading how they are amazing for cleaning up your liver, I couldn't stop thinking about them and how I was going to cook with them. After the holidays I am sure my liver would really dig some artchoke love. So I came up this this pesto, I winged it really, just threw anything into the food processer and ended up with this..... Pesto Mysterio! 

recipe:

1 can of artichoke hearts 

1 1/2 cup of spinach

5 cloves of garlic 

1/4 pecans 

1 teaspoon lemon juice 

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary

3 tablespoons asiago cheese 

3 tablespoons bavarian cheese

1 teaspoon italian seasoning mix

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 

2 teaspoons powered onion 

1/4 cup cherry tomatoes 

1/4 c olive oil 

salt and peper 

Curry Soup with Turkey Meatballs

Finally got a chance to put my turkey stock to good use. I cut up 2 carrots, 2 celery stocks, 1/4 cup shredded coconut and 1 med. onion, in the pot I heated up coconut oil and cooked the veggies in it until they were soft. (the smell is amazing) I added about 5 cups of my turkey stock and added 2 tablespoons of curry powder, 1 tablespoon of grama marsala, 2 teaspoons paprika, 1 teaspoon ginger, 1/2 c heavy cream and salt and pepper to taste.  

While that was simmering, I made the turkey meat balls. 2 pounds ground turkey, 3 pieces of sour dough bread baked and processed into bread crumbs, 1 egg, 2 teaspoons of curry powered and salt and pepper. I mixed them by hand and rolled them into balls about 2-3 inches big and baked them at 375 for about 25 mins. 

I baked them a little crispy, that's how I like them, then added them to the soup. I let the soup simmer for another hour or so. Then I added about a 1/4 cup of quinoa (because I had it in the fridge, and really it added a very nice texter to the soup). I also added 1/4 cup of brown rice. This soup is one of my favorites I have made so far. Very happy with how it turned out and looking forward to making it again. 

New Years Day Breakfast

New years day breakfast is a big deal to me,  years ago I met a woman in San Diego who introduced me to black eyed peas and thick bacon for good luck. We had that and I have made sure I ate it every year since. Last night we got to the store just in the nick of time to get the black eyed peas. Sadly they only had the black eyed peas mixed with other beans, they were still in there so I think it still counts. I normally go with canned and LOVE how they taste with breakfast. Weirdly I only eat them once a year. This year I got lucky, I had that ham I made for Christmas dinner left over. I ended up using that instead of the thick bacon I normally get. Boy howdy, it really tastes great with eggs. This year I am going to try out new and more challenging recipes, we'll see how it goes. HAPPY NEW YEAR!!