Cheesy Meatball Wrap

Here's a super simple meal idea for dinner, and a way to use some leftovers.  Make a batch of Savory Dinner Crepes and melt some Daiya Vegan Cheese onto it while it's heating in the pan.  Heat up pretty much any random leftovers that sound good to you (I had some delicious Sweet and Tangy Cherry Apple Meatballs from the previous day) and use them to fill each crepe once the cheese is melted. You could load the crepes with roasted vegetables, or with any meat of your choice; with cheese and fruit; with taco meat; with beans; with whatever your heart desires/whatever your fridge contains! 

Once they're filled, fold over; eat.  So fast, so simple, and totally delicious.  So simple I won't even put it into recipe form.  This is a purely prose recipe.  And these wraps are so convincing that they won't even crumble if you refrigerate them for a few days; they still bend. 

Enjoy the dinner mix and match!

Sweet and Tangy Cherry Apple Meatballs

These are a new twist on an old favorite.  I have been craving them for a while, but sadly, Trader Joe's has not stocked the cranberry chutney I used to use for ages.  I tried making it with their mango ginger chutney to mixed reviews; I liked it okay, but the rest of my family seemed to be less than enthused.  It was the ginger, I think, that was the misfit.  Don't get me wrong - I like ginger in general.  But it didn't belong in this concoction of sweet and tangy.  It knocked the other flavors out of its way.  It took over.

So it was time to do some tweaking.  This recipe is so simple that it wasn't hard to find substitutions;  I used homemade cherry jam to roughly parallel the tartness/sweetness of the cranberries, and while I was at it, added some apple butter I had in the fridge.  And then, I remembered the box of Kinnikinnick bread crumbs I had on my shelf.  (They sent me a box of them to review about a month ago, and with the end of the semester and being home for the holidays, I hadn't had a chance to use them yet.)  Since I was already in experimental mode, I tossed them in, too, replacing the oats from the original recipe.

They were wonderful, with a tender yet sturdy texture, and strike a beautiful balanced between sweet and a kick of spice.  These make a great dinner, but are essentially a fancier version of the cocktail meatballs made with grape jelly, so you could also make smaller meatballs and serve them as party snacks.  But trust me - whatever size you make them, you'll probably want to eat every last one yourself. 

Sweet and Tangy Cherry Apple Meatballs
Serves 3 - 4

For the meatballs:
1 lb. ground turkey
1 egg
3/4 cup Kinnickinnick bread crumbs
1 1/2 tsp. basil
1 1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 1/2 tsp. minced onion OR Trader Joe's 21 Season Salute
1 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. ground pepper
1 tbsp. maple syrup or maple butter (or you could substitute agave nectar)
2 tbsp. cherry jam
1 1/2 tbsp. apple butter (or substitute any other kind of jam)

For the sauce:
1 1/4 cup Trader Joe's Barbecue Sauce
1/2 cup cherry jam
2 tbsp. apple butter (or substitute any other kind of jam)

To serve:
1/2 cup brown rice (cook as directed on package)

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Get a glass baking dish ready for baking.

In a large bowl, combine all ingredients for the meatballs and mix well.  Spray a non-stick pan with cooking spray and put over medium heat.  Form the mixture into meatballs, dropping them into the pan.  Saute on all sides just until browned (they won't be done in the middle yet) and place them in a single layer in the glass baking dish.  You'll probably have to do this in about 3 batches.

In a separate bowl, combine the barbecue sauce, jam, and apple butter and mix well.  When the meatballs are all browned and arranged in a single layer in the glass baking dish, pour the sauce evenly over them, turning them so that all sides are coated.  Cover with foil and bake for 25 - 30 minutes, until the sauce is bubbling and the meatballs are completely cooked through.

Serve over brown rice.

Roasted Red Pepper Mini-Meatloaves

I can't believe how well these turned out.  I have this habit of going grocery shopping without any real plan for what I want to make, which is a bit like going to a hardware store and buying a few nails and some wood and then coming home to draw up a blueprint.  But, you know what?  Sometimes that means you end up with something amazing that you never would have planned for.

These mini-meatloaves were born out of a perfect storm of leftovers.  2 lonely roasted red peppers left in a jar.  Some brown rice from the week before.  Half a pound of ground turkey.  Random condiments in the door of my fridge.  You might not think that could amount to much - but - it did.  These turned out to be so perfectly moist and full of wonderful flavor!  You can stick with eating them as meatloaves, or add a little more rice/oats and make them into meatballs to serve on top of some marinara-coated pasta.  You could even just cook this as a hamburger and put it into a gluten-free bun, topped with your favorite gluten-free (and/or vegan) cheese.  But no matter how you serve it, the flavor will win you over with the first bite. 

Roasted Red Pepper Mini-Meatloaves
Makes two mini-meatloaves.


1/2 lb ground turkey
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup cooked brown or white rice (if you don't have rice, you can substitute gluten-free oats)
1 roasted red pepper, diced
1 1/2 tbsp. jam
3 tbsp. gluten-free barbecue sauce (Trader Joe's Kansas City Smokehouse is gluten-free)
3 tbsp. gluten-free marinara sauce (optional)
1 tsp. minced onion
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 F.  Spray two mini-loaf pans with cooking spray.

Stir all ingredients together in a large bowl and mix well.  Spread into two mini loaf pans.  Bake for at least 40 minutes or until the meatloaves are cooked all the way through.  Serve with mashed potatoes and vegetables, cornbread, or slice and make into a sandwich.

Cheesy Turkey Quesadilla with Mango-Ginger Chutney

My mom has been trying to clean out the shelves in our freezer now for the last few weeks to make room for our frozen fruit order, which we use to make a huge amount of jam each year.  The biggest obstacles to achieving that goal were two fat, frozen turkeys that sat perched on one of the shelves.  Mocking her with the exorbitant amount of space they were taking up. 

So we cooked them.  Both of them...on the same day.  These were not small turkeys, mind you.  Their combined weight was just shy of 50 pounds, and we roasted them all day, one after the other, filling the house with the delicious smell.  I woke up and for a moment, thought it was Thanksgiving.  We cut away the meat for what seemed like hours, never quite seeming to find the end of it, filling up containers and gallon freezer bags with the succulent and tender meat.  About 20 people came to the gathering at which this turkey was served, and while they did their part in helping us consume it, we are still swimming in the leftovers.  I don't mind this, as I love turkey and haven't eaten it in over a year, and hey - it's a chance to get a bit creative with how to use it.  This is what I came up with today.

This is very quick to make, perfect for a dinner or lunch where you don't have a lot of time to prepare a full meal.  And while I don't usually like the texture of corn tortillas when they haven't been cooked, these puff up into a lovely soft shell for the toppings, and the light sprinkling of garlic, salt and pepper on the outside might make you forget that you're eating one made from corn.  I happened to have Trader Joe's Mango Ginger Chutney on hand, but you could really use any chutney you like for this. 

Cheesy Turkey Quesadilla with Mango-Ginger Chutney


For each quesadilla:
1 - 2 tbsp. of your favorite chutney (I used Trader Joe's Mango Ginger Chutney)
~1/3 cup Daiya Vegan Mozarella Cheese
~1/3 cup shredded turkey (or shredded chicken)
1 gluten-free corn tortilla
Any other toppings you like! (sliced bell peppers, mushrooms, red onions, etc.)
Cooking spray
Garlic powder
Salt and pepper to taste

Spray a small nonstick pan with the cooking oil, coating well.  Sprinkle a generous amount of garlic powder over the cooking spray evenly, and then add a little salt and pepper as well (to your own taste).  Place 1 corn tortilla in the pan and push it around the pan a bit to coat it well with the cooking spray and spices.

Spread about 1 - 2 tbsp. of the chutney over the tortilla.  Sprinkle cheese over the chutney, and then evenly place the rest of your toppings on top of the cheese.  Cook over medium-high heat for about 4 - 6 minutes until the cheese is melted, and then fold in half and continue to cook for another minute or so to brown both sides.  Serve immediately.

Sweet Potato Turkey Chili

After two weeks of traveling and after this hectic week of getting back into the swing of things at home and work, I have been aching to cook myself a good, fresh meal. My tour guides in Israel were really great about ordering me gluten-free meals as we traveled around the country, but the meals were mostly either giant bowls of plain lettuce, tomato, and cucumber, or they were TV dinner-type meals with "certified gluten-free" written in Hebrew and Arabic across the top, which, while filling, were not particularly satisfying or wholesome. While I was very grateful for the attention that was paid to my diet, I have been craving something homemade and delicious ever since eating the first meal on the plane over. It has blisteringly cold all week in St. Louis, and I've had to spend all too much time outside, walking to work and class. I know, I know - we're babies. People who live in Minnesota are probably scoffing at Missourians, complaining about our "cold weather." Does it make it better if we're just not used to this kind of cold in Missouri?? Maybe not. But nonetheless, St. Louisans were collectively very chilly this week. Today I spent the morning inside, sipping my coffee and skyping with a dear friend who is many miles away, and what better way to cap off that kind of morning than with a steaming bowl of chili and a nice big piece of my favorite cornbread for lunch? I made the recipe for this chili up as I went along, and a lot of it was done to taste, which I would advise you to do as well. As I roamed the aisles of Trader Joe's last night, I picked up random cans of beans, an onion, ground turkey, and a little package of baby sweet potatoes with a vague plan to turn it into a huge pot of chili this weekend. Today I decided to get experimental with the spices, and I even added some chocolate and balsamic vinegar to add more depth to the flavor. It turned into a wonderfully thick and delicious chili, exactly what I was hoping for. This makes a huge pot, so be prepared either to share it or live off of it for several days! I will probably freeze several individual portions of it to bring out when I don't have time to cook a meal in the weeks to come.

 
Sweet Potato Turkey Chili

1 lb. ground turkey (or vegan/vegetarian meat substitute)
1 medium red onion
2 - 4 cloves garlic
1 28-oz. can diced tomatoes
1 15-oz. can pinto beans
1 20-oz. can red kidney beans
1 15-oz. can white kidney beans
1 15-oz. can Cuban-style Black Beans (Trader Joe's brand)
4 -5 baby sweet potatoes or 2 medium sized sweet potatoes, diced into bite-sized pieces
2 - 2 1/2 cups low sodium chicken broth (Trader Joe's brand)
2 - 3 tbsp. chili powder (to taste)
1/2 - 1 tsp. garlic salt
2 - 3 tsp. cumin (to taste)
1 tsp. oregano flakes
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/4 - 1/2 tsp. basil
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 - 2 tsp. Ghirardelli Unsweetened Cocoa Powder (to taste)
2 - 3 tsp. balsamic vinegar (to taste)
salt and pepper to taste

optional: fresh avacado, sour cream, and salsa to garnish

Put the onion and ground turkey into a large pot and cook over medium-high heat until the turkey is cooked (or, if you are making the vegetarian/vegan version, until the meat substitute is heated through).  Drain the excess fat and add the tomatoes, all of the beans, the diced sweet potatoes, chicken broth, and spices, and stir well. Bring back to a soft boil and then reduce heat and cover. After it has cooked for about 20 minutes and the spices have had a chance to mingle, add the chocolate and balsamic vinegar to taste and continue to cook, covered, over medium-low heat for about 30 - 45 more minutes (I was baking sweet potato cornbread at the time, which partially dictated the cooking time for the chili, so just use your own judgment). Serve with fresh avacado, salsa, sour cream, if you like, and/or a nice thick slice of cornbread.

Spaghetti Bolognese

I discovered Bolognese sauce when I lived in Germany. I never really found the type of thick tomato sauce that I was used to here in the States while I was living there. Instead, when I ordered spaghetti in restaurants, I would be served a heaping portion of this sauce, which is so simple to make, yet so complex in flavor. The meat is cooked for so long that it practically falls apart, the celery and carrots create a unique blend of tastes, and the red wine and broth simmer for at least an hour and a half, mingling together. It all results in a sauce that is bursting with flavor. I had some soy chorizo that I bought at Trader Joe's in my fridge, and I threw some of it in to spice things up a bit, but the sauce would turn out fine without it, too. You could make it vegan by omitting the ground turkey and replacing it with the soy chorizo instead, and by substituting vegetable broth for the beef broth. Vegan or not, people will love this sauce!
   
Spaghetti Bolognese

1 lb. lean ground turkey or beef
1/2 cup soy chorizo from Trader Joe's OR 1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes (optional)
4 shallots, chopped OR 1 onion, chopped
3 tsp. minced garlic
3/4 cup shredded or diced carrots
3/4 cup shredded or diced celery
2 bay leaves
3/4 tsp. thyme
3/4 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1 tsp. salt
1/2 - 1 tsp. black pepper
1 1/2 - 2 cups red wine
2 - 2 1/2 cups beef broth (Emeril's)
1 can diced tomatoes
1/4 cup tomato sauce or 2 tbsp. tomato paste (optional)
1/4 - 1/2 cup milk (hemp, soy, or another thicker milk) (optional)
3 tbsp. potato starch (optional)
Vegan Parmesan Topping (optional)

Combine the meat, onion, garlic, carrots and celery in a large saucepan. Brown the meat, stirring often to break up any big pieces. When the meat is browned, add the soy chorizo and spices (thyme, oregano, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and black pepper), stir in, and continue cooking over medium heat for 2 - 3 more minutes.

Add the can of diced tomatoes, 1 1/2 cups red wine, and 2 cups beef broth and stir. If desired, add either 2 tbsp. tomato paste or 1/4 cup tomato sauce. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat and cook over medium-low heat for 1 1/2 hours, stirring regularly, until you are happy with the flavor.

Meanwhile, cook the brown rice spaghetti as directed. I cooked mine for 15 - 16 minutes.

When you are ready to serve the pasta, if you want the sauce to be thicker, you can add 1/4 - 1/2 cup plain hemp or soy milk to the sauce, and 3 tbsp. (or more) of potato starch to thicken. Serve over brown rice spaghetti noodles and top with Vegan Parmesan Topping.

Turkey Sweet Potato Enchilada Casserole

Like many others, I left Thanksgiving dinner with a giant tupperware container full of turkey which, after 3 additional mini-Thanksgiving meals of turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing, I am struggling to use up. So today I thought I'd use it for something very different from a Thanksgiving meal and make turkey enchiladas with the extra sweet potato I had leftover from Thanksgiving as well. Technically, I used 2 sweet potatoes, since I used up the rest of my mashed sweet potatoes in this casserole as well. This was delicious and flavorful, and so easy to throw together. I chose black bean and corn salsa for a nice complement to the sweet potatoes, and with the enchilada sauce and chilies, this turned out to have a bit of a kick to it! I would serve this to company with a side of Spanish rice. I made mine in a small circular casserole dish, but for company, I'd probably make it in a square one so it would be easier to get out in cleaner servings (I basically just scooped mine onto my plate in a big mess). Enjoy!

Turkey Sweet Potato Enchilada Casserole
*Note:  Ingredients change all the time, so please double-check all processed ingredients with the company before using to be sure they are gluten-free.

1 - 2 cups leftover turkey, shredded
1 jar Newman's Own Black Bean Corn Salsa
1 can La Victoria Green Enchilada Sauce
1 can La Victoria Red Enchilada Sauce (I used hot)
1 small can fire-roasted green chilies
2 sweet potatoes (I used some leftover mashed sweet potatoes, and then cut up another and boiled it in slices)
8 - 10 small Mission white corn tortillas

In a small casserole dish, layer the following ingredients until the dish is full: Black Bean and Corn Salsa, spoonfuls of green and red enchilada sauce, 2 - 3 corn tortillas, shredded turkey, sweet potatoes, green chilies, salsa, green and red enchilada sauce, etc. I did not use any cheese substitute, and honestly, these were flavorful enough on their own. But obviously, if you want to add some shredded cheese or cheese substitute on top, it would also be delicious.

Bake at 400 F for 40 - 50 minutes until the sauce is bubbling. Serves 4. Could be served with Spanish rice.

Kim's Sweet and Tangy Meatballs

My dear friend Kim and I met at a volunteering event this year. Both of us were hanging back from the kitchen as the other volunteers were lining up for pizza. Kim invited me to have some, and when I leaned over and told her that I have celiac and wouldn't be able to eat pizza, she exclaimed that she, too, was gluten-intolerant, and furthermore couldn't have dairy. "I can't have it either!" I exclaimed. And from that moment, we were foodie BFFs. We spent the next 30 minutes talking like little girls about food, gluten-free cookies, non-dairy substitutes, food blogs, celiac resources, etc. We started a tradition of bringing dinner or dessert for each other each Tuesday at volunteering, or something new to try. And last week, we spontaneously decided to go to Trader Joe's together and wander around there. Because that's how foodies have fun. I can't tell you how much I love going grocery shopping. It dumbfounds me when people tell me it's their least favorite thing to do. How could anyone not love wandering through the aisles, letting the imagination run wild with the possibilities of each ingredient? I can literally spend hours in international groceries, or natural food stores. That's exactly what Kim and I did, and as she's been on this diet for a lot longer than I have, she has a much wider repertoire of dishes that she makes and is very innovative with putting ingredients together. She suggested this simple recipe, and I finally got to try it out yesterday. It couldn't have been easier to make, and it has a tangy sweetness that is very satisfying. I served the meatballs with rice, but if you made the meatballs smaller, you could definitely serve them as a party food with toothpicks. Both of my roommates tried it, and it passed the taste test with them as well.  Enjoy!

Kim's Sweet and Tangy Meatballs

For the meatballs:
1 lb. lean ground turkey
Basil, oregano, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and minced onion
1 tbsp. maple syrup
1 tbsp. apricot, peach, or cherry jam
1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
1 egg
3/4 cups gluten-free oats

For the sauce:
1 jar Apple Cranberry Chutney (from Trader Joe's)
3/4 - 1 cup Trader Joe's BBQ Sauce
1 cup rice, cooked as directed

Preheat oven to 350F. Make rice as directed. I used brown basmati rice and boiled 1 3/4 cups water with 1 cup rice and 1 tsp. salt, then reduced heat and covered to steam for 25 - 30 minutes until all the water is absorbed.

Mix the ground turkey with the egg, oats, and about 1 tbsp. or more of basil, oregano, and minced onion, and about 1 tsp. of salt, pepper, and garlic powder (more or less depending on your own taste). Add the jam, Worcestershire sauce, and maple syrup. Shape into small meatballs and arrange in a skillet over medium-high heat.

Brown the meatballs to lock in the moisture and shape, and then transfer them to a 9" x 13" glass baking dish.

In a separate bowl, mix together the jar of Apple Cranberry Chutney and about 1 cup of TJ's BBQ sauce, then pour over the meatballs and stir to coat them. Cover the baking dish with foil and bake at 350F for about 25 minutes. Serve over rice. If you wanted to make a special party treat, make the meatballs smaller and serve with toothpicks as an appetizer.

(Halloween) Stuffed Peppers

In the town where I spent most of middle school and all of high school, there is a huge Halloween parade on the 31st. Everyone goes. And no one is at home for trick-or-treaters. So at some point, the town came to an understanding that trick-or-treating would be expanded to the 30th and, for the few brave souls who wanted to try their luck with the mostly empty houses, the 31st as well. My younger sister's birthday is October 30th, and when we were still young enough to go trick-or-treating (and I'm not going to lie; that tradition lasted way beyond respectability with me and my cousin Erin, who were known to trick-or-treat at quite a ripe old age), my family would invite our cousins over every year on her birthday. We'd all have big steaming bowls of stuffed peppers with pumpernickel bread, and then we'd head out to collect our booty. We did this every year for as long as I can remember, to the point where this dish is synonymous with Halloween for me. Well, I got my annual hankering for stuffed peppers this week, and this weekend, Andrew and I made a huge pot of them. Being the good spice-fearing people that they are, my family would never add cayenne pepper to these, but I thought a dash would add a nice kick and round out the flavor a bit, which it did. Give these peppers an hour and a half to stew and you will not be disappointed with the rich flavor that develops! I brought some to share with some of the people I volunteer with, and they thought the sauce could be very versatile; some suggestions included to use it as a pasta sauce, over spaghetti squash, in a lasagna, over rice, or as a pizza sauce. It really is that good. But it's also perfectly delicious on its own. There is an excellent chance that you won't want to stop eating these and may in fact lick the plate shamelessly -- which is why I would suggest making a huge pot and living off of them for a week or so until you're peppered out.

Halloween Stuffed Peppers

2 lbs of ground meat (I used lean turkey)
1 egg 1 - 1 1/4 cups gluten-free oats OR rice 5-7 bell peppers, any color
1 very large can of tomato juice
Tomato sauce to fill a large pot (I used 4 15-oz. cans)
2 - 3 tbsp. each of oregano, basil, black pepper, minced onion, onion salt, divided and to taste
dash of cayenne pepper

Mix roughly 2 tbsp. each of oregano, basil, and minced onion into the meat, and about 1 tsp. each of black pepper and onion salt (or to taste) into the ground turkey. Add the egg and oats and mix into the meat. Use your hands or a spoong to work it into the meat thoroughly.

Wash the bell peppers and remove the stems and all seeds and flaps of skin from each of them. Pack each pepper with meat and form the leftover meat mixture into large meatballs.

Place it all into a heavy bottomed pan with the peppers on the bottom. Pour the large can of tomato juice and the 4 cans of tomato sauce into a large bowl, and add the same spices that you added to the meat to the sauce to taste (I added about 1 1/2 tbsp. each of oregano, basil, minced onion, and onion salt, 1 tsp. black pepper and about 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper). You can always adjust the seasoning to your taste after it has simmered for a while. Pour the spiced tomato sauce over the peppers and meatballs, and if the sauce does not yet cover all of them, add another can of tomato sauce.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and simmer, covered, for about 1 ½ - 2 hours. This is a hearty meal on its own, so you don't have to serve it with anything else, but my family traditionally served it with pumpernickel bread (for the gluten eaters out there). Otherwise, I'd imagine that Beth's Yankee Cornbread Mix would go very nicely with this dish.

*If you want to use beef, lean hamburger meat cuts down on frothing that regular-fat beef can cause.
*If you want to make this vegetarian or vegan, rice can be used instead of meat altogether.

Turkey Rice Skillet with Black Beans, Zucchini, and Fruit

You may be thinking that this seems like a hodgepodge of ingredients that I probably just threw together because I happened to have all of them on hand. You would be correct in that assumption. But I have to say - it turned out really great, and it was just what I wanted: a filling meal that was both sweet and a little spicy.

Rice Skillet with Black Beans, Turkey, Zucchini, and Fruit

1 1/2 tsp. garlic
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 red onion
1 nectarine, peeled and chopped
1 apricot, peeled and chopped
2 tbsp. fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped finely
1/2 small zucchini, chopped very small
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. coriander
1 can diced tomatoes, with juice
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/3 lb. cooked ground turkey
1 cup cooked white rice (I used the leftover rice from this recipe, cooked with cardamom and cinnamon, and it added a wonderful flavor)

Heat the olive oil in a skillet, and add the garlic and onion. Saute for about 5-8 minutes until the onions begin to get translucent. Add the chopped nectarine, apricot, zucchini, and parsley and continue to saute over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Add the dried spices and continue to cook for another 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the diced tomatoes, black beans, and cooked ground turkey, bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat. Simmer for about 15-20 minutes, and add more spices, including salt and pepper, to your own taste. When you are happy with the taste, stir in the cooked white rice. Serve with cheese substitute, sour cream, cilantro, or simply on its own!