Someone's in the kitchen with Dinah

Okay - so I don't know anyone named Dinah AND I was cooking alone (unless Marley eating every scrap that fell on the floor counts as company) but I got a LOT of cooking done this weekend. Trying new recipes (and having them work out AND taste good) reminds me why I love spending time in the kitchen.

I did some meal prep on Saturday to prepare myself (and the fridge) for the week ahead. I made chicken kebobs and stuffed peppers as well as rice to go with any meals that needed a bit of bulking up. I also tried some homemade quinoa granola - it was AMAZING and I don't expect it to last long in our house.

I don't know about you but I find after a long day at the office I am starving by the time I walk through the door at 6:30 - my patience is running low and the last thing I want to do is think about cooking a lengthy, multi-step meal. Using the weekend to prep is a great way to have healthy, clean meals ready in a short period of time during the week.

The recipes below are adapted from blogs/pictures I saw on Pintrest
Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
6 bell peppers (any colour)
1 lb lean ground turkey
1/2 lb lean ground beef (just what I had on hand - you could use all turkey)
3x 15 ounce cans low sodium tomato sauce
1/2 large red onion
1/2 lb mushrooms
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup chicken broth
1/2 to 1 cup cooked rice (optional)

Directions
Preheat over to 350 degrees. Cut tops of peppers, core and use remainder of tops for filling mixture; place peppers in a (covered) baking dish that fits them tightly (so they stand up straight) and pour 2 (of your 3) cans of tomato sauce in the bottom of the dish for the peppers to simmer in while cooking.

Chop onion, mushrooms, and tops of peppers; place veggies in large pan with oil, saute until soft. Set aside cooked veggies in large mixing bowl. In the same pan, cook ground meat in broth and spices. In the last 3-5 minutes of cooking, add veggies back to pan. Stir in cooked rice (optional).

Fill peppers with meat mixture, cover and bake for approx. 1 hour (until peppers are soft). Serve with sauce from dish poured over top.

These peppers were consumed before I was able to take photo evidence - trust me when I say they were delicious.

Chicken Kebabs
There was a picture on Pintrest but no recipe linked to it so I went a little rogue.
Ingredients
4 chicken breasts
Red onion
Peppers
Mushrooms
Kebab skewers
Spices of your choice (I used some garlic and onion powder as well as some Club House seasonings)

Directions
Soak skewers in water for 10 minutes prior to preparing. Alternate chicken and veggies in the order of your choice.

I cooked these on a hot BBQ for about 10 minutes.

Again... no pics of these ones but they were good (served with some quinoa and baked broccoli)

Quinoa Granola
Ingredients
2 1/4 cups rolled oats
1 cup uncooked quinoa
3/4 cup raw almonds
1/2 sunflower seeds
1/4 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
1/4 cup raw pecans, chopped
1 cup pure maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup dried pomegranates

Directions
Preheat over to 240 degrees. Combine ingredients in order listed above. Place mixture on baking sheet and bake for one hour.

Store in air tight container for up to 4 weeks.

Sooooo tasty by itself AND in some plain Greek yogurt

 Then on Sunday Justin and I actually got our act together and planned a meal; normally we don't think about dinner until we're already hungry at which point we realize we still need to defrost meat and run to the store for the ingredients we don't have... This turkey burger recipe was adapted from here and we used this picture for the potato inspiration.

Now I'm usually not a big potato fan (I'm sure as the daughter of an Irish woman that is a crime on some level) but these looked tasty enough to try.

Turkey Burgers
Ingredients
1 lb fresh ground turkey
1/4 cup chopped onions
1/8 cub bread crumbs
1/2 tsp honey mustard
1 tsp chili powder
Salt and pepper
1/2 tsp olive oil
1 chopped green bell pepper
Whole wheat buns and toppings of your choice

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Shape mixture into patties with your hands; spray each side with olive oil (PAM works as well) and sear each burger on both sides in a pan prior to baking.

Place on baking sheet and finish cooking in over for 5 to 10 minutes.

Slap it on a bun and top with your favourite fixin's!

Loaded Baked Potato
Ingredients
4 large potatoes
Sliced sharp cheddar cheese
Paprika
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Sliced onions
Club House Vegetable seasoning
Freshly pressed garlic

Directions
Was all potatoes and dry with paper towel.

Begin by placing potato on tin foil. Make slits along the whole potato without cutting through it.

AKA - Don't cut all the way through the
potato like I did at the end

Fill the slits with cheese, onions, seasonings and garlic. I prefer mine extra cheesy - I would put even more cheese in next time.

Those hunks of what look like butter is actually sharp
white cheddar

Wrap each potato in tin foil and bake at 400 degrees for an hour or until soft (potatoes take a longggg time). Server with sour cream.

Overall, some tweaking is still needed to our meal planning but we are getting there - I have dreams about how perfectly it will go when we move out... stay tuned on that front.

I encourage you guys to try these recipes! Justin and I are trying to focus on clean eating (more on that in another post once we've been sticking with it for a while) and these are clean recipes (for the most part) that did not sacrifice on taste.

Next week I'm planning another house update - hold on to your horses!

Until next time...