General Tso's Ground Turkey

I love Chinese take-out but I'm out of luck because we don't have a Chinese Restaurant anywhere near where we live.  I have tried so many recipes to satisfy my craving.  This recipe for General Tso's did the trick!  It's made with ground turkey instead of the usual breaded fried chicken breasts.  The original recipe called for ground chicken but I couldn't find that at my local grocery store so I used Jennie-O brand, ground turkey.  I was pleasantly surprise how much we loved this!  It was spicy, sweet and packed with flavor.  I will make this again and soon because it's delicious, ready in 30 minutes and I can tell a craving's coming on!

The original recipe comes from Sabrina Snyder, her blog  Dinner then Dessert.  I made a few changes to the original.  One being I doubled the sauce, we like it saucy!  I also want to try some of her other Chinese inspired recipes,  Ground Kung Pao Chicken and Ground Orange Chicken.  Check her out here.

Ingredients:

1 pound ground turkey

4 ounces canned water chestnuts , diced

1 tablespoon minced ginger

1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

2 cloves garlic minced

General Tso's Sauce:

6 tablespoons rice vinegar

6 tablespoons low sodium soy sauce

4 teaspoons hoisin sauce

1/2 cup water

6 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoon cornstarch

Instructions:

1.  To a large non-stick pan add ground turkey.

2.  Cook, breaking apart until no longer pink.

3,  Add diced water chestnuts, then finish cooking  for an additional 2-3 minutes.

4.  Add the ginger, garlic and crushed red pepper and cook for about 10 seconds.  While meat is cooking make sauce.

For the General Tso's Sauce: 

1.  In a small bowl add the rice vinegar, soy sauce, hoisin sauce, water, sugar and cornstarch and whisk together.

2.  Once the meat mixture is cooked add the General Tso's sauce to the pan and bring to boil. Cook for just a few seconds, stirring until it thickens.  Serve over rice.  Enjoy!

 

12 week Exercise Program with Heather Robertson

Heather Robertson

If you are looking for a new exercise program this new year, I would highly recommend Heather Robinson.  She is an amazing trainer and it's completely free on YouTube.  She has so many workouts and programs to follow you will never run out.  We did her first 12 week 1.0 program and loved it so much we've started her new 12 week 2.0 program.  What I love is the program is 5 days on and 2 days off.  Those 5 days she works every inch of your body so you need 2 days for recovery.  We've just started the program but we're ready for this challenge. 

 Happy New Year!

  

Vegetable Soup with Barley (Instant Pot)

Once the cool weather of Fall is here, for lunch I replace my bowl of salad for a bowl of warm soup.  I've already made my Chicken and Dumpling Soup, Stuffed Pepper Soup and Ham and Bean soup.  I love SOUP!  Today's recipe comes from Trish Bozeman at her vegetarian blog,  Rhubarbarians.  This soup is packed full of veggies! There are so many veggies that it's good to prep all the ingredients before starting.  Once the prep was done it was easy.  This soup was so tasty, healthy and comforting on this cool Fall day.  I made the recipe exactly as written and I wouldn't change a thing.  So head over to Rhubarbarians for this delicious recipe.  She also gives instructions for the stove top if you don't have an instant pot.

                                                                                         

Rosemary Bread

This delicious bread recipe comes from Chris at the blog The Cafe Sucre Farine.  I LOVE her blog, yummy recipes that are easy to follow and always turn out.  She calls this bread, Ridiculously Easy Rosemary Bread because it only takes 5 minutes to prep and then after an 8 hour rise (or overnight, up to 12 hours), 10 minutes to shape and then in the oven for 25 minutes.  Warm bread just in time for dinner.  We had it last night with Eggplant Italian Sausage Gratin, which is also from her blog and today used the leftover bread for chicken salad sandwiches.  I didn't want to waste a single slice of this delicious bread so I sliced what was left and it's in the freezer ready for when I need toast for breakfast or I'm thinking it will make great croutons for salads.  

Check out Chis's Ridiculously Easy Rosemary Bread recipe here, the Cafe Sucre Farine.  She writes all you'll need to know and there's even a video to watch to be successful making this bread.  I've always been a little afraid of yeast but with Chis's great recipe and her advise I was thrilled with how well it turned out and will be making again and again!

*One more thing, Chris does mention this on the blog post but don't be surprised how wet and sticky the dough is right out of the bowl.  Just make sure you use plenty of flour on your work surface during the last step of kneading and shaping the dough into the two loafs.  Also, when setting the loafs of the parchment  covered cookie sheet, space them apart.  I had put mine too close together and when they rose in the oven they stuck together.  Not a big deal but giving them their space they will bake into a perfectly round loaf.  Happy Baking!!  

                               

Peach and Strawberry Preserves

Last year I made these preserves with fresh peaches my daughter brought me.  When the preserves were gone I made more with a bag of frozen peaches.  What a difference, fresh is best!  I've tried to buy them fresh from grocery store but they never seem to ripen before turning bad.  So this year I ordered a box of farm fresh peaches from Pearson's Farm in Georgia.  
They showed up beautifully packed but not quite ripe.  I checked each day and by the 4th day they were perfect to eat.  They are so juicy and taste like a peach should taste!  I used half the box to make preserves to enjoy with homemade yogurt (see recipe here) and we'll just enjoy eating the rest of the peaches with the juice dripping down our chins!  

Here's my recipe for instant pot yogurt. It's so good with a dollop of either the strawberry or peach preserves swirled in and topped my homemade granola.  The preserves are also delicious on a piece of toast!

• Ingredients:

• 4 cups (1 1/2 lbs) strawberries, hulled and diced or 4 cups (1 1/2 lbs) peaches, skin removed *see note and diced 
• 
  
• 1 cup of sugar

• 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest

• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

• 
  

• Instructions:

1. In a saucepan heat strawberries on medium heat for 5-8 minutes to release their liquid (easier to stir in sugar).
2. Turn heat down to low, add sugar and stir until dissolved.  Add lemon zest and juice.
3. Increase heat to medium and bring mixture to a slow boil.
4. Stir frequently, continuing with a slow boil until jam is thickened about 25-30 minutes **see note.  I don't smash my fruit because I like the diced chunks in my yogurt but smash if you'd like a more jam consistency. 
5. Transfer jam to tightly lidded jars (leave a little room on top for expansion when freezing) and let cool to room temperature.
6. When cool store in the refrigerator for about 2 weeks (or freeze for 3 months)

• Makes about 2 cups 

              * Peel Peaches - Boil a pot of water, large enough to submerge several peaches.  Lower peaches into the boiling water and let them soak for about 30-45 seconds.  Use a slotted spoon to transfer the peaches from the pot into a bowl full of ice water.  Once cooled, the peach skin should be very easy to pull away gently with a knife.

**Additional tip:  If you have a thermometer when the jam reaches 215 F, it’s ready.

My Favorite Podcast

       

   I really enjoy listening to Podcast these days.  I like listening when I'm in the car, taking a long walk, cooking or house cleaning.  You won't be surprised that my favorite podcasts are about food.  Right now my #1 favorite is Homemade from Allrecipes.com.  I've listened to every one!  I love the host, Martie Duncan.  I could listen to her southern accent all day!  Some of her guest are Guy Fieri, Carla Hall, Rachael Ray. Patti LaBelle, Michael Symon, just to name a few.  After each podcast I'm usually hungry, I've learned some new kitchen techniques and I'm inspired to get in the kitchen.  Now that I'm caught up, I've started to listen to some others, The Walk-in, The Sporkful  and Biscuits and Jam from Southern Living.  There are still so many food podcast that I'll never run out!  I love to know a few of your favorites.  Happy listening!