I have finally entered back into the land of cooking dinner. We have been so blessed to have friends provide us with meals since Brinley was 1 week old. Unfortunately, this is our last week. Thank you so much to all of you for blessing our family!
Now let me begin by saying that I love to plan meals and make them for my family. I have been cooking since I was very young and planning and executing meals since I was in jr. high. I was always in the kitchen with my mom or granny as a little girl and learned alot from them. My Granny was raised in the depression era, so nothing ever went to waste in her house. She would cook a pot roast then turn the leftovers into roast sandwiches and hash. My mom was a preachers wife on a shoestring budget with 3 kids and a hungry husband to feed. She still to this day has an amazing way of stretching food and not wasting a thing. She came to help us after Brinley was born and made 3 meals out of 1 rotisserie chicken! I think our generation is much more wasteful and might actually decide to cook, just to end up going to the grocery store, buying a bunch of stuff, then end up throwing away what they don't use. Well this post is my first attempt at combatting that phenomenon!
I am busy with the baby so it is nice to knock out 2 meals at once. I am also starting weight watchers this week to try and lose those pregnancy pounds, so I am trying to cook more healthily. Rocky and I love all foods and are not picky at all. So,with that being said, I formulated these recipes for us to eat this week. These recipes might not be for all of you (I know some of you are turning up your noses to cabbage and ground turkey!), but if one of you likes it and tries it with your family, my goal is accomplished!
So, here is my take on how to stretch 1 package (1.25 lbs) of Ground Turkey Breast
Cabbage Rolls and Turkey Meatballs
1 pkg. ground turkey breast (this is the all white meat kind, it is much drier and the recipe would probably taste better with ground beef but we are trying to be healthy here)
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
1 can tomato sauce
1 can diced tomatoes
1/4 cup ketchup
1/2 cup seasoned breadcrumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
2 eggs
1 cup cooked white rice (I used the Steamfresh frozen kind and will either... a)eat the remainder of the bag with lots of butter and salt in a moment of weakness after a stressful afternoon with a crying newborn, or b)add it to a pot of soup later on)
8 large cabbage leaves (pull these off the outside of the head of cabbage. Use the rest of the cabbage in the above mentioned pot of soup)
To begin, saute the peppers and the onions in a skillet with a little olive oil. Take out half and place in a bowl for later. Add half of your turkey breast to the skillet and the other half into the bowl for the meatballs.
For the cabbage rolls:
Brown turkey breast with peppers and onions. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Add 1/2 the can of diced tomatoes with the juice, the ketchup, and the rice. Take skillet off the heat and allow to cool for a few minutes. In the meantime, boil your cabbage leaves (you may have to do it in 2 batches) in a large pot of boiling water for about 3-4 minutes. This just helps them to be pliable when you roll them with your filling. Take them out and allow them to cool and drain on a paper towel.
Grease a square baking dish. Place a few spoons of filling into a one of the cabbage leaves and roll up like an eggroll. Place in the baking dish, seam side down, and repeat until all the filling is used and the pan is tightly filled.
Combine the tomato sauce and remainder of the diced tomatoes in the skillet and season with salt and pepper. Pour over the top of the cabbage rolls, cover with foil, and bake in a 350 oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
For the meatballs (do this while the cabbage rolls are cooking):
Take the bowl with 1/2 the onion and pepper mixture and half the raw turkey breast. Add the breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese, egg, salt and pepper and mix with your hands. You can also substitute oatmeal or cracker crumbs for the breadcrumbs.
Make golf ball sized meatballs and place on a greased cookie sheet. Place in a 350 degree oven for about 15-20 minutes or until firm to the touch and completely white, no pink.
Once these are baked, allow them to cool and place them in a freezer sized ziploc bag or a tupperware container. These can be frozen to be used at a later date or kept in your fridge to be used within the week. Add them to jarred spaghetti sauce for spaghetti or place on french bread with mozzarella cheese for a meatball sub. I also use this recipe for meatloaf if you would rather have that.
I hope you enjoy these recipes! Now, remember, turkey breast is much drier, but oh so healthy. You can substitute ground beef and still get the money saving perks!
Dinner tonight!
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