Spicy Turkey and Green Bean Stir-Fry

This time of the year is always crazy in our house. My youngest son turned 4 last week and between school, cooking and gift buying my time is very limited. I seem to always be running out of time and money. Since I bake a lot during the holidays I also try to make sure that my dinners stay at least somewhat healthy. Plus then I can let myself have more holidays cookies, right? I make a lot of chicken throughout the year. It is a great lower fat option and can be delicious in so many recipes. However, chicken can also get a little boring. I try to add in turkey and other poultry to keep my family's taste buds interested. This week I tried a new recipe for Spicy Turkey and Green Bean Stir-Fry from the December issue of the Food Network Magazine, which looked quick, low in fat, and filling.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 30 minutes of total time, all of which is active and makes 4 servings. I did make a number of changes. First, I have never seen 99 percent lean ground turkey in my area. The only types normally available are 85, 95 and 97 percent. So I bought the 85 percent lean ground turkey. Since my turkey was higher in fat I did not fry it in as much vegetable oil. Plus I drained my ground turkey after it was done browning. I eat gluten free so I used gluten free soy sauce. Always read your labels, since wheat is a top ingredient in many low priced soy sauces. After tasting the recipe as written, I changed a few things. First I doubled the amount of chile paste, soy sauce and added three garlic cloves instead of one. I also served it over brown rice instead of white rice. I stopped serving white rice about 6 months ago and now my two boys prefer brown rice. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

After all the changes this recipe worked much better. As the recipe was written it lacked flavor, but after an increase of the chile paste, soy sauce and garlic the taste worked. Finely grated fresh ginger would be another great addition to the flavor in this recipe. I always use magazine recipes as a starting point to making a better recipe. This is an example of a recipe that with a few changes works out well.

For the recipe go to Spicy Turkey and Green Bean Stir-Fry.

Asian Ginger Beef

I spend most of my early twenties drinking lots of coffee and not eating all that healthy. I blame the combination of running, working and taking a full course load at University of Washington. Add to that I had the brilliant (not) idea of double majoring and a commute that took at least 1 1/2 half and food always seemed to take a back seat. I literally had very little time to prepare pretty much anything so I relied on large amounts of caffeine and the occasional meal out. Luckily for me Seattle is full of great restaurants that when planned well can be reasonable on a limited budget. One dish that I loved throughout college was stir-fry. Whether made at home or restaurant bought it was always full of flavor and delicious. Most importantly it contained a large amount of vegetables, which with my food habits was probably the largest amount of vegetables I consumed every month. Luckily after I moved and met my husband I also discovered that vegetables are delicious and should be eaten daily. My two boys have grown-up with a very different relationship with food and eat more fruits and vegetables that I think I ever did. Last week I tried a new recipe for Asian Ginger Beef from All You magazine, which looked very simple and full of vegetables.

This recipe has 13 ingredients. It takes 14 minutes of cooking time, 10 minutes of prep, and makes 4 servings. I had no problems finding any of the ingredients at my local grocery store. Since I can no longer eat gluten I use gluten-free soy sauce. I also make my own beef broth, since I believe that it tastes better than store bought. Instead of serving this recipe over white rice, I used brown rice. I stopped serving white rice approximately 6 months ago and after an adjustment period my two boys prefer it over white rice. The recipe suggests to allow the mixture to cook for 1 minute after adding the sauce. I did things a little bit differently. My veggie mixture was a little watery from the frozen veggies so I increased the cornstarch to a full tablespoon and let the mixture cook until almost all the liquid was absorbed. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

My two kids really enjoyed the beef in this recipe and ate all the beef out of their serving. My husband and I thought that the dish was a decent beef stir-fry recipe, but neither of us thought the title ginger beef was accurate. The flavor of the ginger was not overly noticeable. In order for this recipe to be ginger beef I would suggest increasing the amount of ginger to suit your taste. As written, the dish was a nice beef stir-fry, but was light on the ginger. With an increase in the amount of ginger I think that it could be a quick and child friendly ginger beef recipe.

For the recipe go to Asian Ginger Beef.

Spicy Turkey Thighs and Bacon Stir-Fry

This was a nice weekend. My family and I spent the Saturday morning at Chili Fest and then went over to our local small farmer's market and I bought a half gallon of grass-fed organic milk that my kids absolutely love. I love relaxing weekends in the last summer/early fall. If I was to pick my favorite time of the year it would without a doubt be fall. The temps are cooler and there are tons of local events that my family and I love going to. This is also the season when I begin to change my menu plans around. Out go the salads and burgers from the summer and in come the soups, stews and chili. One of my favorite dishes that I make frequently in the warmer months is stir-fry. My two boys love stir-fry and enjoy helping me prep all the vegetables. Last week I tried a new recipe for Spicy Turkey Thighs and Bacon Stir-Fry from Everyday Food, which promised 30 minutes of total time and to be inexpensive on my food budget.

This recipe has 11 ingredients. It takes 30 minutes of total time, all of which is active and makes 4 servings. I did end up having to go to two separate stores to find all the ingredients. Luckily the grocery store in the suburbs has a large ethnic foods section and they had the sambal pelek so I didn't have to make any ingredient substitution. I did chose to serve the dish over brown rice. I have stopped using white rice and my boys actually have learned to love brown rice, so as I always do I substituted. Additionally, I used honey instead of light-brown sugar. Most importantly I am never able to find turkey thighs in my area, so I substituted turkey breast cutlets. My turkey took longer than the recipe suggested to fully cook, in total I would approximate it took 15 minutes. This might have been due to the fact that I cut my turkey a little thicker than the recipe probably would suggest. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I was worried that this dish might be a little too spicy for my two boys, but they loved it. I really liked the chili sauce. Previously I had never tried that particular type of chili sauce and both my husband and I really enjoyed it. Of course my family loves any dish with bacon and it was interesting making a stir-fry in which it was a main ingredient. I love that this recipe goes together quickly and the prep work is very easy. Overall a quick and inexpensive weekday dinner option.

For the recipe go to Spicy Turkey Thighs with Bacon Stir-Fry.

Three-Pea, Cashew and Tofu Stir-Fry

My husband has decided he's on a health kick. In the last couple of months he has started walking every night and cutting down on the amount of fat and calories in his diet. I have been trying to get this to happen for years, but apparently lately he has had some sort of change of heart in regards to his bad habits. This is a welcome change and he has embraced eating less red meat and more vegetarian meals. Tofu has been the hardest food to add to my family's diet. They will willing eat beans, lentils and soups without meat, but tofu has been more of a problem. Luckily I have discovered that my kids in particular love stir-fry using tofu and the May/June issue of Eating Well magazine had a recipe for Three-Pea, Cashew and Tofu Stir-Fry which looked perfect.

This recipe has 12 ingredients. It takes 50 minutes of total time, all of which is active and makes 4 servings. I had to go to two stores in order to find both snow peas and sugar snap peas, but that is normal for my area. My tofu took slightly longer than the 8 minutes suggested by the recipe in order to fully brown. I also made sure to let my tofu drain for a full hour to ensure that all the water came out. Finally, I let the peas cook longer than the recipe to ensure that they were soft enough for my two boys to eat. I followed the remainder of the recipe as written.

I was surprised by how much my two boys loved this dish. They were particularly fans of the sugar snap and snow peas and ate their servings, plus part of mine. My husband and I enjoyed this stir-fry as well. The only draw back that I found was that the tofu wasn't salty enough and needed a little more flavor. I would suggest adding some of the sauce to the tofu after it is browned and letting the tofu sit and marinate while the vegetables are cooking. This would greatly improve the flavor of the tofu. Overall, a great way to add more vegetables and tofu into your diet.

For the recipe go to Three-Pea, Cashew and Tofu Stir-Fry.