Teriyaki Meatballs with Carrot Rice

I'm a planner.  I have our weekly meal plans scheduled at least a week in advance, sometimes two. The meal plans often go through minor tweaks throughout the week but this week? My plan somehow fell apart.  Not necessarily in a bad way, but somehow this week I didn't have some ingredients for a dish (and refused to run to the store), my husband had a more frustrating day which clearly called for pizza, or I realized (in advance, thankfully) that a recipe was way too time-consuming for a weekday.  And then there was that incident with the dishcloth that started to smolder when I turned on the wrong burner on the stove.

But even though we've only had 1 meal that was originally on the week's menu, we've still eaten well.  Case in point: these teriyaki meatballs which were thrown on last night's menu primarily because I had all the ingredients and I had already prepped a Thai slaw.  But somehow, this meal came together so well! 

Although there were a few components, each step was pretty simple.  Rice into a rice cooker? Check.  Mix ingredients together and form the meatballs? Check.  While the meatballs bake, make the teriyaki sauce? Check.  Everything was excellent, too! The sauce was a great complement to the meatballs and the rice helps to soak up all the sauce.  We served it with a little extra sriracha sauce and sesame seeds alongside the Thai slaw and some edamame.  It was as if I had planned this meal all along.

PS - The meatballs and teriyaki sauce would also make great appetizers!

Teriyaki Meatballs with Carrot Rice
Meatballs and Rice taken from Martha Stewart
Teriyaki Sauce taken from Cookin Canuck
Serves 4-6 (more if used as appetizers)

Meatballs:

• 3/4 cup fresh breadcrumbs
• 1 1/2 pounds ground dark-meat turkey or ground pork (I used ground beef instead)
• 3 scallions, white and green parts separated and thinly sliced (I used minced red onion)
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves (I omitted)
• 4 teaspoons fish sauce
• 4 teaspoons hot-pepper sauce (preferably Sriracha)
• 4 teaspoons sugar
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• Extra Sriracha and sesame seeds, for serving (optional)
• Carrot Rice:
• 1 cup long-grain white rice (I used brown rice in a rice cooker instead)
• 1 carrot, shredded
• Teriyaki Sauce:
• 1/3 cup rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp minced fresh ginger (I didn't have so I used a dash or two of ground ginger)
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 2 tsp toasted sesame seeds

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook rice according to directions (brown rice will take longer). Remove from heat and top with carrot. Let stand, covered, 5 minutes, then stir in carrot and fluff rice with a fork.
2. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine breadcrumbs and 3 tablespoons water. Let stand 5 minutes. Add turkey, scallion whites, cilantro, fish sauce, hot-pepper sauce, sugar, garlic, and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Gently mix to combine and form into 12 regular meatballs or 24 smaller meatballs. Place the meatballs in a muffin pan.
3. Bake meatballs until cooked through, 10-15 minutes (depending on the size).
4. While the meatballs are baking, in a small saucepan, combine rice vinegar, brown sugar, water, soya sauce, 1/4 cup canola oil, ginger, garlic, flour, and sesame seeds. Whisk the sauce together and place over medium heat. Simmer until the sauce is slightly thickened, 5 to 10 minutes. Keep warm.
5. Serve meatballs with rice, scallion greens (optional), sauce, Sriracha (optional) and sesame seeds.

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Turkey Cannelloni with Roasted Red Peppers

Italian is serious comfort food to me...well, probably because I would devour anything with tomato base to it.  This meal was no exception.  I think it's similar to manicotti as well as to the shells that my mom used to make - pasta stuffed with cheese, ground turkey, spinach and spices and then topped with tomato sauce. How could you go wrong?

It was also an excuse to use up more of the greens that we received from our CSA box!  I have to admit, I couldn't bear the thought of having kale/collards/spinach every week all.winter.long.  So I chickened out and didn't start our weekly CSA box until beginning of March.  But we are loving it so far!

Turkey Cannelloni with Roasted Peppers & Spinach
Taken from: Cookin' Canuck
Serves 6-8

• 8-12 "No-boil" lasagna noodles (I used whole wheat)
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2-1 lb. ground turkey, (I used about 2/3 lb of 93% lean turkey)
• 1 cup (packed) baby spinach leaves (I used collard greens - since they are a little more coarse, I cooked them in a pot of salted boiling water for 2 minutes, then drained in a colander and chopped into smallish pieces)
• 1 roasted red bell pepper, thinly sliced*
• 1 cup. low-fat ricotta cheese (I used nonfat cottage cheese)
• 1/2-1 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I used a mix of Parmesan and mozzarella)
• 1/4-1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 cup thinly sliced fresh basil (I omitted)
• 2 tbsp chopped Italian parsley
• 3/4 tsp kosher salt (to taste)
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper (to taste)
• 2 cups tomato sauce

 *To roast your own red peppers (so easy!), follow this post here

1. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil and add no-boil lasagne noodles. Stir gently while cooking so that the noodle do not stick to each other. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Gently remove with a slotted spoon or tongs, and place the noodles directly into a bowl of cold water.
2. Gently lay the noodles on a clean kitchen towel and dab off moisture with paper towel.
3. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
4. Heat olive oil in a large skillet set over medium-high heat. Add chopped onion and saute until they are just turning brown, about 2 minutes. Add minced garlic and saute for additional 30 seconds. Add ground turkey, season with salt and pepper and cook, breaking up with wooden spoon, until turkey is cooked through. Put a lid on top (slightly askew) and pour any accumulated juice out of the pan. Transfer turkey mixture to a large bowl.
5. Stir in baby spinach leaves (or any greens you are using) and roasted red peppers. Mix well.
6. Allow the mixture to cool, then stir in ricotta and 1/2 cup of cheese, dried chile flakes, nutmeg, basil and parsley. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
7. At one short end of each lasagne noodle, place 1/3 cup turkey mixture. Roll up noodles to form tubes.
8. Prepare a 9- by 13-inch baking pan by spreading 3/4 cup tomato sauce on the bottom. Arrange pasta tubes, seam-sides down, in the pan. Spread additional 1 1/2 cups tomato sauce on top, and sprinkle with additional grated Parmesan cheese.
9. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for additional 5 minutes, or until cheese is melted. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes before serving

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Stuffed Bell Peppers & Week's Menu Plan

Stuffed bell peppers was one of the first meals I ever made...actually, it was the first meal I ever remade, straying from the exact recipe and making my own changes to make the dish healthier.  Although most of my changes are now forgotten, I do remember one as switching from a combination of ground pork and ground beef to lean ground turkey (ground beef could work but just try to make it at least 90% lean).  I have no idea where the recipe was originally from but on the index card, I have the title as "Big John's Stuffed Bell Peppers."  Maybe Big John wouldn't be so big if he had made some of these updates! It's delicious as a one-dish meal and is a recipe that I keep coming back to. It's especially good now that bell peppers are in season here.

As I was making my farmers market grocery list for this coming week's meal plans, I realized that I'm using just about every vegetable that our market offers. While I didn't do it on purpose, I'm happy to fully take advantage of having such a variety of fresh vegetables while I can!

Stuffed Bell Peppers
Serves 6

• 6 bell peppers, tops removed and ribs and seeds removed (any color but our favorite is red)
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• leftover bell peppers tops, diced 
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 tsp. salt, 1/2 tsp ground pepper
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp. dried thyme 
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped 
• 3/4-1 lb. ground turkey, 93% lean (you could also use lean ground beef)
• 1 1/2 cups cooked brown rice
• 1 cup marinara sauce 
• cheese, if desired (we often grate a bit of mozzarella cheese on top) 

-Make sure to cook brown rice beforehand. 
-Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
-In a large pot of boiling water, boil prepped bell peppers for 5-7 minutes until peppers are fairly soft.  Drain on paper towels and then put peppers in 9 by 13 baking dish.  Add water to the bottom of the baking dish until the bottom of the dish is barely covered.
-While bell peppers are in boiling water, heat a large skillet over medium heat.  Add olive oil and cook garlic, onions and peppers tops until soft, 5-7 minutes.
-Add ground turkey, chopped parsley, salt, pepper, oregano and thyme. Cook until brown and all pink is gone, about 5 minutes.   Drain off extra grease.
-Add brown rice and marinara sauce.  Combine and remove from heat.
-Spoon mixture into bell peppers.  Cook for approximately 15 minutes.  Add grated cheese, if desired, on top and cook for 2 minutes or until cheese is melted.
-Serve with additional marinara sauce.


Week's Menu Plan

Saturday: Spicy Chicken Avocado Sandwich with steamed artichokes

Sunday: Ratatouille

Monday: Chicken Piccata with summer Vegetables

Tuesday: Italian wedding soup

Wednesday: Broiled Tilapia with Thai Coconut Curry Sauce (served with steamed broccoli)

Thursday: Bryant makes dinner!

Friday: steak fajitas (pear butterscotch pie for dessert)

Saturday:  Chicken, Apple & Cheese Quesadillas

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Menu Plan and Spanish Rice Casserole

While I originally wanted to write about something else entirely, I first want to tell you (read: brag) about my husband's bread baking abilities. My husband just made bread today using my dad's recipe for loaf bread. He started in the morning before church and by the time we got home, it had completely risen (almost bursting out of the bowl). He did a second rise in the bread pans and FINALLY (patience is clearly a virtue I need to work on) baked it. And this bread turned out delicious! We're always looking for ways to make foods healthier so he used white whole wheat flour (which is a new staple in our household), ground rolled oats and some King Arthur all-purpose flour. It was incredibly light and didn't taste at all like there was wheat in it. In short, it was bread that rivals my dad's. Excuse me for a second while I go back to the kitchen for my third slice.

However, I didn't want to just brag about what a lucky wife I am but I also wanted to share this week's menu plan and a Spanish rice casserole recipe we had last week. I'll try to include links to any recipes that are online in case you're interested. I typically make my menu plan from Saturday-Friday; I plan it on Thursday or Friday which allows me to be prepared to do most of the produce shopping at the Farmers Market on Saturday.

Yesterday (the real beginning of my list of this week's meals), I made Chicago-style pizza for the first time. The recipe needs a few tweaks but did get rave reviews from my husband both yesterday for dinner and today for lunch. However, I've only had real Chicago pizza once so I'm not sure whether I was even close to the real deal. I need to find a Chi-town resident who can test this recipe. But whatever it was, it was tasty. Especially after a couple of changes, this recipe will probably be a future post!

MENU PLAN:

Sunday: Vegetable Linguine (http://www.lifesambrosia.com/2010/01/vegetable-linguine-recipe.html)

Monday: Jalapeno Lime chicken (http://www.lifesambrosia.com/2010/06/jalapeno-lime-chicken-recipe.html), crisp roasted potatoes (http://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/detail.php?docid=20855&extcode=M**ASCA00), and steamed green beans

Tuesday: steak tacos

Wednesday: Vietnamese summer rolls with shrimp (http://ahintofhoney.blogspot.com/2009/09/vietnamese-summer-rolls-with-peanut.html)

Thursday & Friday: Out of town!

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Spanish Rice Casserole

Spanish rice casserole was dinner a few days ago. I actually switched around the week's menu plan but I knew we needed to have an early dinner that day to allow my husband to brave traffic and make it to his shift at 7 pm. This recipe looked both easy and easy to make-ahead. Also what was nice is that it was pretty versatile. I had a lone zucchini so I just chopped it up and added it to the casserole. I didn't have any green peppers only red, so that was an easy switch (for anyone looking to add more vegetables, you could probably a couple more vegetables in here and it wouldn't be noticed). Also, for extra fiber and protein, I added half of a can of black beans. This serves 4 but would be easy to double.

Taken from http://ahintofhoney.blogspot.com/2009/06/spanish-rice-bake.html

• 1/2 lb. ground turkey breast (could also use ground beef)
• 1/2 of 14.5 oz can of black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 zucchini, chopped (could use other vegetables instead, like a green bell pepper)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tomatoes, chopped (could also use a 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes)
• 3/4 cup brown rice (Cook according to package directions)
• 1/2 cup chile sauce or prepared salsa
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
• ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup Cheddar cheese, shredded
• 2-4 Tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped (we like a lot of cilantro)

-Cook brown rice according to package directions (you could do this a day or two in advance).
-Preheat oven to 375 F.
-In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook onions, peppers, zucchini and garlic until onions are translucent. Add ground turkey, salt and pepper and cook until brown. Drain excess fat and return skillet to the stove top over medium low heat. Stir in the tomatoes, water, rice, salsa, cumin and Worcestershire sauce.
-Cook for about 5-10 minutes over medium-low heat until heated through. Put mixture in a 9x9 baking pan and press down firmly. (You could do up to this step a day in advance and then just bring the casserole to room temperature right before cooking).
-Sprinkle with the shredded Cheddar cheese.
-Bake at 375 F for 10 to 15 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Top with chopped fresh cilantro.

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