Ground Turkey Wraps!

I whipped these up tonight in an attempt to find a healthy & tasty compromise on dinner. Absolutely delicious!

What you need:
Ground Turkey
Fresh Garlic Clove
Cumin
Taco Seasoning
Salt
Low Carb Tortillas
Fresh Spinach
Shredded Cheddar
Salsa
Light Sour Cream 
1 Tortilla Chip per Tortilla 

Easy as pie:
Season your ground turkey with taco seasoning, cumin, fresh pressed garlic, and salt. Brown the seasoned turkey on the stove over medium-low heat.

Assemble tacos by spreading a small amount of sour cream in each tortilla. Top sour cream with desired amount of salsa. 

Add fresh spinach, shredded cheddar, and 1 broken up tortilla chip per tortilla. The chip gives the wrap a nice crunch...and all you need is one. (I used "Hint of Lime" Tortilla chips)

Roll up your wrap and enjoy!

Salmon with Blueberry Corn Salsa

This one's a keeper! Made with mostly *fresh* ingredients, light, and healthy! Salmon is a fantastic source of protein, with lots of Vitamin E and Omega-3 Oil - both of which decrease the risk of heart disease. GOOD STUFF. And most importantly, it's delicious, so here it is folks:

Ingredients (For 2 servings):

• 1 lb Fresh Salmon filet 
• 1/2 tbsp Ground Cumin
• Salt & Pepper
• 1 cup Yellow Corn (Fresh if possible, otherwise canned corn will do)
• 1 large Tomato 
• 1 Avocado 
• 1/2 Orange Bell Pepper (yellow or red would also work)
• Juice of 1 Lime 
• 1 Tbsp Olive Oil 
• 1/2 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
• 1 Cup Blueberries

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Sprinkle salmon with cumin, salt and pepper. Place panned salmon into oven. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until cooked to your desired doneness.

3. Combine corn, tomato, avocado, bell pepper, lime juice, oil, and vinegar. Lastly, add blueberries to the salsa. Stir blueberries in gently so as to avoid mushing them. Add salt and pepper to taste. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

4. When salmon is done cooking, plate filets and spoon salsa over top and serve.

*Options: Add reduced fat sour cream to top of salmon filets before spooning on salsa. This helps the salsa stick to the filet and is also quite tasty! Another option is adding cilantro to the salsa.

This came out fresh and delicious. I made it for Mark and me and we both cleaned our plates. I didn't even make a side dish because the salsa had so much in it. I didn't know if I would like blueberries with salmon - but once again fruit proves to be a wonderful compliment to fish.

Total meal cost for 2 people: ~$20   Not bad!

Steamed Mussels - perfect lunch in the Outer Banks!

This weekend Mark and I had a nice little get-away in the beautiful Outer Banks of North Carolina. We are forever indebted to his parents who let us stay at their amazing house in Corolla. It has become a new tradition that Corolla = one meal of steamed mussels at some point during the weekend. Mussels are light, tasty, and budget-friendly!! A perfect lunch, indeed!

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lb Mussels
• 1.5 cup Chicken Broth
• 1/4 cup White Wine
• 3-4 Fresh Garlic Cloves
• 2-3 Fresh Shallots
• 1 Tbsp. Butter
• Salt & Pepper
• 1 Large or 2 Small Baguettes

Before we left Richmond, I stopped at one of my favorite local seafood markets, The Yellow Umbrella, to select fresh seafood to take on our trip. I got 1.5 pounds of mussels to split between the 2 of us. The first time I bought mussels, I was so pleasantly surprised at how CHEAP they were. Even at Yellow Umbrella, where I usually spend an arm and a leg to get a filet of fish, the mussels are only about $6 per pound. Not too shabby! Keeping them cold is key. I had them in a cooler, on ice for our entire drive. Once we arrived at our destination, I kept the mussels in their plastic bag, put the bag in a colander, put the colander on a paper towel-covered plate, and lastly put a bag of ice on top of the mussels. Keep refridgerated until ready to cook. See below.

When you are ready to start cooking, dump the mussels into the colander. Run cold water over them to clean them. Discard any mussels that are open or cracked.




All clean!

   


Example Mussel to Discard. The shell was cracked on this one.

  
Next, prep the garlic and shallots. Chop the garlic into small pieces or use a garlic press. Cut the shallots as you see below.

Next, heat a deep sauce pan over medium heat. Add butter. When butter has melted, add garlic and shallots.

Cook garlic and shallots for a few minutes. You want them to soften, but not to brown.

When this is accomplished, add the wine and allow the wine to cook down until almost gone.

When wine is almost gone, add the chicken broth and a dash of salt & pepper. When broth is hot, time to add all of your mussels to the pan.

Cover sauce pan and allow mussels to steam for several minutes. Keep an eye on them. When it appears that most of the mussel shells are open, take the sauce pan off the heated burner, so as to not over-cook.

For practical purposes, I used a slotted spoon to remove the mussels from the pan and put them in a large bowl. I then took the remaining broth, onions, and garlic and divided it between 2 small bowls (1 for each of us) to make for easy dipping. Remember to also have a "discard" bowl on the table for empty shells. Each of us also had a small baguette for dipping into the broth.

Keep in mind, that this doesn't have to be served as an entree. Reduce the amounts above and you have yourself a nice little appetizer.

Mussels are not for everyone. :) It took me a while to develop a taste for mollusks (mussels, oysters, clams, etc...), but don't knock them til you try them!! And dipping your baguette into that broth.....just amazing! Mark loves this meal and so do I. All thumbs up!!! :)

Spinach Risotto

So last night I made Lamb Chops for the first time. It was my first lamb chops-making experience and it's a very fast process, so I was not able to get pictures for the blog. I will skip the lamb chop recipe until next time I make them (which have no fear, will be SOON - lamb is SO delicious). For now I'm just going to share with you the side dish that I made to go with the lamb : Spinach Risotto!

Ingredients:

• 2 cup Low Sodium Chicken Broth
• 1/2 tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 cup Yellow Onion
• 3/4 cup uncooked Arborio Rice (can substitute with a short or med. grain white rice)
• 1/4 cup White Wine
• 3 cup Spinach Leaves
• 1/4 cup Milk
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
•  1/4 tsp Sea Salt
• 1/4 tsp Black Pepper

I LOVE this recipe because it is a short cut to making real risotto, which takes hours. Here we go...

First, heat the chicken broth in a small saucepan. (Do not boil.) Keep warm over low heat.

Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion - saute for 3 minutes or until tender.

Add rice and cook for 1.5 minutes. Stir constantly.

Stir in wine - cook for 30 seconds or until liquid is nearly absorbed. Stir in half of your chicken broth - cook for 3 minutes or until liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring frequently.

Add remaining broth - stir frequently. Cook until liquid is almost absorbed. Stir in spinach, milk, parmesan, and salt & pepper. After plating the risotto, sprinkle some extra Parm on top for bonus yummy cheesiness. And voila! Done! This serves 2-3 depending on serving size. Mark and I both love it and it's a great way to incorporate a healthy green into your meal in a very tasty way.  :) 

Crock-Pot: Orange Roast Pork

As an excuse to skip my plan of hitting the gym during my lunch break one day last week, I decided to find a slow cooker recipe online that I could run home and get started at lunch time. It took me less than 5 minutes to find a recipe online that sounded easy enough: Orange Roast Pork. This recipe required a little "doctoring" to make it more flavorful.

Ingredients:

• 1 (3-1/2 lb.) pork shoulder roast
• 1 onion, chopped
• 6-oz. can frozen orange juice concentrate
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 2 Tbsp. cold water
• 2 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar    (not in original recipe)
• 1 tsp. Rosemary    (not in original recipe)
• 1 tsp. Thyme    (not in original recipe)
• 2 tsp. Basil    (not in original recipe)
• 1 tsp. Sage    (not in original recipe)

I was pretty excited when I realized that I already had most of the ingredients in my kitchen. All I had to grab from Kroger was the pork (which was on sale woohooo....paid about $7 for a 4lb. mother load pork shoulder), the frozen OJ ($1.50 for Kroger brand), and a fresh sweet yellow onion ($2).

Got home and gathered all my ingredients. For the record, I currently live in a not-so-updated apartment that has about 1 square foot of counter space. I will have to post a picture later of the pitiful surface area I have to work with, but such is life...for now :) .

First thing's first...get the crock-pot out and if, like me, you have had it uncovered in your cabinet for a couple months without any use, wipe down the inside with a damp paper towel. Next...unwrap your pork shoulder. This was my first pork shoulder experience. It was large and awkward to work with. I rinsed it off in the sink and then took it to the cutting board to trim off as much visible fat as possible.

Next: Chop your onion. I kept my onion in decently large pieces - remember that they will shrink/wilt as they cook in the juice - so don't make your cuts too small.

Place chopped onion in bottom of 3-4 quart crock-pot. Season roast with salt and pepper and place into the crock-pot, on top of the onions.

In small bowl mix thawed OJ concentrate, brown sugar, salt and pepper, and pour over roast.

Cover crock-pot and set to cook on high for 4 hours.

At this point I was done with my preparation and returned to work, bypassing Gold's Gym :) .

I came home at the end of the day (4 hours later) and immediately caught the yummy pork aroma.

This is when I took my own liberties with the recipe. I added my Rosemary, Thyme, Sage, and Basil combination (Herbes de Provence), and then the Balsamic. Next I re-covered the crock-pot, and reduced the heat to low for another 2 hours, while I (finally) hit the gym with Mark.

When we came home, the apartment smelled AMAZING. The extra spices really took it up a notch. Upon inspection, the roast was cooked perfectly - so tender that it was literally peeling off the bone.

For your gravy:
Skim fat from juices in crock-pot. Then pour into large heavy pan. Blend flour and cold water in small bowl and add to juices in pan. Bring to a boil and cook, stirring frequently with wire whisk, until thickened. Serve gravy with roast and onions.

I served this over brown rice.

I am not the world's biggest fan of pork, but it was quite tasty. Mark realllllly loved it and was very impressed (which made me happy considering how EASY it was to prepare with minimal effort, and low budget!) He ended up taking the leftovers with him and reheated it for lunch for several days in a row. He claimed that it was equally as good on days 2, 3, and 4. So if you are a fan of leftovers - this is great dish to make.

Definitely recommend this recipe! The only change I will make next time, is adding more vegetables to the crockpot. Celery, carrots, potato...all would have been good.

Introducing...Fat Bird Kitchen!

Don't let the blog name fool you. Fat Bird kitchen has nothing to do with the meals that I cook - although chicken and turkey will frequently be on the menu. Those who know me well, know that I have a slight obsession with small and plump outdoor birds. The little fat birds (also known as "winter birds") are adorable. It makes me happy that they are clearly well-fed. You can always spot these guys hanging outside the local restaurants. They are smarter and more resourceful than their skinnier friends! :)

This blog is a way for me to keep record of all the recipes I try, the tweaks I make to them, and the overall opinion of how they turn out. I am usually just cooking for my boyfriend, Mark and myself, but I also cook for friends and family. I will try to include opinions from all taste-testers :)

I hope that anyone who follows Fat Bird Kitchen will be inspired to recreate some of my kitchen successes and I welcome any and all suggestions/comments! Keep in mind that while I do have a few "staple dishes" that I am pretty confident in, most of these will be new recipes that I am trying for the first time, so I am learning as I go.