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Greek-Inspired Meatballs with Spiced Yogurt

March 3, 2011 in Food, recipe by traveleatlove | 17 comments

I made an amazing dinner last night, if I do say so myself. My kitchen creativity has been off with my health, somewhere where I can’t seem to catch it, but last night I definitely felt it coming back. Now if only I could feel better and find my energy. Last week the doctor said I could expect to be exhausted for 10-14 days, but honestly I am over looking forward to bedtime at 11 am, coughing, and feeling achy all day long.

But I digress. Dinner last night. My original plan was to make traditional turkey meatball subs with mozzarella cheese, onions, peppers, and red sauce. After a quick survey of things I needed to use up before California, I decided to make a Greek-inspired dinner, starting with half a block of Athenos feta.

feta

I started by chopping and crumbling the feta until it was in small crumbs. I mixed it with a container of ground turkey, an egg, a teaspoon of oregano, and about a cup of panko bread crumbs.

turkey meatballs

Feeling un-well, I was totally grossed out by making the meatballs, but I rolled up my sleeves and got to work, placing them on a baking tray and then putting the meatballs in the oven at 375 until they were starting to brown.

turkey meatballs

At the very end, I turned the oven to broil which was a nice finishing touch.

image

To top the meatballs, I used some of the abundance of Fage 2% yogurt that we have to make a quick sauce. It couldn’t have been easier. I popped four garlic cloves, peeled, a jalapeno, a handful of cilantro, and some ground black pepper in the food processor.

cilantro and garlic

yogurt sauce

Then I added about a cup of Fage, whirled it all around, and had a tangy sauce for the meatballs. Despite the jalapeno, it wasn’t spicy, just really flavorful.

I served up the meatballs in romaine lettuce leaves, topped with the yogurt sauce, with a side of Trader Joe’s naan.

meatballs with yogurt sauce

meatballs with yogurt sauce

I actually added more lettuce and sauce after the photo shoot, but thought this was kind of pretty Smile We do usually eat more than what is in my photos.

And now for a little giveaway for my Boston area readers. You may remember the awesome swag bag I got at the Boston Food Bloggers launch party. Well, it was so chock full of good stuff that I really can’t use it all, especially the items that require a car, so I am putting together a little package of fun for one lucky winner:

1 Free Make Your Own Cupcake at Treat Cupcake Bar

a free bowling pass to King’s in Legacy Place

a $5 gift card to Wicked Restaurant & Wine Bar

$20 toward dinner and $10 toward lunch at Acquitaine

To enter, just leave a comment on this post, and I will pick a winner over the weekend.

After I took the swag bag out to go through it, I was writing this post and heard a rustling noise. Scout was apparently interested in the bag’s contents.

Scout the cat

Tags: cheese, cilantro, cooking, dinner, feta, feta cheese, Food, garlic, giveaway, healthy, healthy recipe, jalapeno, nmeatballs, recipe, romaine lettuce, turkey, yogurt

Chicken Pesto Pizza

February 20, 2011 in Uncategorized by traveleatlove | 13 comments

Happy Sunday! I am quickly learning there are no weekends or vacation days when you work for yourself. Which isn’t really that different than working in the corporate world, you just get to do it on your own schedule and in your pajamas.

The theme for this week is simple, healthy foods. Friday night we did a massive grocery haul at Market Basket. It was awesome to have that big task checked off before the weekend even began.

I have had a craving for homemade pizza for awhile but have had no desire to mess with dough. I just don’t have it in me to have another pizza disaster.

So I went the very easy route, Boboli whole wheat pizza crust for our lunch pizza yesterday.

Boboli pizza crust

You know what? I really liked it. Like I said, I am just in the mood for simple food these days. I don’t care that it wasn’t a hand-tossed dough or made in a pizza oven or on a special stone.

Instead of a red sauce, I decided to use my winter pesto, also known as “poor girl pesto” as the base. Winter pesto because it utilizes spinach instead of basil, and “poor girl pesto” because it uses walnuts, which are cheaper than pine nuts, and there is no parmesan cheese. To tell the truth, I love it just as much as traditional pesto.

Start by adding a bunch of baby spinach leaves to the processer.

baby spinach

Top with a handful of walnuts, 4-6 cloves of garlic, a grind of sea salt, and enough oil to cover the top. Because my pizza was cheese-less, I added a little extra oil to my pesto to make sure it was not a dry sauce.

walnuts

Voila! I always make enough pesto so that I can eat a spoonful or two right out of the bowl. It’s garlicky goodness never fails.

spinach pesto

Next up, I chopped a head of broccoli into florets. We certainly got our greens in at lunch!

broccoli florets

I didn’t get a photo of the process, but I smothered the Boboli pizza crust in pesto and a little basil oil, topped it with broccoli, and popped it into the oven at 420 degrees for about 10 minutes.

While the pizza was baking, I quickly stir fried bits of chicken breast with some olive oil and garlic.

chicken and garlic

When the pizza came out of the oven, the chicken was perfectly cooked and ready to join the rest of the ingredients.

pesto broccoli chicken pizza

Yum!

pesto broccoli chicken pizza

This was an awesome lunch that didn’t take more than 20 minutes to make. In the middle of a busy weekend, it was nice to stop for a healthy meal with all sorts of flavors.

pesto broccoli chicken pizza

This would definitely be something you could easily wrap up in foil and bring into the office for a lunch you would look forward to.

I am going to dinner at Beacon Hill Bistro tonight for a friend’s birthday. Do you have any fun Sunday plans? Do you have tomorrow off?

Tags: Boboli pizza crust, chicken, cooking, cooking at home, dinner, easy pizza, garlic, greens, health, healthy recipe, healthy recipes, Lunch, pesto, pizza, spinach, spinach pesto

Caribbean Pork with Mango Salsa

January 28, 2011 in Food, recipe by traveleatlove | 6 comments

I don’t reserve my best cooking for the weekends, I love to find easy to prepare, healthy dishes on the weekdays too.  There’s something so satisfying about coming home and cheffing something from scratch, rather than having to rely on leftovers.  I came across this Caribbean Pork with Mango Salsa in Real Simple’s January 2011 issue.  Amidst a ton of other pork recipes, this one called my name for it’s simplicity and it’s inclusion of Mango Salsa.

I know, I know.  Mango salsa isn’t entirely in season right now.  But amidst all the winter kale and squashes and over kill of pumpkin and peppermint from the holidays, it feels so good to go against the grain.  So fresh.  So summer-y.  Wouldn’t you like a taste of summer right now?

Caribbean Pork with Mango Salsa (as adapted from Real Simple)

  • 1 mango, chopped
  • 2 scallions, chopped
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
  • 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
  • salt for tasting
  • 1 pound of pork tenderloin, or chops
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp ground corriander
  • salt to taste

As usual, I was hesitant to think the Mango Salsa was going to have any flavor as the ingredients seemed too simple.  For some reason, I can’t get over it in my head that sometimes less ingredients really can blow your socks off.  It’s true though.

mango salsa ingredients

These simple, simple ingredients came together to make one of the most refreshing mango salsa’s I have had.  I love the flavor and was ready to just eat a bowl of it straight up.  I know it’s wrong, but sometimes a girl can’t help herself.

mango salsa

As for the pork, it’s easy to throw together.  The recipe calls for broiling, but I am huge on pan searing lately.  So, at nearly room temperature, I patted my chops dry and seasoned as the recipe called for.  I heated 2 pans on medium high and added a bit of EVOO. (I don’t have a pan large enough for two porkchops without crowding. If you crowd, you could lose the chance for them to get a sear.)  Once fired up and heated, I tossed the porkchops into the pans.

You’ll be tempted to touch.  To peek.  To check.  Resist.  Resist harder.  Have faith that four to five minutes untouched on each side with create a delicious sear.  Once they were seared, I tossed them into the oven at 450 degrees and cooked futher another 10 minutes or so, until the middle was no longer pink.

Allow to cool for 5 minutes or so before slicing to preserve the juices in the meat.  If you slice too soon, they juices all run out and you lose some of the moisture.  Just say no to dried out meat.  Especially pork.  Pork gets a bad rap for being boring, but I think when it’s done right, it’s amazing.

Slice pork and top with Mango Salsa.  Serve with a freshly made salad, side of roasted veggies or some brown rice.  Dive in.  There’s so reason you can’t have a freshly made, healthy meal on busy weekdays!

pork with mango salsa

Want more delicious food photos and recipes? Visit Kelley’s blog!

Tags: Food, healthy recipe, mango salsa, pork, recipe

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