BBQ Turkey Burgers

Happy Friday :)  It was a rough one at work.  Lots of distractions and blank child stares.  So I'm VERY glad it's the weekend. 

So, I mentioned my turkey burgers in the last post.  I not only choose turkey because of the health factor, but I love that you can add in whatever you want and really taste the flavors.   I decided to make (and freeze) some BBQ flavored burgers.  They actually turned out a lot better than I expected given the amount of guessing I was doing while making them.  It ended up going like this: (keep in mind these are rough estimates, more or less of anything won't hurt)

2 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp vinegar
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp brown sugar

Mix all the ingredients in with your ground turkey, chicken, or beef.  I was freezing them so I made patties and put them into freezer bags. 

As I said before, our grill was malfunctioning so I ended up half grilling/half frying them.  They didn't have the grill taste I was craving :( but they were still delicious.  We ate them on our yummy whole wheat hamburger buns with some cheese and spinach. 

For a side, I grilled some potatoes.  If you've never done this, you need to.  But don't ever just throw a whole potato on there or it won't be finished until next Tuesday.  Usually I cut them and wrap them in foil.  This time I wanted to use our latest grill purchase.

This tray is perfect for grilling fish, veggies, and of course, potatoes!  I cut the potatoes into quarters.  I used my butter flavored oil I've talked about 1029012834 times before and brushed it on the flat side of each piece.  I then sprinkled them with garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, basil, and oregano.  I put them skin side up and grilled them for about 30 minutes.  I'm not sure why these cooked but the burgers didn't....?  Usually potatoes take a lot longer.  Our grill has an attitude problem. 

They turned out to be super tasty!  They were just charred enough to give them a good flavor without tasting burned. 

This was a cooking success.  Let me share something that was absolutely NOT a success.  Bob and I have the worst luck with purchasing things.  And I mean anything.  Blinds, furniture, electronics, you name it, we've had issues.  I think the problem is online shopping.  It's like these online people just ship you a piece of junk and make you deal with the consequences.  To make a long story short, I need to go to UPS and ship back a laptop and a camera.  Because that was number 1 on my list of things I wanted to do this weekend.  Ugh, people these days.  Here's to our official hiatus form online shopping!

Doggy Woes...

As I've mentioned before, my husband and I love to grill.  This weather is absolutely killing that dream.  The other day it was FINALLY nice enough to venture outside and fire up the grill.  Well, we soon realized that the stupid thing wouldn't get hot enough.  Whatt?? Maybe it's still angry that it fell over last week.  It decided to grill the potatoes but failed to do anything to the burgers except leave some char marks on them.  So I ended up having to finish cooking them on the stove.  I'm crossing my fingers that we'll be able to have a good grill meal soon.

The grill isn't the only thing that's been a pain in the you-know-what this week.  The four legged creature running around our house has become a little too sassy.  I took him to the vet the other day for a vaccination.  Since it was a Sunday the waiting room was full of other animals, some calm, some not so calm.  My dog was the one to go beyond not calm and turned into a psycho.  We sat in the waiting room for half an hour while he made noises similar to those of a warthog mixed with a fork scraping across a plate.  I get it, it's annoying.  But the woman sitting nearby proceeded to cover her ears and give me a look as if to say, "I can't believe you're dog behaves that way in public."  As if that wasn't bad enough, she then covered her dog's ears.  I'll stop right there and leave you to form your own opinions on that.  Strike 2 Rick.  Strike 1 happened last week when we came home to find barf on the couch cushion.  He must be fond of that couch cushion because we found another present on it the other day.  Strike 3.  In case you don't follow me on Twitter, Facebook, OR Instagram, this was his punishment.

I made sure he was humiliated on all social networking sites. 

As if all that isn't bad enough, he's been waking me up every night trying to jump up on the bed.  It was my life altering mistake to let him sleep with us a few times.  Now he thinks that it's his right.  I'll be peacefully sleeping when I hear his little footsteps storming up the stairs like a bat out of hell.  Where do you think you're going that you need to run so fast??  Bob says he does this because I'm not strict enough with him...probably true.  This doesn't bode well for our future children.  Well times are changing.

Nothing like a good evening rant to make you feel better.  I was going to post my BBQ turkey burger recipe but I didn't think it fit with the inappropriate dinner conversation above.  So it'll have to wait til tomorrow :)

Oh and if you think my dog is a nightmare, he's just having a rough week.  Normally he's really cute.

See?

Crockpot Ribs

I recently developed a love affair with Trader Joe's.  My mom has always been a big fan but I was holding out.  And I'm not sure why because I love unique + healthy things.  We went yesterday and Bob said he will never go back.  If I wasn't obsessed with groceries, I would feel the same way.  It is SO crowded in there!  I mean, it's half the size of a normal grocery store with the same amount of people (if not more).  We had to fight to get to the English muffins (and then we realized they're called "British muffins" there).  Here are a few of my favorite purchases:

I'm not trying to pretend that these aren't still cookies.  But I do feel better about eating them :)

....Again, still chips, but I have reduced guilt after eating them.

My mom introduced me to this yogurt last time we were there and she was not messing around.  This might be the best yogurt I've ever had.  Life changing.

 

Also, just so you know, Trader Joe's has the best steaks.  We're steak snobs over here and they have never disappointed us.  

 Well, as the title shows, I made ribs today.  I made them once before and they didn't turn out as tender as I would have liked.  Probably because I put them in the oven and got too impatient.  This time I decided to use the crock pot.  Thank goodness for the crock pot, by the way.  I would spend way more precious time checking on things in the oven. 

This recipe came from my grandma's favorite cookbook.  For the sauce you need:

1 cup ketchup

2 cups water

1/3 cup Worcestershire sauce

1/2 tsp hot sauce

1 tsp salt

The recipe calls for a huge amount of ribs.  I used the same amount of sauce no matter how much meat I had.  I feel that you can never have enough sauce.  

So then I ventured away from the recipe for the cooking part of it.  I sprinkled some onion powder on the ribs.  If you're normal, you could throw in some sliced onions instead.  I combined the ingredients for the sauce and heated everything up on the stove (per the recipe).  After that, I put the ribs in the crock pot and poured the sauce on top.  I let them cook on low for about 8 1/2 hours.

At this point, they were already very tender and about the fall off the bone.  I then popped them in the oven at 425 degrees for about 35 minutes.

This is how they turned out.

They were definitely an improvement from the first attempt.  Bob still isn't a huge fan of ribs in general, but his dad is.  And he said they were delicious.  So I'm going to take his opinion seriously.  I love the sauce in this recipe.  It's basic but really flavorful.  Never, ever will I make ribs outside of the crock pot again!  Dinner was cooked, eaten, and cleaned up by 5:40 tonight.  That almost never happens in this house.  (we tend to eat on the late side)  I couldn't believe I have all this extra time to write this post, do some lesson planning, and read my new book, The Art of Racing in the Rain :)  Quality Sunday evening.

 

Parmesan Potatoes & A Little Reflection

What a crazy week.  It's only Thursday and this country has been through 2 major catastrophes.  I've been praying for everyone affected by those horrible tragedies and just can't believe that this is the world we live in lately.  I do find hope in knowing that God has a plan, even though our tiny brains can't comprehend what it is.  There are so many things to pray for, but my main focus this week has been peace for everyone involved.  I pray that their hearts and bodies will heal from the pain. 

It's so easy for me to get caught up in the day to day and lose appreciation for everything that God has blessed me with. The reality is that it could all be gone in an instant.  Today, I made it a point to have more patience and love towards all of my students.  It was definitely not as easy as I thought!  After explaining how to play HedBanz 102892489239 times and having no one understand what you're saying, the last thing I had was an abundance of patience.

I think that we could all stand to take some time and enjoy the little things.  Like...watching your husband play fetch with your dog :) And the beautiful 80 degree weather we had today.  And putting the grill back together after it got blown over and killed your bushes.  Trying to get the cover back on the thing in gale force winds was probably very entertaining for our neighbors to watch. It's little things like this that make me realize that God is so good in so many ways.

Anyways, onto lighter topics.  I actually came on here to share one of my favorite foods again.  Potatoes!  This is a quick recipe I threw together a few days ago as a side dish.

You need:

3-4 potatoes, cut into bite size chunks
Salt and pepper
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp butter or oil (I used Wild Tree butter flavored oil--I could drink that stuff, it's amazing)
1 tbsp shredded parmesan cheese (rough estimate)

First, cut up your potatoes.

Then toss in the seasonings and oil/butter.  Mix until all potatoes are covered.  Transfer to a baking dish.  Top with the parmesan.

Bake at 425 degrees for about 30-40 minutes.  You can add a little more cheese to them once they come out of the oven, too.

I know it's not very exciting, but we always need side dishes, right??  Coming soon: more re-organizing of my house!  I just bought some great organizational things on Amazon and can't wait to use them :)

Organizational Gems: Laundry Style

Happy Sunday!  Sadly, tomorrow is Monday.  That's horrible, but knowing that I have only 8 weeks left of school makes me want to go and get it over with. 

SO, what might come as a shock to many people is this--my husband is extremely organized.  Sometimes.  He's organized when it comes to his personal space: this being the basement and the garage.  I'm organized in theory, but I could use some work.  Being a wife requires one to take over the organizational aspects of things that were formerly only for moms.  Example: laundry.  I've been physically doing my laundry since I was probably 12.  But I all I had to do was run the machine.  The whole concept of where to hang the clothes, where the keep the detergent, where to keep dirty clothes, was all foreign to me.  Weird, I know.

My husband helped me tremendously in making the best use out of our laundry closet.  I call it a closet because it's literally a closet.  See?

I recently tried to do some spring cleaning and started with this room.  I tried to rearrange and organize everything the best that I could.  So here it is.

We bought these awesome hanging shelves from Lowe's when we first moved into the house.  My hubby was the one who chose them so I can't take full credit. 

The shelf that came with the house is way too high.  So I keep all my frequently used stuff here.  Note the oxi-clean.  Best stain remover ever.

Above that shelf is one of my favorite pinterest finds.  I used chalkboard paint on some cheap plastic bins I found at Wal-Mart or something.

Since the laundry room is so small, I always ended up with clothes overflowing into the kitchen.  Not cute.  So when I saw some rendition of this on pinterest, I had to do it.  I can start one load and put whatever is leftover into the whites or darks bin. 

Next to those are my massive amounts of laundry detergent.  Keep in mind that I'm a frequent wholesale club shopper so if I have a coupon for something, I'll buy it in enormous quantities.  And detergent and tissues are things you're always going to need, right?

Underneath are rags in an easy to reach spot.  The hangers are for any clothes I don't put in the dryer.  Which is actually more than I ever put IN the dryer. 

My hubby also found this great huge shelf at Lowe's.

(Ignore the nasty paint splattered laundry tub from the massive amount of painting we did  last year.)  Thanks to my reorganization, I now have a soap/dog shampoo self, towel shelf, and cleaning shelf.  I was so annoyed with having to carry all my cleaning supplies into the bathroom when I was cleaning.  (no room in the bathroom for storage)  So I got a bin that I can just carry in there.  Much easier.  And I used my good ol' chalkboard paint to label it :)

Up top I put the wholesale toilet paper and paper towels.  Those are also 2 things you never want to run out of.  And I've found it's way cheaper to buy them wholesale and just store them.  Although that is kind of a pain.  Next to the shelf is another great Lowe's find that I highly recommend.  It has hooks, levers, and a lot of other confusing looking things.  But it holds all our mops, brooms, and awkwardly shaped items. 
Speaking of which, I was mopping today and realized that I have the worst mop known to man.  I'm pretty sure we got it at Drug Mart. 

Finally, above the laundry tub I have the widest assortment of cleaning products that anyone could ever need (and light bulbs).

I honestly can't tell you why we have all of this.  I guess not all of it is for cleaning.  Some is shoe water proofer,  hair spray, etc.  Which brings me to my next point.

This is the best solution for getting ink stains out of clothing.  At Bob's last job, he was always putting uncapped pens into his white coat.  WHITE.  What a disaster.  Someone at his work once told me to try hair spray to get them out.  Cheap hair spray.  So I bought the cheapest kind I could find.  I sprayed it on the ink and used a toothbrush to scrub it.  I also put a little oxi-clean mixed with water on it before throwing it in the wash.  Seriously, this is the only way I could get these stains to come out.  Some of them were months old so they only faded.  But the newer ones came right out! 

Despite this solution, I will say that I'm very happy to not be cleaning those coats anymore :)

Well, I hope I didn't embarrass myself too much by putting this scary room out there.  The good news is that the laundry room doesn't have to be scary.  As a wife, I spend a lot of time going in and out of there and I can finally find everything I need!

A Crockpot Chicken

The worst possible thing just happened.  I accidentally deleted my first crockpot chicken post!!  It was one of those moments where you're like, "WAAAAAAIIIIITTTTT COME BAAAAACK!!!"  I tried hitting the back arrow a thousand times as if that would make it reappear.  I am so sad.  I came on here to write a post about organization and this demonstrates that I clearly have some work to do.  Can someone teach me how to operate a computer?

I guess I should move on.  But I can't stop thinking about it.  Ugh.  I can't stop being angry about this.  Don't expect this re-do post to be nearly as good as the first one (if you even thought the first one was any good). 

Once again, here are you ingredients:

1 small-ish roasting chicken
Salt and pepper
2 tbsp butter (or margarine)
2 cloves garlic
1/2 lemon
Whatever spices you like--I used paprika, rosemary, thyme, and onion powder

First, you have to deal with the chicken.  I prep it by rinsing it under cold water and drying it with a paper towel.  After that, peel one clove of garlic and leave it whole.  Peel the other clove and slice it as thin as possible.  I use this garlic slicer from Pampered Chef.  The garlic comes out paper thin!  And you don't have the risk of slicing your fingers.

Stick your whole clove of garlic and the lemon half inside the chicken.  Gross, but it must be done.  Then shove all the sliced garlic anywhere and everywhere.  I put some under the skin and tucked it under the legs and wings. 

After that, mix the spices with the butter.

Then spread that mixture all over the chicken.  It looks really appetizing, yeah?

So, I did all this prep the night before.  I kept the chicken in the crockpot in the fridge overnight.  I cooked it the next day on low for about 10 hours.  It was probably done sooner than this but I like it super tender. 

I put no water in with the chicken before cooking.  This is how much juice came out!  No joke, this is the best way to make chicken.  It comes out so tender that it literally melts off the bones.  It's actually kind of a pain to get all the meat out.  BUT we got another 2 meals out of the leftovers!  That's my favorite type of dinner :)

Freezer Meals...Again!

I know, I haven't written anything for awhile.  I'm sure everyone is heartbroken.  This is partly because we've been eating out a lot and mostly because I've been lazy on my spring break.  I've done a lot of nothing and a lot of Netflix watching.  Today, though, I decided it was time to do my freezer meals.  Our giant freezer in the basement was actually empty.  I almost had a panic attack.  So I called my grandma and asked her to take me to Costco.  The thing about that place is that you go in thinking "I know what I'm going to buy" and come out with 129429402 things you never knew you needed.  I ended up coming out with a work shirt for Bob, flax, and a giant tub a jelly beans (ok, those were actually on the list of things I wanted). 

3 hours and $170 later, I had all the meat I needed and about $70 worth of random things.  I'd say it was a success.  I've managed to narrow down my freezer meals to the following meats: chicken, ground turkey, pork tenderloin, and pork chops.  I was much more organized this time, too.  Since I did my shopping the day before cooking, I was able to make lists of recipes based off of the amount of food I had.  I meant to take a picture of my fridge full of meat, but forgot.  In total, I ended up with
12 chicken breasts
4 pork tenderloins
8 pork chops (which I split in half since they were way too thick)
4 packs of ground turkey (which I also split in half)
6 packs of chicken tenders (maybe 6-7 in each pack)

I did all my prep work the day before cooking.  My coffee table looked like this:

 This time around I used a lot of recipes from my favorite cookbook (sitting amidst the mess).  Since summer is right around the corner (hopefully), I decided to do recipes we can grill.  My hubby and I grill ALL the time in the summer.  I pretty much do entire meals on the grill--really saves on dish washing! 

This morning I woke up and immediately got to work.  The most annoying part is making the counter space.  It's absolutely necessary though.  Basically I just moved the clutter from the counter to the table. 

 It took 3 times, but I think I finally have the technique figured out.  I started with the items I was actually going to pre-cook.  As I've said before, I found this idea from this blog.  I still happen to think it's genius.  I made 1 lb of mexican turkey and 1 lb of italian (recipes here).  I split each into 2 freezer bags so I can make 4 meals out of them. 

 I also made some turkey burgers.  This is a new thing so we'll see how it goes.  I made 4 Asian and 4 BBQ.  I decided to wing these and just started pouring in anything I thought would taste good.  (recipes to come later)

Then I boiled 2 chicken breasts with some salt, garlic powder, and onion powder. You could add veggies if you wanted.

I shredded them to use in random meals.  Our favorite is BBQ chicken sandwiches.  I've also put it on pizza. 

I also saved the chicken broth by freezing it in an ice cube tray.  Once they were frozen, I threw them in a freezer bag.  It's so easy (and healthy) to throw a cube into anything that calls for chicken broth.

Once all this was done it got a little messy.  Nothing will ever prepare me for the amount of raw meat that is handled during this process.  I'm neurotic and it's very hard to keep everything separated and clean.  This time around, I designated the main counter space for preparing sauces and the space by the stove for transferring the meat. 

I started with the pork chop recipes.  I grabbed my previously labeled bags and a bunch of bowls. 

I mixed each sauce and put them on the bag they would later go into.  I soon realized that this uses way too many bowls (duh).  So I then started immediately dumping the sauce in the bag and washing out the bowl. 

After the pork chops I moved onto the tenderloins, using the same method. 

Next came the chicken.  I bought a giant pack of chicken breasts and another of chicken tenders.  I bypassed the thighs this time since the tenders were a little cheaper.  They're also good for throwing into a stir fry.

After 4 hours and disgusting chicken hands, my freezer was filled with 32 meals.

So--with this being my second freezer meal post, I pretty much have it down to a science.  My new favorite thing to do is simply make a bunch of marinades.  That way I have the flexibility to prepare the meal however I want.  I still did a couple crock pot meals, but not as many as last time.  I also found that it really is easiest to find recipes online or in cookbooks rather than trying to re-invent the wheel.  Of course I still tweaked things to my liking :)

What we ate for dinner tonight was actually not a freezer meal.  And I'm so mad I just realized I didn't take a picture of it!  Anyways--since my grandma was kind enough to use her Costco membership on me, I'm giving a shout out to her.  I made her recipe called Torta.  This is one of my go-to meals when I need something quick, easy, and tasty. 

You need:
1 lb ground meat (I used turkey)
Onion or onion powder
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp lemon juice
5 tbsp ketchup
Pepper to taste
1 bay leaf
2 eggs
Old Bay Seasoning
Raisins (optional)

First, fry up the meat in a skillet with the onion or onion powder (for all the onion haters out there) and the bay leaf.  Once cooked, add the soy sauce, lemon juice, and pepper.  Then add the ketchup.  If you're using raisins, add those too.  I would use them but my husband doesn't like them (anyone surprised? :)  Meanwhile, scramble the two eggs and add seasoning (she says you can add salt and pepper if you need to).  Fry the eggs like you're making an omelette.  When they're almost cooked, dump the meat on top of them.  Heat it up a little longer to finish cooking the eggs.  This is the fun part.  Put a plate on top of the pan and flip over.  I wish I had a picture!!  The egg should be on top of the meat.  Cut into pieces and serve over rice. 

Thank you to my grandma for this delicious meal.  And it only takes about 25 minutes! 

Now I need to go watch American Idol because freezer meals are exhausting.