But the other reason I haven’t cooked much is that I love cooking for other people and I haven’t had much opportunity to do that. That is until a few weeks ago when I had a girls night at my apartment. It was one last big blow out with my girls before London. The eight of us (not all pictured below) had a potluck and we ate and we drank and we ate some more. In addition to piñon, we had salad, pizza, cheesecake, chips and dip, and raisin bread. Aren’t pot lucks excellent?! You get to eat all kinds of things!

We also talked and told old stories from college and new recent stories. We laughed and laughed and laughed. And finally we dragged ourselves away from the table, we put on some heels and we went out dancing. At the end of the night we came home, ate more food, had a sleepover, and then the next day I made them watch Orange is the New Black. Best night ever. I felt loved, I danced my heart out, and my feet hurt in the morning. It was an absolute blast. Some photos are below. Some are nice and some are weird… so it goes.

But back to cooking. Having everyone over was also the perfect reason to make something off of my recipe bucket-list. I love sweet plantains and I have been wanting to make this recipe forever, I just needed a captive audience. This is lasagna-like only because meat is layered between things and then baked. Otherwise, the ingredients aren’t that similar.

I was making it as the girls arrived and when I opened the door a few people immediately said, “something smells good!” That is always a good sign. I think sweet plantains and meat may sound like a weird combination, but it totally works.  Everyone said they liked it, and it has an excellent array of flavors. Try it out.

I adapted this recipe from Wilo Benet’s Puerto Rico True Flavors. I used ground turkey instead of beef to accommodate dietary restrictions. I also cooked the plantains in a skillet instead of in the oven. And finally, I seasoned the meat how I felt like it and didn’t use the cookbook recipe at all. Anyway, have some people over and try it out.

Ingredients: 

4-5 ripe plantains

3 oz green beans, trimmed and cut into small pieces

1 lb ground beef or turkey

olive oil

1 small onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 red bell pepper, diced

1/4 cup sofrito

2 tbsp cilantro

3 eggs

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 300°

2. Peel the plantains and cut lengthwise into about 4 pieces. To peel the plantains, cut off the ends then score lengthwise. Slowly peel the skin from the fruit. Use your knife to scrape what won’t peel off. Plantains don’t peel like bananas.

3. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, put in the plantain slices. Fry until they brown a little bit,then flip. Place them on a paper towel to drain the oil. You will have to do this step in batches.

4. Steam the green beans. I did this by putting a little water in a pot, putting a steamer in the pot, adding the green beans, then cooking on high while covered for about 5-7 minutes.

5. In another skillet, heat some oil over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, saute the onions and garlic until they are soft and browned (5ish minutes)

6. Add the red pepper and sofrito. Cook for about 7 minutes.

7. Add the ground meat. Break it up using your spoon. Cook until entirely cooked through. When it’s done cooking place on paper towels to drain excess grease.

8. Turn off the heat and stir in the cilantro and steamed green beans. Mix!

9. Oil the bottoms and sides of a 8″x8″ casserole dish.

10. Arrange a layer of plantains on the bottom of the dish.

11. Top the plantains evenly with the meat. Press down with your hands or with a spoon to make it all fit tightly.

12. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl. Pour (or spoon/brush) half of the egg over the meat. This egg will help bind your end product.

13. Top the meat with the remaining plantains.

14. Pour the remaining egg over the plantains.

15. Place in the oven and cook for about 35-40 minutes.

16. Slice and serve!

Messy level:  This is a four spoon recipe. You need three burners to cook the meat, green beans, and plantains. You also need a dish for the oven. And you have to drain two things to get the grease out. That makes for a lot of dishes!! Also peeling and cutting the plantains is messy work – I had that goop all over the kitchen!

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While I was cooking, what made me happy was Ryan got home and said “it smelled good in the hall and I was hoping it was my house.” Awesome! I was winning before he even tasted it. The only compliment better than that is that we both liked it after we ate

Many of the recipes I try out and post on the blog I’ve gotten from a cookbook, but this is a Mariel original! It was inspired by some Google searching, a little bit by Eating with the Seasons which is a book from my farm share with Potomac Vegetable Farms, and by Ryan’s love for tex-mex food. So I got ideas from here and there, but overall it’s all mine. It might seem silly, but I feel like I’m becoming a “real” cook when I’m putting meals together based on my own ideas. Hope you enjoy the recipe! It’s a great new take on taco night.

Ingredients

3-4 red bell peppers (depending on size, I used 3 and had leftover meat)

1 lb ground turkey (could also use beef)

1-2 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1 tsp minced garlic

1/2 can of corn (or about 2 ears fresh)

optional: 1/4 cup of corn salsa from Trader Joe’s. It’s a little sweet and spicy and I love it!

1/2 packet of taco seasoning

1/4 cup of tomato sauce (I like a chunky sauce so tomatoes are in the mix)

1 cup of chicken broth

shredded cheddar cheese (to your taste)

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 400°

2. Cut the bell peppers in half. Clean out all the seeds and pith.

3. In a skillet on medium-high, heat the olive oil. When the oil is hot, saute the onion and garlic (about 2-4 minutes).

4. Add the turkey meat. Add the taco seasoning. Add the corn. Cook until mostly cooked through.

5. As you’re cooking the meat, add the tomato sauce if you sense the meat getting dry.

6. Add all of the tomato sauce and 1/2 cup of chicken broth to the meat.

7. Simmer the meat mixture for 3-5 minutes.

8. Optional: If you like the peppers extra cooked, wrap them in aluminum foil and roast them in the oven for 10 minutes before you stuff them.

9. Stuff the meat mixture into the pepper half. Put the stuffed peppers into a casserole or rimmed backing dish

10. Sprinkle the top with cheese.

11. Pour the remaining chicken broth in the bottom of your dish

12. Cover with aluminum foil and cook for 20-25. It’s read when everything is hot, pepper is softened, and cheese is melted.

Messy Level: Low! This is basically a 2-dish cooking endeavor. I basically used a knife, cutting board, skillet, and casserole dish so there was very little that needed cleaning up afterward. The biggest mess is trying to neatly get the cooked stuffed peppers out of the dish once they are done. Not only a good meal, but Ryan didn’t have to go crazy doing the dishes afterward.

The post Tex-Mex Stuffed Peppers appeared first on Cooking is Messy.

For some reason I have an aversion to posting regular recipes. You know, the ones that use the ingredients already in my fridge. For some reason I feel recipes should be “blog-worthy” and impressive. But really, we all need some delicious and easy  every day recipes like this teriyaki turkey burger.  It’s a great weekday dinner recipe and brings a little summer into the kitchen. 

Now usually when I make recipes like this, burgers or meatballs or meatloaf, I just eyeball the seasoning. I sprinkle the spices I like. I keep going until I can  see little granules of spice. For this recipe I measured out teaspoons of spice, but I still recommend the old eyeball test.

The burger is good as is, but you can kick it up a notch with a pineapple ring. Heat up a grill pan (or a skillet) and cook the pineapple until you have some brown lines. Top the burger and be delighted.

Messy level: Two spoons. Yes, it’s basically dumping ingredients into the bowl, but you have to get your hands mucked up in the meat, which is why it’s a two spoon recipe.

Teriyaki Turkey Burgers

 

Print

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

25 mins

 

Serves: 5

Ingredients

• 1 pound of ground turkey
• ½ teaspoon onion powder
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
• ¾ cup of bread crumbs, divided
• 1 egg
• ½ cup of teriyaki sauce (I used Trader Joe's Island Soyaki), plus some extra sauce for finishing
• 5 slices of pineapple (I used canned, but by all means uses fresh)
• 5 buns

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, mix together the ground turkey, onion powder, garlic powder, black pepper, ¼ cup of breadcrumbs. Add up to ¼ cup more of bread crumbs if the mixture is too wet and won't hold together. Use your hands to mix it all together.
2. Add the egg and teriyaki sauce.
3. Using your hands mix and mash and squish is all together. If the mixture feels too sticky, as in you can't really make a patty or it's all stuck to your hands, then add the remainder of the bread crumbs.
4. Once everything is all mixed together, make patties! Mine were about ¾ of an inch thick.
5. Heat a skillet on medium-high (or grill, or George Forman grill) and cook the burgers. Instead of using oil we cooked it in more teriyaki sauce to give the burgers more flavor - Do what you like.The burgers should take about 4-6 minutes per side.
6. Optional: if you have a grill pan (or in your skillet, but you won't have lines) take the slices of pineapple and heat them. This shouldn't take long at all, it should be a quick sizzle, just enough to warm the pineapples and create those beautiful dark grill lines.
7. Put the burgers and pineapples on the bun and then put a dollop of teriyaki in the hole of the pineapple. EAT!
8. bit messier.

3.5.3226

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