Cooks Corner: Spicy Turkey Chili Recipe

 

 

 

SPICY TURKEY CHILI

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs. boneless skinless turkey thighs, cut into 1-inch pieces

3 cloves of garlic minced

1 medium yellow onion, diced small

2 serano chiles, seeded and minced

1 chipotle chile in adobo seeded and minced

1 can( 28 oz.), whole peeled tomatoes, pureed

2 Tbs. chili powder

2 cans (15.5 oz. each) black beans drained and rinsed

1 Tablespoon white vinegar

1 tsp. coarse salt

Preparation:

1. In a 5-6 quart slow cooker, combine turkey, garlic, onion, Serrano chilies, chipotle chile, tomato puree, chili powder, and 1 tsp. salt. Cover and cook on high until turkey is fork tender, 3 hours (or 6 hours on low.)

2. Add beans and cook until warmed through, about 30 minutes more. Stir in vinegar and season with salt.

SOURCE:  Everyday Food, a Martha Stuart Publication, March 2013

Recipe: Wehani Rice Seafood Paella

http:  fromadietitiansperspective.blogspot.com

Wehani, developed by Lundberg Farms, is a reddish-brown hybrid of Indian basmati and long-grain brown rice.  In this paella, if offers a pleasing taste and texture variation when combined with short-grain brown rice.  Did you know? Toasting the rice cracks the bran layer and causes the grains to burst open and become soft and creamy as they cook?  Delicious!!!

Wehani rice Seafood Paella

copyright Photo by James Carriere

 

Ingredients:

1. 1 1/2 cups short-grain brown rice
2. 1/2 cup Wehai rice
3. 1 Tbsp olive oil
4. 1 cup of finely chopped onion
5. 1 Tbsp of coarsely chopped garlic
6. 1 teaspoon of smoked Spanish paprika
7. 1/3 cup of finely chopped cooked chorizo
8. 1 8ox bottle clam juice
9. 2 3/4 cups water
10. 1/2 tsp salt
11. 1# medium-sized shrimp, peeled and deveined
12. 1/2 # bay scallops, rinsed
13. 1 medium roasted red bell pepper (bottled are fined too, seeded and cut)
14. 1 cup frozen green peas
15. 2 Tbsp of drained capers (I use a lot more)
16. 3 Tbsp fresh minced parsley
17. The zest of 1 large lemon
18. Freshly ground black pepper to taste

 

Preparation:

1. Set a heavy 4 qt. Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  When hot, add short-grain and Wehani rice and toast, stirring occasionally, until fragrant, 2-3 minutes.  Push rice to one side.  Add oil in empty spot; stir-in onion, garlic, and paprika.  Stir to incorporate rice.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are softened, 2-3 minutes.

2. Lower heat to medium.  Stir in chorizo, clam juice, water, and salt.  Bring to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer until rice is tender, about 40 minutes or so.

3. Stir in shrimp, cover, and cook for 3 minutes over low-heat.  Stir in scallops, bell pepper, green peas, and capers.  Cover and continue cooking until shrimp and scallops are cooked, 1-2 minutes more.  Add black pepper, and season to taste with salt and paprika.  Garnish each portion with parsley and lemon zest!

Recipe Source: Lorna Sass* Staff Delicious Living

Enjoy.

A Hunger for the Traditional Senses, or is it?

By Anthony J Sepe

http://fromadietitiansperspective.blogspot.com

We’ve talked about Nutrition, and what nutrition is and what nutrition, is not. We’ve talked about what nutrients are, and why we need them. We’ve even talked about some better ways to get these important nutrients. So, what makes eating so enjoyable?

  Truly, we’d like to think that it’s fun to eat, and sometimes, it really is. However, what I really am getting at—food really is satisfying, a physical need. We eat food and drink fluids because it often begins with the overwhelming sense of either, hunger, thirst, or even, both. Physical needs precipitate the amount of food we eat and when we eat. Appetite is really an unreliable source, just as, most often times, a 24-hour recall. Because why? Often times, people don’t recall what they ate today, let alone, what they ate and in what quantities, over the past 24-hours. As a result, appetite is another drive of the human body, but just not that handy to helping out here. Appetite is generally influenced by our food preferences and the psychological mindset to eat. In other words, we can desire a particular food item, crave it; desire it; pursue it and, in some instances, even eat it, but, did we really need it. Therefore, we can even eat food in overabundance without needing the nourishment or even being hungry.

Everyone enjoys eating foods that taste delicious, but what exactly is taste? There are categories of taste: Sweet, Salty, Sour, Savory and bitter. (4s1b) Most taste buds are on the tongue, but strangely enough, some additional taste buds are located in the back of the throat and some, elsewhere in our mouth. It has been known that food scientists estimate that each of us has at least 10,000 taste buds.

Sometimes, our food preferences and our nutrition needs conflict. We may eat too much because the food is so pleasurable. When there is a reason to change our food habits, such as a need to lose weight or reduce salt or fat intake, we realize how challenging it is to control our food choices. Therefore, aromas and flavors enhance the pleasure of eating. The taste and the aroma of a food contribute to its flavor. Flavor is almost always tied into the food experience. So, let’s see. Let’s eat an ice cream sandwich or  a candy bar. We sense the sweet taste of ice cream or the candy bar, but the flavor is, of course, chocolate!  And, as most of us know, the presence of fat tends to increase the intensity of the flavor and bring us to a full feeling of satiety-- quicker. So, is smell a big part of taste? True or false. For those that answered true, you are correct!