Monday Motivational Meal—Turkey Veggie Meatballs

 

We have many family favorite recipes we have discovered and claimed over the years. One such recipe from Cooking Light includes a homemade Marinara Sauce and the delicious Turkey-Veggie Meatballs to go with it. I haven’t found a kid yet who doesn’t love a meatball. The wonderful thing about the Turkey-Veggie Meatballs is that they are packed full of delicious veggies yet are so tasty no one, including kids, realizes how healthy they are for you. I also like the fact that they are not greasy like classic meatballs with beef can be. Make your own sauce or use your preferred store bought…whatever works! We served this delectable meal up on Vivente.

Get the recipe here. 

 

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Monday Motivational Meal — Individualized Homemade Pizzas

Looking to make dinner a family affair? Everyone can participate in making Individual Pizzas! The best part is you can choose your favorite nutritious ingredients as toppings. Enjoy this healthy family meal on our Celebrate Pattern to inspire mindful eating!

Get this yummy recipe here!

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Individualized Homemade Pizzas—Fresh Family Fun

Individualized pizzas are an easy inspiration at home that is smile-making, delicious and able to be personalized to each person’s eating style. Because it is freshly made it is more tasty and satisfying than a frozen or take out pizza. Also, as it is homemade, you can control the ingredients that go into each pizza so the calories, fat, salt as well as protein can be tailored to your needs. It makes for a fun family DIY dinner when you are ready for a little celebrating or…just because.

It is possible to make your own pizza dough, however, to make it even easier, we buy ready made dough at the grocery store. We have found that Whole Foods has whole-wheat fresh pizza dough in the refrigerator section and King Soopers has regular white flour pizza dough in their refrigerator section. It is possible to freeze the dough so buy two and freeze one in anticipation of another fun pizza night ahead.

Ingredients

• Store bought whole wheat pizza dough
• ¾ cup low-fat store-bought marinara sauce
• ½ cup torn basil leaves
• 2 cups cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 8 ounces turkey sausage, cooked and crumbled
• 6 whole bottled pepperoncini, stems removed and cut into ¼-inch slices
• 1½ cups shredded reduced fat mozzarella cheese
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan
• Cooking Spray, olive oil
• Cornmeal for cookie sheet
• Flour for rolling out dough
• Pizza Hot Stone

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 500°F or highest setting.
2. Separate dough into 4 equal parts rolled into a ball.  Place them on a plate or cutting board that has been sprayed with cooking spray and let warm and rise until about double (should take about 45 minutes). Roll out each ball separately into 9 in rounds on a lightly floured surface. Pinch together any tears.
3. Place the rolled out dough on a cookie sheet that has been dusted with cornmeal. Prick the dough in about 8 places with a fork. Transfer the pizza round to the pizza stone. Cook for 2-3 minutes until underside is browned. Remove from oven. Repeat process with each pizza round.
4. Flip the cooked dough over to place toppings. Spread about 2 tablespoons of the marinara sauce onto each crust, leaving ½ inch border. Scatter ¼ of the basil, mushrooms, cooked sausage, and pepperoncini evenly over the sauce on each pizza. 
5. Mix the cheeses together and scatter ¼ of the mixture over the top of each pizza.
6. One at a time slide the pizzas back on to the pizza stone. Bake until the cheese is bubbling and golden brown and the crust is browned and crispy, 3-4 minutes.
7. Cut the pizzas into wedges and serve hot.

Nutritional Information

Serving size: 1 pizza. Calories: 320; Fat 10g; Sodium 1013g; Carbohydrates 36g; Fiber 6g; Protein 21g.

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Monday Motivational Meal

Who doesn't love a good burger in the summer hot off the grill? What about this Peppered Arugula Turkey Burger? Complete with sweet potato fries and tomato, red onion salad for a delicious summer meal for the whole family. We served ours up on Vivente!

 

You can find this recipe here!

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Monday Motivational Meal

With Thanksgiving around the corner chances are you are going to have some leftovers. For some leftover meal solutions try this low carb turkey hash recipe...served up on our ever-popular Halsa dinnerware!

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Thanksgiving Turkey Re-Imagined...Turkey Tenderloin with Herb Broth

This is a Guest Blog that our friend and affiliate, Liz Bull, has shared with us...just in time for Thanksgiving!

Maybe this is the year that you are having a QUIET Thanksgiving…think candlelight dinner for two, maybe four…without all of the hoo-ha and the stress…catching your breath and being thankful. Maybe the mere thought of cooking a big turkey puts you over the top…OK, maybe it’s the thought of the leftovers….just sayin’.  Turkey tenderloins have been my go-to for several years. The best thing is, you don’t have to wait for Thanksgiving to enjoy them!  I serve them with greens or asparagus. As for the cranberry sauce, well… store bought chutney will do just fine. Serving on Livliga china dinnerware guarantees that you’ll be satisfied, not stuffed! Now THAT’S something to be thankful for.

Turkey Tenderloin with Herb Broth

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 24 oz turkey tenderloins ( there are two in the package)
• Salt and ground black pepper
• 1 pound potatoes, quartered (if bigger, cut into 2-inch pieces) 
• 2 shallots, chopped- or Onion, chopped
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• 1 tablespoons apple cider vinegar or lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh tarragon leaves…or dried herb like Thyme
• Chutney

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Place oil in a large baking dish. 
3. Season turkey tenderloins all over with salt and black pepper and place in baking dish. 
4. Arrange potatoes all around turkey and turn to coat with oil.
5. Season potatoes with salt and black pepper. Arrange shallots/onion over potatoes in pan.
6. In a small bowl, combine wine, broth, vinegar, and herbs. 
7. Pour mixture over turkey.
8. Roast turkey and potatoes for 50-60 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer registers at least 160 degrees F.
9. Let turkey rest 10 minutes before slicing crosswise into 1/2-inch thick slices. 
10. Serve with broth over top. 
11. Serve spinach, greens or asparagus on the side. 

Our Guest Blogger this month is Liz Bull. She is an avid Livliga Affiliate. Here is information about her background and professional credentials as well as information about how to connect with her.

Liz Bull helps women (and brave men!) who are fed up with weight loss programs that don’t work to finally get a body and a life they love. A Medical Intuitive, Master Theta Healer, and Certified Virtual Gastric Band Practitioner, Liz  has long been fascinated by the important role mind, body, and beliefs play in our lives. Her other studies and certifications include EFT, Psych-K, Matrix Energetics, Access Consciousness, QiGong, NLP and Transcendental Meditation. www.lizbull.com

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Monday Motivational Meal

Busy night? Try this One-Skillet Veggie Pie with Turkey Sausage that makes meal prep simple and your menu hearty. We served ours up on Vivente to complete this healthy homecooked dinner. 

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Facebook Live Recipe: Rotisseried Turkey Breast

Walt’s Lemon Garlic Fennel Rotisseried Turkey Breast

For some reason most of us think that turkey meat is only something you have at Thanksgiving, or maybe Christmas. This is partly because the grocery stores only seemed to carry turkeys during that time of year. A little known secret is that if you look in the freezer section it is possible to not only find whole turkeys but also bone in turkey breasts all year long. This is good news because turkey meat is not only good for us but also tasty to eat any time of year.

A roasted/rotisseried turkey breast is among my family’s favorite meat recipes.  This is because Walt developed a simple yet mouthwatering way to prepare a turkey breast using the rotisserie on our grill and simple ingredients on the turkey breast. The smell of the turkey breast roasting can’t be beat.

Consider preparing a rotisseried turkey breast for your next backyard barbecue to add a little variety. The leftover meat from the turkey can be used for a number of other meals too like diabetes-friendly Turkeyand Sweet Potato Hash with Fried Egg or RoastedTurkey, Dried cherries and Barley Salad and GrilledTurkey Plum Sandwiches. One rotisseried turkey breast can make a week of meals so much easier to plan and prepare.

Ingredients

1 9-lbs (approx.) whole turkey breast (bone-in)

For the outside of the Turkey breast

• 2 lemons, zested
• 2 lemons, juiced
• 3 ounces of chicken broth
• 3 tablespoons whole fennel seed, ground
• 6 garlic cloves, minced

For the interior of the Turkey breast

• 5 whole lemons, cut into quarters
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 tablespoon whole fennel seed, ground

Directions

1. Wash and roll the 2 lemons to soften
2. Zest both lemons, and then juice them
3. Mix lemon juice and chicken broth in small bowl (make sure they are in equal amounts, adjust accordingly)
4. Add in the lemon zest, ground fennel, and garlic to the liquid mixture
5. Wash turkey breast and pat dry
6. Coat outside of turkey with garlic/fennel/lemon zest mixture
7. Stuff breast cavity with lemon quarters mixed with additional garlic and fennel
8. Let stand an hour, refrigerated.
9. Place on rotisserie over highest heat for about 10 minutes; reduce heat and cook about 1 ½ to 2 more hours, until internal temperature reaches 165°F.
10. Let rest 30 minutes. Carve and serve.

Cooking Tip:

• For a 5-6 lbs turkey breast, 25 minutes at 430°F, and finish at 330°F for about one hour. Let rest 30 minutes. Carve and serve.
• Or, swap out for 2 6 lbs Frying Chickens (serve 8), 25 minutes at 425°F, and finish at 350°F for an additional 65 minutes. Let rest 30 minutes. Carve and serve.

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Diabetes-Friendly Turkey and Sweet Potato Hash with Fried Egg

There is nothing better than leftovers to inspire creativity. Before I discovered roast turkey as a great year-round food, I relished the leftovers in order to make my favorite comfort foods like turkey tetrazzini and of course, turkey hash.

 

Turkey hash is easy to prepare and is perfect for breakfast, brunch or a Sunday supper. My version is packed full of healthy ingredients that not only include high quality protein but also vitamins, especially vitamin C; minerals, like potassium; and antioxidants found in foods like garlic, onions and cauliflower used in this recipe. Providing comfort food that is also health promoting is particularly welcome during the colder months when we are combatting flu and colds. It nourishes our soul and our bodies. Below is my favorite hash recipe that is perfect for using up leftover turkey.

Diabetes-Friendly Turkey and Sweet Potato Hash with Fried Egg 

Ingredients

• 1 medium sweet potato, cubed and roasted
• 1 ½ cups cauliflower, chunked and roasted
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 1 yellow pepper, chopped
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
• ½ teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 cups cooked turkey, diced
• 4 large eggs
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• Cooking Spray, olive oil flavored

Directions

1. Prepare the cauliflower and sweet potato, placing them on a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray. Roast for 15 minutes at 375°. 
2. Next, spray a cast-iron skillet with cooking spray and add olive oil at medium heat. Add onions, peppers and salt. Cook until tender, about 5 minutes. 
3. Add garlic, paprika and cumin. Cook, stirring constantly for 1 minute. 
4. Add the roasted vegetables and turkey, stirring occasionally until the turkey is heated thoroughly, about 3 minutes. 
5. Meanwhile, heat a skillet sprayed with cooking spray over medium heat. Add eggs and fry for 3 – 5 minutes, or until they are cooked as you like to serve them. 
6. Divide the turkey hash to serve 4. Top each serving with an egg. Sprinkle evenly with pepper and serve immediately. 

Serves: 6
Calories per serving: 221
Total Fat: 9g
Carbohydrates: 13g
Sugars: 5g
Sodium: 430mg
Fiber: 3g
Protein: 21g

Enjoy! And Live Vibrant!

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Facebook Live Recipe: Turkey Bones and Root Soup

There are so many ways to make soup. Creating a homemade bone broth can add richness and health to the soup. The soup recipe below is made with a homemade bone broth. Bone broths are one of those “miracle” concoctions, good for our health and soul.

Chicken soup is the most well-known and commonly consumed bone broth. There are many other soups, however, that you can cook and enjoy that are made from bone broths. Bone broths are a great way to use up the excess bones you have. There is never any reason to throw those bones away again. Just make your own homemade bone broth to use in recipes, including soups. Pair it with a homemade bread or muffin and you have a hearty and healthy meal any time of year.

After Thanksgiving I always have bones leftover from the turkeys I roast. I put them in the freezer until I am ready to make a bone broth. Here is my recipe for the broth and then the soup I make with it. The cooking can be done in stages or in one day, if you have the time.

Turkey Bones and Root Soup

Broth

Ingredients

• 3 turkey legs
• Leftover turkey necks and bones
• 12 cups of water
• 1 large yellow onion, cut in quarters
• 20 whole peppercorns
• 2 bay leaves

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a stockpot.
2. Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer.
3. Simmer semi-covered for 2 hours and the meat is falling off the bone.
4. Separate the meat from the bones. Cut the meat into medium chunks. Keep a couple of the largest bones to place in the soup, and then discard the rest. Set aside the meat and large bones to put into the soup.
5. Strain the stock, discard the onion and bay leaves and peppercorns. All the remaining broth will be used for the soup.

Soup

Ingredients

• 4 ounces salt pork, chopped
• 1 large leek, pale part only, cut in half, clean and then slice crosswise
• 1 large parsnip, diced
• 1 large rutabaga, diced
• 1 medium turnip, diced
• 2 large carrots, diced
• 2 large potatoes, diced
• All the turkey bone broth
• 3 cups water
• 5 sprigs of fresh thyme
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon pepper
• ½ cup parsley, chopped
• 4 tablespoons lemon juice

Directions

1. Spray a skillet with olive oil cooking spray. Add the salt pork and leeks, sautéing for 5 minutes on medium-high heat.
2. Add all other vegetables to skillet and sauté for 5 additional minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Transfer mixture to a slow cooker. Then add the meat, broth, water, thyme, salt and pepper. Place a couple of the larger bones into the soup. Cook on low for 5 – 7 hours.
4. Just before serving remove the bones and thyme sprigs then add the parsley and lemon juice. Serve immediately.

Serves 8     Serving size: 1½ cups

This is a great recipe to make a day ahead. The flavors in a bone broth based soup only improve with age. It can even be frozen to be eaten at a later date. Once the soup has cooled, skim off the fat from the top, then store in the refrigerator or freeze.

As for ratings on the soup. My husband gives this soup 5 stars. The turkey meat and rutabaga make the taste rich and the finish slightly sweet.

Enjoy! And Live Vibrant!

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Great Ways to Use Turkey Leftovers

Great Ways to Use Turkey Leftovers (photo by LivligaHome).

 It is the day after Thanksgiving...or Christmas and we are all tired of cooking and have lots of leftovers in our refrigerators. How do we face making the next meal? By using the leftovers in a new, easy, yet different way.

People seem to have strong feelings about leftovers. Many are adverse to leftovers, hating the idea of eating day old food. Others, like me, love leftovers because it means for me that I can leverage the efforts of cooking for more than one meal. I also save time and can have food ready to go in Tupperware for taking to work or for making measuring the next meal mindless.

One way I have found to make using leftovers more appealing to everyone is to use leftover ingredients in new recipes. Leftovers no longer have the baggage of "same old same old" if you use them up in different recipes. It is easy to add leftover turkey in salads, chilis, soups and sandwiches. And there is always the longtime tradition of making turkey tetrazzini with leftover Thanksgiving turkey.

Two other favorites of mine are a no cook Apricot Turkey Salad Sandwich and a Barley Salad with Dried Cherries and Roasted Turkey. These are both recipes that are easy to do and real crowd-pleasers. They are also recipes that can be adapted to feed any number of people which can be handy when you have extra family around during the holidays.

Enjoy! And Live Vibrant!

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Spatchcocking a Turkey for Easy and Quick Roasting

Spatchcocking a Turkey for Easy and Quick Roasting (photo by LivligaHome).

 My husband has been talking about spatchcocking a turkey for Thanksgiving for a couple of years. This year we decided to do it. What is spatchcocking you may ask? Simply, it means taking the backbone out of a whole turkey. It is like butterflying a leg of lamb. The word and technique dates back to the 18th century. Spatchcocking a turkey has only recently become popular, however. One article I read attributes the popularity of spatchcocked turkeys to Mark Bittman, well-known food writer for the New York Times, who started talking about it in 2002 and then made a video of it in 2012.

The real reason you spatchcock a turkey is to cut your roasting time significantly. What used to take hours will now only take about 45 minutes! The other benefit is it fits into small ovens. Ever know of a situation where the stuffed turkey ends up being too big for the oven?

In researching the technique my husband landed on a recipe and video he liked from bon appétit. It is not difficult to do but it does require a sharp knife and a bit of force.

Spatchcocking requires a sharp knife and a bit of force (photo by LivligaHome).

 The suggested dry rub for the turkey was heady with smells of fresh orange zest and aniseed. Interestingly you do not cook the turkey with the rub. Instead you marinate it for a number of hours and then rinsing off the rub before roasting. We liked the rub a lot but you can prepare your spatchcocked turkey any number of ways.

So what is the verdict on spatchcocking? It is easy to do and does in fact allow you to cook your turkey in 45 minutes. Our turkey was also delicious.

Something to be aware of--no longer can you present a whole turkey at the Thanksgiving table with the same visual appeal. The new appeal is cutting up the turkey in the kitchen, arranging it attractively on a platter and then bringing it to the buffet ready to serve up.

The new appeal is cutting up the turkey in the kitchen (photo by LivligaHome).

 We will definitely repeat spatchcocking our turkeys. In fact, we just may eat whole turkeys more often in the future because it will no longer take so long to do and the meat is so juicy. We are thrilled to know about this new technique!

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Chili Made With Late Harvest Tomatoes

Our Late Harvest Tomatoes (photo by LivligaHome).

It is that time of year when we can have a hard frost. This thought prompts me into action in harvesting my remaining tomatoes. It is our first year with a real live vegetable garden. This is all new to me. We have an unbelievable bounty of tomatoes. The vines are laden with heirlooms, romas and big boys. I brought a huge bowl back in to my house vowing to use them all before they go bad. This meant planning multiple meals using tomatoes at each meal. It was actually a lot of fun! The heirlooms were used for Caprese salad and yummy BLTs. The big boys were used for an unbelievably delicious uncooked tomato pasta topped with feta. Then for the finale we had friends over and I made a Late Harvest Tomato Chili with the romas. The chili was a big hit so I thought I would share my recipe with you. To read the entire article and see the recipe click here...

Re-posted from Sheila's Blog on TheEpochTimes.com.

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Roasted Turkey, Dried Cherries and Barley Salad

Roasted Turkey, Dried Cherries and Barley Salad (photo by LivligaHome)

Roasted Turkey, Dried Cherries and Barley Summer Salad is a great way to use leftover turkey, not spend a lot of time in the kitchen, and provides a healthy meal for dinner and/or lunch. In a previous blog I talked about how to spit and roast a turkey on your grill. This recipe is a great way to use some of the turkey leftovers in a fresh and interesting way.

Many salads, like the Roasted Turkey, Dried Cherries and Barley Summer Salad, can be made ahead of time, even the day before, or in the morning so that at the end of the day when we are tired and not so motivated to cook, especially during the summer, we have something ready to go. Making salads earlier in the day also avoids adding heat at the hottest time of the day.

Roasted Turkey, Dried Cherries and Barley Salad

Ingredients

1 cup uncooked pearled barley

3 cups water

12 ounces roasted turkey breast, chopped

1 cup celery, chopped

¼ cup walnuts, chopped

⅓ cup flat leaf parsley, chopped

¾ cup dried cherries

⅓ cup nonfat Greek yogurt

¼ cup nonfat mayonnaise

Pinch of sea salt

¼ teaspoon fresh ground pepper

Directions

1. Rinse pearled barley and place it in a medium saucepan. Add the water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 1 hour or until all water is absorbed. Once cooked place in a mixing bowl and flake the barley with a fork until fluffy.

2. Add all other ingredients. Mix well.

Serves: 5. Serving size: 1½ cups.

Enjoy! And Live Vibrant!

Bon Appétit! (photo by LivligaHome).

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Kitchen Sink Salads with State of Slim Leftovers

"Everything but the Kitchen Sink" Salad with Salmon

Recently I made two Everything but the Kitchen Sink Salads with State of Slim leftovers that were very tasty. Here are the two versions with their ingredients:

Ingredients

For the Salad-
½ bag of mixed salad greens
½ the leftover roasted cauliflower, chopped
½ the leftover green beans with garlic and lemon, chopped
½ the leftover carrot sticks, chopped
½ the leftover celery sticks, chopped
Bunch of green onion, chopped
6 Grape tomatoes, sliced in half
4 -6 ounces leftover salmon with mustard dill sauce

For the Salad Dressing-
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon tarragon
pinch of pepper

Directions

1. Arrange mixed salad greens on a dinner plate.
2. Chop all vegetables and place them on top of the greens.
3. Place the salmon on top of all the vegetables, whole or flaked, according to your preference.
4. Mix the salad dressing ingredients in a jar, shaking until well blended. Pour over the salad. Serve.

Yield: 1 salad. Serving: for one person.

"Everything but the Kitchen Sink" Salad with Turkey Piccata

"Everything but the Kitchen Sink" Turkey Piccata Salad with State of Slim leftovers served on a Livliga plate (photo by LivligaHome)

The ingredients and the directions are the same as above: chop ½ the leftover vegetables and place them on a bed of mixed greens. Add 4 -6 ounces of the leftover meat, Turkey piccata, sliced. Prepare a serving of the salad dressing and pour it over the salad. Serve.

Yield: 1 salad. Serving: for one person.

The salads are tasty, visually appealing and have the added benefit of clearing out your refrigerator. There is nothing more statisfying than that!

Enjoy! And Live Vibrant!

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State of Slim Crowd-Pleasing Slow-Cooker Pumpkin Chili with a Livliga Flair

State of Slim Crowd-Pleasing Slow-Cooker Pumpkin Chili is Perfect to Serve Up for One or Share with Company!

The Colorado diet is easy to follow and easy to stick to, I have found. It is not a "quick loss" diet, it is more like a "slow and steady" lifestyle diet. For the first time in my life I am not waiting to get off the plan. I am enjoying the journey. I am actually enticed by how I can make it more interesting while keeping to the basic tenets.

The recipes are solid. They are also very helpful since ingredients are very specific to reigniting your metabolism and keeping you satisfied between meals. Trigger foods are also eliminated. There is nothing that qualifies as a dessert but there are foods that qualify as treats...like chocolate muffins and pancakes or smoothies. Carbs are virtually eliminated, mainly found naturally in the vegetables you eat.

For Perfect Portions Make Sure to Use LivSpoons!

One ingredient that is used a lot in the Colorado Diet is pumpkin. Pumpkin, as it turns out, has many health benefits. The high fiber in it keeps you full. The minerals, like potassium keep your muscles at high performance so you can avoid muscle cramping as you ramp up your exercise as part of the lifestyle plan. Then there is the fact that it is low in carbs and has the famous Vitamin "T". The low carbs don't spike your blood sugar which helps to encourage your metabolism to increase its fat burning. Vitamin T helps regulate your metabolism, keeping it revved up. Bottom line, we need to eat more pumpkin.

Pumpkin is easy to buy as a puree with nothing added. The State of Slim includes a few recipes that include it as an ingredient. One such recipe is the Crowd-Pleasing Slow-Cooker Pumpkin Chili. 

It is a tasty recipe but I thought I could make it a little more flavorful and give it a bit more texture with a few additions and changes. Here is the Livliga version:

State of Slim Crowd-Pleasing Slow-Cooker Pumpkin Chili with a Livliga flair

Ingredients
1 pound extra-lean ground beef or turkey breast
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 yellow bell peppers, chopped
4 stalks of celery, chopped
2 tablespoons pickled jalapeno chile pepper (optional)
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 can (15 ounces) unsweetened 100% pure pumpkin puree
1 can (14 ounces) diced tomatoes
1 tablespoon chili powder (or more to taste)
2 teaspoons ground cumin
2 teaspoons thyme
pinch of sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Cooking Spray

Directions
1. Spray a cast-iron skillet with cooking spray. Place the chopped onion and garlic in the skillet and sautee for about 4 or 5 minutes, until the onion starts to brown.
2. Add the meat and brown with the onion mixture. Once the meat is nearly brown add the chopped celery and yellow pepper. Continue cooking for about 4 minutes.
3. In a 3 - 4 quart slow cooker add the meat mixture and all other ingredients. Set the cooker on low for 5 - 6 hours. Vegetables should be tender.
4. Serve hot. Top with a tablespoon of Greek yogurt and some fresh parsley for visual appeal.

Yield: 4 servings. Serving size: about 1½ cups.

Slow-Cooker Pumpkin Chili Served Up on Livliga!

Enjoy! And Live Vibrant! And Eat Mindfully.

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Super Summer Grilled Turkey-Plum Sandwiches

Super Summer Grilled Turkey-Plum Sandwiches @livligahome

Summertime is a great excuse for every meal to be colorful and flavorful. There is no end to the combinations of flavors and colors. I came across just such a  Summer time recipe in the July 2013 issue of the Cooking Light magazine-- Grilled Turkey-Plum Sandwiches.

The recipe uses fresh black plums as part of the content of the sandwich. As a counter point to the sweetness of the plum, the recipe calls for adding raw garlic and pepper to the mayonnaise spread used on the bread.

The turkey is a quick cook in a cast iron skillet or stove top grill. It takes a total of about 3 minutes. So quick, in fact, it is easy to over cook!

The basil came from our garden. The bread was a Jewish Dark Rye which is flavorful yet only has 90 calories a slice. Calorie count for the sandwich is 292. To complete the meal we added a grated carrot salad (1/2 cup) with white balsamic vinegar and fresh dill for an additional 50 calories and a serving of reduced fat potato chips for 140 calories. Total calories for the meal 482. It was delicious and a two thumbs up for everyone in the family. A definite repeat.

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No Recipe Meal--Turkey Burger

No Recipe Meal-Turkey Burger @livligahome

Every once in a while I just don't want to follow a recipe. I want to do a meal "free hand", using up what I have in the refrigerator. It is a little scary in that I don't want to add calories where I don't need to, and I want to be able to serve appropriate serving sizes.

I decided to try my hand at a summer-time turkey burger meal. As you can see by the photo, The meal consisted of a turkey burger with bun topped with a slice of tomato, sweet potato fries and a cucumber salad. Everything was on hand in my home.

Because these are items I have cooked before the "recipe" I used to prepare each dish was based off of how I have prepared them before.

The turkey burger was made with 1 pound of turkey meat, 1/2 cup of cleaned and chopped watercress, 2 tablespoons of minced onion, some garlic powder and some cracked pepper. That was it. I kneaded it all together and made 4 patties. These were cooked in a cast-iron skillet about 4 minutes to a side. The burger was assembled with a Rudi's whole wheat hamburger bun, one side topped with a slice of tomato, 1 tablespoon of nonfat Greek yogurt and a healthy teaspoon of Dijon mustard.

The sweet potatoes where cleaned and cut into strips to look like fries. I used 2. Then I sprayed the bottom of a cookie sheet with olive oil flavored cooking spray, placed the sweet potatoes on the sheet and sprayed them again with the cooking spray. I topped them with a sprinkling of garlic powder (California style) and Herbes de Provence with a pinch of salt. These were baked in a 375 oven for about 35 minutes.

Next I put together the cucumber salad. This was really easy. I peeled and cored the cucumber then sliced it into half moon pieces. The dressing was 2 tablespoons of rice vinegar with 1 teaspoon agave and a pinch of salt.

Since I had done recipes many times before for similar dishes it was easy for me to assemble this meal. In looking at the ingredients I included I felt I had not strayed far from the original versions so the calories and portions would be similar.In fact, if anything, the calories were a little less becasue I didn't include as many of the ingredients. My version was simplified. Here is a link to the recipe version: http://livligahome.blogspot.com/2012/05/from-grill-peppered-turkey-burger.html. That meal was a total of 536 calories.

It was fun doing a no recipe meal for a change. It felt good to feel like I knew what I was doing and that I was in control of the choices and quantities. I definitely want to try it again.

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Mediterranean Diet--Greek-Flavored Turkey Burgers

Greek-Flavored Turkey Burger @livligahome

Burgers are such a summertime meal. They are easy to assemble and you can grill them outside, not making your kitchen hot. Still on my discovery of Mediterranean Diet recipes, I thought it would be fun to try out a Greek-flavored turkey burger (426 cal).

They were easy to make and very flavorful. The ingredients mixed with the turkey meat include fresh mint, lemon juice, red onion and feta. Once cooked the turkey burger is topped with bottled roasted red peppers. As you can see it looks visually appealing too.

To make it a meal I added baked wild fries (77 cal) and Greek Spaghetti Squash Salad (1 cup serving/80 cal) . The total calorie count for this meal was on the high side at 583.

For us it was a weekend meal with family over for dinner so it worked. We were not so wild about the spaghetti squash salad and will not repeat it. The burger, however, was a winner.

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Mediterranean Diet- Slow Cooker Stuffed Peppers

These Mediterranean Stuffed Peppers are Stuffed with Turkey Meat and Quinoa

There is something so fun about delving into a way of life through food. I am so enjoying exploring all the ways to eat "Mediterranean". There is no end to the possibilities. My daughter took on this slow cooker Stuffed Peppers recipe. We chose to use red bell peppers instead of green. What is interesting about this recipe is that it has changed out a lot of the traditional ingredients to healthier, more contemporary ones. Instead of ground beef you use ground turkey and instead of rice you use quinoa.

Pick the Colorful Bell Pepper of your Choice or Make it Even More Colorful with a Variety of Peppers

These stuffed peppers (350/cal) made for a hearty meal. Somehow the dish screamed for a dollop of Greek yogurt or a sprinkling of fets. We chose feta. It was a very pleasant dish, not too spicy.

To make it a meal we added a salad with romaine lettuce topped with 1/2 a sliced pear, 1 tablespoon of blueberries with 2 tablespoons of my lemon vinaigrette (148/cal) for a total calorie count of 498 calories. This made for a nice Sunday supper. Not a new family favorite but definitely a repeat down the line.

To Make it a Meal add a Simple Salad with Homemade Vinaigrette

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