Slow Cooker Turkey Breast

I dusted my slow cooker off. Will try to be using it more often. It is so easy: just put all the ingredients in, turn on, walk away for 6-8hrs and then dinner is ready! I bought a cookbook recently from Costco on healthy slow cooker recipes, so expect more recipes to come. Around Thanksgiving, I took on the task of trying to roast a whole turkey. Marinated for 3 days, read every blog and tip from different cooking websites. And needless to say, my turkey was delicious and moist. But my husband and I only like the white meat, glad other family members where over to eat the rest! So I figured, instead of going through the hassle of that, I bought a small bone-in, skin-on turkey breast...a little guy just 1.5Ibs. and looked up recipes to roast it in the slow cooker.



I marinated it overnight in (sorry no measurements just drizzle and sprinkle, it depends on the size of your turkey breast). The turkey breast is not supposed to be fully submerged in the marinade, just coated:
-Italian dressing
-soy sauce
-mayo (reduced-fat kind or they started making an olive oil kind)
-Italian herb seasoning mix (oregano, parsley, rosemary, basil, mint, sage, thyme, sea salt)
     **I have this in a mix, you can use a combination of what you have in your spice pantry
-seasoning salt
-coarse ground black pepper
-3-5 cloves garlic, minced (I used 3 for my little piece of turkey)

~Mix all the together in the bowl you will be using to marinate your turkey in. Rub the spices into the flesh all around. I left the skin on, so that when it roasts it will be moist. Some recipes call to stuff a stick of butter under the skin....um I would like my arteries to stay unclogged, thanks! Anyways, let that marinated for about 24hrs or overnight. The longer the better.

-It will take about 6-8hrs for this thing to cook, so calculate when you want dinner done.
-Take about 3-6 slices of bacon. Gasp...bacon!? Yes its okay. Just pat the death out of it after you finish frying it on the pan, it will be okay. I freeze my bacon, this way it is easier to handle. That way it is not so slimy and hard to manage. I take a sharp serrated knife and cut off all the excess yucky white lard off it. Then slice it thinly, throw it on the frying pan, allow all the fat to melt off it. Put it on a paper towel and another one on top and soak all the excess saturated fat off. All better now :)

Ingredients you will need for the slow cooker:
3-6 slices of bacon, cooked & crumbled
1-2 cups of chicken broth
1/4 - 1/2 cup of dry white wine
1 onion, thinly sliced
2-3 bay leaves
some more Italian seasoning mix
ground pepper & sea salt, a few sprinkles

While the bacon is frying, prepare the other ingredients and put them into the slow cooker. Then add the crumbled bacon. Don't forget to put the turkey breast in, BREAST down. Turn the slow cooker on HIGH for the first hour and then decrease the heat to LOW for 5-7 hours or until turkey is tender and meat thermometer registers 170 degrees.



Just finished cooking (not the best picture quality)



All done, ready to EAT!

The turkey was so moist it was falling apart, I tried to illustrate that by separating the strands of turkey, on the right side. Made some mashed potatoes & portabello mushroom gravy...this is the 2nd time I have ever made mashed potatoes since we have been married. Not too much of a potato person, but it was delicious!

But the best part.....LEFTOVERS for dinner the next day: 

CHEESY ENCHILADAS!! The recipe I always use is from a Cooking Light is quick & easy. They call for rotisserie chicken, but my turkey was so moist that I was able to pull it apart the same way I would the chicken! I make a side of white rice spiked with lime and chopped cilantro.....Chipotle I've got you beat!! Here is the link to the recipe:

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=10000001087093

Moist Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Why oh why must we spend so much $$ on lattes and treats at coffee-houses when we can recreate the same goodness at home? This is me chilaxin' with my fix at home :)

My sister-in-law got me hooked on this banana bread....I added chocolate-chips, delish!
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4cup canola or olive oil
1/4cup mayo (reduced-fat)
1 1/3cup mashed very ripe bananas, about 3
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2cup flour, I use white wheat flour (to sneak in some more fiber)**
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2cup toasted walnuts
1/2cup chocolate chips
**white wheat flour is just unbleached all-purpose flour with wheat bran

DIRECTIONS:
1. Mash bananas in mixing bowl, then add sugar, egg, vanilla, oil & mayo until smooth.
2. In another bowl combine dry ingredients: flour, baking soda & salt.
3. Add dry ingredients to banana mixture in batches stirring until moistened.
4. Add walnuts & chocolate chips.
5. Pour into greased 9x5" loaf pan; I used a glass pie dish (doesn't matter)
6. Bake at 350F for 1hr, or until toothpick comes out clean and banana bread golden brown. For the glass dish 45 minutes was more than enough.

Now for the latte...it helps if you have an espresso machine at home. We got a steal of a deal on this espresso machine during a 24hr flash sale, all I can say is "SCORE!"Do not fret if you don't have a fancy machine, just buy good-quality espresso beans and make some strong coffee from your coffee maker. I recommend Illy Coffee.Then buy a hand-held milk frother, put your milk in the microwave until almost boiling and froth away! 

The website below is a FREE 53 page e-book on copy-cat Starbucks-like recipes, it includes everything from the Caramel Macchiato to their pumpkin scones. It's a nice thing to have in case you get a craving for something; or are baking so proficiently that you want to open up your own coffee-shop and charge an arm and a leg for coffee and a sliver of cake!

http://www.coffeefair.com/free-coffee-recipes-ebook.htm
Do not worry it is SAFE, I have downloaded it with NO problems.

Ahh...what makes me look forward to waking up in the morning.....opps did I say that!?
 I mean seeing my kid's smiling faces ;)

Double Duty Dinner Success

Shift work can be tough, especially a 12 hr one! So in getting ready for a round of shifts as a nurse, I always like to make sure that there are enough lunches & dinners to go around for a few days. I decided to make two dinners side by side because the ingredients were similar and it would cut down on the prep time. I was also going to try out Kraft Catalina Dressing. I often times do not like Kraft Recipes because of the processed foods they use, and or that they like to promote their own products, which don't always have the highest nutritional value. But I had a craving for pad thai and wanted a quick recipe, so I was optimistic and bought the dressing, and my beef stir fry recipe called for it as well. So why not?

So the two recipes I made in about an hour:

Creamy Peanut Pad Thai 

http://stg.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/creamy-peanut-pad-thai-129882.aspx

Asparagus & Beef Stir-Fry

http://www.kraftrecipes.com/recipes/asparagus-beef-stir-fry-123780.aspx

I did not take any of my own pictures, because I actually did not think about doing a blog post about it; until after I was done and saw how efficient the process was. Thank you Kraft for the nice pictures! So I am just going to go over the steps I did simultaneously to get both meals done at the same time.

My variations on the Pad Thai: I used chicken breast,  added mushrooms & bell peppers from the stir-fry.
                                                                       (I like lots of veggies in my dishes!)

   on the Asparagus & Beef Stir-Fry: I boiled the asparagus for 5 minutes, so that I could have the mushroom & bell peppers separate, since I was not adding the asparagus to the Pad Thai. I also used top sirloin steak, not sure if that makes a difference.

1. I washed & cut all the veggies, putting everything into separate bowls.
2. I thinly sliced the chicken, and then prepped the steak the same.
3. Put a pot of water to boil for the rice. Put a pot of water to boil for the asparagus.
4. Started to heat up the wok (frying pan) for the veggies -->started with mushrooms first because they take longer then added the bell peppers.
5. Mixed the dressing/sauces for the 2 different recipes and set them aside.
6. Your asparagus should be done. Use that pot to boil your rice noodles in.
7. Heat a frying pan on medium heat, add some olive oil and the steak. Then add the sauce called for in the stir-fry recipe. When meat is done (~5min) add the desired amount of mushrooms, bell pepper and all of the asparagus, set aside. Your rice should be done. Meal #1 complete.
8. Put another frying pan on medium heat to cook the chicken. Add some olive oil, garlic, ground black pepper & salt for some seasoning. Cook until not longer pink.
9. Wipe the pan and fry the eggs. Return the chicken, bell peppers & mushrooms to the frying pan with the eggs, add the sauce called for in the Pad Thai recipe. Add the cooked rice noddle: toss to coat, be gentle. Meal #2 complete.
10. Top the Pad Thai with bean sprouts  & green onion, and the Stir-Fry with green onions.

There you go...in 10 STEPS!!
Phew...now who is going to clean the kitchen??