Recipe: Shepherd's Pie

I have been debating whether or not to post this today, as I have been posting so many recipes with ground turkey. However, we just made this last night so I wanted to post it while it is still fresh in my head! This is my family's favorite meal, so I hope your family enjoys it as well! I just wish I had gotten a photo of Mara eating this dish-she inhales it, and it shows!

I have been playing around with this recipe for quite some time, and I think I have finally gotten it right! The mashed potatoes recipe is from "The Whole Foods Allergy Cookbook"- the only thing I changed is the type of potato-I use sweet potatoes instead of baking potatoes.

I usually double the recipe in order to freeze some for a quick meal later on. The recipe below usually just feeds my small family of four, so you may want to double it if feeding more then that. I really don't add exact measurements, so feel free to play around with it as well! I found that you really cannot go wrong.

*If you can have onions, I would also suggest adding in a small, diced onion to your ground turkey.


Ingredients

Mashed potatoes:

• 3 large sweet potatoes, chopped (we do not peel ours, but peel if you prefer)
  
• 3/4 cup hemp milk (or any other acceptable milk)
• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1/2-1 tsp salt

Filling:

• 4 stalks of celery, chopped
• 2-3 carrots, chopped
• 1/2 cup broccoli, chopped
• 1/2 cup corn
  
• 1 cup of frozen mixed veggies (feel free to add more fresh vegetables-adding the frozen just helps cut down on the chopping time!)
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
  
• 1 -1 1/2 pounds of ground turkey (again, any ground meat will do!)
• 1- 1 1/2 cups of hot water (I usually save the water I cooked the sweet potatoes in to use for this)
• dash of salt
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tbsp red wine (I have been using sherry)
• 2-4 tbsp gluten-free ketchup
• 3 whole cloves
• 1 bay leaf

Chop up sweet potatoes and place in pot. Add enough water to completely cover them, and boil until potatoes are really soft. While the potatoes are boiling, chop up carrots, celery, and broccoli and set aside.
Using large, deep skillet, brown turkey in olive oil. Add carrots, celery and broccoli and sauté for a few minutes. Add frozen vegetables and water.
Add the salt, red wine vinegar, and red wine. Add the ketchup, and stir until completely mixed up.
Pour into a baking dish. Add the 3 cloves, and bay leaf

Time to make the potatoes. Place all ingredients into mixing bowl and mix until potatoes are nice and creamy. Spread potatoes on top of meat mixture.

Bake for 30 minutes at 400 degrees, until the potatoes are nice and brown on top. Enjoy!

* When feeding your children, always look for the cloves and bay leaf on their plate before they eat it!

Recipe: Turkey Meatballs with Honey Mustard Sauce

If your children are anything like mine, they love to dip! My girls are somewhat obsessed with honey at the moment, dipping everything from their broccoli to eggs! So I made this meal especially with them in mind (as always). The dip was too sweet for Mara, but she loved the meatballs. Analese loved the dip (they are such opposites)
I modified this recipe to fit our needs. I also slipped in 1/2 tbsp of garbanzo bean flour to pump up the nutrition, and used precooked rice to hold the meatballs together. Once again, I am using turkey, but beef or ground chicken would work as well. The original recipe calls for 1/4c onion mixed in with the meat, which we omitted but I think it would be really good!

* This recipe calls for an egg, but we didn't use one tonight and it was still great. So I put it in the ingredients as optional

Ingredients

1 lb ground turkey
1/2 tbsp garbanzo bean flour
1/4 c cooked rice
1 egg (optional)
2 1/4 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp tarragon
1 cup unsweetened pineapple juice
2 tbsp honey
1 tbs potato starch

Mix thoroughly: turkey, gb flour, rice, egg, tarragon and 1/4 t of the dry mustard.
Shape into small balls. Place on a greased baking sheet, and bake at 375 degrees for about 30 minutes.
In a small saucepan, stir remaining dry mustard, pineapple juice, honey and potato starch. Cook over medium-high heat until sauce thickens and begins to boil. Serve as dipping suace for meatballs.

Enjoy!

Porcupine Meatballs

This recipe is a combination of two recipes. The ingredients for the meatballs have been adapted from "Sophie-Safe Cooking" by Emily Hendrix.
Our family does not eat beef, so we use ground turkey in its place. Onions would probably be good as well!
Also-you may want to play around with the spices a bit...every family has different tastes. I made this last night for dinner-the sauce has a bit of a bite to it, which surprisingly went over very well!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup rice, uncooked
1 clove garlic, pressed
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp dry mustard
1 tsp apple cider vinegar (reg. vinegar works as well)
1 lb ground turkey
1/2 tbsp basil
1 1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt
2 bay leaves
1 egg (optional)
one 28-ounce can of crushed tomatoes
one 28-ounce can whole tomatoes, chopped with juice
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cups cooked rice

1. Put the tomatoes, oregano, basil, pepper, salt and bay leaves into a pot and bring to a boil. Once it is boiling, cover and reduce to simmer.
   
2. Combine the turkey, egg, uncooked rice, vinegar, and mustard. Squeeze together with your hands to really mix the ingredients together. Shape into balls.
   
3. Heat olive oil in frying pan. Brown the turkey balls (if time is an issue, you can just skip this step and place balls into sauce, cooking on simmer for 25 minutes)
   
4. Add the meatballs to the sauce, cooking for another 10-15 minutes. Remove bay leaves.
   
5. Serve over rice.