A Healthy Twist

I am mildly obsessed with The Biggest Loser tv show, and now I have the wii game which is one of the hardest work outs I've ever done! On the game, they even have a section of recipes and healthy living tips from the trainers and past contestants. One tip is to take a recipe you love and find a way to make it better for you. I recently did this with my hamburger hash. Click here to get the original version. In this twist, I used ground turkey instead of ground beef and substituted black beans for the potatoes. I would love to tell you that I calculated just how much fat and calories you saved, plus you added fiber by adding the beans, but I can't. I just didn't have time. I was too hungry. Ha!

It turned out awesome though! And, I didn't even miss the ground beef or potatoes. The ground turkey tasted almost the same. I just bumped up the seasonings a little more. And I love black beans, so that was an easy swap. Logan also loves beans or peas of any kind, so he was all over this dinner. Plus, this fed all 3 of us for dinner, plus it fed Logan and I for lunch for 2 or 3 more days!! It re-heats perfectly.

Ground Turkey Hash
Source: Me

1.25 lbs ground turkey (Make sure they didn't grind the skin up too. Jenni O makes a great one!)
1.5 tbsp chili powder
1.5 tbsp paprika
.5 tbsp cumin
1/2 onion, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 can corn
1 can black beans
1 can stewed tomatoes

Brown turkey over medium high heat. Once almost cooked through, add spices and garlic/onion. Cook a few more minutes, then add corn, black beans and tomatoes. Stir and turn heat down to low. Let simmer about 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally and breaking up the tomatoes. The longer it simmers, the better it tastes!!

Stepping Out of the Box

Well, it is probably not out of the box for most people, but for me it definitely is. I saw a recipe in Rachel Ray's magazine and normally I would just keep going because it wasn't something I would normally make. But it looked good, and I've been trying to branch out and try new things. As you know, I don't really like vegetables. I am learning to like them in different dishes, as long as the pieces aren't big. ;) This dish required you to make a tomato bread salad. I'm not usually a big fan of tomatoes or bread salads. I am a big fan of steak though, which was the main ingredient. Plus RR's picture in the magazine made this dish look mouth watering. I'm not sure if my picture lives up to the original, but hopefully it gives you an idea of what my plate looked like. :) Overall, the consensus was that we liked the dish, but it doesn't rank on our favorites list.

Grilled Garlic Skirt Steak with Bread Salad
Source: Rachel Ray, my additions/changes in italics

3 cloves garlic, smashed (I pressed the garlic to get more flavor out of it)
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp olive oil
Salt and Black Pepper
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
3 large tomatoes, cored (I just used canned fire roasted tomatoes)
2 pounds skirt steak (I used some sandwich steak I got on sale at my local grocery)
2 kaiser rolls, split (I just used regular sandwich bread)
1/2 tsp fresh rosemary leaves, chopped (I used dried basil because I like basil better and I didn't have any fresh)

Preheat grill to medium high. In a small bowl, stir together garlic, olive oil, cayenne pepper, and salt and pepper to taste. Brush tomatoes with some of the garlic oil. Grill, turning once, lightly charred, about 12 minutes, transfer to a plate. (I of course skipped this step because I used the canned tomatoes) Meanwhile brush the steak and bread with garlic oil. Grill the bread, turning occasionally. Grill the steak. Coarsely chop the rolls and tomatoes and toss in a medium bowl. Add the rosemary and season with salt and pepper. Slice the steak and top with bread salad.

Hash It Out!

I'm not sure why I became obsessed with making hash, but I did. I've never even had hash of any kind. Basically I was just thinking about some ground chuck in the freezer that I needed to use and I was tired of making hamburgers. I think I heard something about hash on the food network and it just got stuck in my brain. The more recipes I read the more I wanted to make it. Of course the most common type is corned beef hash. I've never had corned beef, but my first instinct is I wouldn't like it. Plus I had ground beef.


I didn't really find a recipe that stuck out, so I came up with my own. Hash is basically just a combination of finely chopped ingredients. However, the common ingredients seem to be meat, potatoes and onions. This would make a great "leftovers meal." I'm not using leftovers, but you totally could.


This meal really turned out great. I honestly wasn't sure if I would like it or not, but I even ate the leftovers the next day. For those who know me, you know this is a big deal. I don't usually like most leftovers. You should definitely give this a try!



Jaime's Hamburger Hash

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

1/2 lb. Ground Chuck

2 medium white potatoes, cubed

1/2 white onion, minced

1 clove garlic, grated

1 small can whole kernel corn, drained

1 can Hot RoTel (If you don't like it hot, you can sub any flavor of RoTel), drained of half the liquid

Heat a large pan over medium high heat. Add the ground chuck and use the back of a wooden spoon to break up the meat. Once the meat is browned, drain off the grease and remove from the pan. Add olive oil to the same pan over medium heat. Add butter. Once butter is completely melted, add the potatoes. Once potatoes have started to crisp up, add the corn and the onion. Saute until onions start to carmelize. Add the ground chuck back to the pan and grate the garlic over the mixture. Add the RoTel and stir to combine. Let simmer about 10 minutes letting the flavors combine.

The Hunt for the Perfect Salsa

Let me start by saying that Mexican is one of my favorite food genres. But the best thing about going to a Mexican restaurant to me is the salsa and the homemade chips. YUM! Add in some white cheese dip and I could sit at that table and eat all day. I don’t even need an entrée because I will gorge myself on the appetizer.

But have you ever tried to find salsa like at a Mexican restaurant at the grocery store? Trust me, I have, and it doesn’t exist. Well, not at the big chains in Alabama anyway. And don’t even get me started on the jars that say “Restaurant Style” salsa. That is a bold faced lie! I can look at the jar and see the big chunks of veggies floating around and know instantly that it is not what I want. The reason I like the salsa at the restaurant is that it is pureed. I don’t like the chunks, so don’t try to fool me with your clever attempt at advertising. Anyway, several years ago after wasting money on salsas from the store, my sister and I decided to try and replicate the fresh salsa from a Mexican restaurant. We bought all fresh ingredients and chopped and mixed them up and let me just tell you, it was NOT good and not even close to Mexican restaurant salsa. I then gave up the quest for a while. It was just too much disappointment.

I took up the cause again when I tried some homemade salsa my cousin made, and then some my co-worker made. I asked them about their ingredients and I have finally mixed and matched to make a recipe that is pretty darn close to the restaurant kind. We'll call it semi-homemade salsa because most of the ingredients come from a can.

My husband and I LOVE this salsa! I usually make a “batch” once a week. We will mix it with Velveeta cheese and just have it with tortilla chips for dinner sometimes. It is also a big hit at work when we have snack days.

Jaime's Semi-Homemade Salsa

1 can Mexican Style Stewed Tomatoes
2 cans Original RO*TEL (If you like things really spicy, you can use Extra Hot RO*TEL...but beware!)
2 - 3 cloves of garlic smashed (depending on how much you like garlic)
1/2 small white onion, roughly chopped
1 cup fresh cilantro (I just buy it tied together in the grocery store, then take half the bunch and chop off the stems)

Put all ingredients in the blender, in the order listed. Trust me, it works best this way. Pulse until it is the consistency you like.