Turkey Taco Filler & Jitters

Have you been enjoying your week so far? Mine has been great! I taught Pump, ran, met up with Amelia for coffee and Trader Joes, and spent lots of time with Josh, Kaylin & Franky. Tomorrow….I go back to work, gulp! As I mentioned before, I’m very sad to be giving the peanut up. Luckily, Josh’s Mom will be taking care of her for my first three days back (one day this week, two next), before she starts into daycare. I’m not sure if I will ball my eyes out tomorrow, but I can totally see it happening (and I am not a crier). In the past week, the peanut has started waving and has been giggling and smiling a ton. I don’t want to miss a minute of it! But, I know getting back into work will be good for me mentally. Plus, I get the best of both worlds only working half time.

Enough of my jitters, lets get to the food! I had been wanting to make Janetha’s green enchilada pie. When I looked back at the recipe, I noticed the cheese on top and figured this probably played a pretty large role in keeping the pie together. Since I have to stay away from dairy, I decided to just make taco-ish meat instead. I browned up ground turkey:

Once the turkey was cooked through, I removed it from the skillet and added yellow squash, corn and jalapenos. I cooked them for about 10 minutes (until the squash was soft and browning a bit) and then added the turkey back into the pan. I also added a teaspoon of TJs taco seasoning mix and 3/4 cup of enchilada sauce:

The taco filling was super tasty! I served Josh’s up with tortillas, cheese and pineapple:

I had mine on top of a salad with a side of toasted tortilla:

A great, easy meal! How do you prepare your taco filling?

Ghirardelli Sea Salt Double Chocolate Cookies

Lets start this Monday off with something sweet, shall we? As a part of the FoodBuzz Taste Testers program, I was sent a bundle of Ghiradelli chocolate to play with (disclaimer: I received these products for free). Aside from eating it straight up, I knew I wanted to bake with the chocolate, especially the Sea Salt Soiree.

 

I have made a few different double chocolate cookies, but wanted to play a bit with the recipes and add in some oat bran. I was happy with how the cookies turned out, but still want to tweak the recipe a bit. These cookies are soft and big! If you want a puffier cookie, eliminate the oat bran and use all flour.

Ingredients:

1 stick butter, room temperature

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract

3/4 cup unbleached AP flour

1/4 cup oat bran (or ground up old fashion oats)

1/4 cup dark cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 Sea Salt Soiree chocolate bar, chopped

 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or using a hand mixer), cream together the butter and sugars. Add the vanilla and egg and mix until combined. I love this vanilla:

 

Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, mix together the flour, oat bran, cocoa powder and baking soda:

 

Add the dry mixture to the wet and mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate.

Drop by the rounded tablespoonful onto a cookie sheet. Bake for 11-12 minutes. Makes ~ 1 1/2 dozen large cookies:

Milk or dark chocolate?