Torty Bites: Fall Appetizers

Now, I love Tortiere more than just aboot anything, I've already blogged one recipe for it; but I have found that sometimes the pastry can be a little...heavy. Not MINE, of course, but in general, it's a hearty dish with potato and lotsa meat, and yeah, I thought maybe if I broke it up into smaller pieces and used some delish phyllo pastry it might make a fun bite. I also used the pork / extra lean beef blend that I liked so much in that recipe above, but mixed it up somewhat.

These are a great appy idea for a fall party; prep 'em and bake 'em just as people are walking up. Then stuff in your face, because MY BOB these are delicious!! No sharesies for the Torty Bites! Jk, this makes 36, you'd better. I think I am liking small bites and mini quiches so much these days because you can have a taste of something without committing to eating an entire serving of anything. Check it oot!

You will need:

I medium red potato, peeled (sigh) and chopped
1/2 lb medium ground pork
1/2 lb extra lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped fine(ly)
1 celery stalk, minced
3 garlic cloves (or less, not everyone is married)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp sage
1/4 tsp ground cloves
Pepper. Lots of pepper
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Bitta nutmeg
1/2 cup beef stock
3 sheets phyllo pastry


Prep!! Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, take your phyllo pastry out of the freezer. About three hours ago. Awesome! But for reals, you will need to let the pastry thaw for about three hours, so take it out, and then two hours later start preheating your oven.

Peel and chop your potato, dump in a small pot full of water and bring to a boil. Get that sucker going right away while you do the rest of your prep, like...chop your onion and celery finely and mince your garlic.

Heat a large saucepan (not non-stick: sticky) over medium-ish heat and add the meat mixture; season lightly with salt and pepper. That sounds disgusting. But totally isn't! After a couple of minutes, when it's breakable-upable with a flat-ended wooden spoon, add the onion and celery.

After about 5 minutes, when the meat is mostly cooked through and the onions are translucent and the celery is...green, add in the garlic and cook for one more minute.

Keep breaking up the meat into smaller and smaller chunks, we don't want any meatballs in these here bites. Add in the thyme, sage, salt, pepper, ground cloves, bitta nutmeg, Worcestershire sauce and stir to coat.

Looks...exactly the same. But smells different! Honest!

Check your potato, if cooked through, drain and dump into the pot. Add in the beef stalk and squish the potato while swirling around the sauce until there are no big chunks of potato or liquid left. Then taste and adjust seasoning as required. How about pepper? There's always room for pepper. And nutmeg.

 

Set aside to cool slightly and work on your phyllo dough. You should be aware, if you aren't already, that phyllo dough is as tasty as it is a pain in the behind to work with. You have to be very careful not to tear it, and any freezer burn at all will make the sheets cling to each other like Bachelor contestants at a mixer with Regulars.

You want to lay out three sheets and spray each of them individually with oil. Normally, you would use butter to brush the sheets with, but I'm not looking to use all my dang calories in one place, y'all. Mama needs her SmartPop. Anyway, I like to lay them out on a cutting board, spray and flip, then fold in half and cut into 6 pieces. Cut along the back spine and voila! You have 36 pieces to use.

Push the oiled sheets gently into the holes of a well sprayed mini muffin tin, leaving bunches on the outside.

Fill each well with meat mixture; I like to use a tablespoon-sized cookie scoop, but a spoon would just as well. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes, until the edges of the pastry are just browed.

Leave in the tray for 2 minutes to cool, then pop out onto a wire rack and enjoy! They're best hot, so serve immediately or just get them in your face. There is no judgement here, only lub. They come to 22 calories each, so that's not even bad at all!

Closer...

All up in it's grill!

Broccoli MiniQuiches

This crustless mini quiche recipe is a new one I saw on MyFitnessPal; I switched it up somewhat, added this, changed this out, but kept the broccoli. These are yummy high protein breakfast (or not - fly in the face of convention: DO YOU!!)  bites at a super low 29 calories each, check it oot!

You will need:

2 1/2 c broccoli florets (measure in a glass measuring cup. Trust me, I lub you!)
1 Tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 c red onion, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, minced finely
Salt, pepper
4 eggs
1 c egg whites
30g (1 oz) low-fat old cheddar cheese (go for old, older is always wiser. and tastier)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, and prep!

Chop your onion, mince your garlic, grate your cheese and de-floret the broccoli should you not have bought them in conveniently floretted 8 pound Costco-size bags. Put in a glass measuring cup. Spray a mini-muffin tin well with oil. Then spray it again. And some more. Right around the edges. There you go. Oil that mofo like it's your birthday present.

Add some water to the broccoli, about an inch or so, and microwave on high for 4 minutes. Does anyone ever microwave on medium? I'm curious. Those settings seem superfluous to me: I don't cook in a microwave because I want to gently raise the temperature, I WANNA EAT NOW. But I digress.

Meanwhile, melt the butter in a non-stick saucepan and add the onions over med-low heat. Cook, gently stirring, for 3 minutes. Add in the garlic, saute for one more minute. Just until you can smell it!

Drain the smoking hot broccoli carefully and add to the pan for one more minute.

Dump all this in a bowl and smush the broccoli with a fork. Ish. It doesn't have to be perfect. Stir in the salt and pepper to taste; divide between the 24 mini muffin cups. That you oiled. You oiled, right? Good!

In a pourable vessel, like a big measuring cup, whisk the eggs and egg whites together and then pour evenly into the muffin cups on top of the broccoli. Top with the cheese.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, leave in the pan for 5 minutes after and then remove and cool on a wire rack.

Look at em!!

No, I mean, REALLY look at them!

Sooooo close

Wee thought they were the prettiest cupcakes EVAH. Disappointment, thy name is Wee

 Enjoy!

Morrocan Chicken and Lentil Stew with Peppers

I found this great recipe in Chatelaine magazine called Moroccan Lentil Stew; I liked it so much I cooked it a bunch of times in a really short period of time, fancy dinners, lunches and then I started thinking...I bet it would be magic with chicken in it. Ooh, and peppers! Yeah! Peppers! And then this is what happened:

You will need:

2 tsp vegetable oil, divided
8 oz boneless, skinless chicken breasteses
1 large onion
1 red, yellow or orange bell pepper
4 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp Madras curry paste
1 c lentils, dried
3 cups water
796-ml can diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp salt
Pepper

Frist, prep!! Chop up your pepper and onion, mince your garlic and slice your chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces. Rinse your lentils, open up your can of tomatoes

Heat one teaspoon of the oil in a large heavy pot / pan dealie (Smurf-bum lid optional),

add in chicken and cook until no longer pink, about 4-5 minutes. Ish.

 Remove the chicken from the pan and add in the remaining teaspoon of oil. Cook the onions and peppers for 3-4 minutes, until almost softened and then add in the garlic and cook for just one more minute. Just until you can smell it! Don't you burn that garlic! I'm such a garlic nerd nagger.

Stir in the curry paste, lentils and water, bring to a boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

Return the chicken to the pan, pour in the tomatoes and cook for 20 minutes, stirring here and there, with the lid off

As t thickens, it will go from this

To this. Ish

This works out to 6 big protein-rich servings at 223 calories per, according to MyFitnessPal, you could serve it on it's own, or over rice, either way, es delish.

Enjoy!

Sorta Lasaga Soup: SHV

Quite a while ago, I read this recipe in a shared space and was interested in blogging / sharing it; but had some issues with provenance. For one thing, the person that posted the recipe wasn't the author, but where she got it from wasn't the originator either. Messy! Plus I really don't know how any of that works.

So, I decided to do the recipe anyway, almost a year later, but with all the changes I thought would make it all the more awesome, and also somewhat healthier along the way. And voila!! Zut alors! And alla that jazz (hands!).

You will need:

600 g hot Italian turkey sausage (8 med in this case)
2 tsp Olive oil, divided (NEVER EVOO for cooking! Nevair!!)
Chili flakes
2 med onions
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
4-6 cloves of garlic
1-156 ml can tomato paste
1-2 tsp oregano
Salt, pepper
2 bay leaves
796 ml  (28oz) can diced tomatoes
6 c chicken stock ( I use unsalted-ish)
3 c egg noodles, 4.5 oz (I use No-Yolks brand out of habit, but whatever you have is fine)

Optional: 6 oz light shredded cheese

Not pictured: bay leaves. It's always SOMETHING!

Prep!! First, de-skin your sausages (not a euphemism); I've found that the easiest way to do that is to cut along one side, like zo:



Then just peel them off around. Voila! Touche! Lots of other words that mean Easy Peasy!

Heat one teaspoon of the oil in a large, heavy bottom pot. They make the cooking world go round.

Add the sausages and chili flakes, breaking the meat into bite-sized chunks.

While that is cooking (jk, you know  did it in advance. But you totally could do it while the sausage is cooking), chop the onions and peppers.

When the meat is all nicely browned, scoop it out and set aside.

I absolutely HAVE to take a picture every time I see a nice fond like that. Lookit it!!

Add the remaining teaspoon of olive oil and the onions and peppers, cook stirring over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Now mince your garlic! No earlier. The air does things to it.

Add in the garlic, cook for ONE MINUTE ONLY.One!!

Add in the can of tomato paste, cook for 3 or 4 minutes until it turns a dark rust colour.

Add in 1 teaspoon of oregano, salt, pepper and return the sausage to the pot. Stir until well mixed. Coat that sausage (also not a euphemism).

Add in the tomatoes, stock and bay leaves, and another bitta oregano. Bring to a boil then reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

Remove the lid, add in the egg noodles and cook for 10 more minutes or until the pasta is tender.

This is a very big soup, it makes 6 very healthy-sized portions at 294 calories per serving. 



To make it more lasagna-ish, you can top it with as little or as much cheese as you would like. This is half an ounce of light cheddar blend, but I also recommend adding Parmesan. People use cottage or ricotta in the bowl, more power to you. Just add in the calories and Bob will be your uncle.

Enjoy!