Trim Healthy Tuesdays: Moo Shu Turkey Burgers with a Cucumber Salad (S)

 

 

This recipe is an adaptation of an old favorite of my husband and mine. Back when Rachel Ray was on Food Network she did a recipe called Moo Shu Pork Pockets that we loved. Of course, one of the main ingredients in that recipe was crumbled ginger snap cookies! This recipe keeps the sweet flavor with some added Truvia and a homemade "hoisin sauce" that doesn't taste EXACTLY like the store-bought stuff but is still really yummy!

 

Ingredients:

(This recipe fed our family of 6, although the baby didn't have any, with everyone having one burger and leaving two for lunch the next day for my husband and I)

 

Turkey Burgers:

1 lb. ground turkey

pinch cayenne pepper

2 cloves garlic minced

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 1/2 tsp Truvia

3 TBS egg white

1 Tbs golden flax meal

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 TBS coconut oil (for the pan)

2 cups shredded cabbage

 

Hoisin Sauce:(adapted from here)

1 TBS no-sugar peanut butter

2 Tbs soy sauce

3 tsp Truvia

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

water to thin out

 

Cucumber salad:

2 medium cucumber, peeled with a little green left on and chopped

1 tsp Truvia

1/8 cup raw Apple cider vinegar

4-5 sprays Bragg's liquid Aminos (you could add 1 Tbs soy sauce here if you aren't worried about the extra sodium)

2 tsp sesame seeds

 

Joseph's Pita for serving

 

To make the turkey burgers, add everything to a bowl except for the cabbage and the coconut oil.

 Stir the ingredients together well and then add the shredded cabbage (you can reserve a small amount to put on top of the burger if you want a little added crunch). Form into burgers. This mix will be somewhat delicate to work with but once the burgers cook they hold together well (although I don't think they would work well on a grill). Add oil to a frying pan and cook until slightly browned and cooked through.

I covered them for a short while to make sure they cooked through in the centers.

 

While your burgers are cooking, peel and chop your cucumbers. Toss with ACV, Truvia and spray with liquid aminos. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

 

 

Mix together ingredients for Hoisin sauce. Mine turned out a little to thick for spreading so I added a little water until it was a normal hoisin consistency. To serve, spread your Joseph's pita with hoisin sauce, add a burger and a little added raw cabbage if you saved some. Serve with cucumber salad.

My husband and I both declared this absolutely delicious and very similar to the original! 

My oldest son (who is almost 8 and my most adventurous eater) ate every bit of this and said it was very good! My 5 year old picky eater and my three year old daughter ate half each and declared it "not my favorite" =)

 

Hope you enjoy it and it satisfies your craving for something Asian!  

 

(for easier printing)

 

Moo Shu Turkey Burgers with a Cucumber Salad

from http://firandcypress.blogspot.com/

Ingredients:

(Serves 4-6)

 

Turkey Burgers:

1 lb. ground turkey

pinch cayenne pepper

2 cloves garlic minced

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 1/2 tsp Truvia

3 TBS egg white

1 Tbs golden flax meal

1/4 cup soy sauce

1 TBS coconut oil (for the pan)

2 cups shredded cabbage

 

Hoisin Sauce:(adapted from here)

1 TBS no-sugar peanut butter

2 Tbs soy sauce

3 tsp Truvia

1 tsp balsamic vinegar

water to thin out

 

Cucumber salad:

2 medium cucumber, peeled with a little green left on and chopped

1 tsp Truvia

1/8 cup raw Apple cider vinegar

4-5 sprays Bragg's liquid Aminos (you could add 1 Tbs soy sauce here if you aren't worried about the extra sodium)

2 tsp sesame seeds

 

Joseph's Pita for serving

 

To make the turkey burgers, add everything to a bowl except for the cabbage and the coconut oil.Stir the ingredients together well and then add the shredded cabbage (you can reserve a small amount to put on top of the burger if you want a little added crunch). Form into burgers. This mix will be somewhat delicate to work with but once the burgers cook they hold together well (although I don't think they would work well on a grill). Add oil to a frying pan and cook until slightly browned and cooked through.I covered them for a short while to make sure they cooked through in the centers.While your burgers are cooking, peel and chop your cucumbers. Toss with ACV, Truvia and spray with liquid aminos. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.Mix together ingredients for Hoisin sauce. Mine turned out a little to thick for spreading so I added a little water until it was a normal hoisin consistency. To serve, spread your Joseph's pita with hoisin sauce, add a burger and a little added raw cabbage if you saved some. Serve with cucumber salad.

 

Linked up for Trim Healthy Tuesdays

Reformation Day Celebration

We do not celebrate Halloween in our family. I could give you a list of reasons why we made this choice and why we believe this is the right choice for us, but honestly? It's not my job to convince anyone else what living out their Faith looks like when it comes to day-to-day living. I would simply encourage that if you are a Christian, make sure when your choose to participate in something or not, that you have gone to the Bible yourself and searched for your answers. I believe in the sufficiency of Scripture. The Holy Spirit can answer your questions without my help. I am not convinced that, when it comes to matters of less importance than Salvation, that there is one answer that can be given that would universally suit everyone. I think we have a tendency to judge others as having poor intentions or poor understanding without taking the time to know the whole story, and that's hurtful. If you have questions, search God's Holy Word for answers, not a blog or your best friend's opinion! *steps back off soap box*
We celebrated Reformation day on Sunday with our church family and the kids participated in a contest for best costume-either Reformation or Biblical-themed (they didn't win, but they enjoyed themselves! =) )

My oldest son dress up as a Royal Scribe. He's got a paper-towel scroll with scripture written on it tucked in his belt and a feather made from a straw, paper and tape =) His costume was made from various pieces of fabric (he decided he was a "royal" scribe because one of the fabrics was silk) and a cut up pillow case.

 

My daughter was, of course, a princess completely with conical hat with ribbons and a royal cape (borrowed from a superhero costume)

 

 

 

 

We didn't get a great picture of my middle son, you can see him here in his knight costume. This was something we had found at Cracker Barrel in the clearance section several years ago. It lost it's blow up sword after one too many sword fights, so I made a "sheath" out of felt and a new sword out of cardboard and aluminum foil =)

 The baby was dress up as a lion (holding a lamb) seen here with yours truly, (you may call me Mrs. Lion-tamer). I bet that's the first time you've seen a lion sucking on his binky! =)

They also had a bouncy house and a great time playing lots of fun games with their friends. Being from the North, we really enjoyed having October be such a warm month. It's just starting to cool off a bit here (high's between 70 and 80) and I'm finding that fall is still my favorite time of year, though for different reasons. Now we are entering our family "celebration season" 5 out of the 6 of us have a birthday coming up in the next 2 months starting with the baby, who has his first birthday in a week! Add to that Thanksgiving and Christmas and this is such an enjoyable time with small children! Hope you had a wonderful Reformation Day/ Halloween as well! I'd love to hear what your family was up to in the comments!

 

 

Trim Healthy Tuesdays: Sweet Potato Pasta with Chicken - E

This is a quick, easy and inexpensive meal (in the E category for fellow THM's)! It has very few ingredients and if you have pre-cooked chicken, it will take even less time. I usually buy one or two LARGE containers of chicken (I try to buy ahead when there is a good deal and freeze it - but admittedly I'm not always organized enough to make that happen) and then I cook it all at once in my electric pressure cooker (which, by the way, is my all time FAVORITE kitchen accessory! I can cook the chicken just like a crockpot would take all day- in less than an hour!) and then keep it in the fridge to add to meals throughout the week when I am in a rush (read: ALWAYS). The whole recipe takes less than a half hour to prepare, unless the baby starts to cry and wants to nurse in the middle of the recipe, then it takes a little longer. ;)

 

Ingredients(this fed our family of 6 with enough for 2 servings for three of us, and leftovers for Hubby's lunch- although the baby didn't eat much.)

 

2 large sweet potatoes

3 cups cooked and diced chicken(I pre-season my chicken if you don't you may want to add a little seasoning to it)

3 cloves garlic (more or less according to your taste)

1 cup chicken broth (fat free to keep it in and E setting)

1 TBS Coconut oil

Salt, Pepper and Onion powder to taste (I added about 1 tsp of onion powder)

Parmesan cheese to top and cilantro for a garnish

 

Peel your sweet potatoes. I used a mandolin to slice the sweet potatoes in pasta-like shreds.

 You could use a spiralizer or even just your peeler if that's all you have. I like the mandolin because it gives more of the pasta feel when you eat it. That being said PLEASE be careful if you use the mandolin, because the sweet potato is very firm and doesn't slice easily. Absolutely use the safety holder!

 

(I found, for mine, it seems to work a little smooth when it was at the back of the potato like this)

 

One of my sweet potatoes cut smoothly, the other refused and I ended up finishing it with a knife

 

 

 

Add the chicken broth and coconut oil to your pan. In a lot of recipes you'll find that they would tell you to chop your garlic and add it here. I don't for two reasons, you can make your own choice. One, I always seem to overcook the garlic if I add it early in the recipe. And two, garlic is a powerful antibiotic and we are headed into cold and flu season. We know that garlic is most powerful when it's raw. I try to keep it as lightly cooked as possible when adding it to recipes to keep as many of the medicinal properties as I can. My kids and husband all love garlic (my kids probably because they've been exposed to it in high doses since the womb). If you have a sensitive stomach or dislike a strong garlic flavor then you may add it now.

 

 

When the coconut oil melts, add the sweet potato shreds.

 

Then lament that you chose the wrong pan, which is clearly to small, and try again!

 

 

Much better! Add salt, pepper and onion powder and stir to make sure all the potatoes are a little wet from the broth. Cover and cook until the "noodles" are softened.

 

softened sweet potato "noodles"

 

Chop your garlic and add the garlic and chicken to the pot. Stir together!

 

 

 

Add the parmesan cheese and cilantro garnish and you have a beautiful meal!!

 



 

Baby and Daddy approved! (and my husband normally dislikes sweet potatoes, but he loved this!)

All the kids enjoyed it (although we did have a mostly chicken picker on the left). Don't worry I made sure they had some good healthy fat for dessert (peaches and full-fat homemade whip cream) so they weren't in the weight loss category for this meal.

 

 For easier Printing

 

Sweet Potato Pasta with Chicken -E

From http://firandcypress.blogspot.com/

 

Ingredients

 

 

2 large sweet potatoes

3 cups cooked and diced chicken(I pre-season my chicken if you don't you may want to add a little seasoning to it)

3 cloves garlic (more or less according to your taste)

1 cup chicken broth (fat free to keep it in and E setting)

1 TBS Coconut oil

Salt, Pepper and Onion powder to taste (I added about 1 tsp of onion powder)

Parmesan cheese to top and cilantro for a garnish

 

 

Peel your sweet potatoes. I used a mandolin to slice the sweet potatoes in pasta-like shreds.

 

 You could use a spiralizer or even just your peeler if that's all you have. I like the mandolin because it gives more of the pasta feel when you eat it. Absolutely use the safety holder!

Add the chicken broth and coconut oil to your pan. 

When the coconut oil melts, add the sweet potato shreds.  Add salt, pepper and onion powder and stir to make sure all the potatoes are a little wet from the broth. Cover and cook until the "noodles" are softened.

Chop your garlic and add the garlic and chicken to the pot. Stir together! Add the parmesan cheese and cilantro garnish and you have a beautiful meal!!

 

 

 

 

 linked up for Trim Healthy Tuesdays

 

 

 

Review: Amazing Science DVD from scienceandmath.com

 

 

This is a DVD that I was able to borrow from my local library. It has 2 discs with 23 simple science experiments to teach basic scientific vocabulary and principles like density, electricity, magnetism, heat, temperature, pressure, surface tension, buoyancy, and more. Many of the experiments can be performed with items you probably already have around your house like dish soap, string, or an old soda bottle. Although, some you will need to prepare ahead for. (we can't wait to try the "Dry ice bubbles" experiment when we locate some dry ice!) Each experiment is well demonstrated and then explained after in a way that was easy for my 5 and 7 year old to understand (the 3 year old enjoyed watching, although she didn't quite understand what was going on- however the experiments we tried were still all easy enough and safe enough for her to participate in!) We were able to try three experiments so far, with plans to collect materials to try a few more!
 

Experiment #1

Color Changing Milk

(you can see this experiment's video right on scienceandmath.com's website, go check it out!)

 

They started by pouring out some whole milk onto a dish

 

 

then added a few drops of food coloring, being careful not to mix or swirl the plate at all

 

 

then, taking a Q-tip that is lightly coated with dish soap they touched the food coloring spots and watched as it quickly spread out!

 

 

When I asked my seven year old, he was able to explain that the way the fats and proteins in the milk react with the dish soap, causes the reaction. (the video linked above explains in more detail.) This experiment is really fun and easy for kids to do, and they really enjoyed watching the results!

 

 

Experiment #2

Reversing an Image with Water

 

This was another simple experiment, that was easy to do and the kids really enjoyed! All you need for the experiment is a piece of paper, a dark marker, water and a jar (we also used a book to hold the paper up easier).

 

 Draw two or three arrows on your piece of paper with your marker.

 

 

 Set up the paper and book so that you can look through the glass and see the paper (we folded ours so the arrows would be near the bottom.

 

 

 

 Fill the glass with water (make sure your paper is 2 or 3" behind the glass or this won't work)

 

 

The arrows will be pointing in the opposite direction!

 

Experiment #3

Lift an Ice Cube with String

  

This was a really fun experiment! The kids all had to try it. What you need is a jar filled with ice and water (lots of ice was important for us- but if it's colder where you are you may not need to fill the whole jar with ice like we did!) a piece of cotton string and salt.


Dip the cotton string in the water making sure it has good contact with at least one piece of ice


Sprinkle Salt on top and count to 10 and lift the string!


Mr. Over-achiever got THREE pieces of ice ;)


 

Yeah! Caught one!

My oldest son again was able to explain from the DVD lesson, that the salt melts the ice slightly, but then the water washes it away and the ice re-freezes with the string attached.

This is a great DVD to work on some simple science experiments with your children and get them excited about science! My children have watched each experiment over and over and really enjoyed learning the how and the why! If you go to scienceandmath.com they have the DVD there for purchase. They also have 7 of the experiments that you can watch for free on their site!
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Cleaning Can Wait...

"But I love to clean, Mom!"

 

     Have you heard, or said a statement like that before? Usually it's in the context of one mother lamenting about everything that is a mess in her home and another mom or older woman will say, "the cleaning can wait, spending time with your kids is more important."


     Now, before I continue, let me say that if you are the type of person who has a beautiful home, with an organizational system for every closet, and never lets anything in her fridge grow mold, then this post isn't for you!


     I'm also not speaking to the mother with children who are sick, or a newborn who wants to be held all day, or the teething baby who just needs some extra snuggles this week. Please don't let me add to the load you bear. 

This is not the time for cleaning!

     But if you are like me, and could easily spend your day playing, reading, or going to the park with your children only to realize that your husband will be home in 15 min. and there isn't a clean dish, or outfit in the house and you have no idea what dinner should be, let's talk!

"These were clean, Mom. Then, I decided to dump them all on the floor instead!"

 

     I am not a naturally organized person. When I first became a stay-at-home wife and mom 8 years ago, I was very used to being in a work environment, where you always had a boss who said, "You need to get these things done today!" and if you didn't- there were consequences. So coming home and being in charge of my own days left me feeling adrift, and it was easy to feel like the kid who got a day off! "Let's see what the internet has to say!" "Maybe I should take the baby up to see the horses again, or down to the park", "The baby needs something warm to wear should I sew or knit today?" "This book is all about motherhood- it's very important that I sit and finish reading it!"

"What should we do today? Hike a mountain? Explore the neighbors trash cans?"

      I could always find an excuse why the things I would PREFER to do, was what I "should" be doing! But it wasn't without consequence (though I have a very sweet husband who never came home and said "Gee Honey, have you happened to notice that there's not one square-inch of counter space left in the kitchen?") I was easily frustrated, and often the things I needed were not to be found without a long draw-out search. And sometimes money was wasted re-buying something we could not find. But, honestly, none of these things were enough to truly change my ways.

"Off to see the horses!"

 

      What I started to realize was that this was more important that just the difference between a clean and a dirty house. This was the difference between a home and a house. This was a way that I could show love to my husband by preparing for him to come home, and give my children the memory of home being a place of peace and beauty that they enjoyed being. This was the difference of throwing a meal together quickly and not thinking how nutritious it was, but instead how fast I could make it!

     I've noticed something about the Proverbs 31 woman. Why is she considered so virtuous? If you could sum her up in one word what would it be?

"She selects wool and flax
    and works with eager hands.
 She is like the merchant ships,
    bringing her food from afar.
She gets up while it is still night;
    she provides food for her family
    and portions for her female servants."
-Proverbs 31:13-15

     For me, that word would be "prepared". She does things in advance, she gets ready for what she knows lies ahead. Her wisdom is in her forethought. That's what I was missing, forethought. I was living in the moment and not preparing ahead. I was letting my emotions guide me, rather than preparing what my brain told me needed to get done.

"This mess is totally not my fault Mom, these shreds just jumped out and grabbed me!"

      Yes, playing with your children is invaluable! Yes, you should do it EVERY DAY. But the matters of the home like clean dishes and clothes, a vacuumed floor, a well-planned meal are truly equally important. Because they turn your house into a home, a place where you all desire to be together, a calm place that is full of industry rather than chaos. Here's a few practical tips I would give to those who this doesn't come naturally to (like me!):

Tip #1- don't let your kids do THIS- it tends to break the door off the dishwasher. *ahem*

• Books/Sermons on tape. This is my #1 thing that helps me clean- having something to listen to while I do it! Most librarys have free audiobooks you can download and listen to (don't know what to try? Listen to some classics! Charles Dickens, Jane Austen, LM Montgomery, etc.)Also, Revive Our Hearts has TONS of excellent radio messages recorded on their site that you can listen to for free.
• Set a timer. Dishes are my nemesis. =) But when I realized that if I set my timer and washed them three times a day for 15 minutes each, that my dishes would be done (for the most part- I'm NOT a perfectionist!)it made it seem much easier! 15 minutes? I could manage that!
• Involve the kids! We like to get out a CD and try to beat a song. "Okay- do you think we can get all these toys cleaned up before the song ends? Let's do it!" or "I want you to continue to sweep the floor until this song is over- think you can do it?" It makes things a lot more fun and usually helps stop the can-I-be-done-yet's =)

No she wasn't ready to sweep herself yet, but she sure looks cute doing it!





• Don't try to be a perfectionist. I usually look at a room and see if there is one way I can make it cleaner quickly. Run around with a trash bag and pick up any trash, vacuum the rug and fix the couch cushions, quick spray the counters and table clean. It doesn't have to be perfect in my book- just functional and not a chaotic mess!
• Try to keep at least one healthy complete meal in the freezer for those days that NOTHING goes right. (more is better- unless you are nervous like me and have prepared a freezer full of meals only to have the power go out for a week and loose all of your food- TWICE in the same year. *ahem* yeah. )

     I hope that encourages you today! I'd love to hear from you in the comments about ways that you make your house into a home and bless your family!