turkey chili rice

I couldn’t think of what else to call this recipe. It’s sort of a combination of turkey chili and fried rice. Or maybe it’s just a chili recipe that I added rice to. Whatever. It’s not a very creative name but the recipe itself did turn out yummy and it comes together really quick too.

It was a last minute dinner, as many of mine are, and I came up with this recipe as a way for me to clean out my fridge and pantry. I used ingredients I always have on hand like rice, diced tomatoes, black beans, onions, garlic and spices. These kinds of dinners don’t always turn out well but in this case, it did. It’s pretty healthy too. Except I served mine with a generous helping of cheddar cheese and a big handful of crunchy tortilla chips. I wound up eating the “turkey chili rice” like a dip, using the chips as my utensils. So, if you eat it that way it’s not that healthy. It’s pretty good on it’s own too so the chips and cheese are optional.

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Cabbage with cumin, turmeric, and red pepper flakes

Back to veggies! I bought some savoy cabbage with the intention of making Alex Guarnaschelli’s braised cabbage. However I found another recipe for Ethiopian cabbage that sparked my interest so I decided to go that route instead. I wound up changing the recipe quite a bit but the outcome was delicious! This cabbage is spiced with garlic, ginger, cumin, turmeric and lots of red pepper flakes. I’m always looking for unique ways to cook vegetables so I’m really glad this worked out.

My version of Baingan Bharta (Indian eggplant curry)

I love eggplant. It can be a tricky vegetable to cook, but when it’s cooked properly it is delicious. I went a bit eggplant crazy the other day at the grocery store because the eggplants looked so good. I still have some leftover that I need to figure out what to do with before they go bad! After searching the internet for eggplant recipes and not finding anything that really suited my mood, I decided to try my hand at making baingan bharta, an Indian eggplant dish I often order at Indian restaurants. I love eggplant parmesan just as much as anybody but I was in the mood for something more exotic. I’ve been experimenting a lot with cooking Indian food, and although not everything I make has turned out well (I had a bit of a disaster the other day with some spiced stuffed peppers I made), I am learning which spices go well together and so I figured I’d give this eggplant dish a whirl. I’m glad I did, because it came out quite well!

Smoky spiced potatoes and chickpeas

Some of my favorite meals don’t include meat. I’m not a vegetarian but if I had to cut out one food group it would definitely be meat. I just don’t crave it the way I do other food groups, like carbs, unfortunately. Sunday night’s dinner was yet another meatless meal for me. I wanted something with a bit of an Indian flavor and this is what I came up. In this dish, potatoes and chickpeas are flavored with garlic, ginger, cumin, turmeric and red chili flakes. One of the most important components of this dish is the carmelized onions. I let the onions cook probably for about 15 minutes until they turned a deep brown color and became really sweet. This really adds an amazing deep flavor to the dish so be patient as they carmelize. Greek yogurt, cilantro and lime are the perfect finish to the meal and add a nice freshness to the potatoes and chickpeas.

Side note, I also made beef enchiladas, courtesy of The Pioneer Woman, because unlike me, my husband eats a lot of meat.