Turkey Meatballs with Zucchini Ribbons

I wanted to make some turkey meatballs and came up with this recipe trying to make the meatballs as moist as possible for turkey. It’s a three step cooking process that works well with the zucchini ribbons as a side instead of pasta.

1-1/2 pounds of Ground Turkey 85/15
1 cup chopped green onion
1 tbsp of good mustard
1 large egg
1/4 cup breadcrumbs (I used panko bread crumbs)
1 tbsp of italian herbs
Pinch of cracked black pepper
2 cups of vegetable broth
1 tbsp olive oil

Add onion, mustard, egg, herbs, breadcrumbs and black pepper. Mix in the turkey. Shape the turkey mixture into 1 1/4-inch-diameter meatballs. Place on a large plate or baking sheet.
Heat the oil in a heavy large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and saute until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes.
Pour the vegetable stock in the pan and bring to a boil. Turn meatballs often to cook on all sides, about 10 minutes. Transfer the meatballs to a pyrex baking pan, leaving the vegetable stock
Heat oven to 350 degrees and bake the meatballs for about 15-20 additional minutes. While this is cooking, you can prepare the vegetables for the dish.

And for the vegetable portion of the dish, I like to make ribbons out of zucchini by using a vegetable peeler and some diced veggies.

Vegetable broth leftover from meatball recipe
1 large zucchini, peeled into ribbons
1/4 cup diced onion
2 garlic cloves, diced
1 roma tomato, diced small
1 cup of swiss chard or kale, cut into ribbons

Prepare all vegetables while letting the vegetable reheat using the same pan that you cooked the meatballs in. Bring to a boil and stir often, getting any meatball flavor from the bottom of the pan.
Add all ingredients, stirring every couple minutes. Total cooking time is about 5 minutes on medium heat.
With a slotted spoon, place vegetables on a plate, top with turkey meatballs, parmesan cheese and pepper.

Bex Beef Bourguinon Crockpot Recipe

After having a delicious Beef Bourguinon in Louisville, I wanted to try adapting this savory beef stew and use my crockpot to make it. I set up all the ingredients within 20 minutes and left it to cook for over 8 hours on low.

I used the formal recipe for Beef Bourginion, but made some adjustments and omitted the bacon to be a little leaner, add celery and I made my own vegetable stock to use instead of beef broth.

2 pounds of steak meat (such as round, chuck or cubed stew cut)
Steak dry rub or salt/pepper/italian herbs
2 tablespoons of flour
1 tsp olive oil (if you don’t use bacon)
4-6 pieces of bacon, diced and cooked
1 medium yellow onion – large diced chunks
2 cups of cut carrots (or baby carrots)
3 large potatoes, skinned and cut into smaller pieces
2 cups of diced celery
2 cups of mushrooms, sliced in half
2 cups of Pinot Noir or Burgundy Wine
2 cups of beef broth (or vegetable stock)
1 small can of tomato puree -10 oz. (or tomato sauce)
2 tbsp of cornstarch or flour (if desired to thicken up the sauce)
2 tsp of butter (if desired to add creaminess to broth)

If you are using bacon, fry diced bacon in a frying pan until done. Remove from pan and drain.
Wash and pat dry beef cubes, add dry rub and toss in a bowl until coated. Add to pan with the olive oil (unless you use bacon grease) on medium heat, cook on all sides until browned. Remove from pan and set aside.
Sprinkle seared beef cubes with flour on all sides and prepare for crockpot.
Turn on your crockpot to low and add the cut potatoes, onions, celery, carrots, potatoes, wine, beef broth or vegetable stock and can of tomato puree. Mix all ingredients with a large spoon and add beef and bacon to the crockpot
Cook for approximately 8-9 hours on Low Heat.
If you desire a thicker broth, you can add cornstarch or flour and raise the cook heat towards the end to High heat.