Copyright 2013 Siiri Sampson. All rights reserved

I made this as an entry for a food contest a few weeks ago – and while I may not have won that particular award, I have it on good authority that this dish is indeed a serious winner. I had multiple volunteers help me devour this and then have had numerous others already request and make this for themselves at home with great success and accolades.

4 Cheese & Black Bean Mexican Turkey Lasagna

Serves 8

INGREDIENTS

• 1 pound lean ground turkey (93/7 split if possible)
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 cup organic black olives, sliced
• 1/2 cup diced organic green chili peppers
• 1/2 (5 ozs) can diced organic tomatoes with green Chilies
• 1/2 (8 ozs) jar organic, low sodium tomato sauce
• 1 (16 ounce) can fat-free re-fried black beans
• 3 large Smart & Delicious™ Low Carb, High Fiber Tortillas
• 2 cups Sargento® Shredded Reduced Fat 4 Cheese Mexican

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. In a large skillet over medium heat, sauté the ground turnkey for 5 minutes. Add the onion, garlic and spices, and sauté for 5 more minutes. Drain any excess fat, if desired.
2. Mix in the olives, green chilies, tomatoes with green chilies, tomato sauce and re-fried beans. Stir mixture thoroughly, reduce heat to low, and let simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
3. While the mixtures simmers, toast the tortillas slightly in a dry pan till slightly brown and set aside. This helps keep the layers firm when cutting.
4. Spray a pie plate, 8″ round cake pan, or spring form pan with light cooking spray. Place one tortilla in the bottom for a crust and lightly sprinkle with cheese, all the way to the edge.
5. Next, spread a thin layer of the meat mixture, and press down level with a rubber spatula. Sprinkle a light layer of cheese on top. Repeat the tortilla, meat, cheese pattern twice more, for a total of 3 layers.
6. Top off with a healthy layer of cheese.
7. Bake for 20 minutes in the preheated oven, and if desired, broil for 3-5 minutes until cheese is brown and bubbly.

SERVING SUGGESTIONS

• Top with fat free sour cream and freshly sliced scallions (green onions)
• Make a fresh batch of tangy pico de gallo to serve along side for a kick
• Leave fresh veggies out for everyone to customize with their favorite toppings

TIME SAVING TIP

• Prepare two pans at the same time and freeze one for a make ahead meal

Presenting the Deal of the Week (in my humble opinion):

On Friday, Dec. 7, Whole Foods Market is hosting a one-day sale on wild-caught Marine Stewardship Council (MSC)-certified sockeye salmon for $7.99/lb. – a savings of nearly 50 percent! 

Courtesy Whole Foods Market

And if it sounds amazing, but you’re not sure how to cook it besides grilling (and let’s be honest, there’s like MAYBE 5% of us who want to bother grilling in December in Seattle) here’s three crazy amazing ideas from Whole Foods:

·       Spice-crusted Roast Salmon with Ginger Beets

·       Honey Mustard Salmon Salad

·       Citrus-Marinated Grilled Salmon with Tabbouleh Salad

Our fave is the spice-crusted roasted salmon, for obvious reasons: salmon? YUM. roasting? DUH. spice-crusted? TASTY!

If you want a way to give back this season, then rest assured, you’re helping Mother Earth with this purchase! Your salmon purchase supports healthy oceans, too, because Whole Foods’ sockeye is certified sustainable by the MSC, meaning salmon populations are relatively abundant, fishing methods have minimal impact on the ecosystem and the fishery is managed effectively to maintain sustainability.

So if you want a no-brainer way to (inexpesively) impress at dinner on Friday night:

This deal is good on Friday, Dec. 7 only. Stock up on this rich, full-flavored fish for a lighter holiday meal option – for your guests, or just for you!

Poached red pears awaiting their marching orders.

I have been busy busy with some large things lately – some fun, some challenging and some just plain old life. I’m sure you can relate, no? But I wanted to share some Fall food pictures I’ve taken when I had the whim, so here goes:

Home made chicken and wild rice soup

This fun little treat used up ALL the leftovers from a roasted chicken I had done earlier in the week (see below). I removed all the extra meat that hadn’t been devoured in the original meal, and set it aside. Then when I had time, I boiled the carcass – skin bits and all – to make a luscious chicken stock that I let sit over night before adding three kinds of wild rice, the leftover chicken and some veggies to last me 6 meals (including two other mouths). This was hands down the best soup I’ve made in at least a year. It was definitely the stock that made it so….homemade is the only way to go, and if you can, let yourself have the fat in the stock.

Whole roasted chicken with lemon and onions

Could this have been photographed better? Hell yes. Could it have tasted better? Hell no.

I know you can see all the lame, nasty, kitchen behind the scenes aspects of this dish, but honestly, this is how it comes out, and it still looks freaking delicious. I think this was about 7.5lbs or so. It is one of the easiest things to cook because you just throw it in the oven. And yes, I used tin foil to hold the legs together instead of twine. And I even HAD twine in the house, but I didn’t want to get the step ladder out to reach it – it was above the fridge in the way back cabinet, behind the Moscow Mule mugs and I wasn’t into it. So I improvised. It tasted just as good with my ghetto technique.

Filet Mignon with Caramelized Jack Mushrooms and haricot vert with dill vinaigrette.

Can you say YUM!? You should have seen the inside – bright pink, tender, with dripping compound herb butter I made myself. INCREDIBLE! You wanna know why I made this dish? Stick around for a full post on it!

What will you make for dinner tonight? Have you busted out the slow cooker yet? Do tell!

Lemon Garlic Grilled Pork Tenderloin with Southwestern Summer Slaw

 

Grilled Pork Tenderloin just begging for another heaping spoonful of those caramelized onions…..YUM!

For about $6-7 a pop, grab a pre-marinated pork tenderloin and fire up the grill to HIGH.

While that’s warming up, combine the following in a bowl:
-2 cans corn, drained
-1 can black beans, drained
-1 avocado, chopped
-1 beefsteak tomato chopped up finely
-1 lime, zested and juiced right over that avocado
-3 dashes favorite hot sauce

Slap in the fridge to meld the flavors while you cook the pork – SO simple:

1. Place pork at back of grill on high for 5min till one aide is charred.
2. Turn a quarter turn every 5 minutes, leaving one side UNcharred.
3. Turn grill to LOWEST heat, cover and cook 20 more minutes.
4. Turn heat back to HIGH and make final quarter turn to char last side for 5mins.
5. Remove from heat to clean plate, cover tightly with foil for 5 minutes to set minutes.

When you plate this up, toss a little shredded cheddar into the slaw (which is really more of a salsa or corn salad, let’s be honest), for added kick. A little leftover caramelized onions never hurt anyone (or a diet for that matter…), and a dollop of fat free sour cream for good measure.

Total calories for one: approx. 300 give or take. Enough left over for dessert, or a cold brew to match your job well done! (get it? Grill? Well down?! ….. Sorry.)

Just before devouring my birthday churros! YUM

This year, I did a low-key, girls night out in my hood. At one of my favorite places. BARRIO. It’s one of my favorites because they just do the food and service so well. They are not pretentious, the food is by and large fantastic, and they welcome everyone in to try what it is they’re doing.  They even take constructive criticism well, and USE IT, to be better.  That is why I like them.  (*And they’re not paying me to blog about them either. I have been a fan since DAY ONE.)

Because foodies love to share their favorite spots with others, and talk about food until everyone tunes them out, and because everyone loves a little gratuitous food porn, I am sharing a little montage of my birthday dinner with you all.

First of all, get your mind right on this – I want you to really put yourself at my party, okay? We were sitting at this beautiful, long, wood plank table, right at the window line. The windows are these huge, glass, bi-fold windows that they have open during the summer. They take up the entire wall, so really it’s just open to the outside. Love it.

See, amazing open air "windows" right next to us.

And there you see a few of my special ladies: (left to right) Jessica, Rachel and Danae!

So, once we all arrived, about 14 of us, we started ordering a few celebratory cocktails when it became VERY apparent that the drink de jour was The Hotness. Yes, of course that’s it’s name. What’s in it? Glad you asked: cachaça, lime, lemon, st. germain, and soda. It’s got a fresh cucumber slice in it that somehow makes you feel like you’re sitting pool side at a fancy resort. And they go down super smooth, so of course, we each had about 3 of them.

The Hotness

How could you NOT want that?!

So anyway, we decided to order a few small plates to share around since only a few of us were hungry enough for dinner. And I know you want to see what we had, right?!

Civeche plate? Sure, why not!

So what you’re looking at here is the Grilled Prawn & Rock Fish Ceviche with tobiko, mango, cucumber,
habanero, fresno chiles, red onion and cilantro, alongside the ahi tuna crudo in the back there with some fried plantains to scoop up all the goodness. There are no words to describe how fresh and delicate the rockfish was. The avocado was a perfect pairing, and then in the front the grilled prawns were firm and slightly salty, which was great with the pop of tobiko (the orange fish roe you see on top).  Need a closer look?!

Ahi crudo

And…..

Prawns with tobiko

Then it was on to some hotter dishes, the grilled corn (I’m not a corn person, but the girls said it was pretty dang tasty) and the SUPER FREAKING SPICY chicken – little drumsticks:

Grilled corn

And….

These were so spicy, I had to order another drink.

Luckily there was a creamy little Ranch like sauce we had on the side, which saved my mouth!

By now, as you can imagine, the girls are getting a little annoyed with my inability to eat ANY dish before taking 20,000 pictures of it. But we were having a great time, and since it was my birthday after all, they complied.

Here are a few pictures of all the great conversations happening around the table – I love that all these special ladies were having really interesting conversations and many of them were meeting for the first or second time…

Ziglets and I.

And then we had ONE handsome man who was special enough to join ladies night, my precious little honorary nephew, Roman…

I die. all the cuteness.

He was born in May to my dear friends, Akash and Marissa, and he’s the toast of the town.

So you know we ended the evening with churros and chit-chat on the sidewalk, and then a few of us (who hadn’t had their fill of fun yet) traipsed through Cap Hill, did a little birthday shoppy shop and finished the night off with drinks at a local hole called Moe Bar.

All in all, an amazing night, amazing birthday and amazing dinner. What more could a girl want?!  Thank you to all my beautiful and intelligent girlfriends and thanks to the staff at BARRIO for the excellent service and attention to detail – as always you made everything perfection, and I do believe some of my friends that hadn’t been in before really had a great time.

I hope whoever is reading this finds a way to celebrate with their friends and loved ones on their next birthday that makes them and everyone around them smile with happiness in their hearts. I’m so lucky to be surrounded by these gals!

Yeah, HI! Who wouldn't want to curl right up on that couch with a glass of wine, plate of grilled salmon tacos and a hot date?!

And here was my hot date, my dear friend Danae!

Girls night out!!!

A little birdie/foodie friend of mine sent me an exclusive invitation to join him at the Tulalip Casino and Resort up North, which was exciting because I’d never been and have heard the resort service (and linens) are to die for.  So obviously I cleared my schedule and headed North for an afternoon of food, vino and great company….

The chefs couldn't grill it fast enough! The salmon was perfectly done, super moist, and the perfect side kick to the flank steak you see keeping it warm on the grill. YUM

Before I walk you through the seventeen plates I tasted (okay, maybe not that many plates, but my stomach couldn’t tell the difference!) you need a little context about the origin of the meal.  The resorts did themselves a solid by finding a super talent in Chef PerryMascitti, who had this to say about the menu he put together for the event with the Mi Sueno Winery:

“One my last visit to Napa in September 2010 during the crush season, one of our stops was the Mi Sueno Winery.  As we were talking to the staff, I was getting the whole picture of what Rolando Herrera was all about.  He was a great success story with humble beginnings.

Myself and Rolando enjoying what I think was the BEST glass of wine of the night - The Herrera!

And here’s a bit about the wines we sampled:

Rolando Herrera, owner and winemaker of this boutique winery that is Spanish for “my dream”, will be the featured guest at the wine and dine evening.  Mi Sueño, located in California’s Napa Valley, has been honored to have a wine served on three separate occasions at White House state dinners.  At Tulalip, guests will have the opportunity to taste six of Herrera’s wines from the silky Los Carneros Chardonnay to vibrant Pinot Noirs, dark fruit Cabernets and the tantalizing El Llano Cabernet and Syrah blend.

Okay, so now that you know HOW this menu came together, here’s WHAT was on it:

A  Festival of Tastes from México and Pacific Coastal Regions

To Refresh
Jamaica and Horchata Juice Bowls (I forgot to take a picture of the Horchata because I was SO busy drinking 5 glasses of it. How’d I have room for anything else??)

For Tradition

These are the little corn tortillas that sent the most enticing baked corn scent wafting through the patio....you don't see any flour tortillas because I ATE THEM ALL!

Freshly made to order corn and flour tortillas
Grande Salsa Bar  ten different styles of salsa

On Ice

The haute couture of the evening, literally made to order, one of a kind every time. Whatever you want (added in or left out for that matter), and as much as you could stuff in your purse. WHAT?!

Fresh Fuerte Guacamole – Barista made to order (above)

The ceviche was so tender and fresh, with just the right amount of spice from the fresh peppers and citrus. Just the way to warm up your palette before diving into the tacos and salsas!

Ceviche Bar – raw seafood with lime, tomato, garlic, serrano, green onion
Seafood Cocktail with shrimp, scallop, squid in spicy chile sauce

On the Mesquite Grill
Mesquite Pollo ~ California Citrus Glaze

Flank Steak Carne Asada ~ Adobada Spice Rub:

So many salsas to top your flank steak, and yet it would have been perfection even if it stood alone...

Camarones Skewers ~ Tomatillo Sauce

Grilled Salmon ~ Roasted Chile-Honey Mop:

A little mango salsa, a lot of salmon and homemade flour tortilla down the hatch!

To Stuff
Tortas de Carnitas Bar, Cacique cheese, roasted salsa, white onion, avocado, crema

For a Sweet Ending
Caramelized Flan ~ Kahlua Sauce (I missed this, but there’s no way I had room anyway….)

Buñuelos ~ Mango:

Bring me all the desserts. On one plate. Immediately.

Mango, Pineapple and Papaya ~ Lime, crushed raw sugar, chile powder (seen in the glass above, a perfect balance of spicy, sweet and refreshing)

Mexican Wedding Cakes:

That was just my plate. Just kidding. um, not.

Of course we were so stuffed, we stayed the night and hit up the pool and hot tub for a little R&R before retiring to our rooms where we melted in the BEST. SHEETS. EVER.:

Note to self: Order in BULK!....I wonder if it comes with turn down service at home?

And watched the Mafia Marathon on AMC. Classic.

In the morning, we had fully recovered and hit up the cafe in the resort for breakfast, where we split a fruit tray (with the sweetest blackberries I’ve had all year, honestly) and a veggie Benedict with extra crispy hash browns:

Done and................

.....done!

So, that was my food field trip! I laughed (Rolando is a sweet and funny guy!), I cried (when I couldn’t eat anymore), I stuffed my face like a bear facing hibernation…Thank you so much to Chef Perry and his team, and Rolando and his team for coming together and creating what will honestly be one of the best cook outs I’ll ever remember!

Sake #1: Junmaiginjo Jokigen. (Taste slightly of pears)

Note from Barrie: jump off the cliff, go for it!!!

Tasting note: Satori cheese, paired with Sato’s Rice Label sake. The cheese is a asiago cows milk from Winsconsin. The cheese smells of tomato and rye before you eat it.

Pairing #2:

Drink: A rum out of Martinique from a family joint.
Note: a slice of lime rather than a wedge for the drink to prevent sourness.

Espresso rinded cheese with rum??? DUHHHH, THAT'S A YES! http://www.TheCheeseImpresario.com

Barrie note: “Just like a relationship,1+1 should always = more than 1. Put each other on a pedestal.”

And here are some of the pictures I tweeted while there last night:

Getting ready for a delicious evening of cheese, spirits, friends and food lessons with The Cheese Impresario, Barrie!

Okay, so I ended up doing more talking, sampling and “mmmmmmm!”ing than note taking, but my phone battery was dying and can you really blame me anyway?!  Everything was amazing and Barrie blew my mind, what an amazing ability to sense the best of each ingredient and think outside the box! I hope she does another event soon, and for the larger public, because it would be REALLY fun to have a group of friends go to this together and learn, eat and have a blast!

A HUGE thank you to my girl, Keren, (www.FranticFoodie.com) for putting this together and inviting to me come along for the ride.  An equally HUGE thank you to Barrie Lynn, (www.TheCheeseImpresario.com) for being so fabulous and wonderful and letting us all experience what she’s known for years: CHEESE RULES!

Check out Barrie’s series, Cheese Rules, on Small Screen: http://www.smallscreennetwork.com/cheeserules 

A view from our table on the patio, while we sipped French 75's.

Now, I wanted to boost the mood for you all, with some fabulous summer shots of a local Seattle favorite restaurant of mine, Maximilien in the Pike Place Market.

The full spread of appetizers in all their glory. Definitely the best bang for your buck at Happy Hour.

For those of you not from here, it’s a fantastic little French place at the edge of the market with a killer patio, great service and of course the food is to die for.

Fabulous frites with a touch of truffle oil are just the right indulgence on a hot summer afternoon.

These pictures are from a little get together with some of my girlfriends from my days at Reed College this past summer.  Between the frites, the succulent sauces and the sunshine, this’ll get me through at least another week of this awful weather we’re calling winter this year. Hope you have a warm food memory to latch onto right now….I hear we’ve got over 70 days of winter left. Super.

I needed to buy something for dinner last night as well as something for dinner tonight, as I’m having a couple of friends over and one is a vegetarian.  I headed over to the cold case where I knew they kept the tofu (just wait to see what I’m making with it! I’ll post the full method tomorrow, after I’ve made it).  As I walked over there, I saw a little “turn style” (not sure what it’s really called), on top of this podium thingy (real specific, Siir’, thanks!)…..

I thought to myself, I wonder why they are selling seed packets next to the tofu?  Right.  That makes sense. So I looked again and realized it was a rotating kiosk full of recipe cards!  And the podium had a reference guide-book on it with divider tabs that showed how to cook every kind of meat and vegetable! I could NOT believe my eyes. Here are some free resources for EVERYONE to use, just sitting there in this little corner. I have been in that store at least 100 times and have NEVER seen it sitting there.

So, of course I took full advantage of what I saw.

Here’s a list of recipe cards I picked up to try:

Grilled Halibut Raspberry Vinaigrette
Chive and Rosemary Filet Mignon
Roasted Cauliflower Gratin
Baba Ghanoush
Minty Watermelon Salad
Brussels Sprouts Vinaigrette
Sweet Ginger Carrots

Tonight I’m making the Sweet Ginger Carrots to go with the tofu and then I’m doing a Kale pesto pasta salad. Can you say YUM?

For the tofu, I’m going to bake it like it’s my crispy baked chicken (the same recipe that I used for my Food Network YouTube Challenge Video) and just sub out the chicken for tofu, and reduce the amount of yogurt so it doesn’t get soggy (I drained it last night).

I’ll show you how I did it tomorrow!

Next time you’re at the grocery store, keep your eyes peeled for these cool, free resources.  Most stores have something of this nature, whether in the deli, butcher counter or produce department.  When you are short on inspiration, borrow some!

And it makes me want to dance, and I love to dance in the kitchen, while I cook. And so, naturally (right?) I want to make this aromatic and rich onion dip that Baking Banter posted. (I CAN’T get enough of them lately, I know!!!!!)

Image credit to King Arthur Flour Company

Here is how they made their version of the onion dip.

I would say my only switch up would be a healthy swap out of the mayo and cream cheese (sorry fatty dairy products….I love you, but the seams on my bikini and everyone at the beach in Bali that will have to see my fat, white thighs? not so much!)

I would, instead, keep the non-fat sour cream, because it’s really not that bad, and that zip it adds is unmistakable, and I would make the rest from (you guessed it) my lady in waiting, non-fat plain yogurt. Strained or not, it keeps it creamy and filling, without a million extra calories that I won’t have time to run off before August.

I may just have to make this over this weekend…and try it out on my subjects, er, friends.