Turkey Enchiladas!

After the prized white breast meat is cut away from a whole, roasted turkey there is actually quite a bit of edible protein left.  Cleaning the bird requires meticulous determination - especially if you have picky eaters who blanch at the presence of cartilage or bone fragments in their mouth - but the extra time it takes to remove the dark meat is worth the effort.  The darker meat from the wings, ribs, legs and thighs tend to have a slightly higher nutrient profile - more iron, calcium and zinc. 

Darker meat indicates that the turkey used the muscle tissue more during its lifetime.  

More exercise equals more blood flow.  

Where there is more blood flow, there are more minerals like iron, calcium and zinc.

My dad likes to use the leftover dark meat to make his famous turkey enchiladas because the dark meat has more flavor than the white meat.  His recipe is below.

Our vacation rental didn't have a 9 x 11 so we used 4 smaller vessels

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced finely
• 1 can (4 oz) diced green chilies
• Jalapeño peppers, diced (optional)
• 4 cups shredded* turkey
• 1/2 cup bone broth
• 12 oz Monterrey jack cheese, shredded
• 16 (6-inch) corn tortillas
• 1 can (15 oz) black beans, drained
• 1 can (10 oz) enchilada sauce
• 16 black olives, slices

Directions:

1.     Heat oil in frying pan over medium heat.  Add onion and saute until soft and translucent.

2.   Add bell pepper, green chilies and jalapeños.  Cook a few minutes more.  (Side note: If you aren't a fan of spicy, don't add the jalapeños.  If you love spicy, add as many other peppers as your taste buds can handle!)

3.     Add turkey and broth to pepper mixture.  Stir over low heat until well mixed.

4.     Remove from heat and add 1 cup (8 oz) of the cheese.  Mix well.  Enchilada filling is done.

5.     Lay a tortilla on a flat surface.  Place 1/4 cup** of the turkey mixture across the diameter of the tortilla and roll it into a cylinder.  If tortillas are dry and cracking as you roll, add a little bit of water to the remaining tortillas in a bag and microwave for 10 seconds to soften the grain and make it more pliable.

6.     Place the rolled enchilada in one end of a 9 x 11 Pyrex baking dish, leaving room on the sides.  Repeat with remaining tortillas until the baking dish is full length-wise.  It's OK if you end up with left-over filling - it can be frozen and used later for a quick taco meal!

7.     Pour beans into the space on the sides of the enchiladas.  Pour the enchilada sauce on top of the enchiladas.  Sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup (4 oz) cheese on top of the sauce and sprinkle the olives on top of the cheese.

8.     Cover.  Bake in a preheated oven at 350° F for 30 minutes.  Remove cover and bake about 5-10 minutes more, until the cheese is beginning to brown.

9.     Serve warm.

One turkey enchilada served with spring mix salad, saffron rice, quinoa and black beans

* Use your fingers to pull apart the meat until it is a stringy consistency.  If you want to bring out more of the turkey flavor in your enchilada, you can brown the shredded meat in a separate pan (1 tablespoon of oil over medium heat) before adding it to the onion and pepper mixture.

**This measurement is not exact.  You can place more turkey mixture in the middle of each tortilla for a bigger enchilada or less turkey mixture for a smaller enchilada.  Nutritional note: the smaller enchilada will have more corn tortilla (i.e. carbs) per enchilada while the larger enchilada will have more turkey (i.e. protein) per enchilada.

Mmm, Mmm... Turkey Sandwich!

So you made a big turkey dinner but the mashed potatoes are gone and you don't feel like heating up turkey and gravy.  Solution to your hunger: make a sandwich.  It's easy, it's quick, it's delicious.

This sandwich was so delicious that I almost forgot to take a picture

Adair's Turkey Sandwich

• 2 slices whole wheat bread
• mayonnaise (adds moisture to the drier, white meat)
• turkey breast, cut and flattened into bit-sized pieces
• spring mix lettuce
• tomato, thinly sliced

Five turkey meals for $10

The holidays are a great time to buy whole turkeys because grocery stores tend to put them on sale for less than a dollar per pound.  If you know how to prepare it, you can feed a large number of people in one setting (i.e. dinner with extended family) or create 4 meals for a smaller group -- both of which are great ways to eat well and save money!

We just bought a 12.31 pound turkey at $0.79 / lb for $9.72. That is cheap protein right there!  Below are the four nutrient-rich meals that we plan to enjoy from one bird.  Click on the links (coming soon!) for recipes.

Here is our first meal: roasted turkey!

1) Roasted turkey + mashed potatoes + turkey gravy + steamed broccoli

2) Turkey enchiladas

3) Turkey vegetable soup

4) Turkey sandwich on whole wheat bread w/ spring mix lettuce, sliced tomato, avocado, mayo, and mustard

5) Bone broth = good for your bones

Is organic better?

A friend recently asked me what I thought about organic food vs conventional food.  This was my response.

Is organic better? Yes, especially if you're *pregnant, but not if you can't afford it.  In other words, eating 2 cups of conventionally grown vegetables (ex: 2 lb at $1.50/lb = $3.00 total) is better for your overall health than only eating 1 cup of organic produce (ex: 1 lb at $3.00/lb = $3.00 total).

Explanation: By USDA National Organic Program definition, organic products are grown without the use of synthetic fertilizers, sewage sludge, irradiation, and genetic engineering.  There is no doubt that there are fewer pesticide residues on organic produce than conventionally grown produce.  (fewer, not none, because sometimes organically grown foods are contaminated by pesticides from neighboring fields or during the transport and manufacturing processes).  This make them better for you insomuch as that they do not add to the toxic burden on the body -- which is already very high from our pill-popping, car driving, SAD and stressful American lifestyle.

Avoiding pesticide residues is especially important for *pregnant women.  The children of mothers exposed to high levels of organophosphates (the main chemical in many insecticides, herbicides, and nerve gasses), were found to have lower IQs than other children according to studies by  Columbia University, the University of California, Berkeley, and Mount Sinai Hospital.  In addition to the developing fetus, children are also more susceptible to the negative effects of pesticides.

The jury is still out as to whether organic produce is more nutritious than conventionally grown produce.  A recent study by Stanford University (PubMed, full text) claimed that there is no statistically significant difference in nutrient content (except for phenols, which protect against cancer!), but I still believe that organic foods are inherently more nutritious as a result of being grown in nutrient-rich soils in ecological balance.

When I say "more nutritious," I'm talking about the phytonutrients like phenolic acids, flavonoids, tannins, stilbenes, curcuminoids, coumarins, lignans, and quinones more so than the standard vitamins and minerals touted by the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.  Yes, calcium, vitamin D and potassium are important for normal function of the body, but I advocate for optimizing function and disease prevention - the kind of prevention that can only result from eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables.

That being said, diet rich in conventionally-grown fruits and vegetables probably contains more nutrients than a diet which includes only organic vegetables and fruits sparingly.  Here's an example for those people who like math.

• Question: Let's say that an organic apple costs $1.00 and contains 8 mg of flavonols and a conventional apple costs $0.50 but only contains 6 mg of flavonols.  If you have $2.00 to buy apples, how can you get the most flavonols for your money? 
• Answer: You buy four conventional apples (6 + 6 + 6 + 6 = 24 mg).

So, back to my main point.  Organic is better, but only if you can afford it.  If you are one of the many living paycheck to paycheck, or perhaps just watching your food budget, it's better to spend your money on many, many vegetables and fruits and eating them on a daily basis than it is to spend your money on just a couple of organic vegetables that you only eat once a week.

How to roast winter squash

Today we are going to learn how to roast winter squash.  The first step is to procure some squash.

Meet the characters I use to introduce preschoolers to winter squash.  From left to right: Bobby Butternut, Peter Pumpkin, Alvin Acorn, Sammy Spaghetti, and Doris Delicata!

Your local grocery store usually stocks the common varieties like acorn, butternut, and spaghetti.  These types are good and predictable.  I love the velvety texture of butternut.  For more exotic varieties like delicata and kabocha, you need to venture to a farmer's market or road-side stand like the one pictured below.

Once you've selected a colorful gourd, take it home and wash it.  Scrubbing the outside skin will help remove the dirt and germs.  While the skin of winter squash is usually too tough to eat (an exception is the delicate skin of delicata), cleaning the outside prevents germs from contaminating the flesh inside when the squash is cut in half - which is the next step.

You can tell how long ago a squash was picked by how dried out the seed membranes are
- this squash is a few months old.

Remove the seeds using a spoon.  These can be saved and used later.

Dry the seeds and plant them in the spring OR clean and roast them with salt and pepper - delicious!

Place the squash halves face-down on a baking sheet.  Sometimes I add a 1/4 inch of water to the pan to prevent the sweet juices from burning as they leak out of the squash as it cooks.  Then, place in an oven, preheated to 400 degrees F, for 30 to 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees

You know the squash is done when you can easily pierce the skin with a fork and the fork slides easily in and out of the flesh.  The cooked flesh can be eaten plain, seasoned with butter and spices, or made into a pureed soup.

Most winter squash, being orange in color, is a good source of beta-carotene and other carotenoids - the precursor to vitamin A - which is an antioxidant, good for eyes, skin, and boosting the immune system.  Yay squash!