Traveling Tuesdays--Turkey!

Say that title five times fast! :) Yep. It's true. I'm late on this one!!! Oh well! Better than nothing, right? :) This past Tuesday we traveled to...TURKEY!! (and India...and Mexico! We were super cultural this week!!) I have to admit the further I get away from the European area the harder it gets to find things to make that don't involve strange ingredients! I'm all for trying new things, but there are just some things that you can't get easily here...let alone pronounce! This recipe, however, I found with A LOT of research and it's super easy (makes up for that Greek complication last week!!). The woman who posted it said it was from a Turkish BBQ "guru" and boy was it tasty..and who could argue with a guru! So here's how I did it!

TURKISH CHICKEN KEBOBS WITH ALEPPO PEPPER
Serves 4

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon aleppo pepper **
2/3 cups Greek yogurt or plain yogurt (I used fat free plain yogurt)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 1/3 tablespoons tomato paste
1 1/3 tablespoons kosher salt
2/3 teaspoons black pepper
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/3 lemons, 1 thinly sliced and the other cut in wedges
1 1/2 lbs chicken thighs (I used chicken breasts)

**Note: The aleppo pepper can be made using 2 tsp ground red pepper and 2 tsp paprika. Mix it with 2 tablespoons warm water and allow to sit for 5 minutes until it has formed into a paste.
 
Simple enough ingredients, right? I made this obviously for Matt and I so I did not use 1 1/2 lbs of chicken breasts. I actually only used two chicken breasts and it still came out perfect. I will admit that this dish is pretty spicy, but according to the reviews if you cut back on the red pepper and add more paprika it's still spicy; just not as bad. Matt and I enjoy spicy things so I followed the recipe and phew...spicy. Kind of made me think about all those times I giggled at my dad for sweating a bit while eating some spicy salsa. The tables were turned my friends! The tables were definitely turned.

Paste

Adding that olive oil

The first thing I did was mix together the pepper and paprika to make the paste. I set it aside for the 5 minutes to let it mix well together. Meanwhile, I started mixing together all of the marinade ingredients. I think the great thing about this recipe is that the chicken only has to marinate for about 15-20 minutes. Of course you could let it sit in it all day, but I just liked the fact that you could make this on a busy weeknight and still have the wonderful flavor of it sitting for a long time. Anyway! The marinade is the yogurt, olive oil, red wine vinegar, tomato paste, 2 teaspoons kosher salt and 1 teaspoon black pepper. You stir in the  Aleppo paste, then add in the garlic and lemon slices. Set it aside.

No cross contamination here, folks!

Marinade for chicken

Next thing I did was pour some marinade into two different bowls--one was to be used while the chicken was cooking and the other was for extra sauce. I then chopped up the chicken. I cubed each breast into about 2 inch cubes. Big enough to withstand being put onto a skewer. Mixed the chicken into the marinade and popped it into the refrigerator. While I waited, I made a salad and a rice pilaf to go alongside the chicken....and perhaps had a few sips from my wine. :)

After the time was up for the chicken, I took each piece and put them onto skewers. I was able to get nine pieces on two skewers and eight on the other two. Time to grill!!! They cooked up pretty quick because they were small pieces. I would say it took about 10 minutes total. I used one of the reserved marinade bowls to brush them during cooking so they wouldn't dry out.

Sizzle sizzle!

The finished product was delicious!!! And although it may not have been super, 100% authentic...it still was really easy and tasty. It even got a "you need to keep that recipe!" seal of approval from my guinea pig. :) The calorie count was about 160 calories for a serving. And the leftover chicken was great on a salad that I had this weekend.

 

I hope you enjoyed the tasty "trip" to Turkey!! I'm not really sure what country will be next for this week (still planning the menu!), but I will definitely share! Bye for now!!!! :) 

Here's the recipe: http://www.food.com/recipe/turkish-chicken-kebabs-with-aleppo-pepper-428775?scaleto=4&mode=null&st=true 

Weekend Recap...even though it's already Tuesday.

I'm not going to lie...this weekend was pretty fun. And not that many people care what I did this weekend, I just thought I'd share for the heck of it!

It all started with a birthday celebration on Friday night. Matt reserved a room at the Hilton President Hotel in Downtown Kansas City which is within walking distance of the Power and Light District. We had gone to the P&L before a few months ago and enjoyed it so much that we wanted to go back. So what better time to do it than for my birthday! We got to the hotel at about 3:00pm on Friday because our initial plan was to find a pool/hot tub somewhere and just chill out. Unfortunately, we did not find this. Oh well! We still were able to explore the hotel and as a History buff...I was in Heaven! The rooms are modern, but the hotel itself is almost as if you've taken a step back in time. The hotel was completed in 1926 and has been restored to that era after sitting for something like 25 years abandoned after it closed in 1980. It's lobby is really grand looking and you can almost imagine people being in the sitting area dressed in 20s/30s clothes. They have an area with items/pictures from the 1940s/50s in a little "gallery" type area. These items were things such as plates, a very elaborate door knob, even a hotel bill--which had a total price of a little under $14 for a two night stay plus a room outgoing phone call. If only! Right? :)

After our little tour we decided to start getting ready. Once ready we headed out with friends to Howl at the Moon. Always an enjoyable venue. It always amazes me how great the entertainers are. They are all so talented playing all those instruments and singing. There of course was a bachelorette party there...which is always entertaining to watch. Matt and I were briefly distracted watching our San Antonio Spurs kick butt. I'm happy they are doing so well this year. I just wish we were still in San Antonio to enjoy it! We decided to leave Howl at the Moon and head over to Shark Bar. Which I'm now in love with. Seriously. Any place that plays 80s/90s music and that also isn't afraid to play N*SYNC or Backstreet Boys songs is #1 in my book. Sounds cheesy, but I love listening to songs from my childhood...even if they are boy bands! :) I had a lot of fun though and really hope we can go back there maybe just one more time before we leave Kansas.

Deep in the Heart of Texas!

Saturday we stayed mainly around the Leavenworth area. Matt has had some work to do with school so he's been busy with that. He did take me to Cracker Barrel for breakfast which was a treat. I had some grits...a newly discovered love. I used to think it was so gross that my mom liked grits, but they are pretty good. Of course Matt calls them guts. HAHA!! But that's okay. More for me! Right? :) Saturday was Aggie Muster and we both wanted to go, but with so much work for Matt we had to miss it. It's a tradition I really miss going to in Aggieland and made me miss Texas a bit this weekend. So I took a picture of our flag while sitting on our porch :) It was also San Jacinto Day! Felt good to be a Texan this weekend! Also as a side note...thought about a little English history as well. On 21 April 1509, Henry VIII took the throne and became king of England, ruling for almost 38 years. Definitely not related to A&M or Texas history...but still a fun fact! Consider yourself enlightened!!! :)

NASCAR!

Sunday was NASCAR! This was my second race and I'm going to say I really like NASCAR. It's GREAT people watching. In fact on Friday, we encountered some great people watching at the hotel when we first got there. And we knew they were in town for NASCAR. How'd we know? NASCAR shirts...mullets...and lots and LOTS of beer. We are pretty sure they were already drunk at 3pm on Friday arriving at the hotel. They were entertaining to watch...and slightly annoying seeing as though it took them about 30 minutes to get out of two cars--fancy town cars no less. Anyway! Great people watching. The only disappointment really was there weren't any crashes!! I was never hoping for a gigantic-people getting hurt crash...but maybe just a crash and spin around, lots of tire squealing. Didn't happen. Didn't happen in October either! It must be my luck! :) It was fun nonetheless. The rest of Sunday was spent relaxing and watching the new episode of The Borgias. Definitely a fun weekend and definitely slept well Sunday night. :)

This week we are busy preparing for a Fiesta Taco Bar this Friday at our house hosted by yours truly and Steph! The idea came not from Cinco de Mayo, but from Fiesta happening in San Antonio right as I type this! Fiesta is something, aside from Rodeo, that I really have come to enjoy being from San Antonio. It's a 10 day, city wide event which stemmed from a celebration of the heroes from the Battle of San Jacinto and the Alamo and was first started in 1891 with a Battle of Flowers parade. Fiesta is now a ton of fun events with the parade still occurring towards the end of Fiesta on a Friday (this Friday in fact!). In fact, the Elementary/Middle School I went to participates in the parade with a float every year as a 2nd grade class. You get to be on it too! The year I was on it, the theme was Around the World in 80 Days. We had a lot of fun costumes. I was a San Francisco show girl..or something like that. My outfit was purple and it was kind of 1800s type long saloon dress. If I could find a picture I would post it. I even got to wear a feather in my hair. The thing I most remember about it: 1. it was hot...2. our float ran a curb causing the belt holding me up, since I was standing, to hurt my tummy 3. it was hot and 4. my wrist and arm really hurt for waving for however many hours. Did I mention it was really hot? It was fun though and not EVERYONE can say they were in the Battle of Flowers parade! Fiesta is always a fun time because there is always this energy in the city during this time. It was great during school too because you got a day off on the Battle of Flowers day.. tee hee! But while Matt was working in SA with the Recruiting Battalion, we were able to go to some of the VIP events (which heightened my Fiesta experience) such as the King's Reception where we ate hors d'oeuvres off little waiter passed plates, rubbed elbows with the Mayor and were able to meet a lot of other big wig people in San Antonio..among them of course was Rey Feo, the King of Fiesta! It was pretty swanky and made me feel fancy. :) I think, though, the events and being more involved during that time in the city made me feel more pride in San Antonio--especially since most, if not all, events are charitable events for the city and different organizations.

Fiesta 2012 Poster

So I guess in my theme of missing Texas/San Antonio, I thought hmmm taco bar. :) Fiesta taco bar! I can't wait and hope it'll be fun for everyone coming. I'm sure I'll take pictures, although I can't promise many since I always forget when I get busy! I'll leave you, though, with this year's Fiesta poster! Viva Fiesta :)

World Travel Tuesdays...OPA!!!

The thoughts of cooking a healthy "worldly" dish started out as a crazy idea to do one EVERY NIGHT. This obviously didn't pan out while I was working (too difficult!)...so the idea popped back up and this time it was just for every Tuesday night. Me trying to be cutesy with Travel...Tuesdays. Har har har :) So I looked up a world map and started it off! Eventually I'll share all those, but for tonight...we went to Greece!

First off, all recipes I look up, worldly or not, are low calorie (400 or under)! Which is sometimes a challenge. *cough cough* Germany *cough cough* :) With a little research though, I can usually find something. Tonight's recipe was for Lamb Moussaka. Which is a traditional Greek casserole. I found the recipe through www.cookinglight.com!

"Mary had a little lamb...little lamb...little lamb"

Now, I'm going to be honest...didn't make it with lamb. Everyone is entitled to their tastes of course, but every time I think about eating lamb I picture Kate Hudson in her How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days scene crying about the lamb dinner that was made for her. I just get sad thinking it's baby animal. But that's just me being me...and if you truly know me...you know I LOVE BABY ANIMALS! So instead I made it with 96% lean ground beef. The entire recipe is rather complicated I will admit (lots of dishes!). But I made it ahead of time before Matt and I ventured to the gym and I have no doubt it could be made the night before! It took me about an hour and a half to get it to the point of being in the 13x9 pan. And that's not including the 45 minute cooking time and 15 minute rest time. Surprisingly though...we ate a our normal 7:10/7:15/7:20 eating time.

In any case, it turned out really tasty! So here's the recipe complete with pictures! :)

Ingredients needed


LAMB/BEEF MIXTURE:

• 1 1/2 pounds lean ground lamb or beef
• 2 cups chopped onion 
• Cooking spray
• 1/2 cup dried currants or raisins
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 4 (14.5-ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 large garlic clove, minced 

SAUCE:

• 2 cups 1% low-fat milk, divided 
• 1 tablespoon butter or stick margarine 
• 3 large egg whites 
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt 

REMAINING INGREDIENTS:

Careful of your fingers!

• 2 (1 1/4-pound) eggplants, cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices
• 1 tablespoon olive oil, divided
• 1 pound peeled baking potatoes, cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices 
• 1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese, divided
• Oregano sprigs (optional) 

Okay. Lots of ingredients. But if you look closely, it's a lot of things most people have anyways! If not, use the dish for maybe a special dinner and not a week night thing. The first thing I did was slice the eggplant and potatoes, dice the onions, and mince the garlic. Why do the knife work separately? The eggplant is to be sliced lengthwise and potatoes are to be sliced horizontally...easy enough! 

Eggplants look pretty funky on the inside

Potatoes!

With the eggplant you are to place the slices on baking sheets (2 sheets..and you'll need both) that have been sprayed with cooking spray and then brush the slices with olive oil. Turn that broiler on and cook for four minutes on each side. *Remember to keep that door cracked a bit while broiling!* And the potatoes you are to bring to a boil and cook while boiling for 5 minutes until tender crisp. Drain them and run the slices under cold water. 

Nothing like the smell of sauteing onions!

The next step I did was to brown the beef. It was done in a skillet. No spray or anything. After the beef is browned. Remove it to a bowl, wipe the skillet clean, and spray it with cooking spray. Next you add the onions and saute them! Once they are translucent, add the beef back into the skillet...along with the raisins (or currants), salt, dried oregano, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, garlic, black pepper, and canned diced tomatoes (*most reviews said to drain TWO cans completely before adding or else it turns out soupy*). 

The smell is simply amazing!!! Cinnamon-y. Mmmm! :) Bring everything to a boil and cook for about 15 minutes or until thickened. While it was busy cooking, I went to work on the sauce! I first whisked the egg whites, 1/2 cup milk (I used skim), flour, and salt together in a separate bowl. I did this because you do not want the cooking milk to boil at all, so I figured I wouldn't have time to be cracking eggs open or measuring flour! :) 

I cooked the milk and butter together until small bubbles started forming around the edges. You'll know when it happens...because it starts to look funky. I did not get a picture of this because...well, I started freaking out that I was going to burn the sauce :) Once these bubbles start going, pull the saucepan off the burner and slowly introduce the hot liquid into the egg/flour/milk/salt mixture (..you don't want scrambled egg whites!). You must constantly whisk everything together while doing this as well. Coordination, people! 

Bubbly goodness.

After everything is all merry together, the mixture goes back into your saucepan and onto the stove to be stirred constantly until it thickens and then remove from the heat. The recipe says for approx. 15 minutes. Mine thickened in less.


Phew. Okay. All done with the separate parts! Let's put it together. I did mine lasagna style (even though I think all potatoes are supposed to go on the bottom?). It worked out really well though! Spray your 13x9 pan and begin layering. First layer...potatoes! Second layer...eggplant slices! Third layer?? You guessed it...beef mixture! Top it off with a tablespoon of your Parmesan cheese. Then repeat! Potatoes, eggplant, beef, cheese.

Layered yumminess..

The last thing to do is add the sauce on top. Spread it around good and add the remaining cheese on top!

The finished product!

Preheat that oven to 375 and bake it for 45 minutes or until golden brown on top!! I will tell you, it has a very sweet savory taste. I would make it again on a cool/cold night because it's one of those stick to your ribs comfort foods...but low in calories! In fact one serving is 374 calories. Believe it or not!!! We definitely have left overs, but with Matt doing electives he's home for lunch! And we have leftovers on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. So I'm pretty sure it'll get eaten. Matt gave it a 4/5 for taste. He said it tasted really good, but he wished it was tomatoe-y-er. Which is a shock to me. Because he doesn't like tomatoes. So I probably wouldn't drain as less the next time. :)

Well that's that. My Grecian recipe. It was a lot of fun to make. Through this "culinary trip" process I'm always excited to learn different cooking methods and recipes. It may not be super authentic, but it turns out pretty darn tasty!...and I promise, they aren't always this complicated!!! :)

Here is the link in case you're interested: http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/lamb-moussaka-10000000222987/

"The Best Year of Your Life"

Many people may not know, but this blog has been in the making for almost a year now. I know that may sound pathetic, especially since I've been unemployed since July of 2011 (willingly!); one would think I would have enough time obviously. However, when I set out to do this I thought that no one would really want to read the same thing everyday! "Woke up today, went to Body Pump/RPM (depending on the day!), came home, did household things, Matt came home, went to the gym for round two, came home, ate dinner, went to bed." Definitely BORING! And even though that's what I STILL DO EVERYDAY as of right now, life has been pretty interesting lately. So I figured I could do a lot of things with a blog. Keep in touch with family/friends. Share my recipes (low calorie and TASTY!!!) along with my "culinary trips" around the world. Other musings/events! Pictures! The possibilities are endless! :) 

So what exactly have I been doing?? Good question! :) In July of 2011, Matt and I embarked on our "journey" to the First City in Kansas--aka Leavenworth! He was to be in a year long leadership course called Command and General Staff College (CGSC); where all the Majors in the military learn to be good fantastic! leaders :) So we came here and were able to get a great house living on Post and settled into life--just the hubs, me, and our three animals. This was my first time living on an Army post and I'll tell you the truth...I think it's awesome. I have really enjoyed getting to know neighbors and people that Matt goes to class with. Everyone is so nice and helpful. It's very humbling to have this positive generosity around you all the time. I honestly think that another positive experience was for me to take a year off of work to decide what I really would like to do with my life, since other professions really haven't panned out. I feel though the most important thing that I've accomplished here personally is getting back into shape. I've really pushed myself and the hard work has paid off. I started taking classes at the gym on post in August and thanks to my partner in crime, Stephanie, I was introduced to RPM and Body Pump. Both great and challenging classes. Not to be preachy about them or anything, but they really have been a big confidence booster for me. I just feel great and it's hard not to brag that I'm within two pounds of being at my high school weight again!! I really think I'm stronger (in more ways than one) than I was when I was playing Varsity volleyball and that's saying something seeing as though our coach had us strength training a lot! :) It's just something I needed to do while I was here. Focus on myself. Because somewhere along the way I lost that drive to focus on me. Instead of focusing on everyone else or everything else going on in my life. It's made me a happier person to not have that stress in my life of everything going on around me. And I'm sure Matt's a happier person too. Since I've ceased complaining all the time. Tee hee! The quote for this year at Leavenworth is that it's supposed to be "The Best Year of Your Life" ...and I know everyone jokes about it here, but for me it really has been the best year of my life.

Besides working out, Matt and I have had so many exciting opportunities along the way. We had a lot of fun socials during August and September to get to know everyone in Matt's small group. In October, along with getting to see my parents and celebrating our one year wedding anniversary (yay!), Stephanie and I planned a joint small group Halloween Party between Matt's group and her sweetie pie's group (Rich!). It was so much fun to plan and decorate. We definitely went all out. Matt and I also got to experience.... NASCAR!!! Which was the most exciting however many hours ever! Although there were no crashes; the roar of the engines is really exhilarating! :) We also had a wine and cheese party in December that was a lot of fun to plan for. I'd been wanting to do one for ages really. Everyone brought a cheese and wine pairing. There were a lot of great cheeses...and wines! :) Matt and I traveled home for Thanksgiving, as well as for Christmas. We stayed about two weeks in San Antonio during Christmas which was very enjoyable! We got to meet up with family and friends that we had left behind and take it easy for the most part. In January, Matt started his basketball season! It has been a lot of fun watching him play. The group of people he's been on a team with are amazingly nice! Their last game was actually tonight. They have been in playoffs and lost. But it's been a really great season and I've seen all of them get so much better as the season progressed! February brought more basketball games and a lovely Valentine's day...complete with Star Wars 3D tickets for Matt and a grand adventure through CGSC halls for Stephanie and I...we baked cookies and surprised Matt and Rich with them by "sneaking" into their classrooms when they weren't there! How no one asked WHY we were running through the halls and back areas of that building...I have no idea. But it was A LOT of sneaky fun for us both!! :) Matt's parents also visited in February and we were able to tag along to the WWI museum in Kansas City. It's a great museum and really portrayed the war in a different perspective to me. For those who know me well, I'm more interested in Tudor History than war type history, but I really enjoyed it a lot!! The beginning of March brought the "Invasion of the Brits!" Best two weeks of my life. I repeat the comment about the love of Tudor/British history. Now add actual people from Britain who can talk about the stuff with me. I was in HEAVEN. They were awesome people. Lots of great personalities and they definitely knew how to fun. :) Matt had a Spring Break about the third week in March where we traveled to Colorado Springs/Fort Carson, Colorado. This is where we get to LIVE for the next two to three years!!! We are so excited. It is absolutely breathtaking. We went to look for houses and basically familiarize ourselves with the area. I really think we are going to enjoy living there. A LOT. When Matt and I got back from our trip, Matt started electives which meant less time in class and more time to spend with yours truly! :) Yippee!! Insert picture of Matt rolling his eyes. Haha! Actually during the second part of his electives, he's taking a self study class and we've decided to study together. Me for my GRE and him...well for something engineering, I think? We'll keep each other motivated nonetheless! April so far has brought my birthday! Which was great! I was able to Skype with my Aunt, Mom, and Dad and allow them to see me open my gifts! Technology is great for special times like that! Although it's not physically being there; you still get to see each other! This coming weekend is my birthday celebration (along with another FUN TRIP TO NASCAR!!). We are going to the Power and Light District. It should be a great time. Matt and I have been there one other time (with the Brits actually) and really enjoyed it. Kind of swanky. Kind of clubby. We stayed mostly in Howl at the Moon. Which, I'm sad to say, is better here than in San Antonio. Sorry SA Howl at the Moon...you're a little too touristy for me!

So as you can see, it's been a busy year so far. And that's just stuff I can remember off the top of my head really. I know we still have 2+ months left here...but we have 2+ months left. And they are going to go fast. Time really does fly when you're having fun, meeting new people, and enjoying life. But now that you are all caught up with my grand adventure in little 'ol Leavenworth, you can come back to see what new stuff I'm enjoying! Plus...this is already too long to be honest. And I apologize! So stop by again tomorrow for a new culinary trip for me and my great guinea pig (aka Matthew...heehee!) Goodnight!