Turkey Pozole Soup

Here’s a tasty option for that leftover turkey from Thanksgiving. This is a spin off a traditional Mexican soup, typically made with pork.

 

4-6 Servings

½ Tbs1p oil

1 large carrot, diced
1 large celery stalk, diced
8 cups of chicken broth
1 red onion, sliced
5 large garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbsp dried Oregano
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 Bay leaves (remove before serving)
3 15 oz cans of hominy, drained & rinsed (use 2 cans as is; puree one can)
1 cup cooked turkey, cubed or shredded
1 small can of diced fire roasted chiles
Fresh lime juice from 1-2 limes

Topping options:

Romaine lettuce
Diced tomatoes
Diced avocado
Sliced radishes
Sliced jalapenos
Chopped cilantro
Lime wedges
Crushed tortilla chips
Crumbled queso fresco

In a large pot over med-high heat, add oil with carrots and celery. Cook for about 5 minutes. Add broth and ingredients through Bay leaves. Simmer for 15 minutes. Add hominy, turkey and chiles. Simmer for 5 more minutes. Add lime juice before serving.

Spoon soup into shallow bowls and top with a variety of toppings, or serve toppings on the table and allow everyone to create their own topping combinations.

Enjoyed the soup with warm tortillas or cheese quesadillas.

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

Here's an idea for some leftover grilled chicken.

1 cup of cooked chicken, diced (I used some leftover grilled chicken from the night before)

Frank’s Red Hot sauce
Pizza dough (usually in the deli section of the grocery store, or you can buy some from your local pizza joint)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO)
¾ cup sliced celery
Blue cheese crumbles
1 Tbsp minced fresh chives
1 small carrot, peeled into ribbons and roughly chopped
Ranch dressing
Jalapeno slices, optional

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In a small bowl, toss chicken with hot sauce and set aside.

Roll out dough and using your palms press onto a flat pre-greased baking sheet. I usually make a rectangular shape with rounded corners. Gently brush with EVOO. Top with chicken, celery and blue cheese. Bake for 10-15 minutes until crust is crispy and brown. Remove from oven.

Top with carrots, chives and drizzle with ranch dressing and extra hot sauce. Top with jalapenos if desired.

Poblanos Stuffed with Turkey, Rice & Veggies

My friend who’s from Mexico surprised us with a fancy dinner called Chiles en Nogada, traditional in the south of Mexico.

With my mind and stomach on chiles, and some left over rice pilaf, I decided to make my own stuffed chiles dish, filled with ground meat, rice and veggies. I used this as another opportunity to sneak in as many veggies as possible. My hubby called me the ‘kale ninja’.

 

4 Poblano chiles
1 cup of cooked basmati rice (cooked in chicken broth)
¾ lb ground turkey
2 celery ribs, diced
1 large carrot, diced
½ small onion, diced
1 cup fresh kale, chopped
1 Tbsp minced fresh parsley
1 Tbsp minced fresh cilantro
2 large cloves of garlic, crushed
½ can of corn
½ can kidney beans
Salt and pepper, to taste
Few dashes of Tabasco sauce
Grated Monterey Jack and cheddar cheese

Prepare each pepper by cutting across the top near the stem and down the middle of one side. Remove veins and seeds. On the grill over fire, or under a broiler, char all sides of the peppers until blackened and bubbly, turning until all sides are charred. When ready, place in a bag or covered dish and let steam. Then peel skin from the peppers and set aside.

 

In a large sauce pan over med-high heat, cook ground turkey until almost cooked all the way through. Add veggies, herbs, garlic, corn and kidney beans; cook until veggies are tender and turkey is no longer pink. Season with salt, pepper and Tabasco, to taste. Mix rice with turkey and veggies.

Using a large spoon, stuff each chile with the filling. Please stuffed chiles in a casserole dish and top with shredded cheese. Place under a broiler and cook until cheese is melted and starts to bubble and turn brown.

Serve with black beans and sliced avocado.

Spicy Green Curry Shrimp over Coconut Lime Rice

Coconut Lime Rice:
1 cup white long grained balsamic rice
2 cups coconut water
½ Tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp salt
2 green onion sprigs, sliced
Juice from one lime

Spicy Green Curry Shrimp:

½ yellow onion, minced
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
1 large jalapeno, seeded and chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ Tbsp extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
1 lb raw shrimp, deveined and peeled
1 can coconut milk
2 Tbsp green curry paste
Salt
 
In a rice cooker, combine rice, coconut water, coconut oil and salt. Cook until ready. Stir in green onions and lime juice. Set aside and keep warm.

In a medium pan over medium high heat, sauté onion, bell pepper, jalapenos and garlic in EVOO until soft. Add shrimp and cook until pink. Remove shrimp from pan and set aside. Stir in coconut milk and curry paste; let thicken. Season with salt, to taste. Before serving, add shrimp back to dish to heat through. Don’t over cook.

Serve Spicy Green Curry Shrimp over Coconut Lime Rice in a shallow bowl. Garnish with minced fresh cilantro and enjoy.

Grilled Mahi Mahi over Coconut Lime Cilantro Rice with Mango Avocado Salsa

It was raining on this Cinco de Mayo so we decided to add a little sunshine to our meal with this tropical dish.
 

Coconut Lime Cilantro Rice:

3/4 cup white long grained basmati rice
1 1/2 cups coconut water or juice
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp minced cilantro
1 green onion sprig, minced
Zest and juice from 1 small lime

Grilled Mahi Mahi:

2-8 oz Mahi Mahi filets
Chile con Limon (Chili with Lemon) seasoning

Mango Avocado Salsa:

½ mango, diced
1 small avocado, diced
1 green onion sprig, diced
1 small jalapeno, seeded and minced
½ Tbsp minced cilantro
Juice from 1 small lime
Salt to taste

Start with the rice, by adding rice, coconut water, EVOO and salt to a rice cooker. Once rice is cooked, stir in cilantro, green onions, lime zest and juice. Set aside until ready to serve.

Season Mahi Mahi filets with seasoning and grill each side over medium high heat for about 8 minutes per side, or until it easily flakes.

In a small bowl, mix all the ingredients for the salsa. Season with salt to taste.

Serve grilled fish over a bed of rice and top with mango avocado salsa.

 

Buffalo Chicken Burgers

2 servings

 

2 bakery style buns

 

Chicken Patty:

¾ lb ground chicken
2 tsp Frank’s RedHot sauce
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Crumbled blue cheese

Using wet hands, combine all ingredients together (except cheese) and form two patties. Be careful not to over mix or patties will be dense. Note: chicken patties don’t cook down like beef patties do, so what you see is what you get. Build according to your bun size.

Grill or pan fry until cooked all the way through. Once you flip the patties, add cheese while the other side cooks.

Slaw:

1 large carrot, peeled into ribbons
1 large celery stalk, sliced
¼ cup thinly sliced cabbage
1 green onion sprig, sliced
Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste

Buffalo Sauce:

1 Tbsp chunk blue cheese dressing
½ Tbsp Frank’s RedHot sauce

In a small bowl, combine all ingredients and set in fridge until ready to use.

Assemble burgers by spreading buffalo sauce on each bun. Place patty with melted blue cheese on bottom bun. Top with slaw and more sauce. Place top bun on burger and enjoy!

 
If you love Frank's RedHot, be sure to try these recipes: Buffalo Chicken Deviled Eggs, Spicy Blue Cheese Chicken Dip or a Buffalo Chicken Salad!

Buffalo Chicken Deviled Eggs

I came across this recipe on my favorite food blogger’s website, and my mouth watered instantly. You can find his recipe here. This recipe is a little different but I would imagine just as delicious. 

 

I have to admit, it felt wrong stuffing chicken into an egg, but it tasted so right!

Happy Easter!

 

 

3 boiled eggs

1 Tbsp Ranch dressing

1 Tbsp Frank’s RedHot, or buffalo wing hot sauce

¼ cup shredded chicken, roughly chopped

½ fresh jalapeno pepper, finely diced (optional)

Blue cheese crumbles 

 

Cut boiled eggs in half, lengthwise, and add yolks to a small bowl. Add Ranch and Frank’s RedHot to bowl. Using the back of a fork, mash everything together. Add chicken and jalapeno peppers and mix together. Using a spoon, add mixture back to eggs. Top with crumbled blue cheese.

 

If you like this recipe, you should also try my Sriracha Deviled Eggs.

 

Note: I used a drop of Sriracha sauce to dot each egg, purely for esthetics, since the Frank’s was too thin.

Sriracha Deviled Eggs

I made these delicious, spicy deviled eggs as an appetizer for our Easter dinner. They were spicy, tasty and a hit!

1 dozen eggs

1/3 cup mayo

2 Tbsp Sriracha hot chili sauce

½ tsp Dijon mustard

2 tsp jarred Jalapeno juice

2 Tbsp minced fresh cilantro

Sea salt & Freshly cracked pepper, to taste

To boil eggs, place eggs in a pot covered with 1 ½” of water; bring to a boil. Once water boils, cover and remove from heat for 10 minutes. Remove eggs and place in an ice bath. Peel under warm water. Slice eggs in half and scoop harden yolks into a bowl.

Mix yolks with the rest of the ingredients until smooth. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add more Sriracha to make spicier. Add more mayo to make creamier.

Piipe mixture back into egg whites. Garnish with a dot of Sriracha sauce and cilantro.

Easter centerpiece made of jelly beans, Peeps and fresh flowers.
Thanks, Pinterest!

Spicy Blue Cheese Chicken Dip

This is my husband’s aunt’s recipe that I made two years ago for a Christmas party… and my friends are still talking about it! It’s delicious hot or cold the next day.

2 cup shredded chicken
1 oz. cream cheese, soften
1 cup chunky blue cheese dressing (or you can use 1 cup ranch dressing with ½ blue cheese crumbles)
½ cup Frank's RedHot Sauce

Mix everything together in a large bowl. Pour into a shallow casserole dish. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes on 350 degrees, until cheese is brown and bubbly.

Sprinkle with chopped green onions for a garnish. Serve with crackers and/or carrot and celery sticks.

Spicy Cheesy Chicken Dip

2-4 Servings

1 ½ cup of cooked, chopped chicken (great way to use up leftover chicken!)
1 8 oz. Chive and Onion cream cheese
¼ cup grated Gruyere cheese (save some for sprinkling on top)
1 Tbsp grated parmesan cheese
¼ cup Frank's RedHot sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, mix all the ingredients together. Transfer to a small casserole dish, top with extra cheese and bake for 25 minutes, until top is browned and bubbly.

Enjoy dip with crackers or a sliced banquette.

Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Potato

Another favorite at Spuds.

4-6 chicken tenders, cut in halves or thirds
1 egg, beaten
flour
Italian seasoned breadcrumbs
Vegetable oil
1 large carrot, cubed
2 celery ribs, cubed
Green onion, chopped
2 large Russet potatoes
4 Tbsp sour cream
2 Tbsp Ranch dressing
1 Tbsp blue cheese crumbles
Frank's RedHot
Salt
Pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Scrub potatoes clean, pierce holes with a fork and bake for 45 minutes.

Season chicken with salt and pepper. Coat chicken tenders with flour, then egg and lastly breadcrumbs. In a large frying pan over medium high, heat oil until it starts to ripple. Fry breaded chicken until golden brown and chicken is cooked all the way through. Remove from heat and place on a plate with a paper towel, to absorb excess oil.

In a medium bowl toss fried chicken with Frank’s RedHot.

In a small bowl, mix sour cream, dressing and blue cheese.

Score baked potato; press both ends together to open up. Top with sour cream mixture, chicken, veggies and extra crumbled blue cheese.

Buffalo Chicken Salad

I found this Buffalo Blue Cheese dressing from Fresh & Easy and threw it together in this salad.

1 bag of a spicy salad, like arugula
2-3 ribs of celery, chopped
2-3 mini bell peppers
¼ cucumber, chopped
8-10 chicken tenders
½ cup of flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
2 eggs, beaten
½ - 1 cup of seasoned bread crumbs
¼ cup of Frank’s RedHot
Buffalo Blue Cheese dressing from Fresh & Easy (found in produce section)
EVOO

In a large sauce pan, heat EVOO over medium high heat. Dredge chicken tenders in flour, then egg, and then bread crumbs. Fry chicken until each piece is crispy, golden brown and cooked all the way through. In a medium mixing bowl, add fried chicken tenders and toss with Frank’s RedHot.

Assemble salad, by creating a bed of greens, top with veggies and drizzle with salad dressing. Finish by topping with chicken.