Pulled Pork Nachos

Hi everyone! I am back with more blog posts. This week I decided to try some new pork loin recipes. I had a pork loin in the freezer I needed to get rid of.

As a food blogger and busy mom, I am always thinking about food and how to get dinner on the table fast. Because of this, pork loin is a staple at my house. You can put it in the crockpot before you go to work and finish it when you get home. If you are not careful it may get boring.

Today I thought I would try pulled pork nachos. The pork loin was moist but bland when it came out of the crockpot so I made a brown sugar glaze to jazz it up. I pulled the pork out of the crockpot and layed it on a foil-lined baking sheet. I poured my glaze over the pork and broiled it for about 5 minutes.  The brown glaze gave it so much flavor.

 

I tried to make pita nachos again (I did this with my Super Bowl nachos) but I burned them. My multi-tasking skills were not working on this particular day. After I aired out the house, I ran to the store and bought some scoops. While not as healthy as the homemade version, it did add great texture to the nachos.

Everyone in the family enjoyed the nachos. What’s great about nachos is you can add so many optional toppings.

 

I made pulled pork tacos earlier this week and my family loved them. About a month ago and perfected my taco recipe if you want to take a peak.

Ingredients:

– 2-3 pounds pork loin

– salt & pepper to taste

– ½ cup Water

– 1 cup Brown sugar

– 1-2 tablespoon Cornstarch

– ½ cup Balsamic Vinegar

– ½ cup Water

– 4 tablespoons Soy sauce

– 1 avocado

– 1 bell pepper

– 1 cup shredded cheese

– 1 cup diced tomatoes

– nachos

Directions:

1. Put pork loin in a crockpot for 6-8 hours on low.  When done, set aside.

2. in medium saucepan mix together ½ cup water, brown sugar, cornstarch, balsamic vinegar, and soy sauce together. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to medium low and stir until the glaze thickens.

3. Shred the pork loin with a knife and fork on a foil-lined baking sheet. Add glaze to the shredded pork loin and mix well. Put the glazed pork loin under a broiler for 5 minutes on high.

4. When the pork loin is done, add glazed pork loin, avocado, red bell peppers, cheese, tomatoes and nachos to a bowl and enjoy.

 

Italian Sausage and Feta Calzone

I almost didn’t write a blog post about this meal because I didn’t think it was worthy of its own post. I considered it “unblogable” until my kids tried it. They were so excited about it. My 5 year old looked at me and said, “mommy this is so yum. You need to put this online.” The two year old just shoveled it in her mouth and didn’t say a word. I have never had a dinner reaction like that before, so here I am – posting!

Well at least I got to use a lot of stuff in the fridge I had left over like my last bit of feta and some pasta sauce.  I got this recipe from a pillsbury box a long while back and have used/adapted it often.  I started this recipe by cooking a whole pack of Italian sausage.  It was greasy so I had to drain it.  I used 1/3 of the meat for this recipe and I saved the rest for later.  After I unrolled the crescent rolls, I added sauce, feta, mozzarella and meat, and closed it up.  Not as beautifully as pillsbury but good enough.  The calzone baked for about 15 minutes and was ready.  I served it with homemade fries.  I could have easily added more stuff, like bell peppers and onions, but I will save it for next time.

Ingredients:

– 1/2 lb Italian pork sausage

– 1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury crescent dinner rolls

– 1/4 cup pizza sauce or spaghetti sauce

– 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (2 oz)

– 1/4 cup ricotta cheese

– 1 egg, beaten

Directions:

1.  Heat oven to 375°F. Grease or spray cookie sheet. In 10-inch skillet, cook sausage over medium heat until no longer pink; drain.

2.  On cookie sheet, unroll dough and separate into 4 rectangles; press each into 7×4-inch rectangle, firmly pressing perforations to seal. Spread 1 tablespoon sauce on half of each rectangle to within 1 inch of edge. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons cheese over sauce; top with one-fourth of sausage mixture. Fold dough over filling; firmly press edges with fork to seal. Brush top of each with egg. With fork, prick top of each to allow steam to escape.

3.  Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until deep golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheet. Serve warm.

Stuffed Peppers with Turkey and Mozzarella

So this is day three of my turkey recipes. Today I stuffed peppers with cheese and turkey – how can you go wrong. I halved the ground turkey I cooked yesterday and put it in the fridge for this recipe. I always try to ensure a smooth transition into cooking when I get home from work.

So my favorite thing about stuffed peppers is when I bite into a super crispy bell pepper.  In order to get them crispy you have to go the extra mile and blanch. It takes a bit more time but it is so worth it.

This is a super easy recipe that everyone should enjoy. If the kids don’t like it, I just add a ton of cheese until they can’t see any veggies. They almost forget that they are eating healthy stuff.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

1 lb ground turkey

1 tsp. Italian seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup diced tomatoes

2 1/2 c. shredded mozzarella, divided

3/4 c. ricotta

1/3 c. shredded fresh basil, plus more for garnish

2 cloves garlic, minced

4 bell peppers, halved

Balsamic glaze, for drizzling

DIRECTIONS:

1. In large pot, fill peppers with water (to prevent floating), and fill pot around peppers with water until peppers are fully covered.

2. Cover pot and bring to a rolling boil on high heat. Bring the temperature down to medium-low and let peppers hard simmer for three minutes, or until tender.

3. Using slotted spoon, transfer peppers to ice water to cool. Place in baking dish for stuffing later.

4. Preheat oven to 350º. In a large skillet over medium heat, heat oil. Add turkey and season with Italian seasoning, salt and pepper. Cook until turkey is no longer pink. Set aside.

5. In a large bowl, stir together tomatoes, cooked turkey, 1 1/2 cups mozzarella, ricotta, basil, and garlic and season with more salt and pepper.

6. Stuff tomato mixture into peppers and sprinkle tops with remaining 1 cup mozzarella. Pour water into baking dish (to help the peppers steam) and cover with foil.

7.  Bake until peppers are tender and cheese is melty, about 25 minutes.

8.  Garnish with more basil, drizzle with balsamic glaze, and serve.

Pita Nachos with Mango Salsa and Turkey Bean Dip

This is another easy turkey meal that took 30 minutes to prepare. I cooked the turkey before I left for work this morning and stored it in the fridge.

I also pre-cut mangoes and avocados just in case I was short on time. I already had some salsa from last week and I splurged and bought pre-cut tomatoes 🍅.

When I got home from work I was easily able to pull everything out of the fridge and start cooking. My only issue was keeping the kids out of my mangoes. I managed to save enough to salvage the recipe.

I added the mangoes to my salsa and set it aside. Next, I combined the ground beef, beans, cheese, olives and tomato in a baking dish. I put the mixture in the oven and let the cheese melt over everything for about 15 minutes. The fun part of this recipe was making the nachos. Sure you can buy nachos at the store but these taste so much better. I added cumin to the pita bread for extra flavor. I’m sure an Italian seasoning or cinnamon sugar (for the kiddos) would work well too.

I pulled the nachos and dip out of the oven and it was perfect. I garnished it with the last bit of cilantro I had left over from last week. I always try to find ways to incorporate cilantro so it doesn’t go to waste.

This was such a fun and timely recipe. The Super Bowl is coming up and I think I’ll do a repeat of this recipe to add to the festivities.

Ingredients:

Salsa

1 ripe mango

16 oz fresh salsa

3 tbsp. fresh cilantro

Juice of 1 lemon

¼ tsp salt

Nachos

6 piece reduced-carb whole wheat pita bread

nonstick cooking spray

2 tsp cumin

½ lb ground turkey

1 can low-sodium black beans

2 cup shredded cheese

2 oz olives

1 diced tomato

1 avocado

Directions:

1. To prepare the salsa, in a mixing bowl combine the mango, cilantro, lemon juice and salt. Set aside.

2. To prepare the nachos, preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Cut pita bread into triangles or other fun shapes.

3. Arrange the pita triangles in a single layer on two baking sheets. Lightly spray the pita with nonstick cooking spray and sprinkle with cumin. Bake until very lightly crisp, about 5 minutes.

4. Cook the ground turkey in a nonstick pan until cooked through. Set it aside.

5. Layer the turkey, black beans, tomatoes and olives on top of the toasted pita chips and sprinkle with cheese. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until cheese is melted.

6. To serve: Put the nachos on a serving platter and top with sliced avocado, salsa and cilantro. You have the option to add sour cream.

Pineapple and Turkey Meatballs

I’m doing three easy ground turkey recipes this week. Mostly because my husband gave me a funny look when I told him I was going to cook chicken – AGAIN. This is the first of three great turkey transformations.

I selected meatballs because (1) I saw a PBS special on meatballs and it made me hungry,  (2) I thought it would be a great 30 minute meal – as long as I pre-cut my veggies, and (3) it was sweet, had pineapples and an easy sell for the kiddos.

When I got home from work I put the veggies on the skillet and started to cook.  Next time I will cook the veggies in the morning after I cut them.

This was a fun recipe because the kids could help. It seems like they like the food better and eat more when they are a part of the process.

Everything came out great. The family liked it. I originally planned to cook some rice but my grocery shopping skills were not up to par this week. I forgot the rice and used egg noodles instead.  They were just as good.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 bell pepper, chopped

1 carrot, chopped

Fresh thyme, to taste

1 (14-1/2 ounces) chicken broth

1 (15 ounces) tomato sauce

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup distilled white vinegar

1 (8 ounces) crushed pineapple with juice

1/4 cup ketchup

1 slice of bread

2 tbs milk

3/4 pound ground turkey

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon salt and pepper

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

2 cups egg noodles

Directions:

1. Heat oil in large skillet. Add onion, bell pepper and carrot; saute 5 minutes, until softened.

2. Stir in broth, tomato sauce, brown sugar, white vinegar, pineapple with juice and ketchup. Simmer, uncovered, 10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, soak bread in milk in large bowl until milk is absorbed. Add turkey, egg, salt, pepper, thyme and garlic powder. Shape turkey mixture into 12 meatballs, about 2 tablespoons each.

4. Drop meatballs in sauce; simmer, uncovered for 15 minutes, turn over as needed.

5. Remove from heat. Serve over noodles.

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