Tag Archives: john henrys

Chipotle Turkey Apple Chili

Chipotle Turkey Apple Chili | real food. home made.

I need to take more time on my food photography. The hard part is, once it’s ready, you just want to eat it!

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb ground turkey (from a local farm)
  • 2 granny smith apples, 1 peeled and both chopped
  • 1 onion, diced
  • 1 bell pepper, diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3 T pureed chipotle peppers in adobo sauce*
  • 1 t chili powder
  • 1 t cumin
  • 1 can of tomato sauce
  • 1 cup of free range chicken broth
  • 1 cup of bock beer (TJ’s Josephsbrau Heller Bock or Shiner or any other beer you fancy, really)
  • 1 cinnamon stick
  • 1 can of beans, any variety (I use Kroger’s tri-bean blend)
  • shredded cheddar cheese, for serving
  • 1 loaf of Everyday Crusty Bread, for serving

Method:

  1.  Add a bit of EVOO to a large pot over medium-high heat. Add your ground turkey, peeled chopped apple, diced onion and bell pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until turkey is no longer pink.
  2. Add garlic, chipotle peppers, chili powder and cumin, and cook for 1 minute.
  3. Add tomato sauce, chicken broth, beer, cinnamon stick, and bring to a boil.
  4. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 10-15 minutes, adding the beans in during the last minutes.
  5. Remove cinnamon stick, scoop into bowls, top with raw chopped granny smith apple, shredded cheddar cheese and serve with a slice of homemade bread.

*Tip: I buy cans of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, throw the whole thing into the food processor, and puree it smooth. I store it in my fridge, practically indefinitely (well let’s just say, I use it before it goes bad). I use approximately 1 T for every diced chipotle in adobo called for in a recipe.

Recipe adapted from Iowa Girl Eats!

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Filed under Dinner Ideas, Soups & Chilis

Kayla’s Kobb Salad

Kayla's Kobb Salad | real food. home made.

Kayla’s Kobb Salad

Ingredients:

  • romaine leaves, chopped
  • kale leaves, torn
  • cherry tomatoes, halved
  • green onions, sliced
  • turkey breast from a local farm, sliced
  • 1/2 avocado, sliced
  • hardboiled pastured egg, sliced into wedges
  • sunflower seeds

Serve with a homemade honey mustard dressing.

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Filed under Dinner Ideas, Gluten Free, Lunch, Paleo, Salads

Dirty Bastard Chipotle Chili

It’s been too cold lately & all I want is chili!  Dirty Bastard Chipotle Chili to be exact.

Dirty Bastard Chipotle Chili | real food. home made.

Ingredients:

  • 2 T extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 large yellow onion, chopped
  • 1 bell pepper (any colour), seeded, and diced
  • 3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced
  • 4 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 lb ground beef or turkey from a local farm
  • 2 1/2 T chili powder
  • 1 1/2 t sea salt
  • 3 t ground cumin
  • 1 t freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 t dried basil
  • 1 bottle of Founders’ Dirty Bastard Ale (or other dark beer if not available)
  • 1/4 cup worcestershire sauce
  • 28 oz diced tomatoes (fresh or canned)
  • 2 T tomato paste
  • 28 oz free range chicken broth
  • 2 cans of beans, rinsed and drained (pinto, kidney, black, navy, cannellini, great northern)

Method:

  1. First, brown your meat and set aside.
  2. Heat the oil in a large heavy saucepan over medium heat.
  3. Add your onion, reduce heat to low, and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.
  4. Add diced bell pepper and cook 5 more minutes.
  5. Add chipotle pepper and garlic, cook 1 minute.
  6. Add browned beef or turkey, your spices, and then the beer, and simmer about 2 minutes.
  7. Stir in Worcestershire sauce and next three ingredients.
  8. Bring to a low boil, and reduce heat to low.
  9. Simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
  10. Crack open another Dirty Bastard and sip thoughtfully.
  11. Add beans, stir, and continue to simmer for 10 minutes.
  12. Garnish with shredded cheese if desired, and serve with a slice of  Everyday Crusty Bread.

Dirty Bastard Chipotle Chili | real food. home made.

This recipe makes quite a large batch, so feel free to have some friends over for some snowed-in crafts or board games.  Warning: do not go to sleep or take a nap immediately after eating this chili!  You will get heartburn.  😉  Give this chili recipe a try and let me know how you like it!

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Peanut Butter Sriracha Omelette

Peanut Butter Sriracha Omelette | real food. home made.

Hopefully you are not skeptical at all about this breakfast invention of mine.  If you have ever spent the night at my house, there is a good chance you’ve been served a “peanut butter omelette”, which I consider my “super protein breakfast”.  The sriracha takes it up a notch!  You’ve got to try it!

Peanut Butter Sriracha Omelette

Ingredients:

  • 2 organic pastured eggs
  • 1 T natural peanut butter
  • drizzle of sriracha (to taste)
  • sea salt and black pepper
  • small morsel of grass-fed butter

Method:

  1. Melt your butter in a small skillet.  Crack 2 eggs into the pan, smash the yolks and whites so that the two eggs become one even egg layer.  Grind salt and pepper on top to taste.  Cover the pan with a lid and cook until most of the egg is set – you will know when it is time to flip!
  2. Flip the egg over, turn off the heat, and let it finish cooking for about 30 seconds.
  3. Transfer to a plate and drizzle sriracha over one half, and spread peanut butter over the other.  Fold the two halves together to create the “omelette”.

You will enjoy this I promise!   I am not much of a cheese person, and the peanut butter here acts as the cheesy element that most people enjoy with eggs.  Yummmmmm!!  Nutritious and delicious!  Guaranteed to keep you full until lunch time.

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Filed under Breakfast, Paleo, Vegetarian

Grass-Fed Corn Dog Bites

Grass Fed Corn Dog Bites | real food. home made.

This advertisement came in the mail yesterday, and I burst out laughing.  I am going to start collecting these prime examples of our country’s sickening problem with food.  We are equating the word “protein” with “corn dog”?  How did we let this happen?  Protein is one of the prime building blocks of life, I feel so sorry that the word has to appear so large alongside this abominable “edible food product”.

However, corn dogs are not inherently bad.  I believe that as long as you make a dish home made from quality real food ingredients, nothing is off limits!  Not even corn dogs.  Following is a recipe for mini corn dog bites – they are an excellent appetizer to bring to a superbowl party, or any other gathering under the sun (except maybe a vegan potluck).

Grass-Fed Corn Dog Bites | real food. home made. 

Grass-Fed Corn Dog Bites

Yield: 36 mini-muffins

Ingredients:

Now, contrast that list with the State Fair corndog ingredients:

Grass-Fed Corn Dog Bites | real food. home made.

When reading the labels on packaged food products, ask yourself the question: “Are these the ingredients I would use to make this item”?  If the answer is no, which it will be more often than not, do not risk it.  Remember, your body is not a garbage can.

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 375º
  2. Whisk butter and sugar together, add eggs, then buttermilk, whisking them all together.
  3. Whisk dry ingredients in a seperate bowl: cornmeal, flour, baking soda and salt.
  4. Combine wet and dry ingredients.
  5. Spray a mini muffin pan with coconut oil.
  6. Add a glop of batter to, then press a hot dog section into the center of, each cup.  Each cup should be nearly full but not quite.
  7. Bake for about 15 minutes or until cornbread just starts to brown.
  8. Let them cool for as long as you can stand it, and then transfer to a tupperware to bring to the party.
  9. You can serve these at room temperature, or re-heat them in the oven for a bit at serving time.

Grass-Fed Corn Dog Bites | real food. home made.

Now that’s a fun source of protein I can get behind!

Adapted from Iowa Girl Eats

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Filed under Appetizers, Potluck, Snacks

Turkey Apple Cherry Jam Sandwich -or- “Jammy Sammy”

Turkey Apple Cherry Jam Sandwich -or- "Jammy Sammy" | real food. home made.

I’ve been planning to make this sandwich ever since I got home from Traverse City, the Cherry Capital of the World (most likely).  Last night, however, the biggest flood in recent history hit our region, and I almost couldn’t make it to the grocery store!  Our basement flooded knee-deep, and we spent all of last night and all of today pumping out the water, throwing out everything that was wet, and re-organizing everything that was salvageable. I found time to bike to the market, thankfully, so I could put a nice dinner on the table after such a stressful and hectic 24 hours.

Turkey Apple Cherry Jam Sandwich -or- “Jammy Sammy”

Ingredients:

Method:

  1. Slice your fruits and vegetables (I use a mandoline to make life easy!)
  2. Toast the bread
  3. Make the jam sandwich!
  4. Enjoy.

Turkey Apple Cherry Jam Sandwich -or- "Jammy Sammy" | real food. home made.

(What I do next is chop up a heart of romaine, divide it between two lunchbots, add my extra tomato, turkey, apple, and onion slices, and top with dried cherries.  Perfect for mine and Grant’s lunch tomorrow.)

After losing so many “valuables” I definitely have a greater appreciation for the invaluables.  It’s been very cathartic going through everything, to say the least.  Here is a photo I salvaged of me and my dad from July 1995 in Rapid City, MI.

IMG_4444b

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Filed under Brunch, Dinner Ideas, Lunch, Sandwiches

Kayla’s Chickpea Blondies

I am more of a savoury girl than a sweet one.  I would choose sushi over a cookie, or beef jerky over a brownie almost every day (chocolate wins out when I am on my period).  BUT THESE MAGICAL BLONDIES ARE A FORCE TO BE RECKONED WITH.  The main ingredients are chickpeas and peanut butter, blended with honey and chocolate chips.  One could argue that they are the perfect balance of savoury and sweet.

Kayla's Chickpea Blondies | real food. home made.

It is important that you make them with the highest quality of ingredients.  No JIF peanut butter, no 2.99 “honey” bears, please.  Please.   Since they are not exactly inexpensive to make, I usually reserve them for intimate potlucks or small family gatherings (or just to keep around the house for Grant and I).

Kayla’s Chickpea Blondies

Ingredients:

  • coconut oil cooking spray
  • 2 cans of garbanzo beans, drained
  • 1 cup of natural peanut butter
  • 2/3 cup of real honey
  • 2 pastured eggs
  • 1 T genuine vanilla extract
  • 1 t sea salt
  • 1/2 t baking soda
  • 1/2 t baking powder
  • 2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 350* and spray a 13 x 9 x 2 pan with cooking spray.
  2. Combine all ingredients except chocolate chips in food processor.
  3. Fold in chocolate chips and spread most of the batter into the prepared pan.
  4. In a separate cupcake tin, fill 3-5 cups with batter to bake separately (this way you can taste one before the party, and have more waiting for you afterwards).
  5. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Note: To make vegan, leave out the eggs (or replace with flax eggs), replace the honey with maple syrup, and use vegan chocolate chips.

Bring these to your next potluck, and bring a few copies of the recipe to pass around 🙂

Adapted from Ambitious Kitchen

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Filed under Desserts, Gluten Free, Snacks, Vegetarian

The Confusing World of Egg Marketing

  • Brown Eggs vs. White Eggs
  • “Grain Fed” / “Vegetarian Diet”
  • “Free-Range”
  • “Natural”
  • “Omega-3 Enriched”

These are all slogans you see on different varieties of egg packaging at the grocery store. But what do they really mean?

First of all, brown eggs are no more “natural” than white eggs. Different breeds of chickens lay different coloured eggs, and that is that.

“Grain Fed” and “Vegetarian Diet” are both problematic. Chickens are not vegetarians. Ones that are free to roam in the pasture eat insects, which are vital to their, and our, nutritional needs.

What can be considered “Free-Range” by technical standards is not what you picture in your head when you hear the term.

“Allowed access to the outside” is how the USDA defines “free-range.” This inadequate definition means that producers can, and do, label their eggs as “free-range” even if all they do is leave little doors open on their giant sheds, regardless of whether the birds ever learn to go outside, and regardless of whether there is good pasture or just bare dirt or concrete outside those doors!  (Mother Earth News)

“Natural” is a big labeling problem – I’m not sure there are ANY regulations on this one.

As far as the Omega-3 enriched eggs, these are basically conventionally raised chickens except their feed is supplemented with an omega-3 source like flax.

What I’ve found is there is no right answer. I’m not sure any of these options are any better or worse than any other. In my local Kroger, for example, they have eggs that range from 0.99 cents to 5.49 a dozen – all with varying packaging materials and marketing slogans. The dollar eggs have simple styrafoam packaging, and the expensive eggs have cardboard packaging with nice fonts and green coloured logos. Each appeals to a different demographic, but they could very well be the very same eggs inside.

 The Confusing World of Egg Marketing | real food. home made.

Here is a chart that outlines some nutritional differences between conventional eggs and true free-range eggs.

The only way to know for sure that the eggs you are feeding to yourself and your family are chock full of nutrition is to purchase them from a local farm. John Henry’s sets up at the Royal Oak farmers market on Saturday mornings, Birmingham farmers market on Sunday mornings, and does bi-weekly delivery to many cities in Michigan.

Believe me, you will taste the difference. And for $5.00 a dozen, you can’t beat it!  The best part about the eggs from John Henry’s is opening up the carton in the morning and seeing this:

The Confusing World of Egg Marketing | real food. home made.

For more reading on the health benefits of pastured eggs, read Meet Real Free-Range Eggs

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Filed under Breakfast, Nutrition