More Ground Turkey Recipes

As a former vegetarian, I’m finding it an enjoyable challenge to adopt a mostly Paleo way of eating and incorporate meat back into my diet. I like foods with lots of flavor, and I’ve found that ground turkey is not only nutritious, reasonably priced. and very versatile, but also it’s so easy to make it very tasty. Today, using what I had in my refrigerator, I made my basic turkey mixture, mixing half a medium zucchini, grated; one grated carrot; one clove of garlic, minced; one small onion, chopped finely; one scallion, sliced; one stalk of celery, finely chopped; a beaten egg, a couple of heaping tablespoonsful of almond flour and a couple of squirts of catsup into about a pound and a half of ground turkey. This made 5 good-sized burgers, which we cooked on the outdoor grill. They were really delicious….full of flavor, nicely crispy on the outside and not at all dry.

Tomatoes are coming into season here in New Jersey, and today we had tomato salad with our burgers. I chopped the tomatoes, added chopped cucumbers, sliced scallions, avocado cubes, some dill and chopped fresh basil, a good squeeze of lemon juice, a splash of olive oil, and Celtic sea salt and pepper to taste. I love this salad!

I had bought a package of broccoli slaw at the supermarket, so I mixed together a couple of tablespoonsful of Vegennaise, a splash of lemon juice, a bit a sweetener (I use either Splenda or a bit of agave nectar), poured that over the slaw, added some pineapple bits, and that rounded out our meal.

Last week I took the same mixture, minus the egg and the almond flour, and made stuffed tomatoes. I sliced the top off the tomatoes, set the tops aside, and, using a big spoon I scooped out the insides, chopping this pulp finely, adding some seasoning and some fresh chopped basil. I set this aside, and sauted the vegetables until just cooked, removed them from the pan, then added the chopped turkey, cooking it until just done. I added back the cooked vegetables, seasoned it, and let the mixture cool a bit. Then I stuffed the tomatoes with this mixture. I spread the reserved tomato pulp in the bottom of a baking dish, and set the filled tomatoes on top. I placed a basil leaf over the filling, and placed the reserved tomato tops back onto the tomatoes. I covered the pan with foil, and baked this at 350 degrees until the tomatoes were soft and the sauce in the bottom of the pan was bubbling, about 15-20 minutes. It was yummy!