Swiss and Avocado Lamb Burger

J picks me up from work on his way home, and every once in a while he will stay later than expected, and later than I want to stay.  So yesterday I knew he was going to be late but I was ready to go so I just left at my quitting time and started walking around downtown and I decided I would go to the specialty grocery store downtown and go ahead and get groceries to make dinner.  As I walked past the meat counter it was very evident that it was all way over priced, except for the lamb, which was expensive but not any more so than the supermarket.  So I thought, lamb it is.

¾ lb ground lamb
¼ tsp ground thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
A few dashes of hot sauce
½ avocado
2 slices swiss cheese
2 tbs mustard
2 hamburger buns

Mix the lamb, seasonings and hot sauce in a bowl until well mixed.  Divide the meat and make two patties.

Lamb is very greasy so I use one of those cast iron skillets with the ridges in it so the burger doesn’t sit in the grease and fry.

Heat the skillet to medium heat then put the burgers on.  Cook for 8 minutes on each side for a medium burger.  A couple times while the burgers were cooking I soaked up some of the excess oil with a paper towel to keep from frying the meat.
With about 1 minute left to cook, add the slices of cheese to the burgers so that it melts a little.

Slather the mustard on each bun and assemble the burger with sliced avocados.

Serves 2, 675 calories, 33 g fat

The lamb was front and center here, so if you don’t like the strong flavor of lamb, I recommend using beef or turkey because you probably won’t like this.

Lamb isn’t really the best meat for you, it’s pretty high in calories and fat, but if you plan your day accordingly there is no reason to splurge every once in a while on a dinner that is a little bit higher in calories than normal.

Turkey Lasagna

The other day I was in the grocery store and walked through the cheese section, I’m always looking for samples of cheese, and that day I really lucked out.  They had 2 samples that were really good.  One was a cheddar with a jalapeno apricot jelly that was very good, and the other was a mozzarella with a roasted red pepper spread.  Both were very good but the mozzarella was on sale so that inspired me to make an impulse decision on my next meal, which normally the only time I do that is when J vetoes my plan and so I end up making tacos.

2 lbs ground turkey, 99/1
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 yellow onion, diced
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp olive oil
3 cans diced tomatoes with basil, garlic, and oregano, pureed
1 ½ cups parmesan cheese, divided
8 oz mozzarella cheese
15 oz ricotta cheese, fat free
2 eggs
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
2 tsp oregano
¾ tsp garlic powder
12 sheets No-Boil Lasagna noodles

Preheat oven to 375 degrees
In a large skillet heat the olive oil to medium-high heat.  Add the onion and cook until softened and transparent.  Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more.  Add the mushrooms and cook until browned, stirring often.  Once mushrooms are browned add the turkey and add some of the seasoning and cook until no longer pink.  Add the tomato sauce and rest of the seasoning, season to taste if needed.
In another bowl mix the ricotta cheese, eggs, and ¾ cup parmesan cheese.

In a baking dish spoon some of the sauce on the bottom just to coat the dish so the pasta won’t stick.  Layer 4 sheets of pasta followed by the ricotta mixture then sauce.  Repeat 2 more times using up all of the ricotta and sauce.  Top with the rest of the parmesan cheese and slices of mozzarella.  Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake for another 15 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly.  Let rest for 5 minutes before serving because it will be hot.

I usually put a large cookie sheet or a piece of foil on the wrack below the dish because sometimes my baking dish is so full some sauce will bubble over and it’s a lot easier to clean a cookie sheet or throw away a piece of foil than it is to scrub the bottom of the oven.

Serves 8

With all this cheese this is very rich and satisfying, especially if you use fresh mozzarella, but I guarantee you will be surprised by the amount of calories.

550 calories, 16 g fat

The gooey fresh mozzarella on top of this to me is perfect and you don’t have to sacrifice on the size of your piece to get a reasonable amount of calories.  You can serve yourself a nice large piece of lasagna without feeling awful about it.  What helps is making smart choices in the things that don’t matter.  By using fat free ricotta you save 30 calories/serving without losing any flavor, and by using 99/1 turkey you save a whole 120 calories/serving and you definitely don’t need fat from meat in a lasagna, that definitely will not add anything to the meal.

The star ingredient in this to me is the mozzarella, go with a good quality fresh mozzarella and it will make all the difference in the world versus the pre-shredded fat free Kraft that tastes more like plastic than cheese.
I also use the No-Boil lasagna noodles because I have tried fresh pasta in this and you cannot taste the difference at all, there is just too much other stuff going on so don’t waste your time.

Pumpkin Creme Brulee

I bought myself a few pie pumpkins before Thanksgiving, so inspired to make a fresh pumpkin pie, and I just never got around to it.  I actually cooked the pumpkins and scooped out all the meat, put it in the refrigerator and still didn’t make the dang pie. I did the hard part and then never followed through.  So for a week or so I had this fresh pumpkin puree that I knew I had to use up quick and pumpkin pie just never sounded good again.  So one day I made pumpkin pancakes, which were a little more boring than I was anticipating so I haven’t even bothered writing it up, but a few days after that I made pumpkin creme brulee which I thoroughly enjoyed.  They actually tasted more like mini crustless pumpkin pies than they did creme brulee, but were very easy to make.  Actually it may have been easier than making the pie, which is why I was ok with making it, because I didn’t have to make a crust.  I don’t want to hear it about frozen crusts, it’s not the same I’m sorry.

8 oz pumpkin puree, or can pumpkin (not pie filling)
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup packed golden brown sugar
3 large egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground allspice
¼ tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp salt
1 ½ cups heavy whipping cream
4 tbs golden brown sugar


Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Whisk pumpkin, ¼ cup sugar and ¼ cup brown sugar in a bowl.  Whisk in egg yolks and vanilla, then spices and salt, set aside.  Bring cream just to a boil in a saucepan.  Gradually whisk hot cream into pumpkin mixture.
Divide mixture between 4 ramekins.  Place ramekins in a roasting pan and add enough hot water to pans to come halfway up sides of ramekins.  Bake until custards are just set in center, about 35 minutes for 5x1 inch ramekins or 50 minutes for 3x1 ¼ inch ramekins.

You can make this 2 hours ahead of time and stop here, cover them and keep in refrigerator.   When you are ready to eat, sprinkle 1 tbs brown sugar on each one and melt with a kitchen torch or put in the oven under the broiler until the sugar is a deep amber.

Some people like their creme brulee cold, and if you do, put it back in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes to chill and let the sugar harden, but I like it hot, so I just try to let it sit for a few minutes to allow the sugar to harden and keep it from scalding my tongue because I have a hard time controlling myself.

This was super simple, well if you already had the pumpkin puree or if you used a can, but was very flavorful and had a nice thick and creamy consistency.  I made 4 and we had 2 one night and then the other 2 the next, but you could easily double this recipe for a dinner party and use 1 15-oz can pumpkin puree and I think I would use 5 egg yolks but double everything else.  That would be really easy to throw together without much time or effort, and you could do it ahead of time before you even start cooking so you don’t occupy the oven.

Chicken Tacos with Peppers and Onions

J’s favorite meal is tacos.  Any time I can’t come up with something to make or when all my ideas get vetoed, I default to tacos.  After lots of meals of ground turkey with rice and beans where the closest I might get to a vegetable was the occasional avocado, I decided to change it up and add something that is a little more vegetablish.

2 ½ lbs chicken breast, cut into thin slices
2 yellow onions, sliced
2 green bell peppers, sliced
1 tsp chicken fajita seasoning
8 corn tortillas
1 tsp olive oil
Salt to taste

In a large skillet add the olive oil and heat to medium-low heat.  Once hot add the onions and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Once the onions have softened and started to turn a golden color, add the bell peppers and cook for another 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  The onions should be a golden brown color, not fried.  The key here is low heat for a long time to get the onions caramelizing instead of frying. Season to taste with salt.

Meanwhile, season the chicken with the fajita seasoning and cook in a skillet over medium-high heat until no longer pink.

Serve the chicken, peppers, and onions in a warmed corn tortilla. Super simple, but more interesting than ground turkey.



4 Servings, 620 calories, 12 g fat
75% of the calories come from the chicken, so if you need to you cut back on the chicken in favor of another pepper, feel free to try other colors.

Roast Duck Breast With Red Wine Pan Sauce

Monday was my birthday and it turned out that we had 2 shows we wanted to see that fell on that weekend.  Going to the theater always requires good food beforehand, either at a nice restaurant or cooked by me.  One of the 2 dinners I prepared I was, and still am, pretty darn impressed with myself.  When I think of having a nice dinner duck is always the first thing that comes to mind because I really like it and it’s too expensive to buy very often, so for my birthday dinner before our first show I splurged and bought a duck.  I was originally considering roasting it but as the day sped by I started to panic and thought I wouldn’t have enough time to get it cooked, be able to eat, and get dressed to be downtown by 7:30.  So I swallowed my fear, put aside the intimidation, watched a couple videos on You-Tube and deboned my first duck, yup you read that right.

Once I saw a couple other people do it and found out how to get started, it really wasn’t that bad.  I saw one guy do it in 18 seconds, no lie, crazy, it took me closer to probably 10 minutes but I did it.  I was planning on taking a picture of my beautifully dismantled bird but of course forgot and remembered after I had already cleaned up.

Since I now had manageable duck parts I decided to roast just the duck breasts and save the rest for later and served with a red wine pan sauce and holy cow every bite was unbelievable, I can’t tell you how proud of myself I was with this one.

2 Duck Breasts
Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper to Taste
Red Wine Pan Sauce

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
In an oven-safe skillet, heat one turn of olive oil to medium heat.  Season the duck breast with salt and pepper then add them skin side down to sear the skin.  Duck is very oily so quite a bit of oil is going to cook out and fry the duck, but you want a little bit of oil in the pan to start with so it doesn’t stick to the pan when you first put it in. Sear for 6 minutes.  Flip the duck breast over and place the pan in the oven.  Roast the breast for 8 to 10 minutes for medium rare.  Remove the pan from the oven and let rest while making the pan sauce.  I poured out nearly all of the oil from the skillet and used this to make the sauce then spooned it over the duck. My sauce was a little bit thinner than I anticipated, I was just so excited to taste the duck I couldn't wait long enough.

This came out amazing.  The duck was cooked perfect with a crispy skin and tender inside, just barely pink and not at all tough or chewy. Big pat on back for this one.