Chinese Green Beans with Ground Turkey over Rice

I played pretty fast and loose with these measurements and basically eyeballed everything. It was definitely still quite mild. Very quick and easy.

Ingredients
1 c. medium grain rice, uncooked
1 tbsp. sesame oil
1 small bunch green onions, sliced thin
2 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
1 lb. ground turkey
2 tbsp. chili garlic sauce (which I didn't have on hand so I used sweet chili sauce)
2 tbsp. hoisin sauce
1 tsp. crushed ginger
1 lb. washed and trimmed green beans
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 tbsp. seasoned rice vinegar

Instructions:
Start rice cooking in lightly salted water.
When rice is about 15 minutes from done, heat large skillet over high heat. Add sesame oil, and sauté green onions and garlic for about 2 minutes. Stir in ground turkey and sauté 3-5 minutes, until meat is mostly cooked. Crumble meat as much as possible.
Stir in chili garlic sauce, hoisin sauce, and ginger. Add green beans and soy sauce, and stir to coat. Continue cooking over high heat for 7-9 minutes longer, stirring frequently, until beans are slightly tender.
Stir in rice vinegar, and cook one minute longer. Serve over cooked rice.

Cream Cheese Coffee Cake

Our Christmas morning tradition

Ingredients
for cake batter:
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup sour cream
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

for cream cheese filling
2 - 8 oz packages cream cheese, softened
1 egg yolk
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

for crumb topping:
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup butter


Set oven to 350F with oven rack set to second-lowest position.
Grease a 13 x 9-inch (or an 11 x 7-inch, baking time will need to be increased slightly).
Cream butter with sugar (about 3-4 minutes), add in eggs and sour cream; beat well (about another 3 minutes).  In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder and salt.Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture; beat well until combined (batter will be thick). Spread more than half of the batter in the prepared baking pan. In another bowl, cream together all filling ingredients, then carefully spread over the cake batter. Spoon the remaining cake batter over the top of the cheese mixture. Mix all topping ingredients, pinching together with fingers until the consistency is like crumbs, and sprinkle over the top. Bake for about 50-55 minutes or until middle feels set.

Recipe from KitchenLab

Coconut Curry Red Lentil Bowl with Kale and Chickpeas

This is fast and easy. You can serve it over rice or naan bread.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup red lentils
1 (15 1/2) ounce can diced tomatoes
1 (15 1/2) can lite coconut milk
1 cup water or broth
1 heaping tablespoon curry powder
~1 1/2 tablespoon fresh ginger, minced

1 tsp garlic, minced
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt
1 (15 1/2 oz.) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
4 cups roughly chopped, deveined kale
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/3 cup roughly chopped fresh cilantro


In a large high-sided skillet, combine the red lentils, tomatoes with their juices, coconut milk, water or broth, curry powder, ginger, turmeric, and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for about 18 minutes. Stir in the chickpeas and kale and allow to cook another 3-5 minutes, until the kale is wilted and bright green. Stir in the lime and cilantro and serve. Enjoy!