Burrito bake!

This is a recipe that comes from Bisquick. My mother in law introduced me to this right after Sam was born. She made a big batch and left it for us so we wouldn't starve when we were home for the first week we were alone with Sam. Tripp loves it and we took it to a potluck party last night and it was a huge hit. It's really easy to make and a great comfort food.

Ingredients:
1 cup of Bisquick
1/4 cup of water
1 can of refried beans (I like to use the Goya Rancheros version, which adds a little bit of spiciness)
1 lb. ground turkey, browned and drained
1 cup of salsa
1 cup of cheddar cheese, shredded/grated

Heat the oven to 375. Grease a 9x9 inch baking dish. Mix the Bisquick, water, and refried beans. Spread the bean mixture into the prepared dish. Add the browned turkey on top of the layer of bean mixture, then add the salsa, and finally the cheese. Bake at 375 for 35-45 minutes. Serve with salsa and sour cream if you like.

*I also sautee about 1/2 cup of chopped onion and 1 chopped clove of garlic to the browning turkey for some extra flavor.

Modestine's peachy chicken

This recipe comes from one of my favorite cookbooks, Sylvia's Family Soul Food Cookbook (with some modifications). It's got an interesting mix of sweet and savory. It complemented the smoked turkey collard greens recipe really well. It's also really easy to put together, which is always great for weeknight meals.

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:
4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, rinsed and patted dry
1 tsp. lemon pepper seasoning
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. black pepper
One 16 oz. can sliced cling peaches in light syrup, undrained
1/2 tbsp. lemon juice
1/2 tbsp. soy sauce

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the chicken breasts in a 9x13x1 1/2 inch baking dish. In a small bowl combine the lemon pepper, salt, and black pepper. Sprinkle both sides of the chicken with the lemon pepper mixture, let stand for 20 minutes. Drain the syrup from the peaches into a small bowl, stir the lemon juice and soy sauce into the syrup. Pour over the chicken pieces. Bake for 45 minutes, uncovered, turning once. Add the peach slices and cook for 15 minutes more, or until the chicken is cooked through. Serve with yummy collards!

Collard greens with smoked turkey

OK, so you can probably tell that I didn't use all of that first bunch of collards I bought. But this recipe, which was a combination of three recipes I have, was DELICIOUS. I mean, I've never had collard greens in any southern restaurant that tasted this good. If you've got some collard greens lying around, you should definitely give this a try. You can eat these as a side to any meat, poultry or fish. I served this with the Peachy chicken recipe.

Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients:
2 tbsps. olive oil
6 slices of turkey bacon, chopped
1/2 cup of onion, chopped
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/2 a bunch of collards (about 1/2-3/4 a lb.), washed and chopped
1/4 cup of water

In a large, deep skillet, heat 1 tbsp. of olive oil over medium heat. Add the turkey bacon and onion, stirring occasionally, until onions are transluscent. Once the bacon and onion are cooked, remove from the skillet, set aside. Add 1 tbsp. of olive oil to the skillet, add, salt, pepper, sugar, and pepper flakes to the oil. Add the chopped collards to the pan, pour the water over the collards. Cook the collards, stirring frequently, for about 5-10 minutes. Then, add bacon and onion to the collards, cover, turn heat to low, and allow to simmer for another 5-10 minutes, until the stems are tender and easily pierced by a fork. Serve!