CEIMB Greek Salad Pitas with Feta Spread and Turkey

This week's Craving Ellie in My Belly recipe was a good one! We made Greek Salad Pitas with Feta Spread and Turkey, selected by Jennifer of The Rookie Baker.

Because I am the first one to admit that yogurt really repulses me, obviously I did not put any of the feta spread on my own pita sandwich. However, I did make it for my husband, and he really loved it! It's a simple spread; you mash up some feta cheese with plain yogurt, then add in some fresh lemon zest and juice, dried oregano, and freshly ground black pepper. I made myself a roasted red pepper and feta spread, which turned out really yummy. I'll be blogging about that one soon.

This was such an easy little recipe to put together. It's just some deli-style turkey breast (I chose a lower-sodium variety), romaine lettuce leaves, sliced cucumber, and the spread wrapped up in a pita half. As you can see from our pictures, hubby added sliced kalamata olives to his, and he left his pita bread whole. Instead of stuffing the pita pocket, he just combined all his sandwich fixings and placed them on top of the pita, then folded it up like a tortilla.

I was grateful to have such a simple weeknight meal to make this week! Thanks to Jennifer for the great pick. If you'd like to see if the other CEIMBistas enjoyed this one, be sure to head over to the blogroll. For the full recipe, click here.

Grilled Middle Eastern Turkey Meatballs (Kofte) with Olive and Oregano Hummus

I prepared a meal last week in which every component was delicious enough for me to want to blog all about it. It consisted of a nice Tabbouleh salad, a potato side dish, and these truly yummy Grilled Middle Eastern Turkey Meatballs with some Olive and Oregano Hummus to dip them in. The meatballs and hummus, as well as the tabbouleh, came from Cat Cora's most recent cookbook. I'm loving this book so far!

The hummus comes together in about 5 minutes flat, and it's amazing. I love the addition of salty capers and kalamata olives; you can decrease the amount of salt in the recipe and it still tastes just salty enough. I do my hummus a bit differently than most recipes instruct; I add less olive oil and then I throw in a bit of warm water to thin it out. My hummus still turns out smooth and creamy, but with less fat. I wrote the instructions to reflect my changes.

The meatballs have a really long ingredients list, but most of those ingredients are spices and I feel like they are all vital to the overall flavor of the meatballs. The recipe is very simple; as long as you have all your spice bottles or jars out and lined up when you are ready to assemble these, the prep time flies by. Cat instructs you to make your meatballs long and cylindrical, rather than perfectly round. That's because these meatballs are grilled, rather than fried or baked, and the heat needs to be able to cook the balls evenly from the bottom.

Though my meatballs were pretty spicy (I think because I had only hot paprika, rather than the sweet papriks called for in the recipe, and also because my freshly ground black pepper was a kicker!), they were packed to the brim with great flavors. They taste exotic, but familiar at the same time. With the hummus alongside, the meatballs were a huge hit with hubby and me. I'll blog separately about the Tabbouleh and potatoes, since four recipes in one post is a bit much! But below I am including the meatball and hummus recipes.

Grilled Middle Eastern Turkey Meatballs
adapted from Cat Cora's Classics with a Twist
makes 12-15 meatballs

Ingredients
2 slices wheat sandwich bread, torn into pea-sized pieces
1 lb. ground turkey (dark meat)
1 small red onion, minced or grated
1/3 cup finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1/2 tsp. pure chile powder (I used pasilla chile powder)
2 Tbsp. sweet paprika
1 Tbsp. ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp. ground coriander
1 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg, preferably freshly grated
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp. kosher salt
Nonstick cooking spray, for coating meatballs
Nonfat Greek-style plain yogurt, for dipping (optional)
Olive and Oregano Hummus, for dipping (optional)

Directions
1. Preheat a gas grill or indoor grill pan to medium-high heat; allow to heat up for 30 minutes before you plan to cook.

2. Mix the bread, turkey, onion, all the herbs and spices, and salt together in a large mixing bowl with your hands or a wooden spoon. Divide the meat mixture into 12-15 equal portions. Shape each portion into a cylinder. Spray each meatball with a light coating of cooking spray.

3. If using an outdoor grill, cook meatballs over indirect heat; use only one grill burner and cook the meatballs on the opposite side of the grill. If using indoor grill pan, cook meatballs slightly to the side of the heating element.

4. Cook until slightly springy but firm to the touch, 10 to 12 minutes. Serve with yogurt or hummus on the side.


Olive and Oregano Hummus
adapted from Cat Cora's Classics with a Twist
makes 2 1/2 cups

Ingredients
1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/4 cup tahini sauce
1 Tbsp. capers, drained and rinsed
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh oregano
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
2 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1-2 Tbsp. warm water
1 cup pitted and halved kalamata olives

Directions
1. In a food processor, combine all the ingredients except for the oil, water, and olives. Pulse until everything is finely chopped.

2. With the motor running, drizzle in the oil. Slowly add warm water until the hummus is the consistency you like best. Add the olives now and pulse once or twice to chop them, or fold them in separately so they will remain large pieces. The hummus will keep for 1 week, covered, in the fridge.

CEIMB (A Week Late!): White Turkey Chili

Today I'm going to post about last week's Craving Ellie in My Belly recipe, White Turkey Chili, chosen by Leslie of Lethally Delicious. I was out of town for a few days last week, so this recipe just didn't get made in time to blog about it last Thursday. However, I had been wanting to try this one for quite some time now, so I made sure I caught up and made it this week. Plus, I have to admit that I probably wouldn't have made this week's Beef and Mushroom Barley Soup, since my hubby is the only one that would have eaten it. So this seemed like the perfect compromise.



This chili is definitely more flavorful and layered than it may at first appear to be. A fragrant blend of vegetables is sauteed (though I had to swap out celery and add carrots, and trade jalapenos for the poblanos, since that is what I had). Then, a simple but delicious spice blend of coriander, cumin, and cayenne pepper is thrown into the mix. Then, you cook the turkey meat, add the broth, and stir in oregano and white beans (I used only one can instead of two, and I pureed them before adding them to the pot). Allow it to simmer for around a half an hour, then add a can of hominy (ok, so I used frozen corn instead!) and more cayenne pepper if it is needed. After another 10 minutes of simmering, you're ready to garnish and serve! I did not use any garnish on my finished chili bowl, but my husband did use a dollop of sour cream and he loved it that way.

We really enjoyed this meal! I didn't have lime wedges on hand, but I really wish I had because I could see how that would have complemented the other flavors. This was so simple to put together, but it delivered lots of flavor. Plus, the two jalapenos I used were nice and fiery, so it had great heat! Since I don't always like the texture of beans, but I do like the nutritional benefits, the pureeing option worked well here. The beans helped to thicken the chili and give it more body. I have tried hominy before and liked it okay, but I had plenty of frozen corn to use up so that seemed like a good swap. Basically, this was a great winter warm-up meal and I can't wait to make it again sometime this winter!



Thanks to Leslie for the pick, and sorry it's a bit late! It was worth the wait, though. For the full recipe, you can go to Food Network's website, here. And it's not too late to check out the blogroll for this recipe and for the Beef Soup chosen for today, at the CEIMB site, here.

CEIMB Rewind: Turkey Meatballs with Quick and Spicy Tomato Sauce

This week I decided to do a recipe rewind, and go back in time to late April, 2009, before I was a part of Craving Ellie in My Belly. This week's actual recipe pick was Ellie's Baked Beans with Ham, but I had to opt out this time. For one, I have been nursing a flu bug or something that has knocked me out a bit, so I haven't been cooking a whole lot these past few days. Even if I was feeling top notch, though, I'm not sure I would have made this. I've never been a fan of baked beans; maybe Ellie's version would have converted me though! If everybody's reviews of this are good, I may have to revisit it another week.



For now, however, I'm going to tell you about Ellie's Turkey Meatballs with Quick and Spicy Tomato Sauce, from her book The Food You Crave. I've actually made this meal twice now, but when I made it most recently I finally photographed it so I could blog about it.

This is a wonderful interpretation of spaghetti and meatballs. I mean, sometimes when you make a healthier version of an old classic, you find yourself wanting for more. But not with this recipe. The meatballs are incredibly moist, thanks in part to the grated carrot and chopped onion inside. The veggies create that needed moisture, since ground turkey can be sort of dry otherwise. The sauce is classic but has a great spicy twist, thanks to some chipotle peppers for that awesome heat. The whole-wheat spaghetti is a great pairing with the sauce and the meatballs; hearty, and stands up to the strong flavors.

The first time I made this dish, which was over a year ago, my husband took the leftovers into work the next day. One of his coworkers tried some and demanded the recipe. When Andy told me this, I realized that this particular coworker had asked for at least 3 or 4 of Ellie's recipes before this. So, we ended up buying him her first cookbook for his next birthday. I just thought all of you CEIMBers would appreciate hearing that I had converted yet another Ellie fan to our ranks!

I hope everybody enjoyed the Baked Beans with Ham this week, and thanks to Danica of Danica's Daily for hosting.

To see the full recipe for the Turkey Meatballs and Sauce, click here.

CEIMB: Turkey Taco Salad with Tomato Dressing

For this week's Craving Ellie in My Belly recipe, Peggy from Pantry Revisited chose for us to make the Beef Taco Salad with Chunky Tomato Dressing, from Ellie's So Easy cookbook. As you can see from the title of this post, I revamped this recipe a bit! Okay, more than a bit. I took two of the main components of the salad, the beef and the chunky tomatoes, and omitted them completely. The results were mixed, but mostly very, very good!

Since I don't eat beef, it was a no-brainer that I would just use ground turkey instead, and of course it worked out just fine. For the dressing, however, I had to get a little more creative. I basically had to remove the main component from the dressing, which was of course the chopped tomato pieces, in order to satisfy my aversion to chunks of raw tomato in my salads. I recalled that I had made a dressing once before that was a maple and lime combination, and it was really tasty. Since there was lime juice in this one, I went with a sweet/tart theme. This time, I added a squeeze of honey, some tomato paste, and I eyeballed the olive oil. After a quick taste, I decided that the lime juice plus the tomato paste was making it taste way too acidic, so I added a bit of sugar. That really helped, but I don't necessarily think I'll go making this made-up salad dressing on a regular basis! Not my favorite. That's totally my fault, though, and not Ellie's.

The salad itself was incredibly delicious. I had this whole meal thrown together in record time, too, so that's always a big plus! Personally, I'm a huge fan of throwing crushed-up tortilla chips on salads and soups, so it was a pretty safe assumption that I would like this. The simple seasoning on the meat and beans was just enough, and I threw in some chopped carrot and scallion to brighten up the salad just a bit. Overall, this was a great salad and I would absolutely make it again. Thank you, Peggy! For the original recipe, click over here. And to check out the CEIMB blogroll, click here.

Spicy Stuffed Peppers

I used to think I didn't like stuffed peppers. I don't know why that is. Maybe I just never had a really good stuffed pepper, the kind that you want to shout about from the mountaintops and make for everybody you know, so that they can also experience the deliciousness that you've discovered. Well, I am happy to tell you that I have found such a pepper, and I can't wait to share it with you right now!

They're filled with a deceptively simple ground meat mixture, topped with an even more deceptively simple tomato sauce, and then baked for close to an hour. The preparation is so simple; the hardest part is waiting for them to finish cooking. I love the fact that everything goes into the peppers as is. You don't need to saute anything beforehand, or make sure the meat is already cooked. Everything cooks together, in the oven, including the pepper itself. That's something I did differently than the recipe I was following. The original instructs you to blanch the peppers briefly before stuffing them. I read somewhere that it's just fine to stuff the peppers while they are raw, so I wanted to try it that way because I think I always disliked the sogginess of stuffed peppers when I've had them in the past.

This worked amazingly well. The peppers were soft, but they still had structure and texture. The meat mixture inside was moist, flavorful, and packed a slight punch thanks to the chopped jalapeno I added to it. The quick, simple tomato sauce was surprisingly yummy, and of course you could use any tomato sauce recipe on these peppers if you have a favorite. I'm so glad I decided to try my hand at stuffed peppers instead of just basing my opinion of them on what I've had in the past. These have quickly become one of my reliable standbys, and now I want to experiment with different fillings and make stuffed peppers often. When it's this easy and delicious, I have no excuses not to!

Spicy Stuffed Peppers
adapted from Food.com
makes 6-10 peppers

Ingredients
For the peppers:
Nonstick cooking spray
6-10 green bell peppers, tops and seeds removed
1 lb. ground turkey
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1 jalapeno peppers, seeded and finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
1 Tbsp. parmesan cheese
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground black pepper
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. dried basil

For the tomato sauce:
1 cup tomato sauce (I used a plain can of tomato sauce)
1/4 cup water
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
1 Tbsp. vinegar
1 tsp. dry mustard
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/4 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. dried basil
1/4 tsp. dried parsley
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly spray a baking dish with cooking spray. Combine all ingredients, from ground meat to dried basil; mix well, without overmixing. Using a spoon or a small cookie scoop, fill each bell pepper with the meat mixture.

2. In a medium bowl, combine all the tomato sauce ingredients. Spread about 2 Tbsp. of the sauce across the bottom of the baking dish. Add the stuffed peppers to the dish. Drizzle all but about 1/4 cup of the sauce over the tops of the peppers.

3. Bake peppers for about 50-60 minutes, until the meat is cooked through and the peppers are tender. Serve with the remaining sauce on top of each.

Sloppy Bombay Joes

Being the Food Network-aholic that I am, I was following this past season of The Next Food Network Star. It's your garden variety reality competition series, in which foodie finalists compete to win the grand prize of their very own cooking show. Said show is then aired on weekend mornings on the channel, and if their first, six-episode season turns out to be a success, then the winner continues their cooking show. It's a pretty cool concept, and I've enjoyed watching for 3 or 4 seasons now. I can't say, though, that I have ever been as excited to make the winner's food as I was to make Aarti's food.



Food blogger Aarti Sequeira took home the title this year, and her cooking show, Aarti Party, began two Sundays ago. In her show, she tries to take the mystery and challenge of cooking Indian food, and turn it into something accessible for the home viewer. She likes to put an Indian spin on ordinary American dishes, thus showing the home cook how to utilize Indian techniques and spices to turn the familiar into the exotic. It sounded like a great way to branch out and try new things. Plus, I thought Aarti was great when I watched her all season long. She has a very calm, soothing presence on camera, and she definitely seems knowledgeable and creative in her cooking.



The first main dish she made on her new show was this: Sloppy Bombay Joes. She turns the average, everyday sloppy joe into international cuisine by transforming the messy, tomato-ey sauce we're used to in this dish into an Indian-style sauce. I was intrigued, and the food looked delicious on the show.

As it turns out, I loved these sloppy joes! The flavors were at once familiar and unknown, as the Indian spices mingled with the traditional tomato sauce and the meat and veggies. Her addition of raisins and pistachios was, I thought, inspired. The idea of extra textures in my sloppy joe was a welcome one; it made the meat mixture more interesting and much more flavorful. I didn't know how I'd feel about all these components working together, but it was fantastic.

If I had any gripes about this dish, they'd be very trivial. I felt like the slop was almost too sloppy, if that's possible. I mean, just by looking at this recipe's title, you'd think I'd be prepared for a mess. But I think I made my sauce a tad too runny. I'm sure I could have simmered everything longer and thickened it up a bit more, but I guess I was just eager to eat! I just served the meat mixture up with a slotted spoon to drain some of the excess liquid, and it was fine. My buns began to fall apart while being eaten, but I can imagine that the joes could be served up in pita bread or even tortillas, and still taste great.

Now that I've tasted her food, I can't wait to see what else Aarti's got in store for us. I'm sure this was just the first of many of her creations that I'll be trying out!

Sloppy Bombay Joes

adapted from Aarti Sequeira's recipe, found on Food Network.com
makes 4 to 6 servings

Ingredients
For the sauce:
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 Tbsp. fresh ginger, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 serrano chile, seeded and finely minced (save the other half for the turkey)
1 tsp. garam masala
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup water

For the turkey:
3 to 4 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1/4 cup shelled pistachios (about a small handful)
1/4 cup raisins (about a small handful)
1 tsp. cumin seeds (I had to use ground cumin; I had no seeds)
1/2 white onion, finely diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and finely diced
1/2 serrano chile, seeds intact (not chopped)
Kosher salt
1 lb. ground turkey
1/2 tsp. honey
1/4 cup half-and-half (I used 1% milk)
Small handful cilantro, chopped (soft stems included)
4 to 6 hamburger buns

Directions
1. Begin by making the sauce: Warm the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat, until it shimmers. Add the ginger, garlic, and serrano pepper. Saute until the ginger and garlic brown a little. Add the garam masala and paprika and saute for 30 seconds. Stir in the tomato sauce and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, until thickened, about 15 minutes.

2. Begin the turkey: In a large skillet, warm 2 Tbsp. of oil. When shimmering, add the pistachios and raisins. Cook until the raisins swell up and the pistachios toast slightly. Remove from the pan and set aside.

3. Return the pan to medium heat, add 1 to 2 more Tbsp. of oil, and warm until shimmering. Add the cumin seeds and allow them to sizzle for about 10 seconds, or until some of the sizzling subsides. Stir in the onions and bell pepper; saute until softened (since I had ground cumin, I just threw the cumin in with the onions and peppers). Add the serrano pepper. Saute for another couple of minutes, seasoning with the salt. Stir in the turkey, breaking up the big lumps. Cook until opaque, about 5 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, your sauce should be ready. Pour the sauce into the skillet with the turkey. Stir and bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer until the mixture has thickened slightly, about 10 minutes.

5. Once the turkey has cooked and the sauce has thickened a little, remove the serrano pepper. Add the honey, half-and-half, pistachios, and raisins. Stir through and taste for seasoning. Before serving, garnish with fresh cilantro (I stirred my cilantro in at the end).

6. Toast the buns, fill with the turkey mixture, and serve. Eat (with your hands!) and enjoy!

Comfort Meatballs with Crash Hot Potatoes (from the Pioneer Woman)

Wow. I can't believe I waited so long to make these recipes. I mean, they've both been on my radar for a while now. The Comfort Meatballs are one of the many, many dishes I've been dying to try out of Ree Drummond's cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks. I've had that book for nearly a year now, and I realize it's been terribly underused. I say that because this is the first thing I've made out of it, and it was to die for. As for the Crash Hot Potatoes? Also to die for. Crisp on the outside and perfect and tender on the inside, these fluffy taters are truly unique and delicious.

The meatballs begin with just a basic, standard meat and oats mixture. Add some milk, minced onion, salt, and pepper, mix, and shape into meatballs. Allow them to set up in the fridge for a bit.

Then, you brown the meatballs on the stove and pour a sauce all over them. The sauce is also made up of very basic ingredients. It contains some ketchup, some Worcestershire, a bit of Tabasco, some vinegar, sugar, and minced onion. Once those ingredients mix, however, they become magical. Really. I can't explain it, except to say that I don't even like ketchup by itself, and I could have eaten this sauce straight, with a spoon. I mean, it's just yummy.

So then you bake the meatballs with the sauce poured all over. They become baked through, and the sauce becomes gooey and bubby and perfectly wonderful. I'm sure these meatballs would have been even more decadent if I'd made them with ground beef, but they were fabulous with ground turkey.

Now, as if that weren't enough wonderful-ness for one meal, you get these potatoes on the side! Man, were these good! I couldn't stop picking at them while I was getting the rest of the meal together. They're so easy to do, too. There's just no reason for me not to make these at least weekly. Or more than weekly. In fact, I'd like to make them right now...

All you need to do is boil some small potatoes until fork-tender, then place them on a baking sheet. Next, you get to squash them with a potato masher! It was very fun, especially for my 5 year-old son. You just squash them once in one direction, then turn the masher 90 degrees and squash again in the opposite direction. This makes them all textured, and sorta flat. I compared them to home fries after making them. But tastier. Much, much tastier.

After you've "crashed" all the taters, you can season them with salt and pepper, as well as any herbs you may have lying around. I didn't use any herbs this time, but I didn't miss them. These were sublime with just good ol' s&p. Finally, make sure they have enough olive oil on them that they will not burn, and then bake them. That's it. Easy to make, and great for aggression if you're in the mood to squish something! I highly recommend making this meal next time you're in the mood for meat and potatoes. It just doesn't get much better than this!

Comfort Meatballs
from The Pioneer Woman Cooks
makes 6 to 8 servings


Ingredients
For the meatballs
1 1/2 lbs. ground beef (I used turkey)
3/4 cup quick oats
1 cup milk
3 Tbsp. very finely minced onion
1 1/2 tsp. salt
Freshly ground black pepper
4 Tbsp. canola oil
1/2 cup flour

For the sauce
1 cup ketchup
2 Tbsp. sugar
3 Tbsp. distilled white vinegar
2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
4 to 6 Tbsp. minced onion
Dash of Tabasco


Directions
1. In a bowl, combine the ground beef and oats. Pour in the milk, then add the diced onion and salt. Add the black pepper, then stir to combine.

2. Roll the mixture into tablespoon-sized balls and refrigerate them for 30 to 45 minutes to firm. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Heat the canola oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Dredge the meatballs in the flour.

3. Brown the meatballs in batches until light brown. As they brown, place them into a rectangular baking dish.

4. Stir together the sauce ingredients and drizzle the sauce evenly on the meatballs. Bake for about 45 minutes or until bubbly and hot.



Crash Hot Potatoes
from the Pioneer Woman's website
makes about 6 servings


Ingredients
12 whole new potatoes (or other small round potatoes)
3 Tbsp. olive oil
kosher salt to taste
black pepper to taste
Rosemary (or other herbs of choice) to taste (I did not have rosemary)


Directions
1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add in as many potatoes as you wish to make and cook them until they are fork-tender.

2. On a sheet pan, generously drizzle olive oil. Place tender potatoes on the cookie sheet, leaving plenty of room between each potato. With a potato masher, gently press down each potato until it slightly mashes. Rotate the masher 90 degrees and mash again. Brush the tops of each crushed potato generously with olive oil.

3. Sprinkle potatoes with kosher salt, fresh ground black pepper, and fresh chopped rosemary (or chives or thyme or whatever herb you have available). Bake in a 450 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown.

CEIMB: Sloppy Joes

This week's wonderful Craving Ellie in My Belly selection was Sloppy Joes. It was chosen by Chaya, of Chaya's Comfy Cook Blog. I've made this meal from Ellie Krieger's The Food You Crave book before, but I never stuck exactly to the recipe. I can't say I followed it to the T this time, either, but I came a little bit closer!

Up until recently, if I ever saw beans contained within an ingredients list, I would just omit them. I'm talking mainly about canned beans here. You know, black beans, white beans, red beans. When I made these Sloppy Joes before, the beans certainly did not make it into the pot. However, if there's anything this group has always succeeded in, it's getting me to try something I normally would not. So I threw my reservations to the wind and made this one beans and all!

As usual, this Ellie recipe was a cinch to make. Brown the meat (I used ground turkey) with onions, then add bell pepper (I used green), jalapeno pepper, and garlic. Then, you add in the rest of the ingredients (except the buns, as Ellie helpfully points out! I thought that was hilarious!) and simmer. For the dreaded beans, I found a can of pinto beans where the beans were in a "zesty" sauce, so I thought that would give my sloppy joes a bit more zip. Therefore, I added a bit less tomato sauce, because I knew there would be extra liquid in with the beans.

I used some sturdy whole-grain ciabatta rolls for the buns, served some mini pierogies on the side, and we were ready to eat! I admit, I did really enjoy this the way I made it this time! The beans added more substance without being completely obvious. I thought the spices and seasonings were great, and the jalapeno I used really mellowed out while cooking; this wasn't really spicy at all. I have a good amount of leftovers, and I'm imagining using up the rest tomorrow in some tortillas! Yum, Sloppy Joe soft tacos!

Thank you, Chaya, for the great pick. Check out how the other members of the group made out with this recipe over at the CEIMB blogroll. The original recipe can be found on Chaya's blog, and also on Food Network's site, here.

Homemade Barbecue Sauce

Usually, when I am blogging about a meal or a baked good, it's something I've made last week, or at least a few days prior. I like to keep my meals in order, and so I have a queue of sorts. The pictures are uploaded onto the computer, and they wait patiently until I get around to them.

So when I say that I made this barbecue sauce yesterday, and that I couldn't wait any longer to blog about it, that's truly saying something special about this sauce!



I've been a huge fan of barbecue sauce for pretty much my whole life. It is, hands down, my favorite condiment. I can't get enough of it. I'll put it on pretty much anything you can think of. I was dared, as a teenager, to try it on the likes of pancakes, Reese's peanut butter cups, even cinnamon rolls! Ok, let me tell you, none of those were brilliant ideas; they were all pretty gross. But I still tried them, because I was just that devoted to my love of barbecue sauce.

However, I had never made it from scratch....until yesterday. I'd always wanted to, for sure. I knew that I would enjoy playing around with components and spicing it the way I wanted to, and I finally found a reason to whip up a batch; leftover habanero peppers. That's right; we had some extra peppers we'd bought, and suddenly my brain was overtaken with visions of a habanero-flavored barbecue sauce that would knock your socks off. I took to my trusty Recipezaar to see what I could find.



Finally, I found the perfect recipe. It did not have habanero listed in its title; the pepper is almost like a stealth ingredient, listed all the way at the end of the recipe. But, boy, does it make its presence known! I tasted this sauce first before I added the pepper, and then again after I had incorporated it, and the difference was astounding. Of course, that's to be expected when you're dealing with such a hot pepper, but still! It just adds so much to the overall flavor and heat level of the sauce.

Of course, I did tinker with the original recipe a bit, because that's just what I do. I decided to use up some more of my pomegranate molasses in this, since it did call for some molasses. I had to add more sweetness after that, since the pomegranate is very tart and regular molasses is not. So I threw in some honey to increase the sweet. I found out that I was out of chili sauce, so I improvised and used some more of my new best friend, Frank's RedHot Sweet Chili Sauce, along with a bit of extra ketchup. The recipe called for chili powder; instead of regular, I used some ancho chili powder. Oh, and I cut the recipe down to 1/3 the full amount, since that would have yielded about 3 pints of sauce. A bit too much for my little family!

The end result of my playing and experimenting was a dark, thick, sweet sauce that had a sharp tang and a swift kick from the habanero. I have to admit, I just couldn't stop taste-testing this stuff while it was simmering on the stove! It filled the house with an incredibly smoky aroma; it just smelled like summer to me. (It also smelled like dinner to me, so it was very hard to wait around until we could eat!)

I served this alongside a relatively simple turkey burger that was seasoned to taste like Caribbean jerk, a barley and veggie salad, and sweet potato oven fries. The barbecue sauce was fantastic for dipping the burgers in, and I thought it paired especially well with the sweet potato fries. A winner, if I do say so myself!

I said it before, but I'll say it again. If you do try this sauce, be warned: it is spicy! However, it would be just as delicious if you were to omit the habanero, or substitute a slightly less spicy pepper (a jalapeno would be great in this, as well). There's plenty of other flavors in there to make up for the heat.

The original barbecue sauce recipe can be found right here. The recipe I used for the turkey burgers can be found here. It originally came from Rachael Ray, and then somebody posted it to Recipezaar. The sweet potato fries I used were just Ore-Ida frozen fries, and they were good! Finally, the barley and veggie salad recipe is half Cooking Light, half my own creation. I won't post a step-by-step description of what I did, but here is a link to the Cooking Light recipe. I used barley in place of the orzo, kept the dressing the same, and omitted the chicken and goat cheese. It was delicious!

Homemade Barbecue Sauce

adapted from Recipezaar

makes about 2-3 cups

Ingredients

1/2 cup onion, chopped

1/2 cup red bell pepper, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 tsp. ground dry mustard

1 tsp. ancho chili powder

1/2 cup apple cider vinegar

3/4 cup ketchup

1/2 cup sweet chili sauce

1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 Tbsp. liquid smoke

1/4 cup pomegranate molasses

2 Tbsp. blackstrap molasses

1/3 cup honey

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

1 habanero pepper, minced (remove seeds before using, and don't forget to use protective gloves while handling your pepper!)

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan. Add the onions, bell peppers, and garlic and saute until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes. Add dry mustard and chili powder, and stir to incorporate.

2. Lower the heat to a simmer, and add all the remaining ingredients. Stir well, then simmer on low, covered, for at least an hour, stirring occasionally.

3. Let cool, then use either a regular blender or an immersion blender to puree the sauce. Sauce can be stored in an airtight container for about 2 weeks in the fridge, or stored in mason jars in the fridge for longer.