What’s For Dinner?

I’m asked often, by friends and family, what do I eat? Those who have eaten my cooking are amazed at my creativity in adapting traditional meat recipes into vegetarian/flexitarian meals. Honestly, I’m surprised at times, at how well the meals turn out.

I usually don’t use recipes for my weekly general cooking; too tired and not enough time. However, on Sundays I tend to make more elaborate meals; though most times I don’t follow a recipe. In spite of not always using a recipe, I still would like to share some of the healthy meals I’ve made. Since I don’t use recipes, I’ll do my best to provide as much information as possible.

For this week, I made a hearty, turkey stew, which my family raves about. I serve the stew with hot, corn muffins — yum!

Turkey Stew:

4 turkey breast fillets
3 large potatoes (diced)
1 can sweet peas
1 bag of fresh vegetable medley (broccoli, carrots, cauliflower)
2 cups of low-sodium chicken stock
2 packets of turkey or chicken gravy mix

Whenever I’m preparing any type of poultry, I like to soak my poultry in salt water for at least 1 hour or more. This soaking process makes the poultry really tender. For this recipe, soak turkey breast fillets in salt water for 45 mins. to 1 hour; afterwards, rinse thoroughly.

Next, season fillets with garlic powder and lightly coat with flour. Brown fillets in oiled skillet, until done; then cut into small pieces.

Since the potatoes tend to take longer to cook, I cook the diced potatoes in a pot with 2 cups of chicken broth, while the fillets are cooking. Once the potatoes are done, I add them to a roaster pan along with the fresh vegetables and the can of peas.

After combining the vegetables, I then added in the sliced turkey breast fillets.

Finally, I cooked the stew in a covered roaster pan, at 400 degrees, until the vegetables were tender. I prepared the gravy mix according to packet directions, and poured over the stew mixture. I let the stew cook about 10 more minutes until it started to thicken.