Found in fridge: prosciutto, goat cheese, spinach, leftover peach jelly, naan. Spread jelly on naan, Topped with rest plus a little honey, baked 450 for 7 minutes.

After many attempts and failures, I have found the 3 secrets to a juicy turkey burger:
1.  Don't use the leanest ground turkey -- the 85% lean / 15% fat is still healthy, but you do need that fat.
2.  Add FRESHLY ground bread crumbs and egg to keep the moisture in
3.  Let the burgers stand 5-10 minutes, so the juice can evenly reincorporate back into all the meat.

Ingredients:
1 small red onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup fresh soft bread crumbs (don't use the dry bread crumbs, or your burgers will be rubbery)
2 tablespoons BBQ sauce
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper 
2 pounds ground turkey -- 85% lean / 15% fat

Instructions:
Cook onion and garlic in olive oil until very tender. Place in large bowl and cool 10 minutes. Add bread crumbs, BBQ sauce, egg, salt, and  pepper, and mix well. Work in turkey with your hands until combined. Form into 
patties (or 14 silders).  Refrigerate patties 3 hours. Grill or saute until done, turning once, until internal temperature reaches 170 degrees F.  Top with cheese; cover and let stand until cheese melts.

Yields 8 burgers or 14 sliders

Brining is the secret to moist pork chops, and this copycat recipe is de-li-cious!

Brining Ingredients:
4 bone-in pork chops, 1/2 inch thick
3/4 cup coarse kosher salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup boiling water
1 gallon cold water
1 tablespoon black pepper

Copycat Shake 'n' Bake Ingredients:
2 cups dry breadcrumbs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 tablespoon salt
1/2 tablespoon paprika
1/2 tablespoon celery salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
1/8 teaspoon minced onion
1/2 pinch dried basil leaves
1/2 pinch dried parsley
1/2 pinch dried oregano

Instructions:   A heavy-duty plastic tube, stainless-steel bowl, or re-sealable plastic bag can work as a brining container, as long as the pork is fully submerged. Weight with a plate, if necessary, to keep the meat fully covered by the brine.  Dissolve salt and sugar in the boiling water. Add it to the cold water; add pepper and stir to combine. Chill brine completely in the refrigerator before adding pork. Place your pork in the water and place in the refrigerator for 12-24 hours.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Combine all the Shake 'n' Bake ingredients in a large re-sealable plastic bag.  Seal bag & shake all ingredients together.  

Rinse THOROUGHLY your pork chops, then shake each piece in the coating bag.  Place on a foil-lined baking sheet.  Cook 15 minutes or until done (160 degrees).

By the way, this goes great with Grown Up Mac and Cheese!

Found in the fridge:  leftover spinach artichoke dip, leftover bowtie pasta with tomato sauce.  Well, it's not the prettiest pasta I've ever seen, but combining these two together yielded a YUM-MO lunch pasta. 

Yum!  These are so easy to make, taste delicious, freeze well (for unexpected company) and are good for the heart to boot.  Melt 1/2 bag of dark chocolate chips in the microwave on 50% power.  Add your favorite heart-healthy trail mix.  Be sure to save some of the prettier pieces for the top of the bites.  Cover a baking sheet or plate with wax paper, and spoon the mixture onto the wax paper.  Decorate with the leftover trail mix bits.  Refrigerate until set.  Freezes wonderfully.

Ingredients:
1 lb. green beans, washed and trimmed
1 cup bread crumbs
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 egg whites

Instructions:
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Stir together the bread crumbs, salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Place in a shallow bowl or plate.  Whisk together the egg whites until frothy.

Dip the green beans into the egg white and then roll in the bread crumbs. Place on the parchment paper in a single layer. Repeat until all the green beans are coated in bread crumbs.

Freeze until set, about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Bake for 15-20 minutes until green beans are nice and crispy, shaking the baking sheet once during cooking.

There is the wonderful scene in the movie Spanglish, where the husband/chef played by Adam Sandler, after a long, hard day in the kitchen at his acclaimed restaurant, prepares the perfect midnight snack — a fried egg sandwich.  He is only cooking for himself, but every maneuver is so graceful, so lovingly executed.  That scene sticks with me, and when tempted to cook breakfast for myself by merely warming up a slice of cold pizza, I remember that scene, and every once in a while, treat myself to the same loving, nurturing food that I give to my family.  This morning, I savored every moment of in the making of baked eggs and sweet potato home fries, just for me and no one else.  Would you like to treat yourself to some (food) self-love?  If so, I hope you'll enjoy this recipe.  xox

Ingredients:
1 large sweet potato, chopped into cubes
1/4 c. red onion, chopped
1 T. bacon grease (or butter)
2 T. olive oil
2 eggs
1 slice ham, chopped fine
1 leaf basil, chopped fine
1 T. grated or shredded parmesan
1 T. butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Place the sweet potatoes in a medium bowl, and add 1/4 cup water.  Microwave for 5 minutes.

Heat skillet over medium high heat, adding bacon grease and olive oil.  Drain microwaved sweet potatoes, pat dry and add to skillet, along with the onion.  Cook covered for first 4 minutes, then cook until your desired doneness.  As you can see from the photo at left, I like mine really caramelized, so total cooking time for these homefries was 12 minutes. Drain on paper towel and salt to taste.

Start the baked eggs.  In microwave, melt butter in a small baking dish (I used a large flan dish.)  Layer basil,  ham, and cheese in the baking dish.

Carefully break the 2 eggs over the other ingredients.  Cook for 12-15 minutes, depending on how you like your eggs.  I like the yolks to be runny, so I cooked my eggs for 12 minutes.  Garnish with basil if desired.

Cutting back on eating out (and saving money) requires planning and creativity.  Duh!  Look who just caught up!  :)

I do love the food at Starbucks, and so I decided to try to develop a recipe at home that is similar to one of my favorites: the chicken sausage wrap.  It's not quite the same, as who has time to roast veggies in the morning?  But I think it came out great!  If you try this recipe, please let me know what you think!

  
Instructions:
Warm 1/2 tsp. olive oil in medium skillet over medium heat, and saute the mushrooms and peppers until soft and yummy-smelling.  Mix in the pesto and chicken sausage until warmed through.  Remove veggie/sausage mixture from skillet and set aside.

In same skillet, add second 1/2 tsp. of olive oil.  Pour in egg whites, cook 1 minute, turn,  cook 1 additional minute or until lightly browned.  

Warm tortilla, fold egg white omelet in center of tortilla, top with veggie/sausage mixture.  Fold in edges. Serve.  Smile.

Yield: 2 wraps
WW Points+: 7 pts per wrap

1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup peanut butter
 
In a small pan, heat syrup and peanut butter over low heat. Whisk together until peanut butter is melted and the mixture is smooth. Serve warm over waffles or pancakes.

Note:  This is great with Flaxseed & Oat Waffles and Biggest Loser Pancakes.

These are so yummy I just have share the link.  They don't even taste like they are healthy!

http://www.biggest-loser-recipes.com/oatmeal-pancakes.html

Related:
Flaxseed & Oat Waffles
Peanut Butter Syrup