Twice Baked Buffalo Chicken Sweet Potatoes Prep Time: 15 minutes Cook Time: 1 hour Total Time: 1 hour, 15 minutes Yield: 4 servings as a main dish, 8 servings as a side dish Ingredients 4 sweet potatoes (9-10 oz each) 1 1/4 cups Monterey Jack cheese, divided 1/2 cup ranch dressing 4 oz blue cheese, divided 1/4 cup Franks Red Hot 2 oz cream cheese, cut into pieces 1 tablespoon butter, melted 2 cups cooked, shredded chicken Sliced green onions Instructions Preheat oven to 400°F. Clean and pierce the potatoes with a fork several times. Bake until soft, about 45 minutes. Let stand until cool enough to handle. Cut the potatoes in half lengthwise and remove the flesh to a bowl, leaving a thin layer around the outside of the potato to keep the shape. Mash the sweet potato flesh. Add in 1/2 cup of the Monterey Jack cheese, the ranch dressing, 2 oz of the blue cheese, the Frank’s red hot, cream cheese and butter. Mix to combine. Stir in the shredded chicken. Add the filling back into the potato skins. Top with the remaining Monterey Jack and blue cheese. Return to the oven until heated through and the cheese is melted, 10-15 minutes. Serve topped with sliced green onions.

Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie Ingredients 1 1/2 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces 1/4 cup fat free milk 2 oz cream cheese 1 pound ground turkey 1 medium onion, chopped 1 cup chopped carrots 1 cup frozen corn 1/4 cup water 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper shredded cheese Directions Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a medium saucepan, cover sweet potatoes with water and cook, covered, for 15 to 20 minutes, or until tender; drain. Gradually add milk and cream cheese, mashing with a potato masher to make potato mixture light and fluffy; cover and keep warm. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, cook turkey and onion over medium heat until meat is brown, stirring with a wooden spoon to break up turkey as it cooks; drain, if needed. Stir in carrots, corn, and water; bring to a boil and reduce heat; simmer, covered, for 5 to 10 minutes, or until vegetables are tender. Add tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and pepper to turkey mixture and heat through. Divide turkey mixture among 4 ungreased, 10-ounce ramekins; spoon mashed sweet potato mixture over turkey mixture. Top with shredded cheese. Bake, uncovered, for 20 to 25 minutes, or until heated through. Serve immediately.

Ground Turkey Lettuce Wraps

Brown and drain 1 lb of ground turkey (or ground beef) and set aside.

In a sauce pan, cook about 3/4 of one large onion, chopped.
Add to onion and stir:
        2 cloves fresh garlic
        1 T soy sauce
        1/4 cup Hoisin sauce
        2 tsp pickled ginger (I used dry)
        1 T rice wine vinegar
        8oz can water chestnuts, drained and finely chopped
        2 tsp Asian (dark) sesame oil

Mix with ground turkey

Serve with rinsed and dried lettuce leaves and extra Hoisin sauce.       

Nutella Stuffed Brown Butter + Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe and Photo from Ambitious Kitchen: http://www.ambitiouskitchen.com

Click HERE to be taken directly to the recipe...

 

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

2 hours 10 mins 

Nutella is stuffed between a hazelnut brown butter flavor enhanced chocolate chip cookie then sprinkled with sea salt.

Author: Monique

Recipe type: Dessert, Cookie

Serves: 2 dozen cookies (It only made 18 cookies for me)

Ingredients

·       2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

·       1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

·       1/4 teaspoon of salt

·       2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter

·       1 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

·       1/4 cup granulated sugar

·       1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk

·       1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

·       1 tablespoon plain greek yogurt (I just used Yoplait Vanilla Yogurt)

·       3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I didn't have semi-sweet or dark choc chips, I used 1 full bag of milk chocolate chips instead)

·       1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

·       1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

·       1 jar of Nutella, chilled in refrigerator

·       Coarse sea salt for sprinkling

Instructions

1.    Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. The butter will begin to foam. Make sure you whisk consistently during this process. After a couple of minutes, the butter will begin to brown on the bottom of the saucepan; continue to whisk and remove from heat as soon as the butter begins to brown and give off a nutty aroma. (Don't give up!  Wait until it turns brown and smells delicious!) Immediately transfer the butter to a bowl to prevent burning. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.

2.    With an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, vanilla, and yogurt until combined. Add the dry ingredients slowly and beat on low-speed just until combined. Gently fold in all of the chocolate chips.

3.    Chill your dough for 2 hours in the refrigerator, or place in freezer for 30 minutes if you are super eager, although I cannot promise the same results if you do this.

4.    Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Once dough is chilled measure about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. Flatten the dough ball very thinly into the palm of your hand. Place 1 teaspoon of chilled nutella in the middle and fold dough around it; gently roll into a ball — it doesn’t have to be perfectly rolled! Make sure that the nutella is not seeping out of the dough. Add more dough if necessary. Place dough balls on cookie sheet, 2 inches apart and flatten with your hand VERY gently. (Really only the tops need to be flattened a bit!)

5.    Bake the cookies 9-11 minutes or until the edges of the cookies begin to turn golden brown. They will look a bit underdone in the middle, but will continue to cook once out of the oven. Cool the cookies on the sheets at least 2 minutes. Sprinkle with a little sea salt. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets after a few minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.

Healthy Macaroni Salad

2 Cups Dry Whole Wheat elbow macaroni 1 medium stalk celery, diced 1 small red pepper, chopped 1/2 cup cooked frozen peas and carrots 2 medium scallions, chopped 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese 1/2 cup light mayo 1/4 cup plain greek yogurt 1/4 cup dill pickle, sliced 1/4 tsp onion powder Cook Macaroni according to the package. Drain. In a bowl add macaroni, celery, red pepper, peas, carrots, scallion and cheese. To make the dressing add the mayo, yogurt, pickle and onion powder. Mix together. Pour over the salad and mix. Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving. Enjoy!