Jambalaya

 Ingredients:
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 chicken breast, cubed (about 6-8 oz) and sprinkled with salt and pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
5 oz turkey sausage, chopped
1 small onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
1 cup chopped bell pepper (I used a mixture of green, red and yellow)
1 jalapeno
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups uncooked rice
2 3/4 cups reduced sodium chicken broth
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp Cajun seasoning
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp ground red pepper
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1/2 lb raw shrimp, peeled and sprinkled with Cajun seasoning
1/4 cup green onions, sliced
Red pepper flakes (optional)

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add chicken and cook until lightly browned on all sides. Remove chicken from the pan and add in sausage. Cook the sausage until lightly browned. Add in onion, bell pepper, jalapeno, celery, and garlic.

 Cover pan, reduce heat to low and cook until vegetables are tender (10-15 minutes), stirring occasionally.

Add in rice, and stir for 2 minutes.

 
Add in broth, paprika, Cajun seasoning, thyme, and red pepper.

When the mixture comes to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 15 minutes. Add tomatoes and chicken, and cook until all liquid is absorbed.

 Stir in the shrimp, cover, and cook about 5 minutes or until they're done. Let sit for about 5 minutes. Top with green onions, and sprinkle with red pepper flakes, if desired.

 

Source: Slightly adapted from this Cooking Light recipe

A Valentine's Day Dessert

Looking for a dessert to make for your Valentine? Try these mini heart shaped cheesecakes with homemade strawberry sauce. I made them over the weekend and they turned out pretty well. I was kind of making them up as I went, so they weren't absolutely perfect the first time, but I added a few tips at the end of this post for how I would make them even better next time.

Ingredients:
1 8oz. package cream cheese (I used fat-free)
1/2 cup sugar, divided
1/2 tsp vanilla extract, divided
2 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice, divided
1 egg
2 refrigerated pie crusts
10-12 large strawberries
1 tsp cornstarch
3 tbsp Creme de Cacao (optional)

Yields 20-24 mini cheesecakes

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Unroll pie crusts on a clean floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll out until smooth. Here's where your art skills come into play....Carefully cut out heart shaped sections of the pie crust (they should be about 3-4 inches wide). If you have a large heart shaped cookie cutter, you can definitely use that too (or anything heart-shaped that you can use as a template).

Press hearts into greased mini muffin cups.

Using an electric mixer, mix cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 tsp vanilla extract, and 1 tsp lemon juice until fluffy. Add in egg and mix until completely blended.

Fill each heart with the cream cheese mixture, about 3/4 full or so.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the crust turns golden.

To make the sauce, begin by cutting the strawberries into large chunks.

In a small bowl mix together remaining 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice with cornstarch. Combine strawberries, remaining 1/4 cup sugar, lemon juice/cornstarch mixture, and remaining 1/4 tsp vanilla in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes.

Stir in Creme de Cacao, reduce heat, and cook about 5 more minutes until the mixture turns into a thick sauce.

When the cheesecakes are done, remove from the oven and let cool completely.

Once cheesecakes and strawberry sauce have cooled, top each heart with a spoonful of sauce, and enjoy! Store any leftovers in the refrigerator.

A few suggested changes:
- I think next time I would make them in regular size muffin cups. The crust to cheesecake ratio was a little heavy on the crust and there wasn't as much cheesecake flavor in each bite as I would have liked. (The cooking time would likely need to be increased for the larger size.)
- Also, if you want to add a little kick of sweetness and hint of sparkle, try sprinkling a little sugar on the crust before baking.

Let me know what you think!

Spicy Southwest Chipotle Turkey Burgers

I think the warmer weather the past couple of days has put us in a grilling mood, because we were both craving burgers tonight. And what recipe in the Wiley household would be anything without a little spice? These were an experiment...that turned out to be pretty good if I do say so myself.

Ingredients:
10 oz. lean ground turkey breast
1/2 cup shredded Pepper Jack cheese
2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, minced
1 1/2 tbsp Southwest Seasoning
1/2 large onion, sliced
1/4 yellow bell pepper, diced
2 hamburger buns
1 avocado
1 tomato
Lettuce

Yield: 2 burgers
You can adjust the amount of turkey you use depending on your desired burger size.

Preheat your grill. While it's warming up, mix together the turkey, cheese, chipotle peppers, and seasoning in a medium sized bowl.

 
Form the mixture into two patties and grill for about 8-10 minutes on each side, or until they are cooked throughout.

While the burgers are cooking, saute the onion and yellow peppers over medium heat until tender and browned.

Serve the burgers on toasted buns. Top with lettuce, slices of avocado and tomato, and onion/pepper mixture. Add a little ketchup to make them spicy and sweet.

Southwest Seasoning

This seasoning is quick and easy and can be used on all sorts of things - poultry, fish, beef, pork, veggies, pretty much anything!

Mix together the following ingredients, and your southwest seasoning is ready to go:

1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
3/4 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp chipotle chile pepper
1/2 tsp onion powder