#290 Healthy Southwest Ground Turkey Wraps By: V

At times I'm an unconventional grocery shopper, tossing aside a grocery list to take a look at the the deals at my local grocery store and at what piques my creative side and hungry side.  Last week on my grocery trip I thought I would opt for a healthy option...ground turkey.  Ground turkey is great for meatballs..ground turkey curry...meatloaf, basically any ground meat recipes can benefit from a healthier ground turkey replacement. I tend to lean toward things wrapped in a tortilla...I figured this week my dinner option would be a turkey wrap with a  southwest twist.  Adding Chia Seeds allowed me to counteract all the bad eating I do over the weekend, what with dinners with friends and all!

This weekend I tried out Barcelona Wine Bar in the Logan Circle neighborhood of D.C. for some tapas and sangria.  One friend, an Argentine, mentioned that a common dessert in Argentina is crepes filled with dulce de leche (a thick caramel) and topped with chocolate sauce....lo and behold they happened to have that very dessert at the restaurant, and it was phenomenal!  This afternoon I had brunch at Belga Cafe in the Barracks Row neighborhood of D.C.  Belga Cafe hosts an array of belgian food and is well known for their various sweet and savory waffles.  We had the lobster omellette, a sage waffle with duck stew, and a sweet waffle with caramelized apples.  The food options at both restaurants were limitless, so needless to say I will be going back...and needless to say, these turkey wraps are a healthier option I could use this week!  At the bottom of the post is a picture of all our eats (well halfway through all of our eats) from Belga Cafe.

2 tablespoonds extra virgin olive oil

1 medium sized tomato

1 cup chopped red onion

1-2 tablespoons chopped garlic

3-4 green chilis

2 red sweet chilis or 1 small red bell pepper
15.5 oz can of black beans (cooked)

Dry Spices

3 tablespoons salt

1 tablespoon oregano

2 tablespoons cumin
1 tablespoon red chili powder

Finish Up With...

Tortillas

Avocados

Salsa

Sour Cream

Lettuce

On medium heat, heat up crushed/grated garlic in 2 tablespoons olive oil.  Add in red onion.  Once the onion is translucent add in the ground turkey and cook the turkey through.  The pink color will go away and it’ll be a grey/white color.  Then add all of the dry spices, chopped chilis – both hot and sweet, black beans, and chopped tomato.  Cook on high heat for about 10 minutes, until all the liquid is evaporated.  Taste and add in hot red chili powder or more spices to your taste. 

Also, if you’ve ever heard of Chia Seeds, they are a new super food full of omega fatty acids, and something you can incorporate into different food.  It’s flavorless so it won’t add any additional flavor.  This is a great recipe to add in some chia seeds!

Chia Seeds are rich in omega-3 fatty acids.  The seeds are great for all types of people, they reduce blood pressure and can control blood sugar.  I know my mom started off incorporating flax seeds into her food, which have the same benefits, but chia seeds have become her's and my new healthy alternative!

Put two large spoonfuls in the middle of a tortilla...top with cheese, lettuce, sour cream, avocado, and salsa and enjoy!

Chase Your Glitter - By: N

I think its funny that one of my first non-guest posts is once again about our Christmas holiday festivities.  Nobody can celebrate a holiday like the four of us :)  I want to thank our mom for always taking the time to celebrate important days because otherwise this life would be just one big mass of days and mundane everyday events clumped into one big messy ball.  You want that ball to have a little glitter in it ;)  I chased this glitter all the way from San Francisco to the family in Virginia. 

One of the first things that greeted me when I got home from the airport was this cake below!  It was absolutely moist, had the best combination of nuts, raisins and luscious amount of grated carrots.  And I don’t even really like carrot cake all that much.  Much like anything I eat anywhere, I suddenly thought of different ways to transform this.  I thought of a carrot cake cookie…all the same ingredients in a cookie form ;)

I wanted to add two more pictures from the holidays.  The first is our tree decorated by our mom and dad!  Yes, they drag that sucker and alllll the ornaments up from the basement and set it up EVERY year! 

Annnddd someone got very lucky this year!  My dad definitely knows how to pick out a gift for his lady!  I don’t know why my sister and I fear getting him as Secret Santa!  MY favorite gift this year was ChromeCast!  Given to me by V.  If you want to watch Netflix on your TV in a seamless way.  GET THIS!! 

A New Face to Malli's...

Hi there!  I'm sure this post comes as a surprise to many of you, given that the original blogger decided to take some time off from posting.  Well, we've decided to continue what our mom started, and of course with her approval and encouragement. That's right, it's N and V, but don't eNVy us! (ok ok bad joke)...please keep reading, we promise this isn't any indication of what our future posts will be like. 

While we may not be able to bring you the wide variety of complex and delicious food our mom can whip up, we're hoping that we can provide you with some good recipes, and at the very least some good stories.  Please keep the comments coming as you did for our mom, and hopefully this will be the continuation of her blog's legacy and at the same time the start of something new!

Here's a bit of info on both of us: 

N -  Hi there!  I'm an Engineer by day but have always looooved food!  I transformed from a picky baby to a plump little 10 year old...all thanks to the cooking of my mom and grandmother.  There was no looking back after that.  I now love to cook just as much as eat :)  I hope you enjoy reading about my adventures in cooking and maybe more ;)

V - Hey guys!  While I stuck to the bare bones of cooking through college and much of law school, the past three years I've been trying to learn a few things from my mom, and hopefully eat more than just some glorified chicken stir fry every night.  While I tend to eat out a lot with friends, I make it a point to take lunches to work, so hopefully I can give you a few lunch time and easy dinner ideas...with a few stories along the way!