GTT = Ground Turkey Tostada

Well, yet again I've fallen behind on my blog posts (not that anyone really takes these things too seriously!). Last week I ended up making meatloaf (which I have posted about before) topped with BBQ sauce. I'm finding that I actually like it a lot better with BBQ sauce instead of the typical ketchup and brown sugar.

My husband also made ground beef burritos with refried beans for us last week, which were very yummy! Since we had opened a large can of beans for our two little burritos, we had a lot of left-over beans that needed to be used. So, we had used some for some cheese queso sauce for chips and dip at or little BBQ last Friday.


Today, I used the rest of the refried beans to make tostado's! I don't know why, but I've really been craving a tostado recently (which is odd, because I pretty much never eat them). Tonight I wanted something that was slightly healthy, I've had a pretty bad cold for the last week, and just wanted something light but with flavor to eat. So, I stopped by the store and picked up some Jennie-O ground turkey breast. I for one have never bought ground turkey before and was a bit scared of it. So, what did I do with it? I treated it just like it was ground beef :-)

Erin's Ground Turkey Tostada:
1. Brown 1 20 ounce package of Jennie-O ground turkey breast in a warmed skillet on the stove-top.
2. Once the meat has cooked completely, add about 1/4 cup of chopped onions (optional) and cook for about 4 more minutes.
3. Add 1 package of Taco Seasoning and 2/3 cup of water to the turkey and onions skillet - cook for 5 minutes.

Then I just put together my tostada!
I spread a thin layer of refried beans on my store bought tostada shell, then I put that in the microwave for 30 seconds. I added a thin layer of shredded mexican cheese on top of the beans. Then I took a small amount of shredded romaine lettuce and piled that on. I topped off the lettuce with my ground turkey/onions mixture, and then I mixed in a small amount of "bad" by topping it off with some sour cream!

All-in-all, I thought it was pretty good and I felt good eating it :-) With being sick for a week, I haven't exactly gotten to the gym recently, but every little bit helps, right?

Tomorrow, I think we are making tri-tip, which I have posted about in the past. However, I did also buy the ingredients to make a pizza at home (which I am "assuming" is healthier than buying Pizza Hut...but probably not).

Oven Baked BBQ Ribs

Well, Baby Back Ribs were on sale at Stater Brothers this week, so naturally I bought some! I know there are several ways to cook baby back ribs. You can grill them, oven bake them or cook them for 8 hours in the crock-pot. For time sake, I opted to bake them in the oven.

Here's what I used:

• Season Salt
• Garlic Powder
• Pepper
• BBQ Sauce
  

I cut the membrane (back side) off, then rubbed each side with the seasonings above. I then laid the ribs bone side down on a baking sheet with tin foil. Then I pored one can of Dr. Pepper over all of them, then created a dome cover with more tin foil and put them in a preheated 325 degree oven. I left them in the oven for 2.5 hours.

Lessons learned:

1. Be sure and Pam Spray the bottom of the baking sheet before putting the tin foil down (the Dr. Pepper sticks to the tin foil!).
2. Reduce the cook time to 2 hours - I think I had about 5 pounds of ribs (including bone)

After the 2.5 hours, I pulled the ribs out of the oven, removed the dome tin foil and then glazed the ribs with BBQ sauce. I put the ribs back in the oven for about 10-15 minutes.

The sides that I made were mashed potatoes and pan grilled squash with a little bit of garlic powder and olive oil.