Tasty Tuesday: Turkey BBQ Ranch Rice Bowls

I feel like I probably should have shared this recipe last week since it's a great way to use up leftover Thanksgiving turkey, but I already had my Vegan Chana Masala post ready to go so I decided to push this one back a week. The good news? This would be just as delicious with shredded chicken.

I know a lot of people love making turkey sandwiches with their Thanksgiving leftovers, but I've never been much of a sandwich person. I don't hate sandwiches or anything ... I just typically prefer other types of meals.

So when Eric's mom sent us home with some leftover Thanksgiving turkey, I wanted to come up with a simple but delicious way to use it without resorting to sandwiches. After searching our kitchen for random ingredients I could toss in with some turkey to make a filling and tasty meal, I came up with this very simple rice bowl.

I love rice bowls (some of my other favorites include this Chicken Veggie Avocado Rice Bowl and this One Pot Turkey Kielbasa Dirty Rice), so it's probably not too surprising that "rice bowl" was the first thing that popped in my head when I was trying to figure out what to do with my leftover turkey. (It probably also helps that we always have plenty of rice on hand!)

Even though this isn't much of a recipe (I mean, it really doesn't get much easier than this), I'm proud of it. I always feel really accomplished when I come up with something on my own (even if it's super simple), and I feel even more accomplished if I can come up with something on the fly using only random ingredients already lying around my kitchen. (Okay, I feel like a fucking rockstar when I do that, but that's a little embarrassing to admit.)

Anyway, this isn't the most beautiful or interesting meal I've ever put together ... But it's delicious. And simple. And cheap (especially if you already have these ingredients on hand). Clearly all of those things make this dish a winner.

Turkey BBQ Ranch Rice Bowls

A Divulge and Indulge original recipe.

Ingredient List:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 1/2 cups cooked turkey (or chicken, if you prefer that), shredded or cut into chunks
• 1/2 of a large yellow onion, sliced into long, thick strips
• 1 tsp garlic salt
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1/3 cup BBQ sauce
• 1/3 cup ranch dressing
• 1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used a cheddar Jack blend.)
• 1 cup cooked rice, for serving

Instructions:

1.  Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium heat.

2.  Add the sliced onions to the oil and cook for about 5-7 minutes, or until completely softened. (You'll want to stir the onions occasionally to prevent them from getting overcooked on one side.)

3.  Season the onions with the garlic salt and black pepper, then reduce heat to low.

4.  Stir in the cooked turkey (or chicken), BBQ sauce, and ranch dressing. (I chose to use a 1:1 ratio of the sauces, but if you'd prefer one flavor to stand out a bit more, you can adjust the amounts you use accordingly.) Stir the mixture several times to thoroughly combine, and allow to warm over low heat for about 3-5 minutes, or until completely warmed through.

5.  Top with shredded cheese, cover, and remove the skillet from heat. Let it sit until the cheese has melted, then serve over rice.

Like I said, this is really easy and it uses a lot of ingredients that most people probably have in their kitchen anyway. As written, this made enough for two fairly large bowls. It could easily be doubled (or tripled!) if you need to serve more people, though. 

Tasty Tuesday: Crockpot BBQ Chicken Chili Mac

I love crockpot meals. They're ridiculously simple and require minimal effort (always a plus in my book!), and they're particularly awesome during the hot summer months since a crockpot will never heat up your kitchen the way an oven will. So when I stumbled across an intriguing crockpot recipe on Pinterest, I knew I had to give it a try!

This recipe is really interesting because it combines barbeque and Tex-Mex flavors. The result is a delicious, flavorful dish that's basically a kicked up special edition version of classic comfort food.















































I don't think this picture does this meal justice. It may not be the prettiest dinner I've ever made, but it tastes amazing. I already have plans to make it again this week!

Crockpot BBQ Chicken Chili Mac

Adapted ever so slightly from a recipe on The Recipe Rebel.


Ingredient List:

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (I used very large pieces of chicken, so I'd suggest using at least 3 if your chicken breasts are kind of small.)
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1/2 medium red onion, diced
• 1 15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 14.5 oz. cans diced tomatoes (I drained most of the juice, but left about 1/3 of the juice from one of the cans to be poured into the crockpot with the tomatoes.)
• 2 4 oz. cans diced green chilies
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 cup BBQ sauce
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 3 cloves garlic (or, if you're lazy like me, the equivalent of jarred, pre-minced garlic)
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 2 tsp black pepper
• 1 box dry macaroni
• Shredded cheese for serving (I used a cheddar Jack blend.)

Instructions:

1.  Spray the inside of the crockpot with cooking spray.

2.  Add the chicken, red bell pepper, red onion, black beans, tomatoes, green chilies, chicken broth, BBQ sauce, ketchup, garlic, sea salt, and black pepper to the crockpot. 

3.  Cook on high for 3-4 hours or low for 6-8 hours.

4.  When approximately 30 minutes of cook time remain, remove the chicken and place it on a plate or cutting board. Shred the chicken with 2 forks, then return it to the crockpot. Stir a few times to combine.

5.  Add the dry macaroni to the crockpot, turn the heat to high (if it's not on high already), and stir several times to ensure that the pasta is coated with the sauce. Check the pasta after about 15-20 minutes to make sure it has completely cooked through. (Side note: The original recipe suggests allowing the pasta to cook for 25-30 minutes, but my pasta ended up a little mushy. This still tasted amazing, but I wish I would have checked my pasta at around 15 or 20 minutes. This may have been due to the fact that I was cooking my meal on high from the start, but, based on my experience, I'd suggest checking your pasta after about 15-20 minutes. You can always cook it longer if you need to!)

6.  Once the pasta is cooked, dip the chili mac into bowls or plates and top with shredded cheese.

Like I said, my pasta was a little overcooked and mushy, but I think it was because I didn't check it soon enough (and maybe because I was cooking on high from the beginning). I still thought this was worthy of sharing on my blog, though, because the flavors were fantastic! I just need to be more aware of my pasta cook time the next time I make this.

I served this meal with a simple green salad. It's such a filling, protein packed meal that you really don't need a lot on the side.

Tasty Tuesday: BBQ Turkey Meatballs

I almost feel ridiculous sharing this recipe today because it's just so easy.  I found the original recipe on Pinterest when I was searching for things to do with some ground turkey we had on hand.  I love meatballs, so when I saw this, I knew I had to make it.

I didn't change the original recipe that much.  To be honest, there really wasn't much that needed to be tweaked.  Meatballs don't require a ton of ingredients to be delicious (though that's not to say I don't appreciate unique flavors in a meatball!).  It's a great, simple dish that could easily be served as an appetizer or as a main dish.  (I served it for dinner over rice with a side of mixed vegetables.)

With just a few simple ingredients, these turkey meatballs come together quickly and taste amazing!

BBQ Turkey Meatballs

Adapted ever so slightly from a recipe on Sugar Dish Me.

I added even more BBQ sauce after adding the meatballs to some rice.  Delicious!

Ingredient List:

• 1-1 1/2 lbs ground turkey
• 1/2 cup white onion, diced into fairly small pieces
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs, divided
• 1 1/2 tsp garlic salt
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 3/4 cup BBQ sauce, divided
• 2 tbsp olive oil

This is the BBQ sauce I used in this recipe.  It was smoky with a hint of sweetness and a bit of a kick.

Instructions:

1.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

2.  In a large bowl, add all ingredients (using only half of the Panko breadcrumbs at this point) except the olive oil and BBQ sauce.  Mix everything together using your hands.

3.  Slowly add in 3-4 tbsp of BBQ sauce, combining with the meat mixture using your hands.  Because the BBQ sauce will make the mixture pretty moist, you'll want to add in the remaining Panko breadcrumbs at this point, mixing everything together thoroughly.

4.  Heat the olive oil in a large skillet.

5.  Shape the turkey mixture into meatballs, dropping them in the skillet in batches.  (I'm going to be really honest here ... None of my meatballs were uniform in shape and size.  I kind of suck at that.  My recommendation is to simply decide how many meatballs you'll need and how large you'd like them to be, and eyeball it from there.  I ended up with 17 meatballs, many of which were pretty large.  The original recipe stated it makes about 36 meatballs.  Obviously that's a huge difference!)

6.  After adding the meatballs to the skillet, roll them around a bit to brown them on all sides.  Once each batch of meatballs is browned, remove to a baking sheet (I lined mine with aluminum foil sprayed with cooking spray for easier cleanup) and repeat until all meatballs are browned.

7.  Spoon the remaining BBQ sauce over the meatballs and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until they are cooked through.  (I cooked mine for 18 minutes.)

As I said earlier, we served these meatballs as a main dish over rice with extra BBQ sauce and a side of mixed vegetables.