1lb extra lean ground turkey
1 clove garlic (finely chopped)
1/3 c. onion (finely chopped)
1 tsp. dill
1 egg
1/2 c. crackers
1/8 c. lemon juice
Combine all the ingredients (don't be afraid to use your hands!) until everything is nice and mixed up. Preheat your frying pan with some olive oil and fry 1" balls for about 5 minutes each side or until meat is cooked.
Makes about 10 balls.
Nutritional Information
(per 1 meatball)
70 calories
3.1 g fat
3.3 g carbs
**TIPS**
Too many balls? Mix the meat up and freeze in baggies raw, pressing the meat flat. This makes it quicker and easier to defrost and you can just whip them up with rice or buttered egg noodle.
Monday, March 29
Sunday, March 28
Storing the Fresh Stuff (part 1)
The tricky thing about eating for one is trying to eat fresh. Nine times out of ten whatever I buy fresh ends up getting squishy or growing additional appendages before I have a chance to eat it. My friend constantly reminds me of the weirdness of buying one onion as opposed to an entire bag or maintaining a single potatoe in my stock For me, the important thing about eating solo is to make sure I don't waste precious dollars on food that is going to go to mush before consumed. Thusly, I felt it crucial to include some tips on storing fresh food to extend its longevity so that we can enjoy our lettuce and mushrooms instead of donating said foods to compost.
Lettuce
The general consensus on lettuce storage is thus: wash it and store it in a sealed bag wrapped in damp paper towel. According to Recipetips.com, lettuce should last about 10-12 days stored as such. But 10-12 days to use an entire head of lettuce? For one person? I like to buy a head and donate half to my mother because I love her and she is an all around great person. She deserves a lettuce shout out. Nobody who deserves such kindness? Weigh your options...look at the prices of a head of lettuce versus the bagged kind. Bagged lettuce tends to have a smaller quality, so decide if you want to pay a bit more and reduce waste or a bit less and compost your garden.
Strawberries
Mmmmm, I love strawberries. What I don't love is giving them the toss when I don't get around to eating them all (I have this terrible habit of trying to ration yummy foods, but in the end it is all for naught when the fuzzies start a-growin'). The general consensus is to store loosely covered in your refrigerator and they will last about 2 to 3 days.
Mushrooms
Again, another bought by the singles food for me. A little tray of mushrooms will get dark and squishy before I use them. So to save money and heartache, I buy about 3 or 4 in bulk. By all means if you are a large consumer of a certain type of fruit or vegetable, buy packaged. Anywho, if you buy in bluk (or bulk), leave 'em in the paper bag. They should last about 5 days. If you buy them packaged, put them in a paper bag.
Onions
Now, depending on the onion you can opt for refrigerator storage or cool/dark/dry area storage. Regular cooking onions are best kept in a cool/dark/dry area with lots of air flow. Keep em in a mesh bag and they should last you about a month. Sweet onions can be stored in the fridge and will stick around for a couple of weeks.
Bananas
Once ripened, bananas will last a couple of days. You can stick them in the fridge and they will stay fresh, but the peel will darken.
Kiwis
According to my sources (which will be posted below) a refrigerated kiwi can last either 6-8 days or a couple of weeks. It's been in my experience that kiwis will last a couple of weeks stored in the crisper drawer.
Sweet Potatoe
Cool/dark/dry/ventilated area for 1 week.
Oranges
About a month stored loosely in the fridge or in a perforated bag.
So I'm a bit of a cheater when it comes to food storage. A couple of years ago I purchased some really nifty containers from Tupperware designed with a ventilation system that keeps foods beautifully for quite some type. I impressively maintained a group of asparagus for about a month. Each container has two vents on the end and a list on the side that tells you whether or not to open both, one or none. Very cool. So there are options when it comes to purchasing containers and such for storage and I would definitely recommend exploring them.
For a more exhaustive list of foods and storage methods (because, really, I just listed what I bought in my grocery order today) visit these two websites:
Recipetips.com
Canadian Produce Marketing Association
Lettuce
The general consensus on lettuce storage is thus: wash it and store it in a sealed bag wrapped in damp paper towel. According to Recipetips.com, lettuce should last about 10-12 days stored as such. But 10-12 days to use an entire head of lettuce? For one person? I like to buy a head and donate half to my mother because I love her and she is an all around great person. She deserves a lettuce shout out. Nobody who deserves such kindness? Weigh your options...look at the prices of a head of lettuce versus the bagged kind. Bagged lettuce tends to have a smaller quality, so decide if you want to pay a bit more and reduce waste or a bit less and compost your garden.
Strawberries
Mmmmm, I love strawberries. What I don't love is giving them the toss when I don't get around to eating them all (I have this terrible habit of trying to ration yummy foods, but in the end it is all for naught when the fuzzies start a-growin'). The general consensus is to store loosely covered in your refrigerator and they will last about 2 to 3 days.
Mushrooms
Again, another bought by the singles food for me. A little tray of mushrooms will get dark and squishy before I use them. So to save money and heartache, I buy about 3 or 4 in bulk. By all means if you are a large consumer of a certain type of fruit or vegetable, buy packaged. Anywho, if you buy in bluk (or bulk), leave 'em in the paper bag. They should last about 5 days. If you buy them packaged, put them in a paper bag.
Onions
Now, depending on the onion you can opt for refrigerator storage or cool/dark/dry area storage. Regular cooking onions are best kept in a cool/dark/dry area with lots of air flow. Keep em in a mesh bag and they should last you about a month. Sweet onions can be stored in the fridge and will stick around for a couple of weeks.
Bananas
Once ripened, bananas will last a couple of days. You can stick them in the fridge and they will stay fresh, but the peel will darken.
Kiwis
According to my sources (which will be posted below) a refrigerated kiwi can last either 6-8 days or a couple of weeks. It's been in my experience that kiwis will last a couple of weeks stored in the crisper drawer.
Sweet Potatoe
Cool/dark/dry/ventilated area for 1 week.
Oranges
About a month stored loosely in the fridge or in a perforated bag.
So I'm a bit of a cheater when it comes to food storage. A couple of years ago I purchased some really nifty containers from Tupperware designed with a ventilation system that keeps foods beautifully for quite some type. I impressively maintained a group of asparagus for about a month. Each container has two vents on the end and a list on the side that tells you whether or not to open both, one or none. Very cool. So there are options when it comes to purchasing containers and such for storage and I would definitely recommend exploring them.
For a more exhaustive list of foods and storage methods (because, really, I just listed what I bought in my grocery order today) visit these two websites:
Recipetips.com
Canadian Produce Marketing Association
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