Meat, meet Pasta

It's easy, it hearty, it's healthy, and it reheats well....who could ask for anything more?!

Ingredients:
- 1 package of ground turkey (I was trying to keep it lean, ground chicken or beef works just fine too)
- 1 large can of diced tomatoes
- 1 small can of tomato sauce
- 3 red jalapenos (I like things spicy so I use 3. Also, I find red jalapenos to be a tad sweeter than the green ones, and I think they blend in with the color of the tomato to keep the dish pretty.)
- 1 package of whole wheat macaroni/elbow pasta
- hot sauce (depends on how spicy you like it, I use Tapatio.)
- Seasoning (to taste): salt, pepper, garlic salt, chili powder, chili flakes, cayenne pepper

Directions:
- In a medium sized sauce pot, bring water to a boil to cook the pasta in.
- In a large skillet over medium/high heat, drizzle a little bit of olive oil and add in ground turkey. Break it apart and move it around until it is mostly browned.
- Add seasoning to taste.
- Add jalapenos diced and cook down a little bit with the meat.
- Once meat is completely browned, add in entire can of diced tomato including juice and the small can of tomato sauce and hot sauce. Add more seasoning (tomatoes need a lot).
- Stir meat and sauce and cook uncovered on high to let some of the liquid evaporate. (Tip: you could put the heat a little lower and cook the meat in the tomato a little longer)
- Use a slotted spoon or a spider spoon thing to scoop out pasta and add right into meat sauce. Cook on medium/low for a few minutes until pasta has absorbed a lot of the extra liquid in the sauce.

 

Ch-Ch-Ch-Cholent!!!

Cholent is a traditional Jewish dish that people would prepare for the Sabbath (or Shabbat). Shabbat starts every Friday night and lasts until sundown Saturday, and during this time, Jewish people are not supposed to cook. So, people would prepare cholent in a pot on Friday, let it cook overnight, and then eat hot delicious food all day Saturday. I have had a lot of different cholents (everyone makes it differently), but this is how I make mine:

Ingredients:
-3 to 4 Russet potatoes (peeled and cut into thick chunks approximately 1.5 inches thick)
-1 frozen Kishke (Kishke is traditionally meat product wrapped in intestines, but nowadays, they sell both meat and vegetarian or "Parve" options at Kosher markets. It is in the frozen section and they are covered in wax paper that must be removed before putting into the crock-pot.)

-1 to 2 diced green bell peppers
-1 diced large onion
-1 can of diced tomatoes
-1 cup of pearl barley (approximately 1 cup)
-3 to 4 whole cloves of garlic
-water (enough to cover ingredients)
-Seasonings: Bouillon powder (I typically use non-meat chicken soup bouillon), salt, pepper, garlic powder, paprika (Add a lot of seasoning since everything will get watered down.)

Ingredients you may want to add:
-1 can of pinto beans
-eggs (whole, uncooked eggs will hard-boil overnight)

Ingredients you should definitely add if you like spicy:
-diced fresh jalapenos
-dried Thai chili peppers
-chili powder
-chopped chipotles (I added a few once and it came out pretty tasty)

Directions:
-In a large crock-pot, put barley, tomatoes, bell pepper, onion, and garlic. (Optional: add jalapenos, Thai chili peppers, and pinto beans)

-Peel off the Kishke's wax coating and push it down into the center of the ingredients.

 

-Place potato pieces all the way around the Kishke.

-Add seasoning to taste (Be sure to add A LOT of paprika)

-Fill crock-pot with water until the Kishke and potatoes are covered. (Optional: If you want eggs, place the eggs on top of the potatoes. Be sure they are submerged in water. When you are ready to eat the cholent, take out the eggs and peel them.)

-Cook on low for approximately 24 hours.
-Stir mixture at some point in between and add water if necessary.

As I said, everyone makes cholent differently. Once you have one recipe under your belt, feel free to come up with your own concoction. You may want to add meat such as chicken thighs (on the bone) or minute steak (it falls apart and is super tasty). A lot of people use a mixture of dried beans instead of canned pinto beans (there is a mixture that is actually labeled "Cholent Mix" at the regular market). Some people put in the bagged rice things in the morning (rice does not need to cook overnight, putting it in in the morning is fine). Really, you can put anything you want in cholent.

Cholent is a great dish to make at the beginning of the week because you have a hot meal waiting for you when you get home, and if you separate it out into tupperware, it reheats really well as lunch for the rest of the week. You may also freeze it and microwave it later on whenever you're in the mood for cholent.