Double Decker Taco Supreme

Fast food.

What are your thoughts?

I think fast food has its pluses and minuses. Obviously the speed and availability are the top two reasons to eat fast food. On the other hand, it is the caloric overload and altogether lack of nutrition that says maybe you should avoid fast food on a normal basis. When you are traveling and in need something quick and easy, almost everyone will stop to get fast food. Honestly, I don't eat a lot of fast food mostly because I enjoy cooking so much. And if I'm going to pick dinner up on my way home, I usually fall back on Panera or Jimmy Johns (are those considered fast food? I don't know). I'm not going to tell you I never eat fast food; that would be a lie. I enjoy a french fry or a spicy chicken sandwich or a roast beef sammy every now and again. But the fast food restaurant that I love the most is good ole T-bell.

To celebrate our one month of dating anniversary, Scott took me to Taco Bell. Although it may seem a little funny to you, it was a sweet gesture because I hadn't been to Taco Bell since I moved to NC about 9 months previous. We also both picked up Taco Bell and skyped while watching a Duke basketball game to celebrate our 5 year anniversary since we live halfway across the country from each other. It has become one of "our" restaurants. Ha ha. This ecard is so appropriate for us:

Anyway, I love the Taco Bell double decker taco supreme. I have loved it ever since I was a little girl when joined the menu temporarily. At some point it became a permanent menu item which means I almost always purchase one when I go there. Last week when I made the refried beans, I figured what better way to use them then to recreate my beloved DDTS at home. So delicious. I cannot even describe it. You'll have to make it to understand.

I even splurged on Taco Bell mild sauce to push it completely over the top. I was quite surprised I didn't have any little packets floating around my apartment... To tell you the truth, if I had closed my eyes I would have sworn I had just pulled out of the drive-through. Note: do not make them to far in advance because similar to T-Bell DDTS, the hard taco will get soft if it sits for too long. Eat immediately after assembly for the perfect crunch and soft combo.

Double Decker Taco Supreme (inspired by Taco Bell, obviously)
Ingredients (per taco, although how you could eat only one, I'm not sure):
1 hard taco shell
1 fajita sized tortilla, cut to about the size of the hard taco shell
2-3 tbsp refried beans, homemade or canned, warmed
taco meat*
shredded or torn lettuce
shredded cheddar cheese
diced tomato
sour cream
Taco bell sauce

Directions:
Microwave the tortilla for 30 seconds on high to soften. Microwave the hard taco shell on high for 45 seconds. Place the tortilla on a plate and spread the refried beans in an even circle. Top with the hard taco shell and press the tortilla to stick. Fill with taco meat, lettuce, cheese, tomato, sour cream and sauce. Serve immediately!

*Make your favorite taco meat with either ground beef or ground turkey. This is what I do-- for 1/2 lb meat (which will be about 6 tacos), brown over medium high heat. Drain off fat. Add 1/2 cup water, 1 rounded tbsp taco seasoning and 1 tbsp cornstarch. Cook until thickened.

Turkey Enchiladas

I apologize for all the turkey recipes.

I'm actually done with all the leftover turkey in my house, but I have this ONE LAST recipe to share with you regarding what to do with your extras from Thanksgiving. Of course, you may already be done with your turkey and that is ALL GOOD. You can definitely sub in some CHICKEN for ANY of these recipes. So please bear with me for this last post and next week we'll be on to different things like COOKIES, SOUPS and other delights.

Why am I typing in ALL CAPS for SO MANY words today? Who knows? You just do the things that feel RIGHT. Am I right?

Let's talk about these enchiladas. I got it in my mind that I was going to make turkey enchiladas even before I left for Thanksgiving weekend. I saw this recipe and feel in LOVE. Just think, a spicy sweet cranberry tomato sauce smothered over deliciously filled tortillas. Yum! However, we didn't have any leftover cranberry sauce because we DEMOLISHED it in a blink of the eye. I debated purchasing a can or just making some more, but I decided instead to adapt my go-to red sauce enchiladas to incorporate the leftover turkey. Sooo YUMMY. Totally works with CHICKEN too. ;)

Turkey Enchiladas (adapted from Annie's Eats)
Ingredients:
1 tsp canola oil
1 medium onion, diced
1 jalapeno, diced (include however many seeds you want for your spice threshold)
2 garlic cloves, diced
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tbsp granulated sugar
15 oz can tomato sauce
1 cup turkey stock (or vegetable broth)
1 cup grape tomatoes, quartered
1 1/2 cups chopped cooked turkey
2 cups shredded cheddar jack cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley, plus more for garnish
10 8 inch corn tortillas

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 F.

Heat the oil over medium heat in a large skillet. Add the onion and jalapeno and cook until they have softened, about 8 minutes. Add the garlic, chili powder, cumin and sugar and mix to coat the onion and pepper with the seasonings. Whisk in the tomato sauce, turkey stock and grape tomatoes. Bring to a simmer, lower the heat and cook until thickened slightly, about 5 minutes. Add the shredded turkey and mix to coat. Cook for about 5 minutes more.

Place a thin mesh strainer over a large bowl and pour the liquid into the strainer to remove all of the solids. Combine the turkey and vegetable mixture with 1/4 cup sauce, 1 cup of cheese and the chopped parsley. Mix well.

Spray a large baking pan with cooking spray.

Microwave the corn tortillas wrapped in a damp paper towel for about 1 minute so they are pliable. Add about 1/3 cup of the turkey mixture to the middle of each tortilla, roll up tightly and place in the baking pan. Pour the remaining sauce over the enchiladas. and sprinkle with the rest of the cheese.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 5 minutes until the cheese is bubbly.

Let cool slightly before serving. Garnish with sour cream and additionally chopped parsley.

Turkey and Noodles

How to work-out when you are a chemistry postdoc (or graduate student):

Of course, you can go running outside, swim laps in a pool, or lift weights at the gym, but I want to share with you a number of fool-proof ways to stay "fit" while you're working in a lab.**

1. Make sure you join a lab that is NOT on the ground floor (the science they do is not that important-- the key is the location, location, location). It is particularly good if you can find a lab space that is on the 4th or 5th floor or down in the basement. Then make sure you walk up and down the stairs at least twice a day; especially when you are carrying your computer to and from work.

2. Utilize those same stairs if you need to run an instrument on another floor. For example, if you have 13C NMR time for a few hours and go back down and check it every hour or so. Your butt will thank you.

3. Find TWO full 4 liter bottles of solvent; place them in the nice rubber carrying cases. Perform bicep curls with them. Start with hexanes and move your way up to chloroform.

4. When you are stuck collecting fractions from a column (whether it be flash or HPLC or FPLC), do lunges and squats in front of your hood or instrument.

5. Fill up your ice bucket with 5 pounds of dry ice everyday. While you are walking back to lab, straighten your arms and lift up and down. Or over your head. Work all your different arm muscles.

6. Make sure when you are picking a parking lot for your car permit that it is at LEAST two to three blocks away from your building. You will have to walk back and forth everyday (once again carrying that computer).

7. Invest in lots of textbooks and the like. Stack them all up and carry them around when you walk about campus. Not only will you look smart, you'll be burning more calories.


Okay, now use up an extra turkey you still have in your fridge and make this turkey and noodle recipe. My mom always makes it after Thanksgiving, you should too!

Turkey and Noodles (Recipe from my Mom's kitchen)
Ingredients:
2 cups chopped or shredded roasted turkey
1 can cream of chicken soup
3 cups turkey stock (or chicken broth)
2 tbsp onion, diced (or 1 tsp dried minced onion)
6 oz Kluski egg noodles
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Directions:
Whisk together the soup, stock and onion in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat. Add the noodles, lower the heat, and cook for 5-6 minutes until they start to soften. Stir in the turkey. Continue to cook for 10-15 minutes until the noodles are cooked completely through. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 3.

**Disclaimer: I am not a registered trainer or even that fit, for that manner. Please perform all "work-outs" at your own discretion and with the utmost regard for safety in your own lab. ;)

Turkey Stock

Question--- what's the difference between stock and broth?

I did some googling (side bar: can you believe that google is in the dictionary as both a noun and a verb? Google wasn't even started until the late 1990s and now we use the word so often; it is crazy.) and found a few answers. First, I think in order for something to be a "stock", it needs to have been made with bones. But then how can there be vegetable stock? I dunno. Broth, on the other hand, is typically made with more meat pieces, salt and other seasonings that make it something you could eat directly from the pot. Most places that you look, however, say that chefs tend to use the words interchangeably, especially when they are homemade. Since I don't add any salt to either stock or broth, I wouldn't suggest eating them directly from the pot without seasoning. But regardless of what you call them, I would definitely encourage you to make them at home. My parents and I made this turkey stock on Thanksgiving because why throw away the carcass without getting a little something extra from it? Play around with the vegetables and seasoning and use what you have in your fridge (or even scraps from your freezer would work). Alternatively, just sub bones and skin from a chicken to make chicken stock.

Turkey Stock (adapted from Vegetable Broth)
Ingredients:
1/2 to full carcass of roasted turkey, plus skin
1 medium onion, cut into quarters
2-3 celery stalks, cut into large chunks
8-10 baby carrots
1 bay leaf
large handful of fresh parsley
4-5 fresh sage leaves
2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme
2-3 peppercorns
Cold water

Directions:
After you have carved your turkey and picked off most of the meat (you don't need to pick it clean, some meat will help to flavor it), break down the bones and add them plus any skin and fat to a large pot. Add all of the vegetables and seasonings. Cover with cold water. Turn on the stove and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 3-8 hours.

Pour the liquid through a small mesh strainer and remove all of the solids. Let cool to room temperature (or you could cover it and put it outside if it is colder out there); you don't want to put it directly into your fridge because the heat will warm up the inside of your fridge and it may not be at the correct temperature for everything else you have in there. Once it has cooled to room temperature, place it in the fridge overnight. In the morning, skim off the fat using a spoon or fat skimmer (you can leave some fat if you would like, if you remove it all, you have fat free broth!). Portion into 1 cup and 2 tbsp (ice cube tray) aliquots and freeze.

Thaw and use in place of chicken stock or broth for whatever recipes you desire!

Remember when you use this that you will want to taste your dish and salt generously. Unlike the stock/broth that you buy in the store, this is salt free!

Turkey Cubano

Can I get a "holla" for the Blue Express on Duke's campus?

For those of you who cannot understand the words coming out of my mouth (or should I say the words I have typed on your screen), you are missing out. Well, kinda. Campus food can be hit or miss, right? Connected to the building where I spent many of my waking hours during grad school hidden in a basement lab was the Blue Express, one the campus's dining establishments. Every day of the week (and every week was the same) they had a sandwich special. My first year I liked the Wednesday schwarma. Then I learned to enjoy the Thursday gyro or the Tuesday portabello on pita. But the sandwich that defined the end of my graduate career was definitely the Friday cubano. Grilled to perfection and seasoned with dill pickles, mustard and mayo, the ham and pork sammy was the goodness of Friday lunch. I was typically (and still am) a "bring your lunch to work" gal, but when I didn't have a lunch for Friday this was certainly the go-to.

Anywho... this recipe is the Blue Express cubano re-purposed in IL and with ingredients I found in my fridge last week... I used left over turkey from Thanksgiving in place of the pork, went for shredded swiss, and a wheat baguette from my freezer.

Really it's the combo of the mustard and pickle that just makes the sandwich for me.

No, Julie, you should not eat a dill pickle dunked in mustard; that would be bad.

Turkey Cubano
Ingredients:
2-3 slices leftover roasted turkey
2 slices deli ham
1 thinly sliced pickle
1 tsp deli mustard
1 oz swiss cheese (shredded or sliced)
6 inch baguette (I used my homemade wheat baguette), sliced in half

Directions:
Preheat oven, or toaster oven, to 400 F.

Spread the mustard on one side of the baguette. Top with the pickle, turkey, ham and cheese. Wrap with aluminum foil. Bake for 15 minutes, until the cheese is melted.

Heat a large skillet (or panini press) to hot. Unwrap the sandwich and add to the hot pan. Press down with another large pan (or the top of the press) and cook for 2-3 minutes. Cut in half before serving.