Turkey – Page 2 – Fervent Foodie

The (not so) Common Market

August 9, 2011 9 Comments

During my blissful day of unplanned meandering, I wandered over to The Common Market in South End for lunch:

How adorable is that little sandwich guy? The Common Market is one of those places you’d probably just drive by if you hadn’t heard through the twitter grapevine that they had delicious sandwiches. It looks, at least from the outside, like a standard convenience store, and it wasn’t until I walked along the side of the building that I realized they have this great secluded courtyard to sit in and enjoy your lunch!

Once inside the Market you can spot newbies <aka ME> who are unsure where to go to order… where to pay… and frankly what the heck is going on inside this quirky store. There’s STUFF everywhere in the store. Not just stuff to fill space, but stuff that is interesting and unique and fun to look at and drool over.

If your heart is set on getting a sandwich (as it should be), you can head straight to the back of the store where the deli counter is located. You order your grub there and then pay at the register at the front of the store.

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While waiting for my sandwich, I snooped around the store a bit and noted that you can even dine-in at one of the handful of tables perched right in the middle of the store.

You can crab a bottle of wine (or five) from their extensive wine selection to enjoy with your grub. Or if beer is your thing, they’ve got quite the selection of high-end bottled beers as well.

The sandwiches don’t come with chips or drinks or any sides, but that is A-O-Kay because the market is chock full of yummies. The shelves are packed with snacks and chips and TONS of homemade baked goods:

I somehow exercised superb self control and did not snag any of the baked goodies. Though they had these brownie logs that looked to die for, and that I’ve been dreaming about since!

The Market also has a random hodgepodge of fun gadgets and gizmos and cards and signs for sale and some random gluten-free products on the shelves. I’ll have to bring my friend Tracy here when she comes to visit!

$6.25 for a sandwich ain’t bad in Charlotte. Especially when it comes with a compliment stamp:

I went with the Turkey Capri sandwich, which had sundried tomato spread, a slathering of goat cheese, a big handful of baby spinach, and red onion between two hearty slices of 9 grain bread:

The sandwich was FABULOUS. I think i could eat one of these every day and not get tired of them. Though they also had a pepperjack turkey panini on the menu that looked quite tasty…

The the funkyness of the market carried out to the courtyard area which was full of random odds and ends, crazy signs, and patrons enjoying the nice weather and even nicer food.

The South End location does wine tastings on Wednesday nights and beer tastings on Thursday nights. They also have live music on the patio on the weekends.

Sadly, my sandwich came to an end. Too soon. But isn’t that always the case with a tasty lunch?

Ohhh! Lest we not forget the scratch off giveaway winner!

Yay Nicole! Email your mailing address to: ferventfoodie@gmail.com.

Recipes

Ahmygawd Breakfast Sandwich

January 31, 2011 12 Comments

Yesterday morning, I was the picture of perfection and actually woke up at the time I had intended and did NOT sleep through my alarm for a solid hour. Let’s hope I can keep this up all week!

I rolled out of bed, and headed straight to the gym for a 30 minute round-and-round on the ~~hamster wheel~~… elliptical. Then, straight from the gym (in all my sweaty glory) to the grocery store to buy all my foods for the week. Silly me forgot to pack a Luna bar or nourishment of any variety for my grocery conquest.

Bad news bears.

Needless to say, I was FAMISHED by the time I got home, and I was unfortunately facing a dilemma. Issue #1: I wanted eggs. Hot and dippy with ooey gooey smooth-as-butter yolk. Issue #2: I was also craving sausage…. as in Mary’s special eggs. I wanted yolk, but I wanted sausage. And I’m not talking sausage on the side. I’m talking sausage all up in my yolk.

It was at this precise moment that I concocted my PERFECT breakfast sandwich. The best of both of my worlds.

The Ahmygawd Breakfast Sandwich.

First, I sautéed half of a Honeysuckle Hot Turkey Sausage link (casing removed) in a pan:

Hello sausage! Ima eat you.

THEN I cracked an egg right on top of this mound of sausage:

The egg white dribbled down around the sausage and formed a glue to hold the whole shebang together. Once the underside was cooked, I flipped her over:

Whattttttt????? Insane.

And once that side was cooked (though not TOO cooked –we’re going for oozy yolk here) I slid the egg/sausage combo onto a toasted whole wheat English muffin:

World = Rocked.

Ah.my.gawd.

Stats on the life changer: 255 calories, 24g carbs, 10g fat, 20g protein, 3g fiber

What you’ll need:

1 link turkey or chicken sausage, casing removed
1 egg
1 English muffin
5 minutes to eat your face off

Ramblings

First Impressions

December 13, 2010 13 Comments

First impressions are EVERYTHING. How often have you heard that expression in life? Work? Relationships? First impressions. They either make ya or break ya.

When I first got the Betty Crocker 300 calorie cookbook, I was beyond excited.

I was SO excited, that I spent my lunch break thumbing through the pages and flagging all the recipes that sounded delicious.

(Overzealous, much?)

Could it be true? 300 calories of home cooked goodness? Sounded like it was right up my alley!

Shortly after, I tried out my first recipe in the book: Chicken and Spinach Skillet. I picked the recipe because it used two of my favorite ingredients (chicken and spinach, obviously) and it was an extremely simple recipe. How can you go wrong with that?

It seemed as though the stars were aligning. Hundreds and hundreds of healthified recipes at my fingertips. All hinging on this first recipe. This first recipe that was, well, a big fat flop. It was blah. So blah, in fact, that I threw the leftovers away… and that is simply UNHEARD of in the Fervent Foodie household.

And so the book sat. Poor little Betty Crocker and her 300 calorie recipes sandwiched between a bright green cover with fun yellow letters… dozens of pages flagged with anticipation…

Months passed. FINALLY, this week I pulled the cookbook down from the bookshelf and my heart churned over the little yellow flags peeking out of the book. And I decided to give it another go. I decided to give Better Crocker a second chance.

This time around, I went with the Chicken Enchilada Pie:

Annnnnddddd it was….. meh.

Better than the Turkey Spinach Skillet, but not good enough to even bother posting the recipe on the blog. I mean, I’m not throwing away the leftovers or anything, but let’s just say the tour de Chicken Enchilada Pie won’t be coming round my house again.

Hmmmm… well…. crap.

So, do I give Betty a THIRD shot, or what?

Pondery.

Recipes

Turkey Time

December 8, 2010 6 Comments

I swear every time I make meatballs I forget to write down what I threw into them. Ohhhh, the elusive turkey meatball recipe… changes every time. Yet, always tastes delicious.

I bring you spaghetti squash with turkey meatballs and garlic mushroom marinara:

Easier than it looks, I promise!

(Check out this post for some tips on cooking up your spaghetti squash)

While my spaghetti squash was doing its thang in the oven, I got to work on the meatballs. Here’s what went into them:

Your guess is as good as mine. Winking smile

Alriiiiiiiiight, here’s approximately what went into the meatballs:

10 ounces 99% fat free ground turkey breast
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 egg
2 tbsp bread crumbs
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp marjoram
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp dried oregano

This mix gave me 10 2-bite meatballs:

I sprinkled each meatball with a little olive oil (about 1 tbsp for all 10 meatballs). I cooked these in a 400 degree for 15 minutes, flipped them over and cooked for another 10.

Meanwhile, I sautéed 2 cloves minced garlic and a couple handfuls of sliced baby bella mushrooms in a sauce pan:

Then added 1.5 cups of Prego sauce to the pan along with some garlic powder, red pepper flakes, black pepper, and dried oregano. I popped a lid on the pan and let it simmer away on low heat until the meatballs and spaghetti squash were done cooking:

I promise you–this dish will totally satisfy your pasta cravings. Look how tasty:

As an added bonus, I was able to get 3 servings out of this batch. Hello tomorrow’s lunch and the day after tomorrow’s dinner!

Stats on 2 cups Spaghetti Squash with 3 Turkey Meatballs and 1/2 cup sauce: 320 calories, 37g carbs, 10g fat, 27g protein, 7g fiber. Molto bene!

Since the ground turkey comes in a 20 ounce package, I decided to use the remaining 10 ounces to make up some of my beloved Turkey Meat Muffins Open-mouthed smile

Only thing I did different this time was to omit the oil. I didn’t notice much of a difference, so I think I’ll stick with the oil-free version in the future.

I LOVE these guys for several reasons.

They are pre-portioned and super cute.
They satisfy my belly in a healthful way.
Leftover meatloaf sandwiches rock my socks off.
Saying “meat muffin” brings an unavoidable smile to my face 😀

Nom.

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