ONE PAN QUINOA WITH GROUND TURKEY, KALE, MUSHROOMS, TOMATOES

One Pan Quinoa with Ground Turkey, Kale, Mushroom and Tomatoes – a great clean-out the fridge meal!

Yesterday you read about the food blogging retreat I hosted – Sharing by the Shore. Well, what I didn’t include was what happened Thursday when I arrived to set up the retreat.

I had just dropped off a huge load of groceries and swag at the house we rented and I had more or less been driving ALL DAY LONG. It had taken me about 5 hours to arrive in Suttons Bay after leaving my house fairly early that morning. I got back in the car to drive the 35 minutes to the airport to pick up Krista and I get an email from Cherry Republic.  The email says that Traverse City will start shutting down roads for the 6:00 parade at 4:00. I look at the clock – 4:02. I chatted with the chef at Cherry Republic and he said I could get to their store to pick up some swag if I took an alley – but, FYI, it was a one way alley. He gave me directions….but I’m not so great with those. I had already gone past the store on my way to the airport so I had to backtrack quite a bit.

Roads were already being blocked. I drove around for an HOUR trying to get to Cherry Republic (don’t worry – Erin jumped in and took over Krista’s airport pick-up!). I finally found that dang alley! Hooray. Except, I was at the wrong end of the one-way alley. At that point, I was OVER IT and I had a 6:00 wine tasting/dinner to make, which at this point I desperately needed. So, I headed back out of Traverse City. This also took me nearly an hour. Every road I turned down was blocked or full of traffic attempting to do the same thing I was trying to do – get outta town!

I finally reached a road I was familiar with, the main highway going through Traverse City. Except I was on a small side street running parallel to it. But I knew eventually I would be able to get on that road I needed to. I finally had a stretch of clear road! I finally knew where I was going! I was finally FREE. And then. Red lights. Blue lights. Sirens.

“Do you know why I pulled you over?”

NO I DO NOT

“Do you know what the speed limit is here?”

NO I DO NOT

“There’s a playground right there – we get a lot of complaints about speeding here.”

*cue tears*

I was so so so SO over driving, being stuck and lost, and getting NOTHING accomplished. And then THIS.

Mr. Police Officer (PS: shouldn’t you be directing parade traffic?): “Keep your head up…..enjoy the rest of your weekend.” Oh and by the way, here’s your ticket.

I’m sorry for all the crying, Mr. Police Officer. You gave me my first ticket ever and made me feel like a bad human being because THERE WAS A PLAYGROUND. So now I’m missing my kids, feeling bad about all the other kids in the world, and I have a speeding ticket. And my make-up is all jacked up.

Still, fantastic weekend. And immediately after getting the speeding ticket, I got to go hug some beautiful friends and then taste some wine with them. Not a bad way to recover if you ask me.

Anyways, 600 words later. If you’re still here, let’s talk about this one pan quinoa with ground turkey! It’s the bomb on evenings where you’ve just HAD ENOUGH of the day and want to make something quick, easy and nutritious for dinner.

This meal falls into the category of “I didn’t know what I was making for dinner until 10 minutes after I started cooking it.”

It might not have ended up as the most beautiful thing in the world, but it certainly was tasty! And healthy.

As you know, I frequently make and freeze quinoa which makes this meal even easier (and legitimately one pan, if you already have the quinoa prepped). I went with some Italian flavors for this one pan quinoa – mushrooms, tomatoes, and then a good dose of fresh herbs. I went for the ones that weren’t dead in my garden – basil, parsley and oregano. Between the beautiful fresh herbs, a little slosh of wine, and some grated parmesan on top, this sauté has really great flavor.  It might remind you of spaghetti (or it might not), but it’s super fresh, flavorful and healthy. And easy to make. WIN.

ONE PAN QUINOA WITH GROUND TURKEY, KALE, MUSHROOMS, TOMATOES

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 20 ounces ground turkey breast
• one small yellow onion, sliced into thin half moons 
• 16 ounces of mushrooms, cut into slices
• 4 tightly packed cups baby kale leaves
• 2 cups chopped tomatoes (I used 10 Campari tomatoes cut into quarters)
• 3/4 cup dry white wine
• 3 cups cooked quinoa
  
• 2 tablespoons fresh herbs, minced (I recommend a mixture of basil, oregano and parsley)
• parmesan to garnish

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large high-sided skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add turkey and onions and season with salt and pepper. Break up the turkey and cook until turkey is cooked through and brown.
2. Remove turkey and onions to a bowl and add mushrooms to pan. (You can do this in batches as well if need be to get them nice and brown.)
3. Sauté mushrooms until golden brown and cooked. Add tomatoes and kale and cook until kale is wilted.
4. Increase heat to medium high and turkey and onion mixture back in. Add wine.
5. Bring to a boil and cook until wine is reduced by about half.
6. Reduce heat to medium-low and stir in quinoa and herbs. Continue to cook until warmed through, serve with freshly grated parmesan cheese.

Verdict: Loved this one pan quinoa with ground turkey! Usually with clean-out-the-fridge meals, I don’t bother writing the recipe down. But I had a good feeling about this one. I love the fresh flavors but also how filling it is thanks to the ground turkey and quinoa.

Husband’s take: He loved this too! He was pleasantly surprised by how filling it was.

Changes I would make: None are necessary. But if you have other things to use up in the fridge, feel free to make some changes. Red bell peppers would be tasty. If you have spinach instead of kale – do that!

Difficulty: Easy – especially if you’ve done some meal prep and prepared quinoa in advance. If you don’t have quinoa – try farro or barley or even rice! Pasta would be great too!

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