an easy, healthy leftover recipe with turkey picadillo
Have you heard Paula Deen's son that has a tv show called "Not My Mama's Meals," that pretty much banks of Paula Deen's diabetes and rethinks her butter filled recipes into healthier more modern dishes? No? It doesn't really matter, we've never seen the show either, but we're totally onboard with the idea: take flavors that you love and are familiar with, flavors you don't want to part with totally but know better than to eat everyday and rework them into recipes that are healthier and just as flavorful. Because no one wants diabetes.
Turkey picadillo is probably the most successful recipe we've had thus far in this endeavor. Now, we're not claiming to have invented this, in fact, since I started spreading the good word of turkey picadillo tons of people have told me they too eat it. With brown rice. With whole grain pasta. With whatever because it's totally addictive and crazy versatile and takes about half an hour to make - and most of that is spend letting it simmer on low heat.
Ground turkey is leaner, an easy way to avoid red meat, has half the saturated fat of ground beef and frankly, is just as tasty. Now, we aren't claiming this is like, the Weigh Watchers recipe, or the ultimate weight loss trick, it includes ketchup, which is a preserved sugary food and if you're using this to shed pounds, not just switch to a healthier lifestyle, I guess you can double the tomato sauce or just brown the turkey and use it in the lettuce wrap plain, but this is how we make it.
Here's a recipe for turkey picadillo lettuce wraps. We'll be posting more turkey picadillo recipes in the next few weeks, because one of the best parts about this meal is that it stretches for a few more. One standard package from the grocery store will last for at least 5 meals.
Turkey Picadillo
1 package of ground turkey
1 can of diced tomatoes
1 chopped yellow onion
2 chopped peppers (we used green)
olive oil (about a teaspoon)
1/4 cup ketchup
tomato paste
1 chopped cloves of garlic
sea salt and pepper
sazon completa
Heat olive oil over medium heat and soften the chopped onion and peppers until soft, about five minutes, we like to leave them with a bit of crunch because they're still going to simmer in the pot for a while. Add the turkey and brown, just as you would with ground beef. Add garlic, salt and pepper and sazon completa. Seasoning is a pretty personal decision, so let's not get into that, but I think a teaspoon of sazon completa, a big pinch of sea salt and a big pinch of pepper will do.
Add can of tomato, and about a quarter cup of ketchup - go ahead and add more ketchup depending on how what consistency you like your picadillo, for this recipe it works better on the drier side so the lettuce wraps stay together and don't cause a drippy (but delicious) mess.
Turn down the heat to low and let it simmer for a while, at least 20 minutes.
Lettuce Wraps
1 package of hydroponic butter lettuce
1 package of bean sprouts
chopped cilantro
chopped scallions
hoisin sauce
Sriracha
Set out the ingredients and assemble to your liking. If you want a stronger Asian flavor, you can mix the hoisin and Sriracha in while you cook the picadillo, but if you're going to be using the picadillo for a couple other recipes later, put in on top like we did.
