Ground Turkey Skillet

I have a LOT of ground turkey in my freezer because it was on clearance sale at the local big-box Kroger. I got it for about half price. Here is one recipe I found to use up that ground turkey. It comes from a website named Primavera Kitchen. As you can see from the recipe picture above, it has green beans in it. As always, the recipe picture is a 4x6 JPG you can download and print on 4x6 photo paper for your recipe file.

For equipment, you will need:

1. A covered skillet. I am using my Henckels 12" stainless steel bought from Amazon.
2. A scale that measures in grams.
3. Various bowls to hold the measured food.
4. Measuring spoons. I like mine because they are thin enough to get into spice jars. I also got these from Amazon.
5. A stirring implement. I use a wooden spoon bought at the local big-box Kroger. I usually get these when there is a BOGO sale going on.
6. A paper towel. I get mine from Dollar Tree, although I have not yet done the costing to see if it is, indeed, less expensive than the grocery store.
7. Because someone will troll me if I don't include it, you will also need a heat source, such as a stove top.

For ingredients, you will need:

1. 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil.
2. 1 pound of ground turkey.
3. 1 teaspoon of minced garlic (usually 1 clove)
4. 65 grams of diced onion*
5. 55 grams of diced yellow pepper*
6. 170 grams of frozen cut green beans
7. An 8-oz. can of tomato sauce
8. Your choice of seasonings

If you are using a stainless steel skillet, prepare the pan per these instructions. For other pans, skip to the next step.

Add the olive oil to the skillet, and heat it over medium-high heat.

Dab you meat with the paper towel to remove moisture. This will decrease the amount of spatter generated once it hits the oil. Put your turkey into the heated oil, and use the stirring implement to break it up.

If you would like to remove some of the fat and grease from the dish, now is the time to do it. The method I use is to wad up a paper towel and dip it into the grease. This absorbs the grease without making a mess. Just be careful that the grease doesn't wick up all the way to your fingers. If you do get burned, pour some lavender essential oil on the burn. This soothes and promotes healing of the skin.

Once the turkey is fully cooked through (no longer pink), add the onion and garlic. Sauté this until the onion become "golden brown." I like my onion a little crispy, so I didn't cook as long as the recipe said.

Stir in the yellow pepper, green beans, and tomato sauce.

Put the cover on the skillet, and cook until the vegetables are at the desired doneness. I prefer mine a little crunchy, but feel free to get them as soft as you like.

Once the veggies are done, season the dish to your tastes. Salt, black pepper, and crushed red pepper are recommended by the recipe. However, you can add whatever you like. Just don't add any dried leaf herbs, as they have not had the time to soften. On this go, I am adding ¼ teaspoon of ground chipotle pepper.

Taste-wise, I like the freshness of the vegetables, and the chipotle pepper gave it a nice depth. I will have to admit, though, it was a bit too spicy for my Wisconsin palette (bratwurst and sauerkraut).

Prep-wise, this was super-easy to make, and it could be even easier by using all frozen vegetables and/or minced garlic in a jar.

This was definitely worth making, particularly since I got the meat half off. Watch for sales, and this could be a worthy recipe to have in the box. I am definitely going to make it again but with different spices. I'll update this Instructables if I come up with a really good spice combination.

Using fresh onion and/or pepper? You will more than likely have a lot left over. If you aren't going to use them soon, freeze them! Onions and peppers need no prep to freeze. So, just dice up the entire thing, measure what you need for the recipe, put the remaining dices in a freezer-save container (like these Kroger double-zipper freezer bags), and place the bags in the freezer. It helps if you spread the dices out to be as flat as possible. This allows them to freeze better.