turkey, two ways

My friend Madaline introduced me to the most delicious thing, Picadillo. It's ground beef, black beans, peas sauteed in mojo sauce and yellow rice. You're supposed to make a humongous pan of it and eat it for days afterward, and it gets more and more delicious with every passing day. I was thinking about picadillo tonight on my way home from class. But, for the very first time in my entire life, I am sort of... counting calories. So I decided to make a healthier version of this dish. Truth be told, I've been wanting to do this since the nutrition episode of The Biggest Loser, about a month or so ago. But I literally have not cooked anything that would constitute "health food" since then so...

I started with ground turkey. I put aside enough to make one patty, for another dish, which I'll tell you about shortly, and threw the rest into a lightly sprayed pan. No butter, no oil. Also, I decided to forgo the mojo sauce. First of all, I haven't seen any since I moved to Massachusetts. Secondly, I thought I could season it in a more health-conscious way. So I used lemon juice, chopped cilantro, garlic, a little chili powder, and pepper (no salt!). I didn't have any onion, otherwise I would have thrown a little of that in. But it still turned out awesome.

accidental effects

I decided to save my picadillo for lunch the following day. For dinner, I mixed a little of my chopped garlic, cilantro, pepper and balsalmic vinegar into a small turkey patty. I sprayed my pan again and cooked the patty until medium. When it looked almost finished, I sprinkled a little cheddar cheese on top. I served it sans bun (just like Bob Harper likes it) on a bed of arugula and tomato slice, with a little dab of whole grain mustard and a side of red wine (for the heart).

I'm really happy with the way my turkey dinner (and lunch) turned out, and even happier that I saved myself like, 700 calories by skipping the butter, oil, salt, beef, bun, rice, etc. Here are some more healthy substitutions for you. Are there any missing from this list that you use?

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