STIR FRIED

A little twist on your typical stir fry situation! I could eat ground turkey pretty much every day if I had to. It's light, a good source of protein, takes on basically any flavor you throw at it, AND it's extremely hard to mess up! Count me in.

I've made meals similar to this in the past but this one kind of came out of nowhere as the result of grocery shopping while hungry - not recommended! Anyway, it's a super easy weeknight meal and the leftovers are almost better the next day. If you're really in a time crunch, Safeway sells packages of fresh, pre-cut veggie combinations and they do have a mushroom/onion/asparagus version! You can find them in the produce section.

Serves: 4-6

What You Need:

1 lb. lean ground turkey
1 pouch Uncle Ben's Whole Grain Brown Rice (serves 2)
8 oz. white button mushrooms, sliced
1 package asparagus spears, cut in to small pieces
House of Tsang Szechuan Spicy Stir Fry Sauce to taste
1/2 white onion, sliced
1 tbsp. minced garlic
1/2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp. cayenne pepper
black pepper and salt to taste

What You Do:

Start by sweating some garlic and a little bit of diced onion in a large pan with the olive oil over medium heat. When hot, add in the raw ground turkey and start breaking it up in to pieces with a spatula or wooden spoon. Let the meat cook, stirring frequently, until brown. Now add in all of your spices! It's hard for me to cook without powdered onion or garlic, so I usually add a little bit of both at this stage as well. Not necessary - but I LOVE garlic so, sue me! Once your turkey mixture is well seasoned and cooked through, transfer it to a large bowl and set aside. (PS: This basic recipe is my go to base for pretty much all of my ground turkey meals! So versatile and the flavor is great. Just add a little cumin and chili powder and you've got the perfect amount of heat for taco night.)

In the same pan, toss in the sliced white onion, mushrooms, and asparagus (after cutting the spears in to 2 inch pieces). Heat thoroughly and stir frequently. You may add another splash of olive oil to help soften and cook your veggies if the pan is dry. After a minute or so, pour in a generous amount of the stir fry sauce. This stuff has awesome flavor - but beware it can get spicy! Add a little at a time, enough to coat the vegies, but make sure to taste as you go. Stir the veggies in the sauce for a couple minutes until they are hot, soft, and fully coated. Transfer the ground turkey mixture back in to the pan and stir to combine.

I used packaged rice to save time but you can go the fresh route if you'd like! These little pouches are super convenient because they make enough for 2 people and only take 90 seconds in the microwave. Lazy cooks everywhere, rejoice! Fill a bowl with some rice, spoon your stir fry mixture over the top and enjoy! You can add a little sriracha for extra heat, too. Can you tell I like spicy food?!