The Wages Of Sin . . . .

Eventually, the piper must be paid.

I had a physical yesterday, and even though I did my best to block out reality -- closing my eyes, sticking my fingers in my ears, and singing "The Old Gray Mare She Ain't What She Used To Be" when I stepped up on the scale -- I still know that my holiday merry-making has caught up with me.

It's Foodie Friday, and for the people who live in That Old House, it's a real meal!

Visit Michael at Designs by Gollum for some wonderful recipes and food ideas;
continue reading if you want to see one of our tried-and-true healthy eating recipes.

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Hello 2010.

Time to say Goodbye to Paula-Deen-style cooking, and Hello to Jean-Niditch-style cooking. (Now if you are old enough to know who Jean Niditch was, you are old indeed.)

Time to make Turkey Stew.

Years ago, B.C. (Before Children), when Howard and I lived in New York City in a third floor walk-up railroad flat, this was one of our go-to dishes for those times when all those stairs and city walking weren't enough to stave off some pudge.

It was cheap, also important in those days. And, it didn't seem like diet food. We also discovered that in every week that included Turkey Stew in at least one of its dinner menus, we lost weight.

So, as my Brooklyn-born Mom used to say, "What's not to like?"

Here's the recipe, as I make it for just the two of us -- nothing fancy, nothing special, but I think it pretty much will fit in with anyone's New Year's resolutions. There will probably be leftovers, and they are good heated up for lunch the next day.

The ingredients are changeable and you can put in what and how much you want when it comes to the vegetables; consider the recipe more of a suggestion than a strict blueprint!

Turkey Stew

I start by chopping up some onions (always) and zucchini (usually), and smashing some fresh garlic, and getting them all hot and bothered in a nice big pan, snuggling up with a drizzle of olive oil. I add herbs, too -- a bit of dried rosemary or thyme, a good palmful of dried parsley, and some salt and pepper. Be generous with the seasonings.

Next, a package of ground turkey, or ground chicken:

Put it in a micro-safe dish, attack it with a knife and fork and separate it into little pieces,

cover and microwave it for about 6 minutes, till it looks like this:

I used the picture with all the hot steam obscuring the details of the microwaved ground turkey;
microwaved turkey is not the most attractive stuff you've ever seen, kinda pale.

Take some green beans and sacrifice them to the cause. Since I'm reproducing our cheapie young-married version of this dish, I'm using canned green beans ... the no salt added kind.

You can use frozen or fresh, but we always include green beans;
they take the place of the pasta or rice that otherwise might go into a dish like this.

Stir 'em up with the other veggies, get 'em all hot and bothered too.

Then, in goes a few tablespoons of tomato paste, right smack in the middle of the pan.
Cook that tomato paste, stirring it into the oil and seasonings in the bottom of the pan.
Cooking tomato paste before stirring it into a dish with liquid gives it more flavor.

Then add in the cooked ground turkey, and let that mixture cozy up for a few minutes, covered.

Next, open up a big ol' can of whole tomatoes -- whatever your favorite brand is. I'm partial to Redpack.
I was going to let the whole tomatoes cook in their round intact plumpness,
but Howard took the wooden spoon and smashed them into chunks, the big brute.
(He doesn't like whole tomatoes squirting out at him from his dinner plate.)

Anyway, you add the whole tomatoes, or crushed tomatoes if you prefer,

and cover the pan and let that whole mess get all hot and bothered for about 10 minutes.

We are waiting... and humming ... and waiting ... and voila!

Turkey stew!

Dish it up.

And that's it.

I add a dash of extra salt to mine, and we both sprinkle on a bit of grated Romano
or Parmesan cheese to add a bit of zing and fool us into thinking it's Italian food.

Personally, I like to add in some chicken stock while it's cooking and make it
more soup-y, but Howard likes it this way so that's the way I make it most of the time.

No fancy tablesetting; this is a real meal, and we're taking our big bowls into the study to watch some television while we have dinner. I know that's not the best way to eat, but my husband works a wicked long day, and if he wanted to eat dinner on the stairs, or on the roof, I'd be okay with that!

Well, maybe not the roof.

You can add bread on the side; we don't. I've got to go back to the doctor in 3 months. . . .

And a moment of reality: I had lovely big fresh sliced mushrooms all ready to put into the Turkey Stew, and forgot them. Duh. Next time. -- Cass