One of my favorite childhood memories, and this may be totally dating me lol, was coming home after school to watch The Young and the Restless with my mom. I'm pretty sure I developed my first ever boy crushes on Joshua Morrow aka Nick Newman, and of course Shemar Moore, aka Malcolm Winters. If you've never watched this show, then for the love of day-time television, do yourself a favor and watch it. Endless hours of entertainment, relationship drama and scandal. Oh and did I mention shirtless Shemar and Josh? Not together, because they weren't gay, but you get what I mean right?!
I bring this up because very recently I discovered a new soap that has totally hooked me: Dynasty. It's a reboot from the 80s TV show, with equal parts beautiful cast members and crazy-rich-people with first-world-problems drama. I love it. I've been binge watching until I catch up to where the season is currently at, and it's been like a revival from my childhood days of watching Y&R. Shameless entertainment.
The story revolves around the mega-rich Carrington family, with Blake the dad heading the fam, Fallon the daughter trying to carve a name for herself from under daddy's wing, and the gay brother Steven who left the family energy business to try to save the planet. Or something like that. The drama begins as Blake announces his relationship and subsequent engagement to Cristal, an employee, who also gets promoted to COO, the same position Fallon was vying for. Needless to say Fallon likes her as much as anyone likes gum stuck to their shoe. But of course, wicked step-mom Cristal has many skeletons in her closet that start to come out. Like her secret tryste with married man Matthew, who also works for Blake, who also happens to have a mentally ill wife who he's planning on leaving for Cristal. That it, until he dies in a suspicious explosion. And this is just episode 1 and 2!
What I also love beyond the drama is the showcasing of lifestyles of the rich and famous. I can't even begin to imagine that level of wealth, where you have an endless closet of designer clothes, a mansion with so much space you tell people you are in the west wing of the house, full time staff and chauffeurs, and a private jet to you know, jet around in. Not that I need these things in my life to be happy, but it would be fun to experience for a day, amiright?
Ok I'll spare you the details of the rest of the six episodes I've already seen and just tell you this: it gets juicy! And if you watch it, let me know so we can gossip about it, k?
And now onto the yumminess!
This recipe was born out of a desire to come up with a dish that could be both an add-on to a delicious big salad, or to stand alone as a little midday snack to tie you over until dinner. They are seriously the perfect little balance of healthy carbs, lean protein, and healthy fat-burning fats from coconut These little bites also are fab pre-wokout snacks - I tried them about an hour before exercise and they delivered the perfect fuel for my workout!
You start by adding the ground turkey, onions, garlic powder, egg, salt and pepper to a large bowl.
Next, you add in your shredded sweet potatoes, coconut flour, cranberries, and fresh parsley.
Then the fun part: mixing it all up using your hands!
You then create little 2" discs, and fry them up a few minutes per side before you place them in the oven to bake.
And les voilà {working on my French oui ;) } - your little bites are ready to be the main event or the supporting role to your main dish. AND they're paleo-ish (minus the cranberries) and gluten-free! Give them a try, and let me know what you think.
Turkey, Sweet Potato & Cranberry Bites
Prep Time: 15min | Cook Time: 10min (pan) + 20min (oven) | Total Time: 35-40min | Makes: ~20-21 bites or 7-10 servings
Ingredients:
450 grams (~1 pound) ground turkey
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 small onion, chopped
1 large sweet potato (~3 packed cups), shredded
2/3 cup coconut flour
1/2 cup dried cranberries
3 Tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
1 Tablespoon coconut oil, divided
Instructions:
Pre-heat oven to 200C / 400F.
In a large bowl, add ground turkey, egg, sea salt, black pepper, and onion. Add in sweet potato, coconut flour, dried cranberries and fresh parsley. Using your hands, mix everything well until all ingredients are co-mingled (yes, until they all co-mingle ;).
Create 2" discs and set aside until you're ready to fry up. When all discs are made, place 1 teaspoon coconut oil over medium heat in a large frying pan. Fry for 2 minutes per side, until slightly browned. Once done, place onto a large baking sheet. Continue to fry up the bites in batches with a teaspoon of coconut oil until all are fried and ready to be baked.
Lastly, place bites in the oven to bake for 18-20 minutes, or until nicely golden-brown. Serve up 2-3 bites with a large salad and you'll be rockin' a balanced, nutrient-dense meal!
