hot honey za'atar turkey sausage + 3 recipes to use it in

episode #5 of meal prep for food snobs!

Hi! Welcome to “good mood food” from Kale Me Maybe’s Carina Wolff. If you’ve made it here and aren’t yet a subscriber, come join! You can expect recipes, musings, and faves in your inbox every week! Paid subscribers get even more on Saturdays — right now I’m doing a 30-minute budget meal series! Learn more about the paid tier of my newsletter here. You can also try a week for free!

CATCH UP!

Remember that song “All Day Long I Dream About Sex” from NSYNC member JC Chasez? (If you don’t, look it up, it’s a hilarious throwback.) I keep singing that song in my head but replacing “sex” with “food” because all day—and quite honestly, all night)—I’m thinking about food. Between my newsletter, Instagram videos, and cookbook recipes, my brain is just running through food combinations, constantly. So much so that I sometimes have a hard time falling back asleep at night because my mind is racing thinking about tomorrow’s meals. I probably need to work on that part.

I finished Yesteryear, and I wasn't as disappointed by it as some people online, probably because I have followed the author on TikTok for awhile now and know where she’s coming from. However, I do feel like it fell a little short for me. I enjoyed the read, but my main critique was that I wish it had been a little more subtle in its messaging. As the reader, I felt a little too spoon-fed when it came to the author’s take on feminism, religion etc. That might just be a personal preference when it comes to the literature I like, but I do think all this discourse is proof that the author has provoked a lot of thought, which means she has accomplished something!

Over the weekend, Grant, Sagan, Willow, and I took a walk in Griffith Park and got some pastries and tea at the Trails Cafe, and I was obsessed! I had low expectations for a kitschy little coffee shop at an extremely busy urban park, but both their drinks and food (which is all made in-house), were incredible! We got an iced almond palmer with lavender syrup, a cheddar and chive biscuit with butter, and a strawberry rhubarb crisp. I can’t wait to return in the cooler months—it’s such a vibe, and I can just imagine how nice it would be on a foggy fall morning!

THINGS I’M LOVING

My brother got me these sourdough chocolate chip cookies for Mother’s Day, and I have been absolutely devouring them. It’s always nice to find packaged foods with good, simple ingredients, especially when they also happen to taste amazing. One day, I will learn to make my own, but until then, I’ll be snacking on these bad boys.

I love a dainty, breezy white cotton top for summer, and this one from Madewell is a new favorite! I love the lace detailing, and it’s just the right amount of loose without being too billowy. Someone on Instagram asked me about sizing, and I would say it’s true to size (I got a medium). In addition to the white, there’s also a beautiful baby blue color.

I am on a cherry kick right now, and it’s so much easier to cook and bake with them when you have a cherry pitter! This one is from Oxo, and it’s an absolute must if you want to enjoy an abundance of fresh cherries this season. I’ve been adding them to buckwheat porridge and cereal in the morning, and I just finished recipe testing a delicious cherry crumble for my cookbook!

RECIPE!

We are so back, baby! Meal Prep for Food Snobs has made its return, and this is one of my favorite ones so far.

I’ll admit, as someone who doesn’t typically include ground turkey in many of my recipes, I started this one off a little skeptical, but by the end, I was stoked!

The base of this week’s recipe is a hot honey za’atar ground turkey “sausage” that gets used in 3 recipes: a mediterranean bowl (classic me), a zucchini pasta (I think this one was my favorite, and a potato and kale frittata.

I’m calling this a “sausage” because I imagined it as an alternative to a loose pork sausage, something seasoned like a breakfast sausage or Italian sausage.

I polled you all on Instagram regarding the type of meat to use here, and the majority liked that it was ground turkey. However, you can always use ground chicken in its place or even pork, if that’s more of your thing.

Ground turkey tends to dry out really easily, but the beauty of these recipes is that they’re mixed with a lot of other ingredients, so you don’t have to worry as much about the initial texture. However, here are my tips to avoid ground turkey that’s too dry:

• Use the highest percentage fat you can find, and add some fat into the recipe when cooking (I used butter in my recipe below)

• Avoid cooking the meat past 165°F. As soon as the meat is no longer pink, you should be good! Break open a piece, and if it’s uniformly light brown, you can stop cooking

• Avoid crowding the pan, so you can brown properly (I skipped this because I was lazy and wanted to do everything in one pan, and it wasn’t a huge deal)

As far as cooking order goes, it’s not super strict here, but I would start with making the mediterranean bowl first, since the ground turkey will be fresh, and you won’t have to deal with reheating. After that, the order doesn’t matter, since the turkey gets warmed up in the pot with the pasta or baked into the frittata. The nice thing about the frittata, too, is that it makes multiple servings, so you can have breakfast ready for you more than once. You can microwave to reheat or reheat at 400°F in the oven, about 10 minutes.

As a reminder, this serving size is for 2 people! So feel free to cut in half if you’re making food just for yourself or double if you’re feeding a family of 4.

And finally, some background on za’atar, one of my favorite seasonings to use! Za’atar is a Middle Eastern spice blend commonly used in places like Lebanon, Syria, and Palestine. There is some variation in what goes into the blend depending on the region, but it typically consists of thyme or oregano, with toasted sesame, salt, and sumac. Za’atar (an Arabic word) is also an actual herb in the thyme family, but many blends don’t actually contain the za’atar plant.

I like to buy my za’atar from Z and Z. They’re a family-owned business that makes the most delicious za’atar!

Hot Honey Za’atar Turkey Sausage

For best results, you can cook the turkey in 2 batches to help it brown more properly and prevent drying out the turkey. However, if you choose not to do this and do it all in one pan, it’ll still be okay! The sausage gets mixed in to lots of other ingredients, so even if it gets a little dried out, the other recipes should compensate.

• 2 tablespoons avocado oil

• 2 lbs ground turkey (93% lean, 7% fat)

• 2 tablespoons butter

• 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon hot honey

• 2 tablespoons za’atar

• 2 teaspoons onion powder

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika

• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

• A few pinches of black pepper

1. In a large skillet on medium-high heat, add the avocado oil. Once it’s hot, add the turkey, and break into large chunks. Cook undisturbed for 5 minutes.

2. Start breaking the turkey into smaller chunks, and then mix in the butter, hot honey, and the seasonings. Continue to break the turkey up, and cook for another 5-6 minutes until turkey is no longer pink and is light brown all the way through. Once turkey reads 165°F, it’s good to go!

Once this is cooked, you’ll use 1/3 of the cooked turkey for the Mediterranean bowl, 1/3 for the pasta, and 1/3 for the frittata

Mediterranean Bowl (serves 2)

• 1 cup cooked quinoa

• 2 cups arugula

• 1/3 of your cooked turkey sausage portion

• 1 roma tomato, diced

• 1 Persian cucumber

• 1/4 cup sliced red onion

• 1/3 cup crumbled feta

• 1/2 cup sliced jarred red peppers

• 2 heaping spoonfuls of labneh or Greek yogurt

• Juice of 1 1/2 lemons

• 1 tsp Dijon mustard

• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

• 2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1/4 teaspoon hot honey

• Salt & pepper

• 1/2 cup red pepper

• Optional toppings: fresh dill, pickled red onions

1. Divide the quinoa, arugula, and turkey sausage into two bowls.

2. In a medium bowl, combine tomatoes, cucumber, red onion, and feta.

3. Add the Greek salad mixture to the bowls along with the red pepper slices and labneh.

4. In a small bowl or jar, whisk together lemon juice, Dijon mustard, red wine vinegar, olive oil, hot honey, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Pour the dressing over the bowls, and garnish with fresh dill and pickled onions, if desired.

Zucchini Pasta (serves 2)

• 1-2 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 shallot, finely diced

• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

• 1 1/2 zucchini, thinly sliced

• 1/3 of your cooked turkey sausage portion

• 8 ounces pasta

• 3 cups vegetable broth

• Juice of 1 lemon

• 1 cup grated parmesan, plus more to top

• 1/4 cup sliced basil, plus more for garnish

1. In a large skillet on medium heat, coat the bottom of the pan in 1-2 tablespoons olive oil (make sure it’s coating the entirety of the pan). Add the zucchini, trying to get as much as you can in a single layer. Season with salt, and cook for about 10 minutes until zucchini is golden brown and starting to crisp around the edges, stirring every few minutes to help with even cooking.

2. Remove the zucchini from the skillet and transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate to help remove some of the excess oil. Set aside.

3. In the same skillet on medium-low heat, add a little more olive oil to the pan, if needed. Add the shallots and garlic, season with salt and pepper, and cook for a few minutes until shallots have began to soften.

4. Mix in the turkey sausage, pasta, and vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook for 10-15 minutes until pasta is tender but just al-dente. Every pasta shape is different, so start checking around 10 minutes. You may need longer than 15 minutes depending on your pasta size.

5. Turn the heat to low, and mix in your cooked zucchini, Parmesan, basil, and lemon juice. Stir together until everything is smooth and creamy, and then serve warm, topped with more basil and Parmesan, if desired.

Potato & Goat Cheese Frittata with Kale & Sausage (serves 4)

• 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided

• 2 cups roughly chopped kale

• 4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

• 1 cup thinly sliced small gold potatoes

• 1/2 yellow onion, sliced

• 10 eggs

• 4 ounces goat cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large, oven-safe skillet, heat up about 1/2 tablespoon olive oil on medium-low heat. Add the kale and garlic, cover, and cook for 2-3 minutes until kale has wilted. Remove from the pan, and set aside.

2. In the same pan on medium heat, heat up the remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil, and then add the potatoes and onions. Cover, and cook for about 7-9 minutes until potatoes and onions are soft, stirring frequently to prevent burning.

3. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat together the eggs until scrambled, and season with a good pinch of salt and pepper.

4. Add the kale to the pan with your potatoes and onions, and then with the pan still on medium heat, pour over the eggs. Cook for 2-3 minutes until edges of the eggs have begun to set.

5. Sprinkle the goat cheese on top of the eggs, and transfer to the oven. Bake until eggs are fully set and cooked through, about 10 minutes.

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