Yes, that’s a photo of the boy eating them.  Ok, no, not really.  He didn’t even succeed in spearing any of it with the fork, I don’t think.  After trying a bite with his fingers, he ended up asking for a banana instead.  But Nathan and I enjoyed the turkey joes.  Seriously the best sloppy joes I’ve ever had, and full of veggies.

Courtesy of a high school classmate of mine, based on a recipe from Jessica Seinfeld’s Deceptively Delicious Cookbook, I give you:

Turkey Joes

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup finely chopped red onion
1/2 cup finely chopped celery
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb. lean ground turkey
1/2 cup pureed sweet potato (I cheated and used baby food.  No one here noticed.)
1/2 cup pureed red bell pepper
2 carrots, finely chopped
1/2 cup beef broth
1/4 cup tomato paste (or most of one of the 6 oz. cans)
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
8 whole wheat hamburger buns

Directions:
1. Warm a skillet over medium-high heat. When the skillet is hot, add the olive oil. Add the onion, celery and garlic, and sautee until the onion starts to soften (not brown), about 5 minutes.
2. Add the turkey, breaking it up with a spoon, and cook until no longer pink, also about 5 minutes.
3. Add the vegetable purees, chopped carrot, beef broth, tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, chili powder, salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until the sauce thickens, about 20 minutes.
4. Spoon the sauce over buns and serve.  If you’re so inclined, carrot and celery sticks would go really well on the side.  Yum.

I’m proud that we’re going to have an intelligent, forward-looking man in the White House, and I can’t remember the last time I felt so patriotic.  The first president my children will remember will be a black man–that’s amazing, given that just a couple of generations ago many parts of this country were still segregated.  I know I’m just one of many who see Obama’s election as a very tangible sign that hope, change, and acceptance are real, are still alive in the hearts and minds of most Americans.  What a delicious, heady brew that is.

And now the work begins: http://change.gov/

Ben and I have been otherwise home-bound this week, since we both have colds (yet again), and since I’m supposed to be resting to make sure I cook Thing #2 until full the term mark.  My ob hasn’t made the impossible ‘bed rest’ pronouncement yet, but I am supposed to be “cultivating a leisurely lifestyle”, which involves “avoiding lifting, avoiding unnecessary errands, and avoiding coughing too hard.”

I did not consider Voting to be an unnecessary errand.

http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2008/10/13/081013taco_talk_editors

Less than a month until the election–I can’t wait until it’s over. All the hate that has recently surfaced at GOP campaign rallies depresses and frightens me.