Turkey Tetrazzini

This time of year it seems like people are trying to find other ways to use their leftover turkey, so why not make a nice comfortable casserole!  No leftovers??  Just cook up a couple of chicken breasts and you can put this together in under an hour!  It's a hit at my house - hope you all enjoy it too!!

Creamy Turkey/Chicken Tetrazzini

12 oz.  Wide Egg noodles, cooked
1/3 cup flour
1 1/2 cups milk
5 Tbl butter
2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 cup cheddar cheese, grated - divided
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
2 cups turkey or chicken, shredded

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Melt butter; blend in flour.
Whisk broth and milk into flour mixture, cook until mixture thickens.  Add salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, mushrooms, noodles, turkey and 1/2 cup of cheddar cheese.  Place in 9x13 casserole dish.  Sprinkle with remaining cheddar and Parmesan cheese.  Bake for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbling.

**Modified from Christa H. Kendall

Harvest Chicken Salad

It's Fall, but don't put your salad spinner away just yet!  I pulled together this amazing salad the other day and just had to share!!

Harvest Chicken Salad
2 cups Rotisserie Chicken
1 Head Romaine Lettuce, chopped
1 bunch Kale, chopped
1/2 Red Onion, thinly sliced
1 Apple (I used Fuji), sliced into bite-size pieces
1/3 cup Craisins
Pumpkin seeds, to taste
1/2-3/4 cup Feta Cheese, crumbled
Croutons*
Creamy Apple Cider Vinaigrette**

Mix everything but dressing together and toss.  Add dressing to individual salads based on taste.

Creamy Apple Cider Vinaigrette
1/3 c. apple cider vinegar
1/3 c. Dijon mustard
1/3 c. honey
1/3 c. mayonnaise
1/2 tsp. salt
Dash of pepper
Blend all ingredients in blender.  Refrigerate for an hour prior to serving.

Lastly, I like to make my own croutons.  I take whatever bread I have and cube it.  Then toss with olive oil and favorite seasoning (it varies).  Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Store in an air-tight container for about 7-10 days.

Sausage Broccoli Pasta

I think we all love those throw together quick recipes!!  This is one of them!  It's not a rocket-science, thought provoking thing...  It's a what do I have on hand kind-of meal.

1 lb. pasta, (I prefer penne or rigatoni for this recipe.)
1-2 pkgs. smoked beef sausage (the already cooked kind), sliced
16 oz, approx. broccoli florets, fresh or frozen
1 bell pepper (preferably red or orange), chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
Seasoning
Parmesan cheese, shredded

Cook pasta, steam broccoli and cook sausage in frying pan.  Combine all ingredients (except cheese)in bowl and season.  I use the Parmesan Garlic seasoning from Pampered Chef, but you could use lemon-pepper, Italian Seasoning, Herb Seasoning, etc.  I use a generous amount about 1-2 tablespoons. Top with Parmesan cheese.

The great thing about this dish is it can be served warm, room temperature or even cold.
Be creative!  Add other vegetables or use kielbasa sausage, turkey sausage, ground sausage or diced chicken if you want to shake it up!  Try any kind of vinaigrette dressing??  The possibilities are endless!
Enjoy!

Navajo Tacos

Where do I start?  Who doesn't love Navajo Tacos??  You start out with a lovely fried scone, top it with chili or taco meat and then douse it in all kinds of smothered goodness!

I decided to try a new scone recipe.  Don't let this intimidate you!  If you don't want to make your own scones, just use frozen roll dough.  Obviously it will need to thaw, but it works great!

 

Old Fashioned Utah Scones

1 Tbsp. dry active yeast

3/4 cup luke-warm water

1/4 cup sugar

1 beaten egg

1/4 cup shortening

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1-1/2 tsp. salt

vegetable oil/shortening for frying

 Combine water, yeast and sugar in a bowl.  Stir gently, and let sit 10 minutes.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour and salt.  Cut in the shortening.  Mix it together with a fork or pastry mixer.

Add the beaten egg to the yeast mixture.  Add the flour mixture.  Mix thoroughly.  Dough should be very smooth and pliable and only slightly sticky. Cover and let rest 1 hour.

Fill a large pan with 1-1/2 to 2 inches of oil and heat to 350 degrees. Punch down the dough and divide into 10 balls.  Use your fingers to stretch the balls of dough into 1/4 inch thick squares (depending on how thick you like your scones...we like 'em thick).  Place the dough in the oil and fry until golden brown on each side.  Add more oil if needed.

Place fried scones on a paper towel to soak up excess oil.  Serve HOT with butter, honey, cinnamon or powdered sugar, or use for Navajo tacos.

Recipe from Pennies & Pancakes

**NOTE:  I made my scones larger, so it only made 6, but it's all about preference.

The topping for this particular taco is ground turkey seasoned with salt, onion powder, cumin and taco seasoning.  After I browned the turkey and drained it I then added 1 can Rotel and 1 small can of tomato sauce.  I was going to add a can of kidney beans, but didn't have any.  Remember, you could use chili or your favorite taco meat recipe too!

Skillet Lasagna & Sloppy Joe

I have to tell you... I wasn't sure about the skillet lasagna.  You see, I really like good old layered lasagna.  I was concerned with it all in the skillet it would be more like ziti or something...I'm really not sure.  I really liked it!  I used this recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe:  http://www.melskitchencafe.com/2009/07/simple-and-meaty-skillet-lasagna.html

Now, as usual, I can't just follow the recipe, so here's my list of modifications:
Instead of using all canned tomatoes, I used 1-14.5 oz petite dices tomates and 1-32 ounce can of spaghetti sauce, plus water (about 1 cup or so) and no tomato sauce.
I forgot to buy parmesan cheese, so I just added extra mozzarella, but would've used parm if I had it.
Instead of a mix of beef & pork, I used sweet italian chicken sausage.
And I was too lazy to even break up noodles so I used rotini pasta.
It looked really "pretty" when I was done with it, but again, I forgot to take a picture.  I'll get the hang of this eventually.  Adrianna makes fun of me the few times I have remembered to take pictures...
Definitely will repeat this recipe, it only took about 30 minutes start to finish!


I love a good 'n saucy sloppy crow joe!  I rarely make our sloppy joes with beef anymore, in fact, I don't remember the last time I did - now I use ground turkey.  I have my own sauce recipe that I like to use, the measurements are approximate:
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1/4 cup green bell pepper, chopped
1/2 tsp. garlic salt
1 - 2 tsp. yellow mustard
3/4 - 1 cup. ketchup
3 tsp. brown sugar
1 lbs ground turkey

Brown the ground turkey in a large skillet, breaking up as you cook it.  When turkey is almost done, add in the onion and bell pepper.  I like this tender-crisp, so I saute it for about 3-5 minutes.  Add the rest of your ingredients then simmer for about 15-20 minutes.  One of the nice things about using the ground turkey is there is never enough fat that the meat has to be drained!  You'll notice there's liquid from the onion and green pepper, but once you've simmered the mixture it turns into a nice sauce.

Yum!!