Category: Cooking

I pulled out a turkey from our deep freeze. It was 15 pounds, and made a lovely first meal. But I wasn’t looking forward to continuous turkey soup meals, so I started looking around at things to make with ALL THAT TURKEY! Here is the recipe I adapted for tonight’s dinner. I felt like I was on my own cooking show, as I chopped and measured and stirred, but the end result was actually quite delicious! Try it! Good luck!

Turkey Tetrazzini

Ingredients:

1. 1- pound Egg noodles
2. 4 Tablespoons Butter
3. 4 cloves Garlic, Minced
4. 1/2 onion diced
5. 1/2 cup green pepper diced
6. 1/2 cup red pepper diced
7. 1 pound White Mushrooms, Quartered
8. 1/2 teaspoon Salt
9. 1 cup White Wine (I used White Zinfandel)
10. 1/3 cup Flour
11. 4 cups Turkey (or Chicken) Broth
12. 1 block 8 Ounce Cream Cheese (I was skeptical, but this made a nice creamy sauce)
13. 4 cups Cooked (leftover) Turkey, Shredded Or Diced
14. 1 cup Finely Chopped Black Olives
15. 1-1/2 cup Frozen Green Peas
16. 1/2 cup chopped up broccoli (only because I had some left over!)
17. 4 slices Bacon, Fried And Cut Into Bits
18. 1 cup Grated Monterey Jack Cheese
19. 1 cup Grated Cheddar Cheese
20. 1/2-1 cup light cream
21. Salt And Pepper, to taste
22. Extra Broth For Thinning
23. 1 cup Smashed barbecue chips (or Panko Bread Crumbs)

Preparation:
Cook pasta until not quite done Drain, rinse, and set aside.

Cook bacon until crisp. Set aside.

In a large pot, heat butter over medium-high heat. Add garlic, onions, peppers and saute for a couple of minutes. Add mushrooms and salt, then saute for a couple more minutes. Pour in the wine and allow it to cook with the mushrooms and onion and peppers for several minutes, or until the liquid reduces by half.

Sprinkle in flour, then stir the mushrooms around for another minute. Pour in the broth and stir, cooking for another few minutes until the roux thickens.

Reduce heat to medium low. Cut cream cheese into cubes and add it to the pot. Stir it to melt (don’t worry if the cream cheese remains in little bits for awhile) Add the leftover turkey, the olives, the peas, the chopped up bacon, and the cheeses. Stir to combine, adding salt and pepper as needed. Add the cream.

Add the cooked Pasta and stir it to combine. Splash in more broth as needed; you want the mixture to have a little extra moisture since it will cook off in the oven. If it’s a little soupy, that’s fine.

Pour the mixture into a large baking dish and sprinkle the top with the Chips or Panko crumbs. Bake at 350 degrees F for 50 minutes, or until the casserole is bubbly and the crumbs are golden brown.

Chicken, Escarole and Meatball Soup

Soup Base:
In large soup pot cook one  3-4 pound chicken in water, with an onion, celery stalk and a carrot. Simmer for an hour or so until chicken is done and is falling off the bones.

While chicken is cooking slice:
5 carrots
5 stalks celery
2 large onions
1 shallot
2 heads escarole
salt & pepper to taste
2 tsp chopped garlic
2 tbs parsley
2-3 Bay Leaves

 

Remove chicken from pot retaining all the wonderful broth. While chicken cools, make the mini meatballs.

Meatballs:
1 lb hamburger or ground turkey
1 egg
1/3 cup Italian bread crumbs
2 tbs parsley
1/3 cup grated cheese (I do 1/2 & 1/2 Parmesan and Romano)
1 tsp garlic salt

Mix meat into small mini meatballs. Toss into boiling broth along with the above chopped ingredients. Then simmer slowly until veggies are done. De-bone the chicken and add the meat to the soup. Add more chicken broth if needed to make soup desired thickness.

Enjoy!

Since I am still a bit under the weather with my cold I thought I would share this great recipe. Have a wonderful Monday!

Apple Crisp

8 large baking apples (MacIntosh or Cortland or both)

½ cup butter chopped into tiny pieces

½ cup Oats

½ cup flour

½ cup sugar (I used Splenda)

1/3 cup brown sugar (I used Splenda Brown Sugar)

1 tsp. cinnamon

¼ tsp. Nutmeg

¼ tsp. Ground Cloves

Peel and cut apples into slices. Place in a greased (butter or Pam sprayed) deep 9 X 11 casserole dish.

TIP: I cut up the cold butter into chunks and placed the hard butter into my food processor. I pulsed it a few times, then added the flour and pulsed a few times until it was crumbly. This was the easiest way to make this butter and flour into a crumb mixture.

In a separate bowl place the butter and flour crumb mixture to the oats.

Add sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves and mix well.

Spread evenly over the top  of the apples allowing some of the mixture to settle into the apples. I sort of gently push it into the apples.

Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about 45 minutes or until you see bubbles coming up from the apples. The butter will melt and the crumb mixture should be nice and brown on the top.

Cool slightly, serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream….

Apple Crisp

 

1. 8 large baking apples (MacIntosh or Cortland or both)

2. ½ cup butter chopped into tiny pieces

3. ½ cup Oats

4. ½ cup flour

½ cup sugar (I used Splenda)

5. 1/3 cup brown sugar (I used Splenda Brown Sugar)

6. 1 tsp. cinnamon

7. ¼ tsp.Nutmeg

8. ¼ tsp. Ground Cloves

   

Peel and cut apples into slices. Place in a greased (butter or Pam sprayed) deep 9 X 11 casserole dish.

   

TIP: I cut up the cold butter into chunks and placed the hard butter into my food processor. I pulsed it a few times, then added the flour and pulsed a few times until it was crumbly. This was the easiest way to make this butter and flour crumb mixture.

In a separate bowl place the butter and flour crumb mixture to the oats. Add sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves and mix well.  Spread evenly over the top of the apples allowing some of the mixture to settle into the apples. I sort of gently push it into the apples.

Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about 45 minutes or until you see bubbles coming up from the apples. The butter will melt and the crumb mixture should be nice and brown on the top. Cool slightly, serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream….

Yum!

So, I promised you all a great recipe for Pot Roast. Originally this was from The Pioneer Woman, but I made a few changes to adapt it to my own lifestyle and tastes. Still, this is the best recipe for Pot Roast I have ever made!

Ingredients:
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
One 3- to 5-pound bottom round roast (Or any kind of pot roast)
2 or 3 tablespoons olive oil
2 whole onions, peeled and halved
6 to 8 whole carrots, peeled, cut into 2-inch pieces (Use a lot of carrots)
1/2 cup red wine, optional (I used Burgundy)
3 cups beef broth more or less.
2 or 3 sprigs fresh rosemary (I used 1/2 tsp dried rosemary)
2 or 3 sprigs fresh thyme (I used 1/2 tsp dried thyme)
**I may have used more dried herbs as I simply eye balled them. Taste it after you start to bring the broth to a boil. You can always correct the seasoning then.**

Dutch Oven

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F.

Generously salt and pepper the roast.

Heat the olive oil in large pot or Dutch Oven (Must be an oven safe pot and lid) over medium-high heat. Add the halved onions to the pot, browning them on both sides. Remove the onions to a plate.

Throw the carrots into the same very hot pot and toss them around a bit until slightly browned. It took me a couple of minutes. Reserve the carrots with the onions.

If needed, add a bit more olive oil to the hot pot. Place the meat in the pot and sear it. I figured about 1-2 minutes on each side. Remove the roast to a plate.

Add the red wine and/or beef broth (about 1 cup) to deglaze the pot, scraping the bottom with a whisk to get those lovely tasty bits. Place the roast back into the pot and add enough beef stock to cover the meat halfway.

Add in the onions and the carrots, along with the fresh herbs.

Put the lid on, then roast for 4 hours for a 3-pound roast. For a 4 to 5-pound roast, plan on 4 – 5 hours. The roast is ready when it’s fall-apart tender.

One thing I am learning is that if you check the roast and the meat is not falling apart, the roast is not done. Put it back in the oven!

I made boiled potatoes to go along with our pot roast, and my husband went a bit crazy! He said it was just perfect!

On Sunday, Jack dropped a small-ish box of peaches that he had just picked, while he was walking down the cement stairs outside. He came in and told me, and was pretty upset about it. Well, I remember seeing The Pioneer Woman make Peach Cobbler recently on her show, so I went to The Food Network’s Web Page and searched for the recipe and sure enough, there it was.

Here is my Peach Cobbler

Ingredients:
Butter:  for greasing baking dish

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Fruit:
3 pounds frozen peaches (I used fresh peaches)
2 cups sugar (I used 1 cup of splenda and 1/2 cup of sugar)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons lemon juice
Pinch of salt

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Topping:
3 cups all-purpose flour
3 heaping tablespoons sugar,
1 + 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
Pinch of salt
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons vegetable shortening or lard
3/4 cup milk
2 whole eggs
3 tsp sugar and 1/4 tsp cinnamon for sprinkling over the top

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Serve With:

Vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter a baking dish.

For the fruit: In a bowl, combine the peaches, sugar, flour, lemon juice and salt. Stir and set aside.

For the topping: In a separate bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Stir together. Add the butter and shortening, and then cut together with a pastry cutter. (I used my food processor)

Beat the milk and eggs together. Pour into the flour mixture and stir with a fork until just combined.

Pour the peaches into the prepared baking dish. Tear off pinches of the dough topping and drop it onto the surface of the fruit, creating a “cobbled” texture. Sprinkle additional sugar/cinnamon over the top.

Bake until golden brown and bubbly, 30 to 35 minutes. Allow to sit for 10 to 15 minutes before serving. If the cobbler is too juicy, use a turkey baster to remove a little of the juice (or spoon the juice over ice cream). Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or fresh whipped cream.

You can go to the Food Channel and watch Ree make this. Here is the link: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ree-drummond/peach-cobbler-recipe-1989055

Enjoy!

The other day, I was looking into my deep freezer, trying to sort through what is in there that should be thawed and eaten, and what was okay to leave for a bit. I ran across a beautiful roast beef that was close to a year old. It needed to be thawed and cooked.

Now fortunately, I have a great recipe for a roast beef, but this can also be used for Prime Rib. It is simply a wonderful way to cook the meat. We were not disappointed! So without further ado, here is the recipe.

Herb Crusted Standing Rib Roast

1 (4 1/2-pound) standing rib roast, trimmed
Cooking spray
1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns, cracked
2 teaspoons salt, divided
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 cup sliced shallots (about 2 medium)
3 garlic cloves, crushed
3 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
2 cups fat-free, less-sodium beef broth
1 cup dry red wine
1 teaspoon butter

Preheat oven to 450°.

Place roast on a rack coated with cooking spray; place rack in a roasting pan. Sprinkle roast evenly with pepper and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt; rub with mustard. Combine shallots and garlic in a mini food processor; pulse to coarsely chop. Add rosemary and thyme; process until finely chopped. Rub shallot mixture evenly over roast. Bake at 450° for 25 minutes.

Reduce heat to 325° (do not remove roast from oven). Bake roast at 325° for 1 hour and 20 minutes or until a thermometer registers 145° (medium-rare) or until desired degree of doneness. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing.

Combine beef broth and red wine in a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Cook about 15 minutes. Take about 1/4 cup of this mixture and pour into roasting pan, swirl around and pour all the juices into the saucepan. Remove from heat; stir in butter and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt. If you want a slightly thicker Au Jus  add 3 table spoons of flour and cook until thickened Serve with the roast.

Note: You can use a Prime Rib Cut or any other oven roast. The key is to use a thermometer so you do not overcook the meat!

The other day I made Jack a casserole with Penne Pasta in it. I cooked the entire box, not knowing how much pasta I would actually need. Since I only used half the box, I sat down and thought about what to do with the other half. This simple and easy recipe is what I came up with!

Penne Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

8 ounces Penne Pasta
1 bottle Poppy Seed Dressing Low Fat
1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
Basil leaves chopped as desired

1 pint Grape Tomatoes, halved
1 cup bite-size Mozzarella Cheese, balls, halved
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Preparation:

Cook pasta as directed on package. Or until tender. Drain well.

Add Pasta and Basil to Poppy Seed Dressing while pasta is still warm, toss to coat. Add tomatoes and cheeses; toss to mix well.

Serve chilled.