Pioneer Woman's Spaghetti and (Turkey) Meatballs

Since I made this dinner for 2 of my good friends, I will let them give you an intro into Pioneer Woman's Spaghetti and (Turkey Version) Meatballs:

J: The meatballs were really really really moist and delicious

K: I liked it very much.

Neither minded that I made the meatballs with all turkey, and in fact, one said she preferred it to the typical, all-beef meatball

The Sauce for the meal came out WONDERFULLY. I had twice before tried to make homemade pasta sauce with either tart or bland results. This came out great (though I did tweak a little to get there).

Also of note- these freeze very well. Which is good since it makes way way WAY more than the 3 of us could eat.

Pioneer Woman's Spaghetti and Meatballs- Turkey Version

Ingredients

Meatballs:

• 1.5 lbs ground turkey
  
• 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
• ¾ cups Bread Crumbs
• 2 whole Eggs
• ¾ cups Grated Parmesan
• ¼ cups Flat-leaf Parsley, Minced- I used a little less and used some dried
• dried basil to taste
  
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• Splash Of Milk
• ½ cups Olive Oil

Sauce:

• 1 whole Yellow Onion, Diced
• 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1 whole (28-ounce) Can Whole Tomatoes
• 1 whole 28 Ounce Can Crushed Tomatoes
• pinch of red pepper flakes
  
• ½ cups Red Wine
  
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 1 teaspoon Sugar
• Freshly Ground Black Pepper
• dried basil, parsley and oregano to taste
  
• ¼ cups Flat-leaf Parsley, Minced
• 8 whole Fresh Basil Leaves, Chiffonade
  
• 2 pounds Spaghetti, Cooked To Al Dente

Preparation Instructions

To make the meatballs, combine meat, garlic, breadcrumbs, Parmesan, eggs, salt, pepper, parsley, basil, and a splash of milk in a mixing bowl. Mix together well with hands. Roll into 25 1 1/2-inch balls and place on a cookie sheet. Place cookie sheet into the freezer for 5 to 10 minutes (or fridge for about 30 min) to firm up.

To brown the meatballs, heat olive oil in a heavy pot or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add meatballs 5 at a time, turning to brown. Remove and drain on a paper towel after each batch. Set meatballs aside.

In the same pot, add the onions and garlic and cook for a few minutes, or until translucent. Pour in whole tomatoes, crushed tomatoes, red pepper, and wine. Add salt, pepper, sugar, dried herbs and parsley. Stir to combine and cook over medium heat for 20-30 minutes.

Add meatballs to pot and stir in gently. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 30-40 minutes, stirring very gently a couple of times during the simmer.

Just before serving, stir in basil if using.

Serve over cooked spaghetti. Sprinkle with extra Parmesan.

Turkey Tetrazzini

Back in late October I hosted a pre-Thanksgiving supper club dinner. Because I hosted, I made the entree, a turkey breast. A whole, bone in turkey breast. For 4 girls. To say I had leftovers is an understatement. I found this recipe on AllRecipes and tweaked it to my liking. LOVED IT.

After Christmas, my mom was asking if I had any recipes for leftover turkey, and I told her about having made this with the leftover supper club turkey. She loved the idea, so we made it, and she, too loved it.

Now I bring the recipe to you in case you ever find yourself with so much leftover turkey and no clue what to do with it. It makes a sort of turkey casserole. The sauce for it is great though, so much better than some canned "cream of" soup as a base. I would even recommend trying the sauce for tuna noodle casserole as a way to avoid the canned soup base. Much yummier (and probably a LOT less sodium too).

Each time I have made this I halved in and baked in a 9" round cake pan or an 8x8 cake pan. If you make the whole recipe, use a 9x13 pan I think. The entire recipe should make about 6-8 servings.

Turkey Tetrazzini

Ingredients

• 1 package uncooked rotini
  
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 tsp minced garlic
• dried parsley, basil and oregano to taste
• pepper to taste
  
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 cups chicken broth
• 2 cups milk
• 1 2/3 cups grated Parmesan cheese
• 4 cups chopped cooked turkey
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F . Lightly grease a medium baking dish.
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add rotini, and cook until al dente. Drain, and place in the prepared baking dish. Add turkey.
   
3. Melt butter with garlic, pepper and parsley/oregano/basil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in flour and cook, stirring constantly for a minute or so until a thick roux forms. Mix in chicken broth and milk. Cook and stir until the mixture comes to a boil. Stir in about 1 1/3 cups Parmesan cheese, and remove from heat.
4. Mix chicken broth mixture (to taste: I used about 1/2 of it, but other people prefer theirs saucier and should use more) with rotini and turkey. Top with remaining cheese and breadcrumbs. Bake 1 hour in the preheated oven, until surface is lightly browned.
   

Fettuccine with Creamy Red Pepper-Feta Sauce

Ready for the shock of your (and my) life. The boy really liked this. He ate all of it. Why is this shocking? Let me count the ways:
1- red peppers. They are a vegetable. They are also the PRIMARY ingredient here. The boy doesn't eat many vegetables, including bell peppers. He picks around the tiny pepper bits in the Chicken Caesar Casserole. Yet he ate these
2- Feta. Turns out he loves the stuff. He who thought my Greek salad was weird (because it wasn't Caesar with Parmesan) loves feta now. This makes life- and Greek salad making- much easier
3- It was fettuccine. The boy likes angel hair/cappellini. I love fettuccine and hate angel hair. Yet again, the boy still liked this.

Clearly this was some good stuff. And, not terribly bad for you, even with the cheese. Mmmmm, feta cheese....

Fettuccine with Creamy Red Pepper-Feta Sauce

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 2 to 3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
• 1 (16-ounce) jar roasted red peppers, drained and chopped
• 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken stock stock (can also use vegetable)
  
• 1 cup crumbled feta cheese or a 6-ounce block
• 1 pound whole-wheat fettuccine
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley leaves

DIRECTIONS

1. Heat the oil in a heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Saute onion and garlic until soft, about 10 minutes. Add roasted peppers and saute until heated through. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Place mixture in the bowl of a food processor with stock and all but 2-4 tablespoons of the feta (recipe says 2, but I really like having more feta on top, so omit more now). Process until combined and smooth, about 30 seconds.

2. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup pasta water. Toss pasta with sauce (or as much sauce as you want. I don't think I added all the sauce), adding pasta water by the tablespoon, if needed. Sauce should cling nicely to pasta. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Divide among pasta bowls. Sprinkle with parsley and remaining feta cheese.

Penne with Butternut Squash Cream Sauce

I am so hungry right now. I was already hungry before I started typing because my lunch was tiny, but then add in that I am looking at pictures of this REALLY good dinner from last week and I am positively drooling. Please forgive me while I salivate at the screen. Last week I saw the recipe for pumpkin cream sauce on penne in Rachael Ray, but not liking pumpkin much I immediately switched to Butternut squash and never looked back. The nutty and almost sweet roasted butternut squash with the cream...oooh and cheese. So good! And, it was even better the next day because a lot of the sauce was absorbed by the pasta, so it was all flavored with the butternut squash. It was just very good and very rich and filling. And really not that bad for you (ok, I know it has cream and cheese, but still, all that squash!)

I am submitting this dish to Celebrate Autumn: AYE.

Penne with Butternut Squash Cream Sauce (Adapted from Rachael Ray)
1 lb penne or ziti pasta
2lb butternut squash
2 TBSP butter
1 onion, chopped
salt and pepper (crucial, do not skimp)
1 cup half and half
1/2 cup parmesan plus more to top
parsley
1. Preheat oven to 400. Cut squash in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds. Place cut side down on a roasting sheet and roast about 45 min until tender. When done, let cool slightly. Once cool enough to handle, remove any dark areas from the cut edge, then spoon the rest of the flesh into a bowl. Puree with your handy dandy imersion blender (or in a regular blender) until smooth.
2. In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the pasta until al dente. Drain, reserving 1/4 cup pasta cooking water.
3. Meanwhile, in another large pot or pan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the onion and season with salt and pepper (remember, do not skimp!) ; cook, stirring, until softened, about 6 minutes. Stir in the squash and half and half and bring to a boil. Mix in the pasta and the reserved pasta cooking water. Stir in the parmesan; season with salt and pepper.
4. Serve. Top the pasta with the parsley and more parmesan.

Stuffed Shells

Now THAT'S what I call a frozen or TV dinner! Stuffed shells in a wine tomato sauce. Not only is it delicious, but this dinner was on my table in 20 minutes last night. Before school started I made a big batch of stuffed shells and froze all but one portion of them for easy school night dinners. And it worked out beautifully. These taste just as good out of the freezer as they do fresh!

I will admit, they certainly are not photogenic, but isn't taste what really matters? These babies have the taste down, but looks...well the first time I made them I was afraid they would taste horrible because the look is less than grand. I think the reason they look different is because I used ground chicken instead of beef and chicken is a much lighter color. It tasted just great, but maybe next time I would use ground turkey, just for appearances sake.

Also, you will note that I used regular size pasta shells, not jumbo shells. I did this because my tiny, city grocery store does not sell the jumbo shells and I was far too lazy to travel to get them. But, that being said, I think I will use the normal shells again, just because I love pasta and this upped the pasta to filler proportions. If you don't have time or want more meat to your pasta, bump it back up to jumbo shells, but whenever I have time I will certainly keep making it with these small ones

I am submitting this recipe to Monthly Blog Patrol: Sauces for the great tomato red wine sauce that you pour over top. I would gladly use it on any pasta!

Stuffed Shells (adapted from Blog Chef)
Ingredients:
1lb ground chicken (or perhaps turkey)
1 large onion (diced)
1 garlic clove (minced)
1 (8oz) bag shredded mozzarella cheese
½ cup Italian breadcrumbs
¼ cup fresh parsley (finely chopped)
1 egg (beaten)
1 (26 oz) jar of spaghetti sauce
1 (8 oz) can tomato sauce
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
1 box large pasta shells (I used the large, not the jumbo)
salt and pepper (to taste)
1/3 cup dry red wine

Cooking Instructions:

Step 1: Cook shells according to package directions. Meanwhile in a pan brown ground chicken, garlic and onion. Drain off any excess fat and let cool. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Step 2: Combine chicken, mozzarella cheese, egg, breadcrumbs, parsley and season with salt and pepper.
Step 3: Mix spaghetti and tomato sauce in a medium bowl and pour 1/4 of it into the bottom of a 13×9 inch oven safe dish (I used about 5 "grilling pans" to make individual portions)
Step 4: Stuff the cooked and drained pasta shells with the meat mixture and place on top of the sauce in the pan. Add red wine to the remaining sauce, mix well, and pour over the top of the shells. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
Step 5: Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes.

Note: If you are freezing, stop after step 4, wrap in 2 layers of aluminum foil, put in a ziploc freezer bag and freeze until ready to use. When ready to use, defrost in fridge the night before, then bake as directed.

English Muffin Bread and Garlic Herb Butter

This has been floating around my "to be blogged" area for a while. It is a great bread (crusty outside, firm but not at all hard inside) and it is super easy to make (put ingredients in the machine). I served it with baked ziti and the tomato and green bean salad and it perfectly complemented both flavors. You can add any spices you like, but as I note below, my favorite so far is oregano and garlic.
Bread Machine English Muffin Bread (from "The Bread Machine Baker")
1 cup minus 1 TBSP water
1/8 tsp baking soda
2 TBSP nonfat dry milk powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
oregano to taste
garlic powder to taste
2 cups bread flour
2 tsp active dry yeast
Add all ingredients to machine in order listed. Choose regular crust and press start. Also works on rapid or quick bread setting.

I highly recommend this butter for...ANYTHING. I first used it as a spread for crackers and baguettes at the engagement party. Then I used the leftovers as the butter for Italian grilled cheese. Finally, it would certainly work on the above bread!

Roasted Garlic Butter with Chives

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 heads roasted garlic, recipe below
1 tablespoon chopped chives
1/2 tsp. salt

In a bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix well.

Take a large piece of parchment paper and pile the butter at one end of the paper, forming it into a log as best as you can.

Begin rolling the paper and the butter up, jelly-roll style, rolling tightly as you go and smoothing the log.

Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to use.

Roasted Garlic
Preheat oven to 350
Take 2 heads of garlic and cut off about one-third of the top of each head. Place them each on a piece of aluminum foil and drizzle each with a bit of olive oil. Sprinkle with a bit of salt and then wrap loosely in the foil.
Place them on a baking sheet in the center of the oven.
Bake the garlic for about 40 minutes. Check the garlic. It’s done once the cloves become soft and the head of garlic can be easily squeezed. Don’t burn the garlic.
Let it sit overnight wrapped in the foil and use the following day.

Tzatziki Chicken

I was super impressed with this meal! It was so easy to put together, was really healthy and everyone really enjoyed it and said I should make it again. Sounds like a success to me!

When I say healthy, I mean it! Low fat chicken, low fat yogurt, spinach, and whole wheat pita scream "feel free to eat more! I'm good for you!" I am also entering this recipe in Eat Healthy: Protein rich for its 25g of protein.

Tzatziki Chicken
serves 4

1/2 cucumber, seeded then grated
1/2 tsp salt
4oz plain low fat yogurt
1/4 tsp lemon juice
1tsp dry mint
4 chicken cutlets
pinch of greek seasoning
4 whole wheat pitas
baby spinach

1. Sprinkle the grated cucumber with the salt. Let set for 10 min, drain, mix with yogurt, lemon juice and mint.
2. Season chicken with greek seasoning. Grill until cooked through. Wait a minute and then slice
3. Cut Pitas in half and open each half up. Insert spinach into each 1/2 pita, spread with tzatziki sauce and top with chicken strips.

South West Eggrolls

I’m sorry for the disconnect in the blogging. One day I post regularly, then next thing you know I miss about a month of posting! Since my last post I had a case to present for the University Student Judiciary (ugh, I am not allowed to and also don’t want to go into it), I had a women’s studies preliminary and final paper due and had a final paper (20 pages in length) due for my environmental policy course. Oy. oh and then I graduated. And then I went to Europe (not that I'm complaining!). Oh, and I got my apartment for next year.

Somehow cooking did still happen, but that cooking is not going here. This post is actually going back in time a few months to J and O’L’s engagement party. Just a recap- party was great, had a ball and I think the engaged couple did too (or at least I hope so). All the food was ready on time and the only thing I forgot was the salad tongs. I’d say that was a success! Sadly though, not nearly as many people came as we expected to come and 3 of the people who did come didn’t eat, so needless to say there was a lot of extra food. We had leftovers for DAYS (though the ice cream sandwich cookies disappeared the very next day! Lol) The two HUGE hits of the party seemed to be the Italian grilled cheeses as well as the ice cream sandwiches, with a 3rd place going to pigs in a blanket.

Another hit was the south west eggrolls. Ground turkey, some southwest spices, corn, beans and spinach wrapped in a tortilla and baked until crispy, as though almost fried. I changed the recipe from the original by reducing the beans to ½ can per 1.3 pound package of turkey and using ½ box of frozen spinach per 1/3 pound pack. I limited the spices because the couple didn’t like spicy things, though you can easily bump up the spice if you want. I served it with a version of my Mexican dip (gosh, how much do I put this stuff on?!) and ate them up.

With the beans and the turkey they are super filling, so appetizer sizes are ½ rolls and about 3 rolls seemed to be a dinner sized portion. Because of the beans and turkey an entree size portion has about 19.7 grams of protein! I'm thus entering it in Eat Healthy- Protein Rich.

South West Egg Rolls (adapted from many ideas, especially AllRecipes)

1.3 lb ground Turkey

4 tbsp chopped Onion

1 can Corn

½ - 2/3 can Black beans, drained and rinsed

3-4 tbsp Frozen Spinach, thawed and drained

1 tsp Cumin

1 tsp Chili powder

2/3 tsp garlic Salt

1/8 tsp Cayenne

19 flour tortilla

pam

1. In a medium saucepan over medium high heat, cook turkey most of the way. Remove from heat, drain, return to pan.

2. Heat to medium high again. Stir in onion. Cook and stir 5 minutes, until onions are tender and meat is cooked.

3. Mix in corn, black beans, spinach, cumin, chili powder, garlic salt and cayenne pepper. Cook and stir 5 minutes, until well blended and tender. Remove from heat

4. Wrap tortillas with a clean, lightly moist cloth. Microwave on high approximately 1 minute, or until hot and pliable.

5. Spoon even amounts of the mixture into each tortilla. Fold ends of tortillas, then roll tightly around mixture.

6. If you are freezing and eating later: Secure with toothpicks. Arrange in a medium dish, cover with plastic, and place in the freezer. When ready, continue to next step without defrosting, but add another 5 minutes of baking time

7. When ready to eat, remove toothpicks if you used them. Place the egg rolls seam side down on an aluminum foil and pam covered baking sheet. Spray the egg rolls with pam, and bake at 475 degrees for 15 minutes. May take longer if there are too many rolls on the baking sheet

Roasted Red Pepper Dip

When I was young, I NEVER ate bell peppers. I was certain that they were spicy. I never knew that any sort of pepper could do anything but hurt my little 3rd grader tongue! Then, one day in school, a nutritionist came in to talk to us about why veggies were good for us, and she mentioned how bell peppers were really high in vitamen C. The lady said they weren't spicy and made me try. I hated admitting it, but not only was it not at all spicy, it was super sweet and delicious. I have loved bell peppers ever since.

In recent years, I have especially come to love the sweet and smoky taste of roasted red peppers. OMG! So delicious! They are naturally sweet, with a flame charred background flavor. And who can argue against something being flame charred?For the engagement party, I am making roasted red pepper dip, and, much like I was when I was younger, both J and O'L feared the heat of peppers. Don't worry guys, it is just sweet and smoky, with just the slightest bit of tang...oh, and a LOT of cheese! And, who has a problem with sweet, smoky and cheesy? Certainly not me!

Just a warning, this dip is addictive. You can and will spread it on any bread, cracker, maybe vegetables, and as my kosher for passover room mate showed, even matzoh! It really is that good.
Roasted Red Pepper Dip
INGREDIENTS

• 2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 (8 ounce) package finely shredded Mexican cheese
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup jarred roasted red pepper, drained and chopped

DIRECTIONS

1. In a medium bowl, mix together the cream cheese, Cheddar cheese, garlic powder, cayenne pepper and Worcestershire sauce, using a hand mixer.
   
2. Process peppers in food processor until in small pieces. Stir into cream cheese mixture. Scoop into a bowl, cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate. Serve with breads and crackers.
   

Note- Can add some Dijon mustard to the cream cheese if you want an added zip, but I wanted to keep thespice down for the party.

Veggies or Chips with Mexican Dip

It is what my mom is known for. "That Mexican Dip." Whenever I had a sleepover in highschool I, and all my friends, would BEG my mom to make her mexican dip. Now that I am on my own I have made that dip my own with a couple variations. There is the original to serve as a dip for tortilla chips or veggies. Then there is the more saucy version which I use on my mexican chicken sandwhich. Finally, for new years I came up with a more sturdy version to use as a filling for veggies. All are delicious and have the same flavors that the boy calls "like really really good taco bell." I will post on the chicken sandwhich version the next time I make it, but for now I will focus on the dips.
Mexican Dip for Filling Veggies
1 package full fat cream cheese, softened
1 small package full fat sour cream
about 3/4 cup mild or medium salsa (didn't measure)
about 1/8 tsp each of paprika, cayenne pepper, ground red pepper and cumin
veggies cut to allow for filling
Ex: larger grape tomatoes: slice a very little bit off the top, slice off the bottom and remove seeds from the bottom side. Sit with the top down and fill what was the bottom
cucumbers: slice cucumbers. use a spoon to remove some of the flesh.
Celery: slice celery across. remove a thin strip from the back so the back is flat and the curve stays facing up

Using a mixer, combine all ingredients except the veggies. Refrigerate. Use a ziploc like a piping bag by filling with dip, cutting off one end and piping the dip into the veggies.

Mexican Dip for Chips
1 Package reduced fat cream cheese or neufchatel cheese, softened
3/4 of a small package of low fat sour cream
about 3/4 cup mild or medium salsa
about 1/8 tsp each of paprika, cayenne pepper, ground red pepper and cumin
shredded cheddar or mexican cheese blend
chopped tomato
shredded lettuce
chopped scallions
Combine cream cheese, sour cream, salsa and spices with a mixer. Spread into pie pan or 8x8 baking dish. Top with lettuce, cheese, tomatoes and scallions. Serve with tortilla chips and cut veggies.