Turkey Pasta Salad, Roasted Red Pepper Dressing

This recipe actually comes from the Betty Crocker website. It is really a chicken pasta salad, but I used turkey because it is what I had on hand. I also used rotini instead of bowtie pasta.



Chicken Pasta Salad with Roasted Red Pepper Dressing

3 cups uncooked farfalle (bow-tie) pasta (8 ounces)
6 1/2 cups frozen broccoli florets
2/3 cup refrigerated Alfredo sauce (from 10-ounce container)
1 jar (7 ounces) roasted red bell peppers, drained and finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 package (6 ounces) refrigerated diced cooked chicken breast
1 can (11 ounces) Mexicorn whole kernel corn with red and green peppers, drained


1.Cook pasta as directed on package, adding broccoli for last 3 minutes of cooking. Rinse with cold water; drain.
2.In small bowl, mix Alfredo sauce, bell peppers and salt. In large bowl, mix pasta, broccoli, chicken and corn. Add pepper mixture to pasta mixture; toss until coated. Serve immediately, or refrigerate until serving.

~Kiss The Cook

Fruitcake

This is my first post and I am going to start off with fruitcake. Now, don't run off! This is really delicious, I promise. It's the only fruitcake that I've ever eaten and enjoyed.

I got this recipe from my Mom probably ten years ago. She got it from our neighbor when we were little kids, probably 30 years ago. Lord only knows how long the neighbor had it before that.

Fruitcake
(it makes a ton, so this is half the recipe)

4 eggs
1 c. sugar
1 ½ c. flour
1 ½ t. baking powder
1 t. salt
4 c. pecans
½ pound candied pineapple
½ pound candied cherries (I use 4 oz. each of green and red)
1 pound chopped dates
½ T. vanilla extract

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add fruit to dry ingredients and stir to coat. Add nuts and stir. In a small bowl, beat eggs and stir in vanilla. Add sugar to fruit mix. Add eggs and stir. It is very thick and hard to stir, but it gets better as the sugar melts in the eggs. Spoon into two greased 8 inch pans. Bake 1 1/2 hours at 250 degrees.

*note - for some reason, it took mine closer to two hours to bake

Weekly Meal Plan #10 from...

Meal Planning Mayhem

Enjoy!

~Chef Val

Peanut Butter Frosting

I made cupcakes tonight for Justin to take to Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow. I cheated and used a boxed cake mix because I just didn't have time to do it from scratch. I decided to make the peanut butter frosting that everyone raved about last time, and I think it was even better this time! I chopped some Reese's cups up and sprinkled them on top as well.

Chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting and chopped reese's on top


Peanut Butter Frosting

1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
5 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup heavy cream

Put sugar, peanut butter, butter, vanilla and salt in mixer. Mix on medium low until creamy, scraping with spatula as you work. Add the cream and beat on high until the mixture is light and smooth.

Original Recipe

~Kiss The Cook

Chicken Broccoli Casserole

Outside the snow is falling and friends are calling you-hoo... Inside the chicken is cooking and my husband is shouting woo-hoo! 

Ok, that was a lame attempt at a joke on the weather right now. It's not the worst that I've seen but it's record breaking snow fall (already a foot in Nov?!) and temperature lows (-10?!) right now so what better than a yummy comfort food casserole to warm up the evening. Brrrr! Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cup cooked chicken (you can boil and shred chicken breasts or buy chunk chicken in a can)
• 1 lb fresh chopped broccoli
• 1 1/2 cups of your favorite pasta (I used smaller shells)
• 1 can Cream of Chicken Soup
• 1/3 cup of milk
• 1/2 cup cheddar cheese 
• 1 package stuffing mix

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. If using chicken breasts, boil chicken until tender and shred or cut into bite size pieces. If using chunk canned chicken, just make sure it's chopped up nicely. 
3. Steam broccoli until crisp but tender. 
4. Boil pasta until firm.
5. In a small bowl mix together the soup and milk. Set aside. 
6. Layer the chicken, broccoli, soup mixture, and cheese in baking dish. 
7. Prepare stuffing mix according to package and sprinkle over the top.
8. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes or until the topping is browned.

Look you can see the steam!

 We only had a Columbia Crest Merlot in the house tonight but that'll warm us up just fine with this dish! I'd probably prefer a Chardonnay but I'm not venturing out in this snow. Enjoy!!!

~Vino Vixen~

For the Love of Lasagna!

I made lasagna for the first time in a long time. This is by far one of the best I made. I did it all by scratch, but you could use bottled sauce and achieve the same results. I also added canned mushrooms to the meat layer, but you could leave them out.

Ingredients:

Sauce-

• 1 onion, chopped


• 5 garlic cloves, minced


• 1-28 oz can of chopped tomatoes, undrained


• 2 bay leaves


• 1 1/2 tsp dried basil


• 1 tsp dried oregano


• 1/2 c red wine


• 1 small can tomato paste


• salt and pepper to taste


• 2 T sugar if needed- it depends on your tomatoes

Cheese mixture:

• 1-15 oz container ricotta


• 1 small onion


• 2 cloves garlic


• 1 c cottage cheese


• salt and pepper to taste

Meat:

• 1 pound ground beef


• 1/2 c pepperoni slices

Additionally:

• 1 c mozzarella cheese, shredded


• 1/2 c Parmesan cheese, shredded


• 12 lasagna noodles


• 1 can mushrooms (optional)

To make the sauce: Start with a medium saucepan and sweat onions in 1 T olive oil and 1-2 T butter. Let them get translucent and start to turn golden in color. Add the garlic, bay leaves, basil, and oregano. Stir them into the onions and cook until fragrant. Add the tomato paste and cook the tomato paste until darkened in color- about 4-5 minutes. Add the red wine and deglaze the pan. Add the chopped tomatoes and stir all together. Lower the heat to simmer and cook for about 20 minutes for the flavors to come together. Taste the sauce for salt and pepper. Add sugar if necessary.

To make the cheese mixture: Saute the onions in 1 T butter until soft and sweet. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant. Let the mixture cool a few minutes. Add onions and garlic to the ricotta and cottage cheese. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

To make the meat mixture: Place the pepperoni in the food processor and process until chopped small. Brown the ground beef with the pepperoni in a skillet until no longer pink. Set aside to cool a bit.

Place the 12 lasagna noodles in a dish with hot water to cover for about 40 minutes to one hour until pliable.

In a 8x11 glass dish, start with covering the bottom with a thin layer of sauce. Layer 3 noodles across. Use about 1/2 of the cheese mixture to spread over the noodles. Layer 3 more noodles. Add a thin layer of sauce over the noodles. Add the meat mixture. Add the mushrooms-optional. Add a little more sauce to the meat. Layer 3 more noodles. Spread the remaining 1/2 of the cheese mixture over the noodles. Layer 3 more noodles. Add a layer of sauce. Top with shredded mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese. Bake in a 350 F oven for 30-40 minutes until bubbling and hot.

Banana Blackberry Waffles

So a couple of amazing coincidences made this waffle happen. I have some Hodgeson's Mill Whole Wheat Buttermilk pancake mix at my house. I was trying to be healthy with whole grains, but as you can see in my profile I will be going gluten-free in a few days so I have to get this outta my house! I cannot resist temptation. Also, my first few clients canceled so I have some extra time this morning. Put those things together and out came this delicious breakfast treat!

Ingredients:
3/4 cup Whole wheat pancake mix
1 egg
1/3 cup almond milk (I'm sure you could use real milk if that's what you have)
1 banana

1/2 cup frozen blackberries (or blueberries or other yummy addition)

Put the blackberries in the microwave for about 45 seconds on half power (I hit the "vegetable button" on my microwave and don't know exactly what that does, but either way, unfreeze your blackberries).
Mix together the first ingredients mashing the banana as you go.
Add the blackberries and the juice from de-thawing it. Fold in

Spray the waffle maker with non stick spray and cook until machine stops steaming. Top with butter and agave nectar (or syrup if you'd like) and ENJOY!! Mmmmmmmmm

-Neat -n- Natural

Best. Turkey. Ever.

Seriously. I am working on Thanksgiving, so Justin and I had our own little "Thanksgiving" dinner today. I tried a new recipe when I made our turkey today and it turned out amazing! It is a little time consuming, but well worth it. The meat comes out extremely moist and with just the right amount of flavor. SO GOOD!



Perfect Turkey
I used a 13 lb turkey and just adjusted the amount of ingredients a little.

1 (18 pound) whole turkey, neck and giblets removed
2 cups kosher salt
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 large onions, peeled and chopped
4 carrots, peeled and chopped
4 stalks celery, chopped
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
1 cup dry white wine

1.Rub the turkey inside and out with the kosher salt. Place the bird in a large stock pot, and cover with cold water. Place in the refrigerator, and allow the turkey to soak in the salt and water mixture 12 hours, or overnight.
2.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Thoroughly rinse the turkey, and discard the brine mixture.
3.Brush the turkey with 1/2 the melted butter. Place breast side down on a roasting rack in a shallow roasting pan. Stuff the turkey cavity with 1 onion, 1/2 the carrots, 1/2 the celery, 1 sprig of thyme, and the bay leaf. Scatter the remaining vegetables and thyme around the bottom of the roasting pan, and cover with the white wine.
4.Roast uncovered 3 1/2 to 4 hours in the preheated oven, until the internal temperature of the thigh reaches 180 degrees F (85 degrees C). Carefully turn the turkey breast side up about 2/3 through the roasting time, and brush with the remaining butter. Allow the bird to stand about 30 minutes before carving.

Original Recipe

~Kiss The Cook

White Cheese Chicken Lasagna

OH CHEESE HEAVEN! Oh so bad for my diet!

Enter... White Cheese Chicken Lasagna! I hate traditional lasagna so I was a little skeptical at making this but it looked SO good that I couldn't resist.

 

Ingredients:

• 9 lasagna noodles
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 cups ricotta cheese
• 2 cups cubed cooked chicken
• 2 (10 oz) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 grated Parmesan cheese for topping

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees F. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna noodles in boiling water for 8 to 10 minutes. Drain, and rinse with cold water. 
2. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook the onion and garlic in the butter until tender, stirring frequently. Stir in the flour and salt, and simmer until bubbly. Mix in the broth and milk to a boil stirring constantly for 1 minute. Stir in 2 cups mozzarella cheese and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese. Season with basil, oregano and pepper. Remove from heat and set aside.
3. Spread 1/3 of the sauce mixture in the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer with 3 of the noodles, the ricotta and the chicken. Arrange 3 of the noodles over the chicken and layer with 1/3 of the sauce mixture, spinach and the remaining 2 cups of mozzarella cheese and 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese. Arrange remaining 3 noodles over cheese and spread remaining sauce evenly over noodles. Sprinkle with parsley and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.
4. Bake 35 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven.

Top with a glass of heavenly chardonnay and ENJOY!!! 

~Vino Vixen~

Polish Pierogies and Kielbasa

Original Recipe

This is pretty much the only Polish recipe I know, but it is definitely something we make on a regular basis. The whole dinner takes about 15 minutes. Easy!

Ingredients:

1 med sliced onion
2 Tbsp butter (can sub olive oil - diary free)
1 pkg Mrs.T's Pierogies (we like the Potato and Onion ones - diary free)
1 lb. smoked kielbasa, sliced

Directions:

Saute onions in butter until tender.
Add frozen pierogies and kielbasa and saute 6-8 minutes, stirring pierogies and kielbasa pieces to brown on both sides.

~The Mess Maker

Leftover Turkey Salad

Photo credit

Please excuse the random google pic. I forgot to take a picture of mine, but thought the post looked sad without a yummy picture.

About a week ago I made my very first Roast Turkey. I am not a huge soup fan, so I debated over what to do with the leftovers. Finally decided on Turkey Salad, and man, I'm glad I did. That stuff is so delicious - even better than chicken salad, in my humble opinion. The best part - it's super easy!

Leftover Turkey Salad

Ingredients:

1 cups cubed/chopped turkey meat (white or dark)
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup mayonnaise (this is generous - less would work, too)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Mix all ingredients. Serve on bread or lettuce bed. I love mine on potato rolls.

~ The Mess Maker

Farro Pilaf

I'll start this by acknowledging that I'm the world's worst sous chef. Seriously. After making this pilaf yesterday night, I'm a heck of a lot more thankful I'm married to a man who is great at "finely dicing" all sorts of veggies. Because as good as it looks, there are a TON of large onion pieces in my pilaf right now.

Second, I'll tell you what Farro is. It's a whole grain that looks a bit like brown rice when it's cooked. It's a little nutty, and has a nice bite to it when it's cooked properly. Normally, you have to soak it to soften it, and then cook it. In this recipe, it's cooked in broth to impart a little flavor while it cooks, and the soaking step is removed.

This is a really festive-looking dish, and it's nutritious too. It would be a welcome addition on any holiday table at our house--I hope it can share your table too!

Adapted from the Nov/Dec 2010 issue of Clean Eating, here's how I made it.

• 4c. low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
• 2c. water
• 2c. whole-grain farro
• 2/3c. unsalted pine nuts
• 2 cloves garlic, minced (next time, I'll use 4)
• 1 onion, diced (next time, I'll use 1/2)
• 2 large carrots, peeled & diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 1T thyme (dried or fresh--a little less dried works well)
• 1/2c. dried cranberries, chopped
• 1/2c. dried apricots, chopped
• 1t. Kosher salt
• 1/2t. fresh ground black pepper

First, bring broth and water to a boil. Add the farro, reduce to a simmer, and simmer for 18-20 minutes. The farro should still have a little bit of a bite to it. Drain the farro in a colander over a bowl to catch the cooking liquid. Reserve 1c. liquid, plus the farro.

While the farro is cooking, toast the pine nuts. You can do this in your toaster oven (not your toaster!), or in a skillet by heating them until they are golden brown. If you cook them in a skillet, stir constantly because they'll burn quickly. This only takes 2 minutes or so. Let the nuts cool on a plate.

Next, heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Saute the garlic, onion, carrots and celery until the onion is soft and translucent, but not brown--about 5 minutes. Add the fruit, thyme, salt and pepper, and cook 3 minutes more. Add the farro, and stir to combine. Stir in the reserved cooking liquid and simmer for a few minutes (3-5) until the liquid is absorbed.

To finish, remove from heat and stir in the pine nuts. Serve warm or cold.

Serves 12 (1/2c. servings)

Asian Country Beef Cubes

This is one of my favorite recipes and I'm kind of bummed I wasn't picked as a  finalist for The Nest's "Couples who cook" contest...hmm maybe it was too adventurous but I thought it was easy to make & a good alternative to stir fry. 

Country Beef Cubes is a Vietnamese dish that great for dinner entrée, it's real name in Vietnamese is "Thit Bo Lu Lac" which translates to "Shaking beef", perhaps this is because the beef needs to be toss in the wok so that all the sides are seared. My family has been cooking this dish for years.

Photo Credit

Ingredients 

• 1 1/4 pound Tri-tip(bottom sirloin/culotte) Steak
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 2 tablespoon canola or peanut oil

2 cups of cooked rice

1 bunch (~2 cups)  of watercress (use only the tender leafy parts)

Trim excess fat from the steaks and then cut each into 3/4-inch cubes. In a bowl, combine the pepper, sugar, garlic, oyster sauce, fish sauce and soy sauce. Add the beef and toss well to coat. Set aside to marinate for 20 minutes or up to 2 hours


Heat the oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add the beef and spread it out in one layer. Cook in batches, if necessary. Let the beef sear for about 1 minute, before shaking the wok or skillet to sear another side. Cook for another 30 seconds or so and shake. Cook the beef this way for about 4 minutes total, until nicely browned and medium done.


When the beef is done, pile the beef on top of the watercress and serve immediately with lots of rice.


Serves about 2-4 people


**I've been asked a few times but you can usually find watercress near by the parsley &  other herbs at most grocery stores, it's green & leafy with a peppery, tangy taste to it. This is not to be confused with water chestnuts which are completely different. The heat of the meat wilts the watercress a little and the pan sauce (from the marinade) makes the flavor of the watercress less intense... if you prefer to not use watercress, I recommend using some sort of green leafy lettuce 


Also often Mr.HG & I like to add in more vegetables with our meal, so we usually accompany this dish with some cooked carrots or sliced cucumbers.   


~Homemade Goddess 

Polenta with Corn

Hi! This is my first post, and I'm glad to be sharing what goes on in my kitchen with you. I'm traveling quite a bit over the next few weeks, so I hope to share more as the New Year gets closer. Today, it's a polenta recipe I made last week.

For years, POLENTA was a scary word to me. It sounded hard to make. In this month's Everyday Food, I spied a polenta recipe that not only looked awesome, but took less than 30 minutes from start to finish--just enough time to bake some chicken or fish while it cooked. I adapted it, and this is what I came up with!

Melt 1T. unsalted butter in a saucepan.

Add 1.5-2c. frozen corn and 1-2t. thyme (less for fresh, more for dried)

Cook for 2-3 minutes over medium/medium-high heat until the corn is warmed.

Add 1c. milk and 1.5c. water. I used whole milk for a creamier/richer texture.

Bring to a boil, and then whisk in 1/2c. finely-ground cornmeal. When you're whisking the cornmeal in, feel free to give it a good beating to get rid of any lumps that might be hanging around. This has to be done as you're adding and combining the cornmeal because it gets pretty thick, pretty quick. I used white cornmeal.

Stir constantly over medium heat until very thick, about 6 minutes.

Once thickened, remove from heat and stir in another 1T. unsalted butter and salt to taste. You can also add 1/4c. Parmesan cheese, that will make it cheesy and a little saltier.

I served this with short ribs, but it's an easy side dish for any meat. It has the consistency of mashed potatoes, and is really delicious! (In fact, I've been thinking about it all week--so I'm off to make some now).

-Chef Mary

My weekly meal plan featuring...

YOU! 

I'm so excited about all the new recipes we've all been posting that on my Meal Planning Mayhem blog this week, my meal plan is made up of recipes totally from this blog.  I've linked each recipe to each individual post, and included a grocery list.

Thanks for the amazing recipes ideas, everyone!

Meal Planning Mayhem: Weekly Meal Plan # 9

~Chef Val