Apple Walnut Turnovers

Since I had some extra dough left over from mini-pot pie madness, I decided to put it to good experimental use. What ensued became Apple Walnut Turnovers.

Ingredients:

• 6ish T margarine
• 4ish T ground cinnamon
• 3ish T white sugar (although brown would be neat...would need more though)
• Sprinkle of nutmeg
• Sprinkle of ground cloves
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• About 1/2 C toasted crushed walnuts w/ a few sprinkles of sugar and cinnamon of its own
• 1 medium apple (gala in this case) peeled and chopped
• 3 T apple butter (only the best variety, thanks, Deav fam)
  
• About 3/4ths a pie crust
• 1 egg, beaten

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 375
2. Put chopped walnuts in a small bowl, spray with a little pam or coat with some vegetable oil, then mix with some sugar and cinnamon
3. Toast walnutsMelt the butter in the microwave for about 20 seconds
4. Mix in sugar/spices
5. Peel/chop apple, then mix into butter/sugar/spices mixture
6. Add walnuts to apple mixture
7. Blend about 1 T melted margarine and 1 tsp white sugar into pie crust dough, then split in half
8. Put a layer of pie crust in the bottom of a small baking pan
9. Beat 1 egg then brush some over bottom layer of pie crust
10. Spread apple butter
    
11. Add filling
12. Put top layer of pie crust on top, pinch together, then brush with remainder of beaten egg mixture
13. Bake on 375 for about 10-15 min or until golden brown

Recommendations for Future Self/Others:

• Mix in some caramel
• Don't toast the walnuts for very long!
• Make the dough yourself (a sweeter variety than what was used)
• A la mode is never a bad idea for desserts!
  

Chicken Pot Pow...in your face

Exactly one week ago, I went over to Mattelina's house for some homemade chicken pot pie and some other wonderfulness. It was delicious. I'd been meaning to make it for a long time, but, as usual, was scared that I'd F it up. After witnessing it being made, I felt more assured...and after having it at their house, I began slightly obsessed and have been thinking about trying it out ever since.

So, it took me just one week to cave. From there, I went from inspiration to creation. This recipe is a hybrid of many I have read, including Mattelina's. Also, I'd like to share a few mistakes for you to avoid, as these caused the making of this goodness to take hours rather than about 1 as it should (including cooking).

Avoid...

1. Not having all of the ingredients ready to go (thus not having to go to the grocery store mid-creation)
   
2. Deciding to toss in another ingredient that should've been made at the same time as most of the rest
3. Forgetting to defrost the frozen pie crusts
4. Thinking you know how to judge cutting a pie crust to make it fit
5. Etc.

Warning: Most of the ingredients/directions are approximations, but just add as much as you want and test it out as you go to perfect. Also, I made a pot pie that could probably serve about 3 people...pretty small just in case it didn't turn out how I wanted. This was an experiment gone right.

Ingredients:

• 3-4 T butter/margarine
• 1/2 small white onion, chopped
• 1 parsnip, peeled and chopped
• 1 medium sized potato, peeled and chopped into small pieces
• 5 carrot sticks, chopped (I got pre-cut sticks b/c it was cheap and I didn't need much!)
• About an oz or so of scallions, chopped
• SMALL bunch of broccoli, chopped (See! I put some in, Deavo!)
• As many small pulled pieces of chicken from a ready made rotisserie chicken as you want (leftovers are always good)
• 3/4ths a can condensed cream of chicken soup w/ herbs
• 1/2 can of chicken gravy (or just make it yourself...more time)
• 1/4th can of chicken broth (this was low sodium...probably a good call considering the salt already in the condensed soup and gravy)
• A splash of light cream
• About 1/3rd cup milk (skim in this case)
• 2 pie crusts (although making it yourself is GOOD)
• 1 egg, beaten
• Sea salt, ground black pepper, white pepper, parsley, and thyme to taste

Directions:

Bottom Crust:

1. Pre-heat oven to 450
2. Put bottom layer of pie crust in bottom of a baking or casserole pan
3. Beat the egg in a small bowl, then brush some over bottom pie crust
4. Bake at 450 for about 8 minutes

Filling:

1. Melt butter in bottom of pot
2. Chop all vegetables
3. Cook onions, parsnips, carrots, potatoes, and scallions in the butter with a few dashes of salt/pepper for about 4-5 minutes on medium heat
4. Add condensed soup, gravy, chicken broth, light cream, and milk and boil for another few minutes until potatoes are done and sauce is at desired consistency (if you want it thicker, add more condensed soup/gravy; thinner, add more broth/milk...you do want it a little on the thinner side because it'll cook more in the oven)
5. Toss in the broccoli (I like to do this later b/c I hate overcooked broccoli)
6. Sprinkle in a few pinches of thyme, ground black pepper/white pepper/salt to taste
7. When bottom pie layer is finished, add in the filling
8. Reduce oven temperature to 400 degrees
9. Cover with top layer of pie crust and try to pinch together pie seams
10. Brush top layer of pie crust with remainder of beaten egg
11. Bake at 400 for about 10 minutes or until golden brown
12. Take pictures as it cools
13. Post on own blog
14. Tell me

Pesto Cheese Tortellini and Shrimp Bake

Ingredients:

• 2 C Creamy Pesto Parmesan Sauce (as described in previous recipe)
• 1/2 lb cheese tortellini
• 1/4 lb frozen pre-cooked shrimp (or more if you'd like)
• 1 C shredded mozzarella
• 1/4 C parmesan cheese
• Sprinkle black pepper
• Sprinkle parsley

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 400
2. Make the tortellini
3. De-thaw shrimp (put in strainer and run cold water over them for a few minutes)
4. In a baking pan or casserole dish, combine tortellini, shrimp, and sauce
5. Add mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese on top
6. Bake for about 15-20 minutes or until cheese on top is melted
7. Sprinkle black pepper and parsley on top

Turkey and Cheese Pinwheels

I just came up with this idea recently and it's really easy...I pretty much figured anything with melted cheese as a main ingredient has to be good, and again I was correct.

Ingredients:

• Slice or 2 of turkey lunchmeat (or some other kind, if you prefer)
• Slice or 2 of american cheese (or other version)
• 1 tortilla (taco size is fine)
  

Directions:

1. On the tortilla, place slices of cheese and meat *(before doing so, I like to spread some drops of water over the tortilla and pop it in the microwave for about 15 seconds to steam it and get it to be more pliable)
   
2. Roll up
3. Grill in george foreman for about 1-2 minutes or until melty
4. Cut into small "pinwheel" slices
5. The end

Turkey Meatloaf in Your Face

Growing up, I felt like I was probably the only kid who secretly actually liked meatloaf. When I decided to stop eating red meat, my meatloaf days were over. Until, of course, school lunches at the school where I taught, which made all kinds of things with turkey, luckily for me. However, as I am no longer there, neither is the turkey meatloaf. I was always kind of scared to try making it as there's usually a long list of spices and measurements of various ingredients that come with the territory, but I had extra ground turkey/sausage that was uncooked left over from when I made lasagna, so figured now was as good a time as any to test it out.

As a warning, my measurements are very loose. Basically, to make meatloaf, you just need ground meat, some seasonings, and to put it into a baking pan and bake it for a while. The rest of the instructions are usually pretty variable from recipe to recipe, as I found out after extensive research on the matter.

Alas, here's what I did, and I was very happy with the results.

Ingredients:

• About 1/2 lb ground turkey
• About 1/2 lb ground turkey sausage
• 1 small white onion, chopped
• About 8 crackers broken up (I used "Town House Light Buttery Crackers"...sounded good)
• About 1/2 an egg whisked
• 2 slices of potato bread broken into small pieces
• About 1/2 cup milk (or cream...undoubtedly better)
• About 1 tsp garlic paste
• About 1 tsp brown mustard
• About 2-3 tbps dry onion soup mix (lipton is really good)
  
• A few dashes of ground black pepper
• A few dashes of sea salt
• A few dashes of ground white pepper (not integral)
• A few dashes of cayenne pepper
• About 1 T "italian spices" (there are all sorts of brands of this stuff)
• About 2 T italian style bread crumbs (separated into 1 T and 1 T)
• About 1/2 cup tomato sauce (I used the kind I wrote about on an earlier blog)
• Dash of worchestershire sauce (prob unnecessary)
• Dash of "gravy master" seasoning and browning sauce (prob unnecessary)
• That's about it, but feel free to add or subtract as you please

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 375
2. Mix all the above mentioned ingredients together EXCEPT for the 1 T italian style bread crumbs, 2 slices of bread, and milk/cream
3. Dip the slices of bread in the milk/cream in a bowl, wring out, then break into small pieces as you toss into the rest of the mixture
4. Still holding aside the extra bread crumbs, mix the rest of the meatloaf mix. If it seems too wet (not easily forming and sticking in a loaf-like shape on its own), add more small pieces of dry bread or crushed up crackers. If it seems too dry, add more of the whisked egg and/or milk/cream)
5. Mold into a loaf-like shape and drop (or place, your choice here) into a loaf baking pan
   
6. Sprinkle remaining bread crumbs on top
7. Bake that business for about 45-60 min, checking periodically (should not be pink inside and should also not be a rock)
8. Consume.

Side Recommendations:

• Mashed Potatoes (follow previous blog recipe)
• Gravy (I used this "serv-a-gravy" brown gravy mix..."meatless parve!" Somehow that shiz is really good...trust)
  

Lasagna, Garfield Style

I'm not exactly sure what did it, but I was recently struck with the compulsion to make lasagna. I've never done it before, mostly because I had heard that it's somewhat difficult to do. That didn't sound fun. But I like lasagna, and decided I wanted some...and so a challenge was born.

One slight problem: I don't usually eat red meat. Solution: ground turkey...check. Here we go.

Ingredients:

• Preferably a batch of freshly made tomato sauce (as described in an earlier post)...possibly even a batch and a half

• 1 package of ground turkey meat (I don't eat turkey because it's leaner, and tend to therefore go for packages NOT labeled "lean"...embrace the fat)

• 1 package of italian turkey sausage (I used Shady Brook Farm brand...only one I saw)

• 1 box of lasagna noodles (mine were some special kind that are ready to go...don't need to be boiled first...still found in the dry pasta section)

• A few handfuls of fresh basil, chopped (so get chopping)

• 1 small white onion, chopped

• 1.5 pints part skim ricotta cheese (although made w/ whole milk is probably even better)
• 3 large eggs
  

• 1.5 packages shredded mozzarella cheese

• About 1/2 cup parmesan cheese

• About 3 or so tbsps garlic paste

• Sea salt or kosher salt (to taste)

• Ground black pepper and/or ground white pepper (to taste)

• A few tbsps of olive oil

• About 2 tbsps of dried parsley flakes

• Dash of oregano

Directions:

Meat:

1. In a food processor (probably an unnecessary step but I wanted to try it!), combine the ground turkey with the turkey sausages and 1 small chopped onion
2. Mix in few pinches of salt/pepper
3. In a large skillet, put about 2-3 tbsps of olive oil (just enough to coat the bottom of the pan) and put on medium heat
4. After about 1 minute, add about 1-2 tbsps of garlic paste and simmer for 30 seconds
5. Add the turkey meat
6. Brown the meat (a small amount of redness remaining is okay because the lasagna will bake in the oven, too)
7. Add the turkey meat to the tomato sauce and mix

The Cheese:

1. In a large bowl, mix the ricotta, parmesan cheese, about 1 package of the mozzarella cheese, 3 large eggs, parsley flakes, oregano, and about 1 handful of chopped fresh basil
2. Preheat the oven to 375

The Lasagna Itself:

1. In about a 9" by 13" pan, coat the bottom with a layer of the meat sauce
2. Add a layer of the noodles (box instructions are pretty good here...but again, since these were some sort of special noodles, I didn't need to cook them first, otherwise boil them first before layering)
3. Add a layer of the cheese mixture
4. Mix on top of that another layer of meat sauce
5. Another layer of noodle time
6. Another layer of cheese time
7. Another layer of sauce time
8. Repeat last 3 steps until you run out of noodle layers to add
9. Top with meat sauce and the rest of the mozzarella cheese
10. Loosely cover with foil, but spray the underside with cooking spray to avoid the cheese sticking to the foil
11. Bake at 375 for about 25 minutes
12. Take off the foil and continue to bake for an additional 10-15 minutes
13. After baking, let sit for about 5 minutes before cutting

This may have been my first try at lasagna, but I definitely think that if you follow the directions above you won't be disappointed!