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!

Awesome Mashed Potatoes

Today I was helping to prep for Xmas dinner tomorrow at my house, and volunteered to try my hand at making mashed potatoes. This is probably my favorite side dish, or dish for that matter when it comes to Thanksgiving/Xmas dinner, as I'm not the hugest turkey fan. Anyway, a while ago, I had the idea of using broth in place of water when boiling things, such as potatoes or rice. When I decided to make the mashed potatoes, I tested this idea out. The rest is mashed potatoes history. No wars were fought.

Ingredients:

1. 1 bag of russet potatoes (about 10)
2. 1-2 C turkey or vegetable broth
3. 1-3 C of cold water
4. 4 tbsps margarine or butter
5. 1/2 C milk
6. 1/2 C cream
7. 1 tsp sea salt
8. Ground black pepper to taste
9. Ground white pepper to taste
10. Additional sea salt to taste

Directions:

1. Peel the potatoes, cut up into about 1 inch cubes
2. Place cut up potatoes in a pot of the broth, (if the broth does not fully cover the potatoes, pour in enough cold water to just cover them)
3. Add about 1 tsp sea salt to water/broth
   
4. Bring potatoes just to a boil, then simmer for about 15 minutes or until a knife can pierce the potatoes and be removed easily
5. Remove potatoes from heat and drain, saving the remaining broth
   
6. Place potatoes back into the pot without the broth and simmer for about 2 minutes, being careful not to burn them
7. Separately, simmer about 1 tbps margarine in bottom of a small pot, then add milk and cream; keep on medium low heat
8. Put potatoes into a blender and add 3 tbsps or more of margarine
9. Blend potatoes on low for about 1 minute
10. Add milk/cream/butter mixture, blend for about 30 seconds
11. Add small increments of reserved broth and blend to desired consistency

=awesome

Other possible additions:

• Garlic: add garlic to butter in small pot and simmer for a couple minutes before adding milk and cream

• Shredded cheddar cheese: when potatoes are still hot, add cheese to pot before blending

• Chives: add while blending

In other news, I apologize for the lack of a picture. Perhaps I will post it tomorrow.

Banana Peach Strawberry Smoothie

Ingredients:

• 1 banana
  
• A bunch of frozen strawberries
• Peach yogurt
• Splash of milk (skim, in this case)

Directions:

1. Cut up fruit
2. Blend ingredients in blender of sorts
3. Drink

Definitely worth checking out!

Teriyaki Salmon, Shrimp, and Vegetables Bake

I've been looking at the frozen salmon filets in my freezer for a while and trying to decide what to do with them. I also have been on an (unsuccessful) quest to find "soyaki" sauce. It may only be at Trader Joes. Anyway, I picked up some Soy Vey "Very Very Teriyaki" and decided to test it out.

And yes, with vegetables.

Ingredients:

• However many filets of salmon you want (defrosted)
• However many shrimp you want (defrosted, deveined/tail-off)
  
• However many and whatever kind of vegetables you want (I chose broccoli, halved cherry tomatoes, diced onions, yellow squash, and zucchini)
• Enough teriyaki sauce to coat it all

Directions:

1. Preheat oven (I did to 400)
   
2. Dice up your vegetables as you see fit
3. Poke holes in salmon with fork
4. Marinade salmon and vegetables in teriyaki sauce for about 10 minutes or more (I poured all of the above into a ziplock bag, turned around a few times to coat, and then let sit)
5. Pour mixture into a baking pan
6. Cover baking pan (I used tin foil...you may or may not)
7. Bake for about 20-25 minutes, checking and basting occasionally as you see fit

Voila! You have a beautiful meal (and pretty fantastic, too).