Smoked Turkey Tetrazzini

The other day we decided to buy a turkey and smoked it. We have an electric smoker (this one, I believe) and we absolutely love it. LOVE love love it. My parents bought it for us for Christmas.... I think last year. We use it spring, summer, fall, winter. But you can also smoke on an outside grill, use whatever you think is best. I love this one because you just plug it in, add the soaked wood chips of your choice (we usually use applewood), some water and then put the meat in. Easy as that. I appreciate the convenience even more now that I have 2 kids. For a 12 lb turkey it takes roughly 6 hours at 225F, but keep an eye on it.

Ok, let's move on to last night. We had leftover turkey, it was 5pm, I just got back from work.... I started dishes, fed Emmett and before I knew it.... 6pm, and still no dinner started. So I said to hubs, who was either holding Emmett or entertaining our little tornado toddler, "Let's have turkey tetrazzini" to which he replied, "Huh? What is that?" And then we both started laughing and I have no idea why. Probably from a lack of sleep. So after we recovered from this hilarious moment that really wasn't hilarious at all, I explained it to him (probably in way more detail than he cared to know) and he said, "That sounds complicated..." (meaning: Oh man, we're going to end up having dinner at 10pm and I'm starving...)
True, it does sound complicated, especially if you look at the ingredients list and the instructions, but it isn't, I swear! Super easy, like any pasta or casserole.

Anyway, you can make this without smoked turkey, meaning just regular turkey, but the smoked adds a ton of flavor. It will definitely change the taste quite a bit. But I'm sure it will still taste great. There is probably a way to give it a smokey flavor without smoked meat, any thoughts?

Onions, mushrooms, garlic

Cooking the flour and butter

The sauce

Place into casserole dish

Remove from oven after bubbling and golden brown

Smoked Turkey Tetrazzini
Serving Size = at least 4

• 1/2 cup mushrooms, thinly chopped
• 1 onion, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon - 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• Pinch of cayenne
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander
• Salt/pepper to taste
• 1 smoked turkey breast, diced (maybe 3 cups and we smoked ours with applewood)
• 3/4 lb of spaghetti
• 1 1/2 - 2 cups chicken stock
• 3/4 cup heavy cream
• Parmesan (to taste, at least 1/2 cup but I'm sure I added added at least 1 cup)
• 3 tablespoons butter (unsalted), 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon butter (unsalted) plus a touch of oil (extra virgin olive oil works)
• 1/4 cup or so of Panko breadcrumbs

1. Start the pasta by bringing water to a boil with salt. Add the spaghetti and cook for about 9 minutes (I actually check it before 9 mins and undercook it just a tiny bit since it will bake in the oven). While this is cooking, start the sauce.
2. Add 1 tablespoon of butter to a large skillet with a touch of oil (EVOO), over medium heat. Saute the mushrooms and onions until soft and then add the garlic, stir until fragrant, remove to a plate. 
3. Add the 3 tablespoons of butter to the pan and let it melt, add the flour and stir until it's smooth. Cook for about 5 - 10 minutes until it starts to smell toasty (I usually turn the heat down just a bit). 
4. Over medium-low heat, add the chicken stock and stir until it thickens (this happens quickly, about 5 minutes). Add the heavy cream back in and stir. If it's too thick, add some more chicken stock. Add the veggies and turkey, stir well. Remove from heat and add Parmesan. Stir.
5. Add the spaghetti and stir well. I don't add all of the noodles at once because I'm always nervous it will be too much and it will end up dry. So you might want to add to taste and put any extra in the fridge, depending on how you like your sauce. But 3/4 lb worked for me. Taste to check the seasoning.
6. Place into a 2 1/2 quart casserole dish and top with more Parmesan cheese and Panko breadcrumbs (regular would work too).
7. Bake in a preheated oven at 350F for 30 minutes or until bubbling and brown. I turned the broiler on at the end to brown the top a bit more.

Linking to: Mangia Mondays

Crumbled Spicy Italian Turkey Sausage (for pizza)

You could use this for something other than pizza, but this is what I used it for. I froze some of it for a future pizza as well. Usually our pizza night is vegetarian night, but I wanted to change things up a bit. Exciting, I know. We're wild and crazy like that here. :) Anyway, this turned out very well. Even my toddler was munching on it and to be honest it was probably a bit too spicy for her. Big success with lots of flavor. And yes, I used ground turkey. Maybe it's just the shows I watch, but every time I see a cooking show challenge and the contestants are given ground turkey to work with, they always throw a fit because they hate it. Really???? It's just ground turkey. You can add any flavor you want to it. If I'm ever in a cooking challenge and given ground turkey, I will be one happy lady. :)

By the way, I only have about 6 more weeks until our son arrives. YIKES!!!!! I have so much to do!! I hope I get some energy to get things done because for the last few days I've been exhausted. Well, clearly I'm not too exhausted to cook or blog. I have my priorities. hehe

Spice mixture

Let the sausage cool a bit

Pizza dough, before pre-baking

Add your toppings

Pizza!

Crumbled Spicy Italian Turkey Sausage (for pizza)

Serving Size = About 2 18-inch pizzas (I froze half for another day)

Click here for my Homemade Pizza Recipe

• 2 pounds of ground turkey
• Oil
• 2 - 2 1/2 teaspoons of salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
• 4 teaspoons garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon sugar (a ton of recipes I looked at added sugar, so I went ahead and did it, but I don't think it adds much)
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fennel seeds (crush a bit)
• 1/2 - 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 1/2 teaspoons red pepper flakes (or to taste)

1. Add some oil to a saute pan and heat over medium.
2. Mix the turkey with all of the spices. Add to the hot pan and cook until done (15 mins or so), breaking apart as it cooks. Taste and make sure the seasoning is good. Adjust as necessary. 
3. Set aside so that it can cool. When the pizza is ready, crumble it over the top, bake and serve. I put half into the freezer for another day.

By the way, this recipe is easy to eye ball. I have one set of measuring spoons and they have vanished (why do I get the feeling a tiny 2-year-old might be to blame?) so I had to wing it. I did have to adjust the seasoning to taste at the end but it didn't cause any problems at all.

Linking to: Tuesday Night Supper Club, Full Plate Thursday, These Chicks Cook, Recipe Sharing Monday, Cast Party Wednesday

Breakfast Turkey Sausage Patties and the New Year!

A few more days until the New Year. I have to be honest; I'm looking forward to 2011. I don't want to be a negative Nancy, but this year seems to be full of death and disappointments. For some reason, when I have a bad year, I always believe that the next year will be much better. I'm weird like that. :) I also think we need to bring back the saying "Negative Nancy." I hope you will all work with me to achieve this goal. hehe

Here's my Top 5 from 2010

1. My baby girl's 1st birthday
2. Buying a house
3. Planting a super-huge garden
4. Making new friends
5. Starting a bloggy blog :)

And here are some plans for 2011:

1. A vacation please!
2. Expanding the house
3. Planting a not-so-super-huge garden
4. Potty training my toddler --- oh please let this happen. 
5. Wear lots of dresses, drink lots of sweet tea, stay outside all summer gardening and getting sunburns.

Tile earrings.

Cute little box.

And here are some earrings I bought recently on Etsy. An artist in California designs them to match tiles (California, Mexican and Turkish tiles). I think they are adorable and they happen to have my favorite shades of red, purple and green. Even the box they came in is adorable.

Okokok, now to the breakfast sausage. Not only is store bought sausage over-priced and full of who-knows-what, but we are a pork-free house. That means I have to find sausage without a pork intestine casing, which leaves a weird man-made casing that I'm not comfortable eating. So, I thought we could buy sausage patties instead, but why spend the money when I can make my own exactly the way I like them? I can shape a patty. Sheesh. I found a recipe online, but I did change a few things. I bumped up the ingredients a bit, and reduced the salt. The sausage turned out very flavorful and a little spicy. I made 2lbs worth, so I froze most of them for later.

Here's How:

Just take a freezer safe dish, line it with wax paper and place the patties next to each other, but not touching. Freeze until solid, remove, place into a freezer bag and freeze. I'm still going to separate them with wax paper though just to prevent any possible sticking.

Breakfast Turkey Sausage Patties
Original Recipe: Allrecipes.com
Serving Size = 7 (I had about 21 patties)

• 2 lbs ground turkey
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried sage
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1. Mix together the meat and the rest of the ingredients. Form into small patties. 
2. Cook over medium heat until done, or skip the cooking and freeze them. 

Linking to: Real Food Deals

Rye Bread and Kielbasa with Cabbage

We went grocery shopping yesterday and I went crazy buying flour. I was excited to buy rye flour (yes, excited, I know it's sad) because I found a recipe on allrecipes.com that I wanted to try. It turned out perfectly. The color was beautiful, it tasted great (not too strong), and it was a bit dense but still soft. Dinner matched the bread --- kielbasa and cabbage. I was hesitant to try the recipe because I thought it would lack flavor, but it was actually very flavorful. 

Rye Bread Recipe

Original Recipe: Knowell, Allrecipes

Serving Size = 1 - 1 1/2 lb loaf

• 1 1/8 cups water
• 2 tablespoons molasses
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups rye flour
• 3 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3/4 teaspoon caraway seed
• 2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

1. Place the ingredients into the bread machine, in the order recommended by the manufacturer.
2. Select Basic cycle and press start.

Chop up the veggies while the meat is browning.

 Kielbasa and Cabbage Recipe
Original Recipe By: Kitkaty, Allrecipes
Serving Size = 3 - 4

• 1/4 cup water (I added 1/4 more)
• 1/2 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 teaspoons garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
• 1/2 head or so of cabbage, cut into small pieces
• 14oz Polish kielbasa (I used Turkey kielbasa)
• 2 -3 small potatoes, peeled and cut into small slices

1. In a large skillet, add some oil and saute the kielbasa over medium heat until lightly browned. Remove and set aside.
2. Add the onion and potatoes to the skillet and cook for about 3 minutes, add the garlic and cook until just fragrant. Add the water sugar, red pepper flakes, salt and caraway seeds. Stir to break apart any flavor left on the bottom of the pan, add the cabbage and gently stir. Cover and cook for 10-15 minutes (I had to add an additional 1/4 cup of water).
3. When done, add the kielbasa to the pan, cover and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes.
4. Serve hot.

*Note: I forgot the potatoes so I cooked them in a separate pan and added them in the last 15 minutes of cooking. Oops. :)

Linking to: Foodie Friday, Food on Fridays, Friday Potluck