Tag Archives: turkey

Multiple Christmas Dinners

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Christmas probably seems like a long time ago for you, but for Mr. J and I, it was a whirlwind and feels like it just happened. We really tried not to wish Christmas away while awaiting our closing date and moving day. Christmas is a multi-day, multi-state, multi-family celebration for Mr. J and me. We coordinate our travel plans to spend time with his family in Maine and with my family in Greater Boston. It’s so fun, quite tiring, and there’s many meals. Here’s my recap of how those days were enjoyed through the meals.

At my family’s holiday, we are all about the traditional foods year after year. Apparently we cannot (or will not) break a few of these food traditions. On Christmas eve the R family has soup (clam chowder)
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My dad madee an amazing antipasto salad. He’s not really the cook in our family so we were impressed!
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My mum made the cutest cheese ball I’ve ever seen.
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On Christmas morning, we have coffee and a cheesecake-like coffee cake while we start gifts. It had apricot jelly and almonds on it.
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During a gift break, we have brunch with this casserole assembled the night before. It has rice, ham, cheese, eggs, and asparagus. It’s creamy and delicious.
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Christmas dinner was a surprise this year. Turducken! I was sooo excited to try it. We weren’t overly impressed and I think their suggested cooking time was way too much.
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We weren’t sure it would feed the 7 adults attending so we had a few heftier sides like this awesome shrimp dish (just shrimp, butter, and ritz).
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We had a Yule Log since it’s Dad’s favorite.
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In Maine Mrs. S recreated my failed apple bacon stuffed French toast. Amazing. It was so thick, sticky, and had plenty of crunchy bacon. I loved it and I knew somebody else could do it right.
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For lunch/dinner we had a cool ramen and cabbage salad. I’ve never had one with grapes and I loved it.
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We had some crockpot dishes that were good for feasting throughout the afternoon. The turkey meatballs we delicious.
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I wish I got a shot of the cake balls. I mean I ate enough of them there really wasn’t an excuse not to get a photo.

Christmas was really fun and we are always so grateful to make it to both families.

Zesty Mac & Cheese

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Last year for my birthday I made Mexican Mac & Cheese and it was such a hit at the taste-off. That was wayyy too much mac and cheese so I took a break from any for awhile. If you need a non-holiday meal this is perfect!
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This one is special. It isn’t traditional which is also why it is so good. Ohh I love it…everyone else does too.

Ingredients:

½ pound elbow macaroni
⅓ pound ground turkey
3 tbs taco seasoning
½ cup butter
2 tbs flour
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded or grated
¾ cup milk
1 egg yolk
1 roasted red pepper
⅓ cup Monterrey jack cheese
¼ cup salsa
1 cup tortilla chips, crumbled

Directions:

Brown the ground turkey with taco seasoning while water is boiling for the pasta.
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Melt butter over medium low heat and add flour to get a roux going.
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Slowly add milk stirring constantly until well incorporated.
Turn to low and add cheese.
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When pasta is just barely soft, remove from the water and add it to a baking dish. Mix the egg yolk in and then the cheese sauce.
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Add ground turkey, roasted red peppers, remaining cheese and mix. Dot with salsa but don’t mix salsa through.
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Top with crumbled tortilla chips and bake for 20 minutes at 375 degrees.
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This mac and cheese is creamy and has really great flavor. I sprinkle more taco seasoning on the top before topping with chips. It’s kind of a casserole and it is such a winner.
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Green onions would be good and jalapenos if you wanted some spice. I think I threw in some leftover black beans once for color.

I use these smart choice noodles. They only come in 3 shapes (elbows, penne, & rotini) but they’re better than regular dried pasta since wheat pasta just isn’t the same.
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A Little Sweet & A Little Sour

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I know after making my own turkey meatballs I said I should be making them instead of buying them, but I’m crazy at work for another 25 days. I can’t wait to rejoin life afterwards!
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Anywho, I made Sweet and Sour Meatballs using turkey meatballs from Trader Joe’s. I’ve made this before but it has been awhile.

Ingredients

1 can pineapple chunks
¼ cup brown sugar
3 tbs soy sauce
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
6 meatballs
½ green pepper, chopped
½ orange pepper, chopped
1 cup rice

Directions:

Bring pineapple chunks, some liquid, brown sugar, and soy sauce to a rolling boil for 2 minutes.
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Add red pepper flakes and meatballs before lowering heat to medium low.
Prepare rice.
Add peppers to meatballs and sauce for the last 2 minutes of cooking.
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How easy?! I didn’t have any egg noodles but it turns out Mr. J thought he’d like it better over rice. I also didn’t have any rice but I did have aborio. Risotto with sweet and sour meatballs turned out to be a success!

I had “natural” pineapple chunks and I liked it much better than regular canned pineapple. It’s definitely as close to fresh as you can get.

Itsa meatball!

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I made meatballs for the first time ever. Well, not never, but I made them by myself for the first time. I can’t eat red meat so if I want meatballs, they have to be turkey and it usually means I eat them at home after buying them.

When I was little I remember making meatballs. My mum would put all the ingredients into a bowl and dad would let us help roll and cook them. I think as a kid I probably thought she was “letting us help” but it was probably more that she doesn’t like to handle meat with her hands because of the “ick” factor.

We would get some cooking and then make a big one with all the remaining mix and giggle relentlessly before continue to roll them.

Even after buying some frozen turkey meatballs at Trader Joe’s (theirs are the best!). I decided to make some and they were AMAZING, if I do say so myself. This is a prime example of a simple meal, made with really great ingredients, and letting them speak for themselves.

Ingredients

¾ pound ground turkey
2 links sweet Italian sausage
1 egg
1 cup bread crumbs
½ cup milk
2 tbs parsley
2 tbs minced garlic
2 tbs Parmesan cheese
½ cup red wine
salt & pepper

Directions

Remove sausage from casing.
Mix bread crumbs and milk. Let sit a minute.
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Combine ground turkey, sausage, egg, parsley, garlic, Parmesan, wine, salt and pepper. Add breadcrumb mix and combine well.
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Form into balls depending on your size preference. I went with larger ones.
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Heavily oil a baking sheet.
Bake 30 minutes at 375 degrees, turning every 10-15 minutes to evenly brown.
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I was so happy with these! I thought sausage would provide enough fat for moist meatballs instead of proscuitto or bacon, but those would be good too. I was super diligent about turning them to ensure that they cooked evenly. I could have fried them but baking them was way easier.

I’ll continue to purchase them but they weren’t a big deal to make myself. The wine was a HUGE flavor enhancement. A few glug glug glugs of a pinot noir that was already open definitely added some depth of flavor.

They smelled simply amazing! Have you met my sous-chef Windsor? He was standing by, under my feet in our tiny kitchen as usual. I think he was super excited to see what delicious item was coming out of the oven! Even with that cute face he still doesn’t get anything I make.
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Part of my inspiration to make some came from another blog I love We Are Not Martha. Theirs were featuring prosciutto and were pan fried. I literally read the recipe and thought, ooo red wine would be good with these as I channeled my wine-loving college roommates as inspiration. Parsley isn’t my favorite so I just used dried parsley. Rosemary would be good.

I served these with a basic red sauce and spaghetti. I thought my meatballs were good enough and deserved to shine! I’m so proud!
meatball_plate_290_200I didn’t make a ton of meatballs but now that I know this recipe is a winner I’m sure I’ll make more and freeze them. I will probably also make some cute little ones to freeze for appetizers or soup. They aren’t that much effort and I keep thinking about all the exciting additions! Spinach very finely chopped would be good, sun dried tomatoes, maybe a little nugget of mozzarella? Mmmm the possibilities are endless. I also love sweet & sour meatballs which would definitely highlight these guys.