Turkey Stuffin' Meatloaf

I found this recipe in Rachael Ray's Yum-O recipe book. If you know Rachael Ray, then you'll know that the Yum-O recipes are meals specially made for kids. Besides being kid approved they're suppose to be healthy as well which is always a bonus in my book. I've really been pleasantly surprised with the recipes in this book. Her food always looks really good and simple, but sometimes almost so simple that I wonder if it has much flavor, if that makes sense. That and the fact that she tends to use ingredients that I just never would buy. Although most of these recipes included things that I don't usually use, I thought I would still give it a try. This specific recipe uses ground turkey which I've only used two times prior. The first time turned out great, the second time on the other hand was a complete failure, so much so that I had to throw the whole meal out because I couldn't even gag it down. I'm not really sure why the difference all I knew was that I didn't feel like trying it ever again..until now, and thank goodness this turned out really good. The best part of this recipe is that it is one of her rollover meals, meaning that you cook enough for leftovers to make another meal the following day. So if all works out tomorrows dinner will be as good as tonight's:)


2 T EVOO- extra virgin olive oil-or just regular veg. oil
6 T. butter
1 large onion
5-6 celery ribs from the heart, leaves included (I always buy just the celery hearts, it's the best part of the celery, and the leaves have the most flavor)
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper
1 16 oz stuffing cubes such as Pepperidge Farm (I couldn't find these so used corn bread stove top, but use whichever you can find or like best)
2 T. poultry seasoning- I didn't use this since I used stove top, so don't feel like you can't make it without using this
6 c. chicken stock (I just use chicken bouillon granules and water to make stock)
3 lbs. ground turkey-I think I used Tyson's Honeysuckle
2 eggs

Melt butter with oil and saute onions, celery, and bay leaf. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until tender, about 10 minutes. Add stuffing cubes and 4 c. stock (if using stove top I would cut this down to 2 1/2-3 c. stock.) Discard bay leaf. Place in bowl and let cool. Add turkey and eggs. Mix until incorporated with stuffing. Cook in two well greased meat loaf pans. Drizzle with EVOO or if your like me and ran out I just put a little butter on top just so it doesn't try out. Cook at 400 for 45 minutes or until done. For gravy melt 4 T. butter in a small saucepan. Whisk in 1/4 c. of flour and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add 2 c. chicken stock and cook another 6-7 minutes until thickened. The second meatloaf and half the gravy will be used for tomorrows dinner, otherwise I guess you get meat loaf for 2 days.

Tangy Barbecue Chicken

This is another quick and easy crock pot recipe. This recipe was actually suggested to go over a baked potato, but I chose to make it a sandwich and I'm sure there's plenty of other ways to eat it as well. I hope you enjoy this super easy twist on barbecue chicken.

4-5 chicken breasts

12 oz bottle barbecue sauce (I use Famous Dave's)

1/2 c. Italian dressing or anything similar I used a sundried tomato dressing and it turned out great

1/4 c. brown sugar

2 T. worcestershire sauce

Combine barbecue sauce, dressing, brown sugar, and worcestershire and pour over chicken in crock pot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours of high for 3-4. I threw my chicken in frozen and cooked on low for about 8 hours. I cut this recipe in half and had enough for about 6 sandwiches.

Crunchy Chicken Casserole #2

Just like crock pot meals, you can always use a new casserole recipe. This is another recipe I found on Recipe Zaar. The original recipe called for mayo, but the thought of mayo in a casserole grosses me out, and I can actually say that because I've tried it once. I'm sorry if I offend anyone with this comment, but mayo in a casserole is just wrong. Dips, dressings, and sandwiches yes, casseroles no; but that's just my opinion. Anyway for those of you who like mayo in casseroles please don't let it stop you from trying this recipe. I have to admit, my husband didn't love this one the first time I made it, I think the water chestnuts were a little different for him and like a lot of men he wants only meat and potatoes. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with meat and potatoes, but I like a little more variety than that. Anyway if your willing to take the risk, this is a really good casserole if your like water chestnuts:)

2 c. chicken, cooked, and cut into bite size pieces (I prefer to cook my chicken in a crock pot, but I've also heard of people baking all the chicken they're going to use for the week and then freezing it, either way works great)
1 c. sliced celery
1/2 onion chopped
2-3 Tb. butter
2 c. cooked rice
1 can cream of chicken
1 can cream of mushroom ( I've even used cream of celery which is really good as well)
1/2 c. sliced almonds
1 can sliced water chestnuts, chopped so less noticeable for those who are not fans:)
3/4 c. crushed corn flakes

Saute onions and celery in 1 Tb. butter. In greased 9x13 pan combine soups, rice, almonds, water chestnuts, and sauted onions and celery. Melt remaining 2 Tb. butter and mix in corn flakes. Sprinkle corn flakes over top and cook uncovered for 30 minutes at 350.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

I found this recipe on recipe zaar along with many of the recipes I do. Most of you have probably heard of this website, if not I highly recommend it. I can't say the ratings are fool proof, because I have tried many that are 5 star that aren't really 5 star in my book, and visa versa. I guess it's just a difference in taste buds. Speaking of which I have had no feed back on any of these recipes and I know some of you have tried them!:) I really want your opinions good or bad. So if you have tried any of them please write back and let me know what you thought!...Awkward... I am also trying to be better about taking pictures because I know it helps in deciding to make it or not. Anyway.. these meatballs turned out really yummy..even Parker enjoyed them, so they are definitely kid friendly:D. I hope you enjoy them as much as we did.











Meatballs
1 lb ground beef
1 t. worcestershire
3 T bread crumbs
oregano
1 egg lightly beaten
salt and pepper
garlic powder

Sauce
1 T veg. oil
small onion minced
3/4 c. brown sugar
2 T. white vinegar
1 t. lemon juice
1 c. ketchup
2 T. soy sauce

Mix egg with seasonings and bread crumbs (don't worry about it being perfect, honestly there was a couple things I didn't have enough of and they still turned out great.) Add ground beef and mix thoroughly, just like meat loaf. If your grossed out with hamburger, or just don't feel like getting it all over you like me, I used a fork to mix it and it turned out fine. Shape into 1 inch balls. Again if your grossed out with the hamburger an ice cream scoop helps, but you still have to round them a little bit. The next part I changed from the original, I chose to bake the meatballs instead of frying them. I feel it's much easier and they cook more evenly. So bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes.
Then for the sauce, start with sauteing the onions in veg oil until translucent. Then add remaining ingredients and simmer for 20 minutes. Then for my convenience I chose to stick the meatballs and sauce in the crock pot and cooked them on low for 4-5 hours. Otherwise you can combine the meatballs with the sauce and let them simmer for 1 hour. Serve over rice or noodles..soo yummy!

Braided Chicken Crescent

Before you look at all the pictures and assume this is a hard recipe let me tell you it's actually super easy and turns out looking and tasting really good. The original of this recipe had a lot of crazy things in it that didn't seem appealing to me at all; like mayo, craisins, dill, and almonds. The combination of these just didn't appeal to me and my family's taste buds so I came up with this recipe. I hope you enjoy the changes!

2 c. chicken, cooked and diced
1 c. finely chopped broccoli
1 red bell pepper chopped
1/4 c. minced onion
1 minced garlic clove
1 1/2-2 cans cream of chicken
2 pkgs. refrigerated crescent rolls
1 egg white beaten

Unroll crescent rolls on a greased baking sheet into a large rectangle, pinching seems to form single sheet of dough. Combine first 6 ingredients. Add only enough cream of chicken to make moist, not soupy. Spread chicken down the center of crescents length wise. On longest sides cut one inch strips towards the middle and chicken mixture. Fold strips over chicken mixture alternating strips from each side. Brush with egg white. Bake at 375 for 25 minutes of until browned on top. Ok so I know that probably sounded like jibberish so I hope these pictures help the confusion.

Crescent rolls in one long sheet

Chicken mixture poured down the center-I went a little crazy on the broccoli so it's kind of piled on there

Sides cut in 1 inch strips and braided over chicken mixture

Voila! Yes I realize half of it is gone my husband had to go to work, but you get the point.

Fried Rice

So some people consider fried rice as just a side, but for me I make it for a main dish fairly regularly, usually to use up left over ham. The recipe I did last night was not my usual recipe, it called for sausage instead and few other things I don't typically cook with. Honestly I liked the change, but Frank thought it tasted funny. It had bean sprouts in it which I think gave off kind of a different flavor. I think next time I might use my usual recipe and just try sausage instead of ham for a change. So instead of giving the recipe I did last night I'll give you my usual Ham Fried Rice recipe.

1 c. minced carrots
2-3 T. cooking oil
2-3 eggs scrambled
3 c. rice, cooked and cold- I have used warm rice it just tends to want to clump together a little but it's really not a big deal
1 c. ham, cubed
1 small can sliced water chestnuts, chopped
1 c. frozen petite peas
3-4 T. soy sauce


Saute carrots until cooked to your liking (I leave them a little crunchy.) Add ham, eggs, and then cook on medium high heat until eggs are completely cooked. Add remaining ingredients and cook until completely cooked through. This is kind of a no fail recipe. I think I kind of do it a little different every time so really just do whatever works for you, add whatever you have or like. If you check out ourbestbites.com she has a good fried rice recipe but with some different chicken recipes you can do with it instead of ham.

Chicken Ole

It's been awhile since I've posted. I took a short vacation on cooking after having my wisdom teeth removed last Thursday. It really wasn't too bad, I lucked out only having two upper wisdom teeth which are the easiest to recover from, so here I am back to posting new recipes. I actually kind of made up what I made tonight. I combined two different recipes and decided I like the original better..shocker, but you don't know until you try it right? Mostly it's called I have a sick kid who I didn't feel like dragging to the store so you make do with what you got on days like that. Anyway so I'll give you the original recipe that I liked better and once again it's a crock pot recipe. I didn't realize I had so many crock pot recipes until I started this blog. I kind of went through a faze of all crock pot cooking when Parker was younger because it was all I could manage to do. Anyway without further babbling here's the recipe for Chicken Ole.

3-4 chicken breast, cooked and cubed (to be honest I only use 2 because I'm a tight wad like that but if you want lot's of chicken I would go with 3 or 4)
1 can cream of chicken
1 can cream of mushroom
1 T grated onion
1 c cheese
1/2 jar Green Chili Salsa-just kind of eye it, it gives a little spice so if you want less spice use less
10-12 corn tortillas

Mix soups, onion, cheese and salsa. Spray bottom of crock pot. Start by layering using 3-4 tortillas torn into fourths, sprinkle half of chicken, then half of soup mixture. Repeat layers. Cook on low for 4-5 hours. If you don't half corn tortillas you can go for the more casserole option I did last night just using egg noodles instead of tortillas, I think it was just missing a little substance which probably would help if I used cheese. I thought about adding frozen corn but forgot or if your really daring maybe some black beans which I had none of. Also if you like sour cream try swapping out the cream of mushroom for sour cream instead. I also threw on buttered bread crumbs. Bake at 375 for 20 minutes, 5 minutes uncovered.