Turkey Club Panini with Tomato Spice Mayo

In this case, the motive was the Tomato Spice Jam full up on tomato, cane sugar, lemon zest and juice, cinnamon, nutmeg and natural pectin that we bought from Pinehold Gardens.

It's sweet but sultry, with that wisp of nutmeg drawing you in.

Melissa and I thought it would be perfect on a panini.

We mixed it with a little bit of mayo and begged it to play nice with some turkey, bacon, sharp cheddar cheese and avocado. And sandwiched between slices of hearty sourdough, the ingredients brought a mix of tastes: sour, sweet, creamy, sharp.

If you don't have a jar of tomato spice jam hanging around, you can always make your own. It's something we might add when next we can.



Turkey Club Panini with Tomato Spice Mayo
2 servings

1/8 cup mayo
1/8 cup tomato spice jam
4 slices sourdough bread
1 tablespoon butter
1/3 pound turkey breast, sliced
sharp cheddar cheese
4 slices bacon, cooked
1/2 avocado, sliced

1. Combine the mayo and spice tomato jam.

2. In a microwave or on the stovetop, cook the bacon.

3. Butter the four slices of bread and layer on the tomato spice mayo, turkey, cheddar, bacon and avocado on a slice and cover with another slice.

4. Place the two sandwiches on a griddle over medium heat (or on a panini press) and cook until golden brown, about 5 to 7 minutes. Flip over and do the same for the other side.

Southwest Turkey Sliders

Pinterest was again the inspiration for our meal planning when Melissa saw a photo of Turkey and Avocado Sliders.

It got her to think about how we could make our own turkey sliders recipe. And that's when things sort of fell into place.

We had fallen in love with Cybros: The Sprouted Bakehouse in Waukesha recently. The 7-grain dinner rolls would serve as our delivery vessel. And, around the same time, Cabot Cheese was kind enough to send us some of their cheese, and we thought their chipotle cheddar would work wonderfully in a Southwest sliders recipe.

We topped it off with some snack crackers for a bit of a texture variation, 1 egg for maximum binding effect and Penzeys toasted minced onions for a flavor punch.

The result: A juicy, spicy but well-rounded turkey slider, with a hearty 7-grain roll, creaminess from the avocado, and topped off with the chipotle cheddar.

Southwest Turkey Sliders
makes 8 to 10

1 1/4 pound ground turkey
8 to 10 crushed snack crackers
2 tablespoons ketchup
1 egg
dashes of hot sauce
dashes of Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoons toasted minced onions
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
8 to 10 Cybros 7-grain dinner rolls
1/2 avocado, sliced
1/2 tomato, sliced

1. In a large bowl, mix the ground turkey, snack crackers, ketchup, egg, hot sauce, Worcestershire sauce, cumin, chili powder, garlic powder, toasted minced onions, salt and pepper together.

2. Form mixture into patties, no more than 3 inches long (or other length, depending on the buns or rolls you use).

3. Cook sliders on griddle for about 3 to 5 minutes per side.

4. Top sliders with a slice or two of avocado and a slice of tomato, and serve on a dinner roll or bun.

Baked Pasta with Sausage, Tomatoes and Cheese

Cooking Light has been our savior recently. With our heavy seasonal baking schedule, we've relied heavily on tried-and-true recipes. And we've been helping out some friends by cooking for them occasionally. So the Baked Pasta with Sausage, Tomatoes and Cheese sounded like the perfect option to fill our -- and their -- stomachs.

The noodles in our dish were cooked well, just about al dente before meeting the oven. We substituted ground turkey for turkey sausage, so the consistency was a bit different for ours than it would be for the recipe. However, it spared us a bit of work, and we were thankful for that. Otherwise, the flavors were good and the serving size was hardy.

Jack Quesadillas with Cranberry Salsa

As is the case every year, Thanksgiving gave us many leftovers. Among them -- turkey, of course, was the star -- were the cranberry sauces.

But what could we do with leftover cranberry sauce? (The obvious answer was chosen as well. Eating it straight.)

Thankfully, Melissa found a Cooking Light recipe that combined our love of southwestern flavor and Thanksgiving leftovers: Jack Quesadillas with Cranberry Sauce.

I thought it was really good, but Melissa thought it was just OK. I thought the blend of sweet and spicy from the cranberry salsa contrasted well with the cheese and turkey. But Melissa thought it was a bit too sweet for her. A good recipe, if not a divisive one.

Turkey Quesadillas

Yes, Thanksgiving is safely in our rear-view mirrors, but we recently finished off the rest of our leftover turkey. And we did so thanks to some impromptu Turkey Quesadillas.

We made a couple of them and split them each time. This allowed us to tweak the quesadilla the second time to highlight flavors and to better balance the texture. This is what we did on our second take (but the photos are from our first take).

We started by lightly browning the bottom tortilla in the broiler under low. Then we added the cheddar cheese, turkey, green onions and green peppers. Reheat the corn until warm and add that, too. Then we sprinkled in the chili powder and cumin and topped with a bit more cheddar and the other tortilla.


Getting the broiler treatment:


Ours was perhaps a bit less cheesy for it to be called a quesadilla, but it walloped our tongues with the flavor of chili powder and cumin (and not in a bad way). And the brightness of the onions and peppers provided a great burst in every bite, too. Unfortunately, Thanksgiving is now so very far away.


Turkey Quesadilla
(makes 1)
2 12-inch flour tortillas
1/2 cup to 1 cup turkey, shredded
cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons green onions
2 tablespoons green peppers
2 tablespoons frozen corn
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin

Puff Pastry Turkey Pot Pie

Yes, it's that time of year. The time to find out something to make to use up all of that leftover Thanksgiving turkey.

For us, that was turkey pot pie, so we decided to make a type of pot pie we haven't made in quite some time: Puff Pastry Turkey Pot Pie.

Saute the mirepoix in butter and then thicken with some flour. We wanted it a bit thicker so we added more flour and some milk. Then add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Next, add the turkey, salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme and cook for about 3 to 5 minutes. Then add the peas and corn.


After that, unroll the puff pastry dough and set on top of mixture, which should have been transferred to 9-by-13-inch baking dish.

Bake for about 30 minutes and then let it sit for about 5. The puff pastry dough looked incredible.



Even after all of that thickening, ours did not thicken up as much as we had hoped it would.

Puff Pastry Turkey Pot Pie
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup onion
1 cup carrots
1 cup celery
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour, divided
1 1/4 cup milk
28 ounces chicken broth
2 cups shredded turkey breast and thigh meat
salt
pepper
thyme
rosemary
1/2 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup frozen corn
cooking spray
puff pastry

1. Saute the onions, carrots and celery in butter. Thicken with 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour.

2. For thicker consistency, add 2 more tablespoons of flour and milk, combined together. Then add the chicken broth and bring to a boil.

3. Add the turkey, salt, pepper, rosemary and thyme and cook for about 3 to 5 minutes. Then add the peas and corn.

4. Transfer mixture to 9-by-13-inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Cover with rolled-out puff pastry.

5. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.

Homemade Ground Turkey and Zucchini Pasta

We found ourselves looking through our cupboards and freezer before Thanksgiving in search of a spark for an idea for a quick dinner. When we saw tons of boxes of pasta and some leftover turkey sausage, the idea quickly began to form.

We decided to make Homemade Ground Turkey and Zucchini Pasta. We started by browning some turkey sausage that had been removed from their casings in canola oil. Then we added the chopped onion and zucchini and let those cook for a bit. Also add the garlic and salt to taste.



Then we heated up the tomato sauce. (You could also add herbs and other aromatics at this step; we didn't because the sausage and tomato sauce we used already had enough herb-infused flavor.)

Then simply cook the penne for about 7 to 8 minutes and top with the zucchini and sausage mixture and the tomato sauce. Garnish and serve with some Parmesan.



Homemade Ground Turkey and Zucchini Pasta
canola oil
2 turkey sausages, removed from casings
1 large or 2 medium zucchini, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 clove garlic
salt to taste
32 ounces tomato sauce
14 ounces whole wheat penne
Parmesan to garnish

1. Brown turkey sausage in canola oil. Add the onion and zucchini saute for 3 to 5 minutes. And garlic, and add salt to taste.

2. Heat up tomato sauce and add any herbs or other aromatics.

3. Cook the penne.

4. Serve with sausage-zucchini mixture, tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese garnish.

Turkey Lasagna

We still had some ground turkey left over in our freezer from a sale at our grocery store a few weeks ago. Well, Cooking Light provided us with a great recipe to use that turkey up: Turkey Lasagna.

First preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Then cook the turkey in a large saucepan over medium heat until the meat is browned and starting to crumble. Add the water and pasta sauce (we used a chunky garden pasta sauce) and bring to a boil. Then cover, reduce heat, and simmer for 10 minutes.


Meanwhile, combine some of the mozzarella, cottage cheese, Parmesan cheese, egg substitute, parsley and black pepper.


Then, in a 13-by-9-inch baking dish, spoon in some of the turkey mixture. Top with 3 lasagna noodles, more of the turkey mixture and half of the cheese mixture. Then repeat the layers with 3 more lasagna noodles.

Cover and bake for 1 hour. Then sprinkle the rest of the mozzarella and bake uncovered for 10 minutes.


The pasta sauce we used provided for some nice flavor and texture in the final dish. The noodles, which went into the oven uncooked, came out quite nicely, much to my surprise. It was my biggest worry heading into the meal preparation.

The dish had some great cheese flavor -- the cottage cheese, Parmesan and egg substitute worked well together and against the tomato sauce.

Turkey Burgers with Zucchini

A couple of weeks ago, we took advantage of a sale (and coupons!) on turkey products. Because of that, we found ourselves in a sudden demand for turkey recipes.

Luckily, we could always try some Turkey Burgers. We made this recipe before our recent move, so we weren't able to find the recipe we based this off of. But we think it was from Taste of Home's Healthy Cooking.

First, take the turkey and combine it with thinly sliced zucchini and cilantro. Mix and then form into burgers.


In an oil-covered skillet, cook the burgers for about 4 or 5 minutes per side, or until done.


Then, add toppings to taste (I had melted cheddar, tomato and a touch of mayonnaise.


This recipe wasn't particularly great, but it was good. It definitely serves as a template to use and add to. A lot of turkey burger recipes, in fact, call for carrots in addition to zucchini. That might have made these burgers a little bit better.

Turkey Enchilada Casserole

After our disaster of a dinner earlier this week, it was time for something that would come out well. And although we had not tried the Turkey Enchilada Casserole before, we had a good feeling that we would like it.

It's right in our culinary wheelhouse: Southwestern, simple, great seasonings. So of course we had to give it a go. And we're glad we did.

Combine the turkey, onions, garlic, oregano and cumin in salad or vegetable oil until the turkey is cooked. Then add 1 cup of the enchilada sauce.


Now it's time to layer. Start with the half-cut tortillas, then add the turkey, then the cheese, then more enchilada sauce. Repeat. (Since we baked this in a 9-by-13-inch dish, we had just 2 layers instead of 3.)


Bake at 425 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes.


We did not have any cilantro, so I used a dash of parsley for a garnish. We also served this with a dollop of sour cream, which -- even though the recipe does not indicate it -- is wholly necessary, in our opinion.


This was a meal that will certainly be cooked again in our home. The tenderness of the corn tortillas was a highlight for me. And the sauce and turkey were excellent, too. And, of course, the contrast between the cool sour cream and the piping hot turkey and sauce provided a wonderful blend.

I would love to try this again, but use less turkey and instead use some black beans. It would also be a great way to cut down on the grocery bill for this meal.

Red Beans and Rice

Sometimes meals just don't turn out well. It's disappointing, sure, but it's not the end of the world.

Yet that scenario was what we faced just a couple of days ago when we made Red Beans and Rice from the Cooking Light Slow Cooker cookbook.

Simply combine water, red kidney beans, onion, green pepper, celery, thyme, paprika, ground red pepper, turkey sausage, bay leaf and garlic in a slow cooker and cook on high for 5 hours.

Before serving, prepare rice according to package directions and serve red beans and sausage mixture on top. Garnish with some green onions (which we forgot to purchase).


It would be easier to start by saying what wasn't wrong with it: the rice. The slow cooker should have been on low; on high, everything was overcooked and the color contrast was completely lost. Frankly, it tasted bland, too. And Melissa said the heat from the paprika and red ground pepper was too much; I didn't mind it, but I wouldn't complain with just a bit less, either.

If we were to make this again (and assuming we would make it in the slow cooker), we would set it to low and pull back on the spiciness just a tad. But I think it might just be wiser to try a more conventional cooking method for this Cajun classic.

Turkey Meatloaf

Last week we had a fantastic meatloaf. Before that, I had mentioned meatloaf as a recipe we should make sometime soon because it's easy and quick, at least in terms of prep time.

Melissa suggested to make it with turkey instead of beef, and when we found this recipe from Health magazine, life was good.

Turkey Meatloaf
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped (1 1/2 cups)
2 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon pepper, divided
1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
3 tablespoons ketchup, divided
1 3/4 pounds ground turkey, 97% lean
3/4 cup dry panko breadcrumbs
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 large egg white, lightly beaten

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Cook onion about 5 minutes in oil in pan over medium heat. Add garlic, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and stir about 1 minute. Stir in Worcestershire, chicken broth and 1 tablespoon ketchup.

Let mixture cool in a large bowl. Then add turkey, breadcrumbs and the rest of the salt and pepper and mix.

On a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil, which is coated with cooking spray, form the mixture into a loaf. Add remaining ketchup on top.

Bake 1 hour and let cool for 5 minutes.



It was flavorful and juicy, and I say that even though I had to reheat mine since when I got home, the meatloaf had been sitting for a while. And the sweetness of the ketchup added just the right blend of sweet to savory.

Sausage and Roasted Pepper Pasta

During the past weekend, we finally got around to making a recipe we picked out the previous week. We didn't find the Italian sausage on our initial grocery store run, which is why we held off for a few days.

But the Italian flavors in Cooking Light's Sausage and Roasted Pepper Pasta is what drew us to this recipe.

Sausage and Roasted Pepper Pasta
3 medium bell peppers
8 ounces uncooked penne pasta
12 ounces hot turkey Italian sausage
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/4 teaspoon fresly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese

First, preheat the broiler and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Cut the green peppers in half and discard seeds and membranes. Place on sheet, skin sides up, and flatten with hand. Broil for 10 minutes.

Take out and place in zip-top bag immediately. Let stand 15 minutes. Then peel, discard skins and chop.


Cook the pasta; drain, but keep 1 cup of cooking liquid warm.

In a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, cook sausage, which needs to be removed from casings, for about 8 minutes. Add bell peppers.


After a few minutes, move mixture to outside of pan and add tomato paste to middle; stir for about 1 minute. Then stir into sausage mixture with the reserved cooking liquid.


Cook 3 minutes and stir in black pepper and salt. Top with cheese.


The recipe was good, but we did have a couple of disappointments. First, we should have undercooked the pasta a bit knowing that it would get cooked a bit more at the end with the tomato paste and green peppers. Second, the green peppers also seemed a bit too cooked. We would suggest broiling as the recipe calls for, but instead add them at the end, just before the salt and pepper. And last, the tomato paste flavor could have been boosted a bit more.

However, the texture wasn't that bad after eating it the night we prepared it. When we ate the leftovers though, the texture just wasn't there. The flavors were still very good, but the texture provided nothing.

Altogether a bit of a disappointment, although the basis is there for a great meal.

Meatball Casserole

This recipe (Healthy Cooking magazine, January 2009) was one that we picked out because we generally have a lot of the ingredients for it, so it makes it cheap to buy for when we go grocery shopping.

The first thing to do is to cook the whole wheat pasta; rinse and set aside.

Then in a bowl, combine the bread crumbs (the recipe calls for seasoned; we used panko), grated Parmesan, egg substitute, Italian seasoning, onion powder, salt, garlic powder and ground turkey.


Mix well and then combine into balls and place on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray.


Cook those meatballs for about 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Combine the meatballs and marinara sauce and spoon about half of that mixture into a baking dish. top with a layer of pasta, cottage cheese, mozzarella and Parmesan. Repeat.

Cook at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.


The sauce we used was a red pepper sauce and it provided for a nice flavor profile in the dish. Unfortunately, since we decided to increase the meal size to accommodate the amount of turkey we had, we didn't add enough salt and the turkey tasted a bit bland. If we make this again, we will be sure to add some more seasonings in the meatball formation step. Aside from that, though, the meal was very good.

Turkey Bacon Avocado Wrap

I love avocado. But even so, it's an ingredient we don't use much -- if at all -- in our kitchen. However, when we bought some for our last recipe (plus one upcoming), I figured I would use some to take to work for a quick and easy lunch.

So in a wrap, I had some sliced turkey, avocado, sliced bacon, sliced grape tomatoes, diced red bell pepper, diced green bell pepper and onion. It certainly turned out well.

Fajita Turkey Burgers

We've been going through and making recipes from current food magazines in the recent weeks, so this past weekend, I decided to go back in time, so to speak, and find some recipes from a while back. It was during that search that I found this Fajita Turkey Burgers recipe.

We started by combining tomatillo salsa and avocado in a small bowl (unfortunately, our local grocery store was out of fresh cilantro when we went).


We set that bowl to the side; that will be used as a topping on the burger.

For the burger, in a pan, saute onion, red pepper and green pepper. After a few minutes, throw in some of the fajita seasoning.


Then, in a large bowl, combine breadcrumbs (we used panko), the cooled-off vegetables, fajita seasoning, salt, tomato paste, turkey (we used 20 ounces instead of 16 because the package was 20 ounces) and egg white. Using your hands, combine the mixture.

Then mold and separate into four equal portions and place back in the pan.


Once the meat is done, start to make the burger. I added some romaine and sliced tomatoes on the bottom of mine and then a couple of tablespoons of the tomatillo-avocado mixture on the top.


The extra portions for us using more turkey than the recipe called for made this a much heartier meal. But the flavors combined well. The crunch of the romaine and the juiciness of the tomatoes contrasted with the creaminess of the avocado and the slight heat of the tomatillo sauce. It was a deliciously filling supper.

Turkey Spaghetti Casserole

We tried a new recipe from Taste of Home's Healthy Cooking magazine. This time, it was Turkey Spaghetti Casserole. Although the prep for this dish is not too complicated, the baking time is about 75 to 90 minutes.

First we sauteed onion, carrot and celery in a skillet.


In another bowl, combine reduced-sodium chicken broth, a can of cream of mushroom soup, salt and pepper.


Then in a baking dish coated with cooking spray, layer in cubed turkey breast, uncooked spaghetti noodles cut in short strips and then the vegetables mixture. Then pour.


Then pour the broth over the mixture and bake, covered, in the oven at 350 degrees for 70 to 80 minutes. Take out and top with some shredded reduced-fat Colby-Monterey Jack cheese and bake uncovered for another five to 10 minutes.


Our tendency to be a bit imprecise bit us in the behind as our finished product turned out with a more liquid consistency than the picture in the magazine. We should have used more pasta. However, the flavors were on point and they were wonderful. The end result reheats well and tastes wonderful.