Turkey Tetrazzini

Although I always make up a turkey soup after roasting a turkey, this recipe is probably my favorite way to use up leftover turkey.  It is easy and cheesy, and of course, can also be made using cooked chicken or even drained, canned salmon or tuna, if desired.

The original recipes called for topping the tetrazzini with sliced almonds, and I sometimes do that.  I also like it topped with French fried onions, and that is what I used when I made the dish in the photo

The tetrazzini can be assembled ahead, covered and refrigerated until baking time.  Just bake 10-15 minutes longer or until hot and bubbly.  If I do this, I do not add the cheese and almonds or French fried onions on the top until just before baking.

This recipe has been in my computer files for many years, and I do not know the source.   I, of course, have adapted it to my family's taste.

 
Turkey Tetrazzini
1 package (7 oz.) spaghetti
1/4 c. butter or margarine
1/2 c. flour
2 c. turkey or chicken broth
2 c. half and half or milk
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1 t. chicken bouillon granules
1/2 c. grated Parmesan Cheese
1 1/2 c. shredded sharp Cheddar cheese, divided
2 c. cooked, cubed turkey
1 c. frozen peas and carrots
1/4 c. sliced almonds or enough French fried onions to cover the top of the casserole.

Cook spaghetti as directed on package.  Rinse with cold water and set aside.  Melt butter in a 3-qt. saucepan.  Stir in flour and cook for a minute or so.  Gradually add broth and half and half or milk.  Stir in salt, pepper, and chicken bouillon granules.  Heat and stir until thickened.  Stir in Parmesan cheese and 1 cup cheddar cheese, stirring until cheese melts.  Add turkey and peas and carrots mix well.  Stir in spaghetti.  Turn into a greased 9x13-inch baking pan or a 2-qt. casserole dish.  Sprinkle top with reserved cheddar cheese and almonds or French fried onions.  Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.  May be assembled ahead and baked later.  Do not add the topping ingredients until just before baking.  Add 10-15 minutes to baking time.  Makes 6 to 8 servings.

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Spaghetti Pepperoni Pie

I am always looking for new recipes to try for lunches.  Recently I purchased a package of pepperoni that was near its sell-by date for half off.

I remembered a recipe I had clipped from a Family Circle magazine some time ago.  I made a few adaptations and made the recipe for lunch.  We liked it, and I think it is a dish that would appeal to kids.

Turkey pepperoni can be used in this dish.  I don’t care for it, so I degrease regular pepperoni using the microwave.  I have included the directions to do that in the recipe.

Spaghetti Pepperoni Pie
1/2 lb. spaghetti, broken into thirds
1/3 c. dry bread crumbs
2 T. grated parmesan cheese (the shelf stable kind)
1/2 t. Italian seasoning
4 oz. sliced pepperoni (may use turkey pepperoni if desired)
1 jar (24 oz.) spaghetti sauce
2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
4 large eggs, slightly beaten
3 T. grated parmesan cheese

Prepare spaghetti according to package directions, cooking for 8 minutes.  Drain spaghetti and set aside.  Meanwhile, combine  bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, and Italian seasoning in a small bowl and mix well.  Pour into the bottom of a 10-inch pie pan and spread evenly.  Set aside.  Line a microwave-safe plate with a paper towel.  Place pepperoni slices on a plate as you would for a pizza.  Cover with another paper towel.  Add another layer of pepperoni slices.  Cover with another paper towel.  Repeat one more time.  Cover with a paper towel.  Place plate in microwave and microwave on high about 30 seconds.  Pat top paper towel to help it absorb excess grease from pepperoni.  Stack 5 or 6 slices of pepperoni and cut into quarters with kitchen shears.  Repeat with remaining pepperoni.  Add pepperoni, spaghetti sauce and 1 1/2 c. mozzarella cheese to spaghetti.  Mix well.   Add eggs and mix until very well blended.  Carefully turn spaghetti mixture into bread crumb lined pie pan.  Spread spaghetti evenly.  Place in a 350-degree oven and bake 30 minutes.  Sprinkle remaining mozzarella and the 3 T. grated parmesan cheese over the top of spaghetti.  Bake 10 minutes for or until cheese has melted.  Remove from oven and let rest 10 minutes.  Cut pie into 6 wedges.  Serves 6.

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Ingredient Spotlight-Oriental Pasta

I really like Oriental food and try to prepare something Oriental at least once a month.  Although he will eat my fried rice, hubby is not a lover of rice so I was very happy to come across today’s recipe. I found it on a package of Italian Chef Fancy Egg Noodles which is a bit of a strange place to find an Oriental recipe.  I have made this a few times now as an alternative to fried rice, and hubby really likes it.

Of course, I  had to play around with the basic recipe.  I sometimes replace part of the water with a couple of tablespoons of sherry and am thinking about using at least part chicken broth if I am serving this with a chicken dish.  I have made this with noodles, spaghetti, and angel hair pasta.  The pasta in the Oriental food aisle at the grocery story would be good also.  I use sesame oil for part of the vegetable oil and sub frozen green peas for the snow peas most of the time since I always have the green peas on hand.  I am thinking about adding very thin matchstick cut carrots and maybe some chopped red pepper the next time I make this.

Oriental Pasta
adapted from an Italian Chef Noodle package
12 oz. pasta (noodles, spaghetti, angel hair, etc)
1/2 c. water (part sherry if you like)
1/4 c. low-sodium soy sauce
2 t. vinegar (I use rice vinegar)
2 t. sugar
2 t. cornstarch
1  1/2 T. vegetable oil (part sesame oil if you have it)
1/4 c. scallions or green onions, trimmed and thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 t. dried ginger
1 c. frozen green peas or 1/2 lb. snow peas, trimmed

Cook pasta according to package directions only until al dente.  While noodles are cooking, combine water, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, and cornstarch in a small bowl.  Stir until sugar and cornstarch are dissolved.  Set aside.  When pasta is done, drain well.  Heat oil in small skillet.  Add scallions or green onions, garlic and ginger; cook and stir over medium heat about 30 seconds.  Add the peas or snow peas.  Cook, stirring until peas are warmed or snow peas are just beginning to change color.  Place pasta back in the pan it was cooked in.  Add  pea mixture to pasta and mix until pasta is well coated.  Return pan to burner.  Add water/soy sauce mixture and mix well.  Heat and stir over medium heat until sauce is thickened.  Transfer to a serving dish and serve immediately.  Garnish with sliced green onions and slivered almonds if desired.  Makes 8 servings.

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Crazy Cooking Challenge-Baked Cream Cheese Spaghetti

This month's assignment for the Crazy Cooking Challenge was to find  and make a dish that contained spaghetti and a red sauce.  We prefer baked spaghetti, and I found Baked Cream Cheese Spaghetti at  Plain Chicken.  She has another one called Baked Spasagna (love the name) that I considered also, but I had all the ingredients to make the first one so decided that it would be a good one to go with.  Update:  Just yesterday she posted a recipe for Easy Spasagna which is a simplified version of the Baked Spasagna.  Since they all sound delicious, I will be making all three of them at some point.

Of course, I can never leave well enough alone so I did make some changes.  I like to add additional vegetables to dishes like this so I added chopped onion, celery, carrots, red and yellow peppers.  I am also a cheesehead so had to add some additional cheese.   I would love sliced black olives added to this, but hubby doesn’t like them, so I will have to save that for when I make this for a church potluck.

I broke the spaghetti in half before I cooked it, but had some trouble when mixing in the cream cheese.  I may not have let the cream cheese soften enough.  Next time I will break the spaghetti into thirds.

I used Ragu Sauce 4 Cheese flavor.  I use 1/3 c. water to rinse out the sauce jar.  This little bit of water, put in the empty sauce jar and shaken, gets all the sauce out of the jar and doesn't affect the flavor of the sauce.  I have included that 1/3 c. water in the recipe.

I liked this dish a lot and will be making it again.

Baked Cream Cheese Spaghetti
adapted from Plain Chicken
12 oz. spaghetti
1 lb. lean ground beef
1/3 c. chopped onion
1 stalk celery, chopped
1/3 c. chopped carrot
1/3 c. chopped yellow pepper
1/3 c. chopped red pepper
1 (28 oz.) jar prepared spaghetti sauce
1/3 c. water
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese (low-fat is OK)
1 t. Italian seasoning
1 clove garlic, minced
1 (8 oz.) pkg. shredded Italian cheese or mozzarella, divided
1/2 c. parmesan cheese, grated (the refrigerated kind)

Cook spaghetti according to package directions.  While water is heating and spaghetti is cooking, brown ground beef, onion, celery, carrots, red and yellow peppers until brown.  Add spaghetti sauce.  Rinse out sauce jar with measured out water and add to skillet.  Drain cooked spaghetti.  Put spaghetti back in pan and mix in cream cheese, Italian seasoning and garlic.  Mix until spaghetti is thoroughly coated.  Place a layer of sauce/ground beef mixture in bottom of a greased 9x13-inch baking pan.  Cover with spaghetti mixture.  Sprinkle 1 c. of cheese over the spaghetti.  Spread remaining sauce mixture over spaghetti.  Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.  Remove cover and sprinkle remaining cup of cheese and parmesan cheese over the top.  Return to oven for 10 minutes until cheese is melted.  Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes before serving.  Makes at least 8 servings.

Participating in this challenge is great fun.  One can easily sit out any month if one is too busy or not interested in the subject.  For information about participating in the challenge just click on over to Tina's blog.

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Easy Cheesy Spaghetti Bake-Frugal Meal

Today instead of posting a frugal tip, I am posting this frugal meal.  This is an easy dish to put together, which along with a green salad and some garlic bread made of French Bread or Texas Toast picked up at the bread outlet store for $1.00 will make a dinner that is less than $1.00 per person.  While it might not qualify for a $5.00 dinner, it is still very frugal.

This can be a “pantry dinner” if there is already browned up ground beef or Italian Sausage in the freezer.  I usually use the Italian Sausage.  Bulk Italian Sausage sells for $2.29 a pound at a local grocery store, so is much cheaper than what ground beef sells for here.  I use ready-made spaghetti sauce which I can often purchase for $1.00 a jar and preshredded Italian Blend Cheese which I can also buy an 8 oz. package for $1.00 from time to time.  I do love making my own DIY Groceries as much as possible, but sometime saving money trumps “homemade".

This recipe originally came from Carnation Instant Dry Milk back when it was a real bargain.  Dry milk isn’t much of a bargain any more so I have adapted the recipe to not use it.

This is layered like a lasagna.  It can be made ahead, covered and refrigerated.  Bake an extra 15 to 20 minute.

Easy Cheesy Spaghetti Bake
1 lb. ground beef or Italian sausage
1 (26 oz.) jar spaghetti sauce
12 oz. spaghetti
2 T. butter
2 T. flour
3/4 c. milk
1 to 2 c. shredded cheese, mozzarella, Italian Blend, or Cheddar
1/3 c. grated Parmesan

Brown meat and drain.  Add spaghetti sauce.  Rinse jar with a little water and add to sauce.  Simmer 10 min., stirring often.  Bake spaghetti into thirds and cook as directed on package.  Drain.  Melt butter in a small saucepan.  Add flour and cook for 1 minute, stirring well.  Gradually add milk.  Cook until mixture begins to thicken.  Add 3/4 c. cheese.  Stir until cheese is melted.  Set aside.  Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.  Place a thin layer of meat sauce in the bottom  Layer 1/2 spaghetti, 1/2  remaining meat sauce, all of cheese sauce, 1/2 spaghetti, 1/2 sauce.  Top with remaining cheese.  Bake at 350 degrees 20-25 min.  Let stand 15 minutes before serving to firm up layers.  Makes 6-8 servings.

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