Spinach and Turkey Meatloaf

I've heard a few people rave about the Barefoot Contessa's Turkey Meatloaf, so I thought I'd give it a try.
I found the original recipe here but made some changes: http://stickygooeycreamychewy.com/2009/02/12/barefoot-contessas-turkey-meatloaf/

Now, I have to say that my husband doesn't like meatloaf (unless it's his Grandma's) and he also complains every single time I try to cook w/ ground turkey, saying something tastes "weird" and he doesn't like it. So imagine my surprise when he went back for seconds even after saying he was stuffed..and didn't even flinch when I told him it was turkey! :)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
• 1 cup chopped spinach leaves
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1 tsp dried dill
• 1 tsp tomato paste
• 1 lb ground turkey
• 2 slices of dried bread, cumbled
• 1 large egg
• salt and pepper to taste
• about 1/2 cup of ketchup

DIRECTIONS

1. Mix the onion, olive oil, salt, pepper, and dill and cook on medium heat for 15 mins.
2. Add the chopped spinach,Worcestershire sauce, chicken broth and tomato paste and mix well. Cook for an additional 5 mins, then set to the side to cool to room temperature.
3. Preheat oven to 325.
4. In a large bowl, mix ground turkey, bread crumbs, egg, and cooled onion mixture.
5. Shape into a loaf on a cooking stone (or greased cookie sheet).
6. Spread the ketchup evenly over the top.
7. Bake for 1.5 hours or until meat thermometer reads 160 in the center of the loaf.
8. Serve with mashed potatoes and vegetable of choice.

.... and yes, you may have noticed my mashed potatoes are purple! That's because I used the dark purple potatoes :)

Sausage and Broccoli Calzones

This wasn't exactly a calzone shape, but I'm not sure what else to call it ;) Whatever you call it, it was really really good! I'll definitely be making this again :)

INGREDIENTS

• Turkey sausage, precooked
• 2 cups frozen broccoli cuts
• 1.5 cups mozzarella cheese
• refrigerated pizza dough (the thin stuff, in a long, skinny tube)
• olive oil

DIRECTIONS

1. preheat oven to 425.
2. Unroll pizza dough on a rectangular cooking stone and slice in half to make 2 smaller squarish-rectangles.
3. Put 1/2 the broccoli on each square.
4. Add sliced sausage then top with cheese.
5. Fold each of the 4 corners over to the other side and press down to seal.
6. Drizzle with olive oil.
7. Bake for around 20-25 minutes, until browned and cooked through.

Easy Pot Pie

Ok, so this was supposed to be chicken pot pie.. but when I went to start cooking, I realized I'd forgotten to thaw some chicken. Since I didn't have enough time to thaw and cook, I decided to turn this into ground turkey pot pie...Haha :)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb ground turkey, cooked through
• 1 large red potato, diced
• 1 large yam, peeled and diced
• 8 celery stalks, diced
• 1 lb carrots, peeled and diced
• 1 can cream of mushroom soup
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup frozen diced onions
• garlic powder to taste
• 10 ready-to-bake biscuits (the rolls in the fridge section)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
   
2. After washing, peeling and dicing the veggies, steam them until soft; about 15-20 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, brown the ground turkey (or dice and cook the chicken if you remembered to thaw it out! ;)
4. Grease a 9x11 baking dish.
5. Mix cooked veggies, meat, seasoning, onions, can of soup, and milk in a bowl.
6. Pour mixture into the baking dish and top with the uncooked biscuits.
7. Bake for 20 minutes, or until biscuits are lightly browned and cooked through.
   

Slow Cooker Turkey Chili

Perfect for a cold and snowy winter day :)

Good to serve w/ corn bread.

INGREDIENTS

• 3/4 lb ground turkey
• 1 can of pinto beans
• 1 can of Great Northern beans
• 1 24oz jar of chunky salsa (I use mild)
• 5 medium tomatoes, diced
• garlic, oregano, cumin seed to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Brown the meat, drain excess juices
2. Rinse the beans and wash/dice the tomatoes
3. Put all ingredients in slow cooker and mix well.
4. Cook on low for 5-6 hours.
5. Serve with corn bread and enjoy!

Easy Turkey Meatball Calzones

I like to record the Rachel Ray show and fast forward to the end for dinner ideas. The other day, Rachel was making easy looking Turkey Meatball Calzones that sounded pretty good! They looked a little dry so I will probably play around with the recipe a bit... but in the meantime, HERE it is from her website.

In purple below are the changes I made. Black text is the original recipe. These turned out really good!

Florentine Meatball Calzones with Creamy Tomato Dipper

INGREDIENTS

• 1 box frozen chopped spinach (10 ounces), defrosted and wrung of excess water ~ I used 1/4 package fresh spinach, chopped up.
  
• 2 pounds ground turkey (or beef)
  
• 1 small onion, half grated and half finely chopped ~ 1/2 cup frozen diced onions
  
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated, divided
• 2 large eggs, 1 lightly beaten
• 3/4 cup breadcrumbs (about 3 handfuls) ~ I used whatever crackers I had lying around, crushed.
  
• 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese (about 2 handfuls) ~ I omitted this
  
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• A few grates fresh nutmeg ~ I used powdered
  
• Salt and ground black pepper ~ I omitted this
  
• 2 tubes refrigerated pizza dough (10-ounces each) ~ I only used one package and made 1/2 as many calzones since it was just for my husband and I.
  
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 can crushed fire-roasted tomatoes ( 14.5-ounces), (you can use regular tomatoes crushed if you have them on hand)
• 1/4 cup basil (a handful), chopped ~ forgot to add this in ;)
  
• 1/4 cup heavy cream ~ I didn't have cream so I used organic whole milk.
  

DIRECTIONS
Pre-heat oven to 425ºF.

Calzones
Combine the spinach, ground turkey/beef, grated onion, half of the garlic, 1 egg, breadcrumbs/crushed crackers, cheese(s), nutmeg, salt and pepper.
Work the mixture together with your hands until combined and set aside.

Spread one of the pizza doughs out onto the counter. Cut in half width-wise and in thirds lengthwise, making 6 squares.
Take a handful of the meat mixture (about 1/4 cup), shape into a meatball and drop it onto the corner of one of the squares. Continue in this way until there's a meatball on each square.

Brush the edges of each square with a little of the beaten egg and fold the opposite corner over to close in the meatball and make a calzone.
Fold and press the edges to seal the meatball inside.
Brush the tops lightly with egg. Repeat with the remaining meat and dough and arrange all of the calzones on a baking sheet.
Bake until dark golden brown, about 15 minutes.

Sauce
While the calzones are baking, place a medium saucepan over medium-high heat with 2 turns of the pan of EVOO, about 2 tablespoons.
Add the chopped onion and remaining garlic to the pan, season with salt and pepper and cook until tender, about 5 minutes.
Add the crushed tomatoes to the pan with the basil and simmer the sauce until thickened up a bit, 2-3 minutes.
Turn the heat off and add the cream/milk.



Since I only made 1/2 the amount of calzones, I had a ton of meatball mixture left over. I decided to make meatballs out of it; cooked them for 14 minutes after the calzones were done; and froze them to use later.