Recipe: Ground Turkey Pasta Bake

My husband automatically turns ground turkey into turkey burgers, but I like to mix it up. I have had this recipe (via iFoodReal) on my list for a while now, and I finally made it the other day. Just like any casserole: so easy to put together, and with the quantity made, you've got meals for days!

Ingredients

• 1 pound ground turkey extra lean
• 3 cups whole wheat penne or fusilli pasta uncooked (10 ounces)
• 4 - 5 cups kale stems removed & chopped
• 1 large onion finely chopped
• 4 large garlic cloves minced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil extra virgin
• 1 tablespoon oregano dried
• 1 teaspoon rosemary dried
• 1 teaspoon basil dried
• Pinch of red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Ground black pepper to taste
• 28 ounces tomato sauce low sodium
• 1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1 cup pasta water
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese shredded & divided (6 ounces)
• 1/3 cup Italian parsley chopped
• Cooking spray

Directions

1. Cook pasta al dente as per package instructions, undercooking by 4 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup of pasta water, and set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and spray 9 x 13 baking dish with cooking spray.
2. In the meanwhile, preheat large skillet on medium heat and add olive oil. Add onion and garlic, sauté for 2 - 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add oregano, rosemary, basil, pinch of red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Cook for 30 seconds, stirring a few times. Add ground turkey and cook for another 5-7 minutes, breaking meat into pieces and stirring occasionally.
3. Add tomato sauce, honey, balsamic vinegar and pasta water. Stir, bring to a boil and simmer for 2 minutes. Add kale and stir to combine.
4. Now add cooked pasta and stir to combine more.
5. Transfer half of the mixture in previously prepared baking dish and sprinkle with 1 cup cheese. Add remaining pasta meat mixture and sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes.
6. Remove from the oven, let stand for 10 minutes, garnish with parsley and serve hot. With a glass of red wine.

As with any recipe using kale, I spent several minutes watching TV while I sifted through the bag to make sure I removed any of the thick, stalk-y parts that are simply inedible. Next was making the pasta; I tried Banza chickpea pasta from BJ's Wholesale Club just to be a little healthier. And I used one full jar of red pasta sauce, which isn't even 28 ounces. At least I remembered to save some pasta water before I poured it all down the sink! And I used maple syrup instead of honey, and a balsamic glaze (is that the same thing?)

I definitely made too much pasta, because it wouldn't all fit (and I was using my bigger pan!). But I was able to fit mostly everything and mix it all together before throwing it in the oven. In the end, this is an easy, convenient meal, both for the night-of and then for the rest of the week. But maybe the extra sauce would have been better, some more cheese would have helped (always more cheese!), and the chickpea pasta does kind of fall apart. I think I have made better tasting casseroles, but I might try this one another time.

Here are some other casseroles I have made previously:

• Dump-and-Bake Chicken Alfredo Casserole
• Meat-and-Tater Bake
• Cheesy Bowtie Pasta Bake
• Mexican Casserole

Recipe: Caramel Apple Cookies

Some of these cookies looked perfect. But scroll down for the real deal...

I'm almost done with all the apples in my house. The peanut butter apple cookies were a huge hit, so I thought I'd try a different cookie recipe. I found this one on the Two Sisters blog. Final word: while they taste good, there are a few things I would change next time.

Ingredients

• 1 cup Butter (Sweet Cream Salted, softened)
• 1 cup Granulated Sugar
• 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
• 2 Large Eggs
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 3 cups All-Purpose Flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoons Cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/2 teaspoon Salt
• 1 heaping cup finely diced and peeled tart apples
• 1 batch of our The Best Caramel Buttercream Frosting
• 8-10 Kraft Caramel candies

Directions

1. Peal and dice 1 heaping cup of tart apples.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
4. Mix in cinnamon, baking powder, baking sold and salt and mix well.
5. Add 1 1/2 cups of flour and mix until combined.
6. Add in 1 cup of apples and mix with a spoon.
7. Add the remaining 1 1/2 cups of Flour and combine until the flour is completely incorporated into the cookie dough.
8. Bake the cookies in a 375° oven for 13-15 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.
9. Allow cookies to cool.
10. Make a batch of our The Best Caramel Buttercream Frosting.
11. Frost Apple Cookies with the Caramel Frosting.
12. Melt 8-10 Kraft Caramel Frosting in a pan on low heat.
13. Drizzle the melted caramel over the frosting.

You always know a recipe is not up-to-snuff when it doesn't tell you to preheat the oven. And this one doesn't even distinguish between Fahrenheit or Celsius, but at least it's obvious. It also doesn't tell you how long to cool the cookies or where (on the baking sheet? on a rack?). To me, these are clear signs of a recipe that is not thorough enough to be a guaranteed winner.

But the batter looked so smooth and soft, and it tasted so good! It came out like little ice cream scoops! I was really hoping I could make it work. But there's always a catch...

The recipe also doesn't tell you how big to make the cookies, and that was my downfall. I made the cookies WAY too big, so they spread out like little pancakes. They became too thin with barely any bottom to speak of; they crumble at the drop of a hat! Here's what most of them looked like:

You can see all the crumbs underneath! They look like blobs that I had to cut apart because they melted into each other.

And because of this, I did not even attempt to ice them. They can't bear their own weight, let alone that of icing AND caramel drizzle. If I made these again, I would use less butter (it's just too much!) and I would make them smaller. I would also be sure there was plenty of room in between each one. I'll update this post if I try them a second time!

Recipe: Apple Peanut Butter Cookies

As I continue my apple recipe kick, I found this recipe on the blog, Julie's Eats & Treats. I regularly eat apples and peanut butter as a snack, so why not in cookie form? This is an easy recipe to make, and it is GOOD. 

Ingredients

• ½ cup butter, softened
• ½ cup chunky peanut butter
• ½ cup granulated white sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ cup Granny Smith apple, peeled and chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350° Fahrenheit.
2. Cream the butter, peanut butter, and sugars together in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Then beat in the egg and vanilla until well combined.
3. In another bowl combine the dry ingredients together. Add to the creamed mixture gradually and mix until well blended. Stir in the apple.
4. On greased baking sheets, drop rounded tablespoonfuls of dough. Bake at 350° Fahrenheit for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown. You want to almost overbake these as they will soften when placed in the container for storage due to the apple releasing moisture. Remove from oven and cool 5 minutes on baking sheet. Remove to wire racks and let finish cooling.

This recipe is super-easy and very straight-forward. The only things I changed was that I used creamy peanut butter (I've always bought creamy!), and I used 1.5 fuji apples instead (again, that's what I had on hand). I think they came out really well, and all of my colleagues and friends who tried them thought they were great! I baked them for 14 minutes, but no longer; I really don't like crunchy cookies, so for me there's no such thing as too soft! These truly are delicious and I would definitely make them again. I'm not sure if I like these or the apple dump cake I made for my birthday more; both are SO YUMMY!

Recipe: Easy Apple Dump Cake

The cake is in the background! I also made "apple nachos," which I really liked.

I accidentally bought a bag of apples when I already had a bag of apples back home, so I had to do something with all the apples (or at least the older ones). So after Googling some recipes, I found this one on the Insanely Good blog, and I decided to make it as my birthday cake this year. It did NOT disappoint!

Ingredients

• 6 cups apples, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces (about six medium apples)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 box yellow cake mix
• 3/4 cup butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350° Fahrenheit and lightly grease a 13x9-inch glass baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Peel, core, and chop the apples into bite-sized pieces (one-inch cubes).
3. Mix the chopped apples, sugar, and cinnamon in the bottom of the baking dish. Then spread the apples to cover the bottom of the dish evenly.
4. Top the apples with a layer of dry cake mix. Gently shake the pan to distribute all of the mix over the apples.
5. Pour the melted butter on top of the cake mix.
6. Bake the cake for 45 to 50 minutes. When the top is light golden brown, it’s done!
7. Once baked, cool the apple cake for about 15 minutes before serving.

My mom somehow convinced me to bake the cake in a bundt pan, and I don't know why I let her talk me into it. Of course a "dump" cake wouldn't keep a shape like that! So we ended up putting the baked cake parts into a brownie tin, smooshing it all back together, and then covered it in cream cheese icing (with sprinkles on top!).

This cake is delicious. The cinnamon apple flavor is very strong, and the texture is soft and moist. I would 100% bake this cake again, this time in the proper container!

Afternoon in Ybor City

 

Steve took me to Ybor City for the first time in Tampa, and it was a lot of fun! It's a small area, so you only need a few hours to visit. We had a good time, even if it was a quicky trip.

Manatee Viewing Center

Since we were already heading up north, we visited Apollo Beach, where the Tampa Electric powerplant releases warm water into the bay, which attracts manatees. BUT we didn't see any; I think the natural water was already too warm, so they didn't need to congregate in this one place like they might during the winter. But we did see some birds and fish, and they have pretty gardens on site. I look forward to coming back next winter and seeing the manatees!

Tampa Bay Rum Company

Previously called the Gasparilla Distillery, we went to this place to try their spirits after I found a Groupon deal for tasting flights. You feel like you're on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney as soon as you walk in the door. It's dark, pirate-themed, and you think a skeleton is going to jump out at you at any moment. But once our eyes adjusted to the light, the bar is actually quite spacious. Our server, Sammy, was very friendly, and she poured some HEAVY tastes with our flight; each of us nearly had four full shots! We tried a variety of alcohols, from fun-flavored rums like coconut and key lime pie, to more serious aged rums. I think I liked the spiced rum best; you could definitely pick up on the clove and nutmeg spices, and it was me think of Christmas-time. The banana bread rum was our least favorite. While the idea is a good one (I love banana bread!), the banana flavor was a little too fake, and it also had a weirdly medicinal taste to it (think banana flavored cough syrup). So we weren't going to buy anything, but it was still a cool place to check out. 

Columbia

Columbia claims to be the oldest restaurant in Florida, since it was established in 1905. The restaurant is HUGE: it has several separate dining rooms and can hold 1,700 guests. No wonder there are four separate parking areas around for this one establishment! The tiles and murals decorating the building are beautiful, and the rooms inside are also spectacular. Even if you don't eat there, this is such an amazing piece of history! I actually think the experience of eating there was better than the actual food.

After lunch we walked around for a little bit for a few more highlights:

I may not have been impressed with lunch, but dessert was spot on!

This pretzel toffee ice cream is the perfect mix of salty and sweet.

There are chickens (with their babies!) everywhere! I looked it up, and Ybor City is actually a bird sanctuary, so the chickens and roosters are protected from being trapped or hunted. Their historical significance comes from immigrants in the 1800's bringing the animals with them as a food source, pets, and source of entertainment (cock fighting, anyone?). Just a fun quirk of the city!

We visited during the day, but Steve says the area really transforms at night with bars and clubs. Maybe we'll have to go back for dinner instead one time! But we WILL be back for sure!

Recipe: Hamantaschen from Jewish Food Society

Don't worry, the green doesn't mean they have gone bad! This was my first time making pistachio-filled hamantaschen. I used a pistachio paste I bought in Italy. Delicious!

I make hamantaschen every year for Purim ever since my grandma stopped making her own. Each year I use a different dough recipe; it seems I can never find the recipe from the previous year! This year I happened to get an email from the Jewish Food Society that included a recipe, so I thought I'd try it. 

Ingredients (for the dough)

• 4 large eggs
• 1 ¼ cup granulated sugar
• ¾ cup vegetable oil
• ½ cup pulp-free orange juice
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 5 ½ cups all-purpose flour (up to ½ cup extra if dough is too wet to roll)
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Preparation

• Step 1

  Preheat the oven to 350°F.

• Step 2

  In a bowl of a stand mixer (or using hand-held beaters), whisk together the eggs, orange juice, oil, and vanilla until well combined. Add the sugar and mix until incorporated. 

• Step 3

  Gradually add the flour, baking powder, and salt, mixing until a dough forms. The dough should have a playdough-like consistency. If it's too wet, add more flour 1 tablespoon at a time and mix until it becomes a stiff, workable dough.

• Step 4

  Divide the dough into two portions, shaping each into a flat disc.

• Step 5

  Place one portion on a sheet of parchment paper on the countertop. Using a rolling pin, roll it out into an even rectangle about ⅛-inch thick. Do the same for the other dough portion.

• Step 6

  Use a 3-inch round cutter or an inverted glass to cut dough circles. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and arrange the rounds on it about 2 inches apart to prevent them from touching during baking.

• Step 7

  Spoon about 2 teaspoons of your chosen filling(s) into the center of each round.

• Step 8

  Fold each circle into a triangular shape by pinching one point at the top, then pinching the two bottom corners together to seal. Ensure the edges are secure so they hold their shape while baking. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly golden.

• Step 9

  Let them cool on the baking sheet for at least 10 minutes. Enjoy or store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to one day or in the refrigerator for up to three days.

(Okay, let's start out by saying that Step 9 is ridiculous. The cookies will last MUCH longer than that, even if you don't refrigerate them!) I do like though that this recipe doesn't give you directions on how to make the filling. You are obviously just going to buy it! My friends brought several types of jelly, Nutella, and chocolate (and peanut butter) chips. We had quite the assortment!

(Jewish) Ladies of Umbria Place, unite!

Moving on... I did a few things differently, as usual. For one, I mixed all the dry ingredients together before adding them to the wet mixture. I feel like this is pretty basic baking procedure, so I'm not sure why this recipe doesn't write it out specifically. Also, I NEVER use a rolling pin. Mainly this is because I never had one until I was married, but I also think it's just as easy to take a ball of dough and flatter it with your hands. I did use the mouth of a glass to create perfect circles, but the other ladies in my group just made circle-ish shapes, and the cookies were fine, because who can tell once they are folded?

My group made the recipe three times so that we would have enough for everyone (note: twice would have been plenty!). The first two batches of dough hit a point in which they didn't want to absorb any more of the flour. But each time it was less than half a cup of the flour mixture left, so we just used that on our hands/rolling stations. So that was fine. The third dough mixture was different, and I don't know why. Was it because I used eggs from two different dozens? Did Janine not measure the baking powder accurately? Did I let the wet ingredients sit unmixed together for too long? I don't know, but this dough was much drier and wanted to absorb even less of the flour mixture; it was so dry you didn't even need to flour your hands. And the cookies from this batch did NOT hold their triangular shape. They ended up looking like open-faced hamantaschen (did I just invent something new?). Luckily they taste fine, but the way they look leaves something to be desired...

What a mess! Although I will say I don't usually use regular jams/jellies because this tends to happen.

Speaking of taste: this dough is very cake-like. It's almost like a store-bought sugar cookie! Very soft, not hard or crispy at all. I think they tasted good, but to me it's not traditionally what I expect from a hamantaschen. So I think it's interesting that the recipe calls them "classic," because to me this was very different than what I would typically think of. 

The poppyseed ones came out a little better, but still too flat to represent a hat.

So while not my finest work, we all still had a fun time making these cookies together! I never make hamantaschen alone because they are so time-consuming, and I'm so grateful I have already made such wonderful friends in my new neighborhood that I could continue my friendship baking tradition. Happy Purim, everyone!

Recipe: Dill Bread

My loaf was...very thin

I have been growing dill in an AeroGarden, and it has gone wild. It is so big! I attempted to make pickles (that did NOT work; I'm trying it a second time, so we'll see how they turn out), but I was trying to find other ways to use a lot of dill at once. I found this recipe on the Savory Moments blog, and since I've never made a savory bread before, I thought I would try it. 

The dill is on the left. Look how tall it is!

Ingredients

• 1-3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 cup olive (or vegetable) oil, plus more for greasing
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon dill pickle juice
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 cup finely chopped dill pickles
• 2 tablespoons (firmly packed) finely chopped fresh dill weed (or 1 tablespoon dried)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 8"x4" loaf pan.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour through garlic powder.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the oil through sour cream. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined.
4. Fold in the pickles and dill weed until just combined. Spread the batter evenly into the loaf pan.
5. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until golden and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
6. Let cool for about 10 minutes. Remove from the pan to a cooling rack and cool completely before slicing and serving.

I didn't bother with the pickles or pickle juice, since I figured those were more for flavor, and I wanted more of a dill taste than pickle taste anyway. But I knew I was in trouble when the instructions said to spread the batter. My batter was so thick, and I couldn't "pour" it as I was expecting. So when I took it out of the oven, I wasn't surprised that it wasn't quite what I had expected. The bread didn't rise at all. The whole loaf was dense and thin. Can baking powder go bad? Was it the light sour cream that I used? I'm not sure where I went wrong.

Luckily, it still tastes pretty good. I like the savory flavor, and I almost think the recipe would be better if some cheese were melted into the batter. It's a little dry, but nothing a little butter or dip can't fix. It's still edible, so not a complete disaster! But I might need to try another dill bread recipe. Luckily, there are many to explore.