With Thanksgiving right around the corner (Holy Cow!!!), I thought I should start working on some "leftover" recipes for our favorite Thanksgiving foods. This one I made for dinner tonight. If you don't have leftover turkey, it also works great with leftover chicken. This recipe is a tasty change from normal turkey salad and it's very simple to make. It'll take you 15 minutes to prep and 20 minutes to bake. If you're as busy as we are during the holiday season, it's nice to have a great meal that doesn't take a lot of work. Enjoy!
Turkey Curry Melts
Ingredients:
1 Loaf of French Bread
2 Cups Chopped Turkey or Chicken
1 & 1/2 Cups Cooked Corn (cooled)
1/2 Cup Mayonnaise
2 Cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
1 Tbsp Curry Powder
1 Tbsp Seasoning Salt
1 Large Green Pepper
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together turkey, corn, mayo, cheese, curry powder and seasoning salt.
2. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray. Slice loaf of bread in half long ways. Place two halves onto baking sheet. Spread turkey salad onto the two halves of bread. Slice green pepper into thin circles. Place on top of turkey salad.
3. Bake for 20 minutes. Serves 4 to 6 people.
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We have had such a beautiful, mild fall, but I'm excited for some cold weather and some cold weather cooking! Just this afternoon Celia told me, "Mom, I love winter! I can't wait to stand outside in the cold!" While I'm not quite that excited, I am thrilled to share some hearty What's for Leftovers recipes with you all! Here is one for leftover roast beef. The nice thing is you don't even have to cook a roast for this recipe. If you want to make it quick, get some thick slices of roast beef deli meat from your grocery store. After cooking for a half an hour with the stuffing, you (and your family!) won't even be able to tell that you used deli roast beef. Your short cut will be your secret!
One Pot Roast Beef Dinner
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Water
1 Green Pepper, diced
1 Onion, diced
2 & 1/2 Cups Roast Beef, chopped into large chunks
1 Can Green Beans
1 Cup Mozzarella Cheese
1/2 Cup Water
1 Box Stuffing Mix
2 Cups Chicken Broth
1. In a large, oven safe, skillet, saute green peppers and onions in 1/2 cup water on high for 5 minutes.
2. Add roast beef and green beans to skillet. Pour 1/2 Cup of water on top. Next add a layer of cheese. Then add stuffing mix to the top. Pour chicken broth over entire dish. Cover and cook on med/hi heat for 15 minutes.
3. Broil in the oven for 7 min. until top is golden brown and crispy. Serves 4 to 5 people.
With God, all things are possible :)
Whenever we go to restaurants, it seems like such a waste to throw away all of those bread sticks or rolls that they give you. Often their servings are so large, we end up with 5 to 6 leftover. Here is a recipe that uses those bread sticks or rolls. If you don't have the bread sticks, simply substitute torn up bread pieces. If you don't have leftover pasta salad, use leftover or fresh cooked pasta. To make this recipe a complete meal, add cooked chicken and serve a salad on the side. Enjoy!
Baked Pasta Salad
Ingredients:
4 Cups Bread sticks, toasted
4 Cups Pasta Salad
1 Egg
1/2 Cup Sour Cream
1 Can Cream of Soup
1/2 Cup Milk
1 Cup Mozzarella Cheese
1/2 Envelope Onion Soup Mix
Parmesan Cheese
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut or tear bread sticks into large chunks and put in the oven until lightly toasted. Let cool before mixing with other ingredients.
2. Mix together bread sticks, pasta salad, egg, sour cream, soup, milk, mozzarella cheese, and onions soup mix in a large bowl.
3. Spray a large baking dish with Pam. Pour mixture into dish. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top. Bake at 400 degrees for 25 to 35 minutes. Dish is finished when top is starting to brown and bubbly.
Happy rainy Monday!
Last weekend we had a really fun engagement party for my sister Jen and her fiance Austin. As with most parties, there was a ton of food leftover. Lucky for us, my mom brought a whole bunch of the leftovers to my house. Jen had made this really fantastic tasting, simple to make, Pesto Dip for the party. I added some half and half to it to turn it into a creamy dressing for a pasta salad. The pasta salad can be served warm or cold, depending upon what your family likes. Here's the dip recipe, plus the Pesto Pasta Salad recipe. This way you can plan your leftover meal in advance! Enjoy!
Jen's Pesto Dip
Ingredients:
Half a Jar of Pesto
1/2 cup (or so) chopped roasted red pepper
1 Bar of Cream Cheese
3/4 Cup Chopped Walnuts
Combine pesto and cream cheese, add peppers and walnuts.
Serve with crackers or french bread
Pesto Pasta Salad
Ingredients:
1 and 1/8 Cup of Pesto Dip
3/8 Cup Half & Half
1 TBSP Dried Minced Onion
4 Cups Cooked Pasta
3 Roma Tomatoes, Chopped
2 oz Mozzarella Cheese (shredded or cubed)
1/2 Cup Turkey or Ham Lunchmeat, Chopped
2 and 1/2 Cups Cooked Cauliflower, Chopped*
1. Mix together pesto dip, half & half and minced onion until creamy.
2. In large bowl, stir together cooked pasta, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, lunchmeat and cauliflower. Pour dressing on top and mix.
*If your family does not like cauliflower, substitute 2 and 1/2 cups of peas and chopped green peppers.
This weekend my wise, older brother turned 33. Yea Mike! My mom and dad threw him a really fun surprise party with lots of family and friends. We were fortunate enough to be the beneficiaries of some really yummy food leftover from the party. Lately, we've been so busy that I really haven't had a lot of time to cook. On Monday I looked into our fridge and knew I needed to cook a lot! Our fridge was stocked with food. So, from the leftover French Onion Dip was born Mini Turkey and Broccoli Cannelloni. I made them with a red sauce, but I think they would be even more delicious if you used a white alfredo sauce.
Mini Turkey and Broccoli Cannelloni
Ingredients:
1 Box Manicotti Noodles
1 Lb Ground Turkey
1 Package Chopped Frozen Broccoli
1/2 Cup French Onion Dip
1 Cup Ricotta Cheese
1 Bag Mozzarella Cheese
1/2 Cup Parmesan Cheese
1 Egg
1 and 1/2 Jars Red Spaghetti Sauce or 2 Jars Alfredo Sauce (or a combination of the two)
1. Boil manicotti noodles following the directions on the box. When finished, drain water and cut noodles in half.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
3. Cook broccoli in microwave for 5 minutes. Let cool when finished. If there are any large pieces, chop them up.
4. In a large bowl, mix together ground turkey, broccoli, french onion dip, ricotta cheese, 3/4 bag of mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese and the egg.
5. Spread a thick layer of spaghetti or alfredo sauce on the bottom of two medium sized baking dishes. Stuff manicotti noodles with turkey mixture and place in baking dishes. Cover finished noodles with remaining sauce.
6. Bake covered for 35 minutes. Add remaining mozzarella cheese and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese to the top of the noodles. Cook for 5 more minutes uncovered. Let cool before serving.
Last week I asked Andy to pick up some hotdog buns at the bread store on his way home from work. When there, he was overcome by the cheap prices and bought a giant loaf of white bread, a 16 pack of hotdog buns, and a box of powdered sugar doughnuts. The doughnuts were gone within 24 hours, but the bread and hotdog buns lingered longer. I have had to think of all kinds of creative ways to cook with bread over the past week. Tonight I made Pizza Burger Pie in memory of my grade school days. I loved when we had pizza burgers at lunch. In fact all the kids loved them. They were basically a bun topped with spaghetti sauce, hamburger, and cheese. I took that basic recipe, made it into a large dish and fancied it up. After it was finished cooking and I placed it on the table, Charlie proclaimed, "That's my favorite- Yummy pizza!" And sure enough, everyone in our family had two helpings. I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine did.
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Pizza Burger Pie
Ingredients:
5 Hotdog Buns
Olive Oil
Garlic Powder
1 Cup Ground Turkey
1 1/4 Cup Spaghetti Sauce
18 Black Olives Sliced
1/2 Cup Red Onions Diced
1/2 Large Green Pepper
1/2 TBSP Dried Basil
2 1/2 Cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
Parmesean Cheese
Spray a round 10" to 11" baking dish with Pam. Tear up hotdog buns and spread out over bottom of dish. Drizzle olive oil over torn up buns and then sprinkle garlic powder on top. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes until toasty. Brown ground turkey while buns are toasting in the oven.
Take the buns out of the oven. Spread tomato sauce over toasted buns. Next spread the browned ground turkey on top of the sauce. Add the onions, peppers, and black olives to the top of the pie. Sprinkle dried basil and parmesean cheese on top of veggies. Finally top Pizza Burger Pie with shredded mozzarella. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes at 350 degrees until cheese is melted and starting to brown around the edges. Let cool and enjoy!
I'm half-Italian. My father is full-blooded. This makes me a rather emotional person sometimes, it also makes for great cooking. Growing up, we had a dish called spedinis for special occasions. They were delicious. Several times I have tried to order spedinis in restaurants and they're never made like my grandma's or as delicious. Either the restaurants are getting it wrong or my family is mistaken of what a spedini is. The restaurants always serve marinated meat, that might be breaded, on a skewer. My family took a cut of meat (chicken or flank steak) and pounded it. We then created a stuffing out of tomatoes and breadcrumbs and stuffed the meat. We rolled the spedinis up, coated them with breadcrumbs and baked them- yum! Our spedini recipe was the inspiration for this casserole. I had some extra spaghetti sauce and celery I needed to use up, so presto, Italian Chicken Spedini Casserole. This would be great with a side of pasta, salad and garlic bread. Mangiar Bene!
Italian Chicken Spedini Casserole
Ingredients:
6 Small Stalks of Celery
1/2 Green Pepper
1/2 Medium Yellow Onion
1 TBSP of Minced Garlic (mine was not dried)
4 Boneless Chicken Breasts
Olive Oil
1 1/3 Cup of Spaghetti Sauce
1/2 Cup Italian Style Breadcrumbs
1/2 Cup Cottage Cheese
3/4 Cup Mozzarella Cheese
1 tsp Italian Seasoning
1 tsp basil
1 Egg
Cut up chicken into to chunks. Dice celery, green pepper, and onion. Pour 1/8 cup of olive oil into frying pan and heat. As soon as it gets warm, add celery, green pepper, onions and chicken. Saute until chicken is no longer pink and veggies are completely cooked. Mix in garlic towards the end of cooking. Let mixture cool.
After cooled, pour mixture into a large mixing bowl. Add spaghetti sauce and bread crumbs. Mix thoroughly. Add cheeses, egg, Italian seasoning, and basil and mix.
Spray your pan. I used a round, 10 inch, deep dish Pamper Chef baking pan. Pour chicken spedini mixture into pan. Sprinkle 1/4 Cup parmesean cheese on top. Sprinkle 3 Tbsp of breadcrumbs on top of the parmesean cheese. Bake at at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. Broil for 3 minutes until toasty on top.
