Turkey Cranberry Wreath

For a brief stint as I was growing up, my mom sold Pampered Chef products. She probably doesn't realize this, but I have a special place in my heart for many of their kitchen gadgets (I have 2 of these, for example), and several of their recipes. This is one of my favorites. It is perfect for using up leftover Thanksgiving turkey, and it looks so pretty in a wreath shape!

Notice the stovetop from 2 moves ago... I guess I should re-make and re-photograph

Turkey Cranberry Wreath
2, 8-oz packages refrigerated crescent rolls
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp pepper
2 cups cooked turkey or chicken, chopped
1/2 cup celery, finely sliced
1/2 cup dried cranberries
4 oz. (1 cup) Swiss cheese, shredded
1/4 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped (optional)
1 egg white

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. 
2. Unroll crescent dough; separate (16 triangles). "Seal" the wide ends of 2 triangles together using fingers, 8 times, until you have 8 diamond shapes.
3. Arrange dough diamonds in a circle on a pizza pan/stone or baking sheet, matching seams together. Each diamond will have one point in the circle's center and one stretched outward like a sun ray.
4. Mix mayonnaise, mustard, and pepper in a bowl. Add turkey, celery, cranberries, and grated cheese.
5. Scoop filling over seams of dough, forming a circle. If using walnuts, sprinkle them over the filling at this point.
6. Alternatingly fold inner and outer triangles of dough across the filling, slightly overlapping to form wreath. Tuck last end under first. 
7. Lightly beat egg white and brush over dough. 
8. Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Enjoy warm!

Rose milk

I first tried rose milk at one of our favorite Provo restaurants: India Palace. It consists of milk sweetened with rose syrup (sweet like chocolate milk, only instead of chocolate, imagine how a rose smells -- that is the taste), and it is served icy cold and pairs beautifully with spicy Indian food. I loved it so much I decided to try making it at home using this recipe. It was straightforward, once we found rose water at a local Asian store. (As a side note... I even tried flavoring some tapioca pudding with rose water instead of vanilla. It was good, but a little overpowering.)

Rose Milk

Rose Syrup ingredients:
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 Tbsp rose water
a few drops red food coloring (optional)

1. Completely dissolve sugar in water in a small saucepan over medium heat.
2. Continue cooking for 3-5 minutes.
3. Cool to room temperature. Add rose water and food coloring. Mix thoroughly.
4. Resulting syrup can be stored in the refrigerator for 2-4 weeks.

To make rose milk, add approximately 2 Tbsp rose syrup to 1 cup milk and stir. I would recommend adding a little at a time to taste.

Chicken Tikka Masala

This recipe for chicken tikka masala is slightly adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe. It is spicy, flavorful, totally delicious... and a great way to use up plain yogurt ;)

For this India-inspired British dish, begin by marinating chicken in yogurt and pungent spices for one hour. Start some rice. Then, while pan-frying the chicken, cook up a creamy, spicy, tomato-based sauce which pairs beautifully with the chicken, and serve it up over rice. I almost can't eat it without some naan on the side, too!

Chicken Tikka Masala
(serves 3-4)

Chicken Marinade ingredients:

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup plain yogurt
1 Tbsp lemon juice
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 1/2 tsp paprika
2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp salt

1. Slice raw chicken into strips or bite-sized chunks.
2. Combine yogurt, lemon juice, spices, and salt in a large bowl. Add cut-up chicken, stirring to coat well. Refrigerate for an hour (or up to 8 hours).
3. Heat frying pan and cook chicken over medium heat until done.

MEANWHILE....

Masala ingredients:

1 Tbsp butter
1/2 to 1 tsp garlic powder (or 1 clove garlic, minced)
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
8 ounces tomato sauce (one small can. I use the no salt added variety)
1 cup milk/cream (or Mexican crema worked really well)

1. Melt butter in a small saucepan. 
2. Add spices and heat until aromatic. 
3. Stir in tomato sauce and milk or cream. Milk is likely to curdle, but this is fine. 
4. Cook over low heat until sauce is hot and thick. Pour over chicken in its entirety, or serve separately if preferred. 

Serve hot over rice and ideally with naan -- yummy!

Chicken Pot Pie

I like a good chicken pot pie, but Mr. B. isn't keen on actual pie dough for most things. Thanks to Betty Crocker, we found an easy compromise that is pretty tasty! It's not exactly Marie Callendar's (which I quite like) and it's definitely not like a made-from-scratch version, but it comes together quickly and has ingredients you can't really go wrong with!

Easy Chicken Pot Pie 
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables
1 cup cooked chicken, diced
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) cream of chicken soup
1 cup Bisquick mix (which is not something I buy; see below for the substitute recipe)*
1/2 cup milk
1 egg

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. Mix vegetables, chicken and soup in baking dish of your choice (I usually use a 9*9 Pyrex).
2. Combine Bisquick, milk, and egg; spread evenly over the top of vegetables/chicken/soup mixture in baking dish.
3. Bake until crust is golden brown (approx. 30 minutes)

*Substitute for Bisquick mix
1 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp  salt
1 Tbsp shortening

1. Mix flour, baking powder, and salt.
2. Cut shortening into dry mixture. Then use in place of Bisquick mix as above.

Macaroni salad

I like a good macaroni salad every so often. I am not a big fan of the deli kind that is super sweet, though. It is a disappointment EVERY time!

My mom always made a more savory macaroni salad, and it is what I prefer! Her standby recipe is the Best Foods recipe. I like it, and feel a few changes make it even tastier! I made this for a potluck tonight and didn't even get a full bite! So I'm relying on the compliments I received that it was, in fact, tasty.

Macaroni Salad

16-ounce package small shell pasta (or other shape, as preferred)
2 cups mayonnaise (I don’t know if it makes a difference, but I used Nalley’s mayo, which Thomas swears by… haha!)
2 Tbsp white vinegar
2 Tbsp mustard (just plain mustard, not dijon like the original recipe calls for)
1 to 1 1/2  tsp sugar
3/4 to 1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 cups thinly sliced celery
1/2 cup chopped white onion
5 hard-boiled eggs, chopped
1/4 to 1/2 tsp paprika

1. Cook according to package & then cool the pasta. Add onion, celery, and hard boiled eggs.
2. Combine all of the sauce ingredients (mayo, vinegar, mustard, sugar, salt, pepper, paprika) and mix well.
3. Pour sauce onto pasta, celery, onion, and eggs, and stir to incorporate.
4. Serve cold. Probably a good idea to chill until ready to serve.

Baby food ideas

**I wrote this several months ago. Baby is now a year old, and mostly eats whatever we are eating. I typically cut things into bite-sized pieces and let her feed herself. She enjoys being fed from a fork, too, and when we put food on a spoon & allow her to get the spoon to her mouth!**

I like to do things myself, and making my own baby food for our daughter has been a given! I'm recording what has worked for us in order to remember for future babies, and to give others ideas.

I've listed things in the general order we introduced them (though I'm sure it's not perfect! I don't remember exactly when we gave her certain foods!). 

Items with an asterisk (*) are items I've frozen in small portions. I prepare a batch and then freeze scoops on a cookie tray or in a silicone ice cube tray. I keep the frozen portions in labeled Ziploc bags and pull out 1-2 portions at a time to heat for her meals, and I mix and match what I give her, usually, for variety. 

I frequently thin foods out with formula, or mix it in to cool something I just microwaved.

She's been a great eater, overall, and has done well with everything listed below.

Starting at about 5 months:

• oatmeal (I grid up old-fashioned oats in a blender. It is easy to scoop some of this powder into a bowl and add water and microwave it for her breakfast)
• applesauce* (I peel/core/slice gala apples, steam them until they are very soft, then stick them in the food processor)
• pears
• lentils* (cooked until soft, then pureed)
• squash*: zucchini, butternut, acorn
• rice* (I ground up brown rice in a blender. I found I had to cook it & freeze it afterward, instead of relying on it cooking in the microwave)

6 months:

• yogurt (plain whole -- you can make it at home!)
• avocado (I sometimes mash it with the back of a spoon, or sometimes cut it into small pieces that she can sort of feed herself -- it does get rather slippery, though)
• chicken* (pureed baby food from a jar... or, alternately, I have boiled a chicken breast and pureed it (thinning it with some of the broth from boiling))
• sweet potatoes* (roasted in the oven, then mashed with a spoon or pureed in the food processor)
• carrots* (boiled or steamed and then mashed/pureed)
• spinach* (frozen, then microwaved so it's softer, and pureed)
• bananas (mashed, or cut into small pieces for her to feed to herself)
• peaches (cooked & mashed -- but depending on how soft, this could be cut into small pieces as well)

7 months:

• cinnamon (to flavor her oatmeal)
• beef (pureed baby food from a jar)
• turkey (pureed baby food from a jar)
• peas (she feeds them to herself -- I just heat up frozen peas for her and sprinkle a couple tablespoons worth onto her high chair tray)
• Cheerios (she feeds dry Cheerios to herself)
• cheese (just bits of shredded cheese)
• mango (frozen -- microwaved & then mashed. I give it to her on its own or mixed into cereal or yogurt)
• blueberries (frozen -- microwaved & then mashed. I give it to her on its own or mixed into cereal or yogurt)
• bread (she feeds herself)
• "sandwiches" (I take a slice of bread, spread baby food meat on it (so it's an open-faced "sandwich"), and give it to her. She loves feeding herself!)
• broccoli (steamed & cut into small pieces (florets only so far))
• pumpkin (I gave her canned pumpkin slightly warmed. It mixes into cereal well, or meat)
• barley (in the form of Malt-O-Meal, a cereal mix of wheat and barley)
• cream cheese
• sour cream

A lot of these things I combine now. Some unlikely combinations work pretty well. I like mixing fruit into her cereals, but some fruit mixes well with meat (like applesauce with chicken or turkey). I mix yogurt into cereal sometimes, too. 

Dinners usually consist of a starch/grain, a protein, and a vegetable. Breakfast is usually a cereal with a fruit and maybe yogurt. Lunch varies! 

At most meals I give her some finger foods, too -- peas, Cheerios, bread, cut up soft veggies. That allows for us to eat with her, too -- she works on the finger foods while we eat our food!

Resources I have found to be helpful:

• http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/
• http://wholesomebabyfood.momtastic.com/forbiddenbabyfood.htm
• http://www.babycenter.com/0_the-10-best-foods-for-babies_10320505.bc
• http://www.parents.com/recipes/baby-food/20-foods-to-feed-your-baby-before-age-one/#page=1
• http://www.parents.com/recipes/baby-food/new-foods-to-feed-baby/#page=1

Turkey Tetrazzini/Casserole

As a continuation of my quest to find good recipes for leftover turkey, I made this.

Honestly, this was my first experience whatsoever with a "Tetrazzini" -- I just looked up the term, and even though I based this on a recipe called Turkey Tetrazzini, I don't think the name really applies here.

At any rate, this was a winner in our house! I had my doubts at first, but seriously, with pasta and cream of chicken soup, how bad could it really be?! Food snobs, please don't answer that.

Turkey "Tetrazzini" -- or we can just call it a Casserole

8 oz dry pasta of choice -- I used tri-colored rotini & I would do it again!
1 cup broccoli, steamed/boiled until tender but several minutes from mushy (or frozen broccoli, thawed)
1 cup cubed cooked turkey
1, 10.75 oz can cream of chicken soup
1 cup water
1/2 tsp chicken bouillon
1/3 cup chopped celery
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/3 cup shredded cheese of choice (I used a "fiesta mix" with cheddar, jack, ...? anyway, it worked.)
1/4 cup seasoned bread crumbs

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Cook pasta per package instructions. Drain and place into 9x9 glass baking dish.
3. Arrange broccoli on top of pasta in baking dish. Add turkey on top of broccoli.
4. In a medium saucepan, combine cream of chicken soup, water, bouillon (alternately, use chicken broth in place of water & bouillon), celery, and garlic powder. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and pour as evenly as possible over pasta/broccoli/turkey.
5. Sprinkle cheese evenly on top. Lastly, sprinkle bread crumbs over the cheese.
6. Bake for 25 minutes at 350°F. Serve hot with a glass of cold milk!