Turkey Lasagna

This evening for dinner, we made turkey lasagna!  We've really taken a liking to turkey over the last little while and almost always have ground turkey in the freezer.  It was our first time making turkey lasagna and I was pleased with the results.

I don't think I would classify this dish as healthy nor would I classify it as unhealthy.  It's certainly not something I would eat on a regular basis unless the copious amounts of cheese were scaled back.  The added vegetables help make the dish a little more well-balanced.  The flavor was certainly delicious and in some cases, that is all that matters!
Ingredients:


1 medium yellow onion, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, minced (we love garlic around here)
1 pound ground turkey
1 tbsp basil
1 tbsp oregano
Salt and pepper, to taste
3 cups tomato sauce (homemade or store bought)

1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 cup light ricotta cheese
1 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup feta cheese (or goat cheese), crumbled
2 tbsp parsley

1/2 cup frozen spinach, defrosted and drained of liquid
1 can of mushrooms
1/4 cup sun-dried tomato, chopped

350 g shredded mozzarella

12 lasagna noodles
Cooking spray

Method:
Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions.

Spray large pan with oil and saute onion and garlic together.  Add seasonings.  Add turkey and cook until browned then add the tomato sauce.

In a medium sized bowl, combine egg with cheese and parsley and mix well.

In a small bowl, combine spinach, mushrooms and sun-dried tomato.

In a 9x13 sized baking dish, spread 1/3 of turkey mixture on the bottom.  Lay 4 lasagna noodles over top of mixture, overlapping if necessary.  Sprinkle with 1/2 of the spinach mixture followed by 1/3 of the ricotta cheese mixture.  Sprinkle mozzarella cheese over top, sparingly.  Repeat layers, finishing with turkey on top followed by mozzarella cheese.

Cover with tinfoil and place on baking sheet to collect any drippings.  Bake in preheated 400F oven for about 30 minutes.  Let stand for 10 minutes before removing foil, slicing and serving.

Enjoy!!

Sweet, Sweet Pineapple Delight

On Friday evening, I went to a Pampered Chef party.  For this Domestic Goddess, it was a nice way to spend a Friday evening.  I spent a couple of hours chatting with friends and trying out kitchen gadgets.  Very relaxing!

We had a taste of three different foods and one of them I knew I would have to make again.  Soon!  The moment I tasted these delightful creations, I knew that they were blog material.

What is it you ask?  Pineapple dipped in lemon zest and white sugar. 

Now, I don't know if it was because the Pampered Chef consultant was talking about lime being an aphrodisiac, but my mind did drift towards a sensual place when I tried them.

My friend described them as tasting like Life Savers and I would definitely agree with that statement.  These little creations are here to stay in my recipe book!

To recreate these at home, I used:

2 tbsp white sugar
Zest of one lime
8  medium sized pineapple chunks (pre-packaged from Sobeys)
Toothpicks

Method: Stir together sugar and lime zest.  Poke toothpick though pineapple and dip into sugar mixture.

As you probably guessed, I do not own the pineapple wedger from Pampered Chef although; I did purchase a couple more products at this last party I went to.  Stay tuned for a blog entry about one of the new products.  I'm already writing the entry in my mind.

Deceptively Delicious

It’s -35C outside today with the wind chill so I declared it a stay inside and bake muffins kind of a day.  I flipped through my various cookbooks looking for a muffin recipe and I decided on Applesauce Muffins from the cookbook Deceptively Delicious by Jessica Seinfeld.  The cookbook was given to us by close friends at Christmas and I’ve looked through it a number of times for ideas when I wanted a new recipe.  The muffin recipe is the first one I have made but there will be others!

Like for anything, there is always going to be criticism and I've heard a little bit from other moms regarding this book.  The criticism lies with vegetables being pureed and hidden within the food so that the kids are deceived into eating their vegetables, thinking that there are not any.  The title of the book is catchy yet I can see how it would be an automatic turn off to some parents.  My recommendation is to take the time to look through the recipes.     

I don’t feel that vegetables should necessarily be pureed and hidden within spaghetti sauce or meatloaf just so the kids will get their daily dose of vegetables.  In fact, I’m a firm believer in exposing children to a wide range of flavours and textures and I do not believe in “kid food”.  I also do not short order cook but will make concessions when I can but not for an entire meal.

With all of this being said, I think that it is perfectly ok to puree fruits and vegetables to enhance the flavour of a meal and to provide an extra dose of nutrition at the same time.  I’ve come to the conclusion that Deceptively Delicious does this for the most part.  There are a few exceptions where I would not puree carrots or broccoli as an example, and I would add them into the dish in bite sized pieces. 

Pureeing fruits and vegetables is not a new concept and I have memories of my mom adding mashed peaches to chocolate cake as part of the liquid, I’ve had chocolate cupcakes at a children's birthday party made with pumpkin puree and on many occasions, I’ve used apple sauce instead of oil in my baking. 

Here are a few examples of recipes from Deceptively Delicious that I would like to share with you to give you a better idea of the type of recipes that are in this cookbook.  There is a section devoted to "the celebration and not the sugar" that I'm very interested in.  I have not made any of the recipes below so I can only vouch for how great of an idea I think they are and not the taste of the recipe.

•  Peanut butter banana muffins made with carrot or cauliflower puree
•  Oatmeal raisin cookies with both banana and zucchini puree
• "Buttered Noodles" where pureed yellow squash acts as the butter
• Quesadillas with pureed butternut squash and shredded cheddar cheese mixed together.  This was also done with the grilled cheese sandwich in the book.
• Brownies made with both pureed carrots and spinach.  This is a future recipe that I will definitely be trying!
• Chocolate pudding made with mashed avocado
• Aloha chicken kababs with sweet potato and pineapple puree mixed in with the egg mixture, then breaded
• Banana pudding pie made with pureed cantaloupe and yellow squash

Gone are the days where I keep frozen purees in the freezer but there are many families who are in that stage and the purees would readily be available to them.  Imagine making a little bit more to save for the recipes in this cookbook.  While it did take an additional 20 minutes to peel, chop, steam and puree the carrots, I think it was worth it in the end.  I give this cookbook 2 thumbs up!

The Applesauce Muffins are moist, delicious and Calista had a little taste of one during lunch and she kept asking for more.  I had to turn her highchair around so that they were out of sight and out of mind.  Until snack time anyways!