Cheesy Chili Mac

Lately I've developed a keen interest in all things Cook's Country. If you're not familiar with this show, it's the sister show to America's Test Kitchen on PBS (they also publish a magazine with recipes). It's filmed at a farmhouse in Vermont, and the show focuses on down-home American food. John discovered that you can rent out the farmhouse where the show is filmed, so guess who is taking a Vermont vacation next month? John and I and a few of our friends are headed up to the lovely Green Mountains to enjoy a week of relaxing, cooking, eating, hiking, and more eating! The house is stocked with pantry items, cookbooks, and all kinds of kitchen equipment (as you might expect), and we plan to take full advantage of it! It's a food blogger's wet dream, really.

In the meantime, I've been recording the show and keeping an eye out for tasty-looking Cook's Country recipes, like this one for cheesy chili mac. This one caught my eye because it looked easy enough to make on a weeknight (it was), it only required one skillet, and it's full of cheese. John and I liked this so much that there was only a tiny bit leftover for lunch the next day (and it was delicious reheated).


Cheesy Chili Mac
Adapted from Cook's Country, as seen on Tracey's Culinary Adventures

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium onion, minced
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon ground cumin
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 pound ground turkey
2 cups water
1 15-oz can tomato sauce
8 oz (about 2 cups) elbow macaroni
1 1/2 -2 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend

Directions:
Set a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium heat and add the oil. Heat until shimmering. Add the onion, chili powder, cumin, and 1/2 teaspoon salt to the pan. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onion has softened, about 5-7 minutes. Add the garlic and brown sugar and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the ground turkey and cook until it is no longer pink.

Stir the water and tomato sauce into the ground turkey mixture in the pan. Add the pasta and stir to combine. Cover the pan and increase the heat to medium-high. Cook until the pasta is al dente, stirring frequently to prevent the pasta from sticking. Adjust the heat as necessary to maintain a vigorous simmer.

Turn off the heat under the pan and add 1 cup of the cheese. Stir to incorporate/melt then season the dish to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle remaining cheese (1/2 - 1 cup depending on how cheesy you want your dish) over the top and cover the pan again. Let stand for about 2 minutes, or until the cheese melts.
 
Makes 4 servings

mmm... melty

 Download a printable recipe.

Baked Pasta with Sausage, Tomatoes, and Cheese

 

The employees at my local Quizno's know my order. If I don't come in for awhile, they ask where I've been. I'm pretty sure the owner wants to set my friend up with her son. It's very sweet, but probably an indication that I was eating lunch out a tad too often.

In an effort to kick that habit, I try to make a big batch of something-or-other at the beginning of the week so that I have leftovers for a few days. Baked pasta dishes are always awesome when reheated, so I thought I'd give this recipe a try. I printed it out in January when I was on my Cooking Light rampage, but never got around to making it (probably because John had just gotten his pasta maker and was cranking out homemade ravioli... mmm!).

This was definitely a good choice... it was just as good for lunch as it was for dinner. The only change we made was using mild Italian turkey sausage, rather than the hot.

Baked Pasta with Sausage, Tomatoes, and Cheese
from Cooking Light

Ingredients:
1 (1-pound) package uncooked ziti (short tube-shaped pasta)
1 pound hot turkey Italian sausage links
1 cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 (14.5-ounce) cans petite-diced tomatoes, undrained
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
Cooking spray
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded fresh mozzarella cheese
1 cup (4 ounces) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°.

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain the pasta, and set aside.

Remove casings from sausage. Cook sausage, onion, and garlic in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat until browned, stirring to crumble. Add the tomato paste, salt, pepper, and tomatoes, and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Combine cooked pasta, sausage mixture, and basil. Place half of the pasta mixture in a 4-quart casserole coated with cooking spray. Top with half of mozzarella and half of Parmesan. Repeat layers. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until bubbly.

Yield: 8 servings

 Download a printable recipe.
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Turkey Chili

Chili is one of my favorite things to make: it's hearty, comforting, and you can cook your whole dinner in one pot. But perhaps most importantly, it affords you an opportunity to make corn bread.

This is a fairly standard turkey chili recipe, except that you add your ground turkey in two separate batches. The first half is browned along with the onions and pepper. Once you've added your tomatoes and let the chili simmer for about an hour, you drop the rest of the turkey in, in small chunks, and then simmer it some more. This method results in a slow-simmered, yet still chunky, chili.

We don't make our chili too hot around here, but you can add more cayenne and/or red pepper flakes if you're feeling spicy. And don't forget the toppings! This recipe recommends serving your chili with lime wedges (a different but tasty addition). I'm partial to a little bit of cheese, cilantro, and avocado as well.

Turkey Chili

Adapted from Cook's Illustrated

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 medium onion, chopped fine (about 1 cup)

1 small red bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
3 medium cloves garlic, minced or pressed through garlic press (about 1 tablespoon)
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoons ground coriander

pinch red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
pinch cayenne pepper
1 pound 93 percent lean ground turkey
1 (15.5-ounce) can dark red kidney beans , drained and rinsed

1 (15-ounce) can diced tomatoes , with juice

1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

Table salt

Directions:

1. Heat oil in large heavy-bottomed nonreactive Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering but not smoking, 3 to 4 minutes. Add onions, bell pepper, garlic, chili powder, cumin, coriander, pepper flakes, oregano, and cayenne; cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes. Increase heat to medium-high and add half the turkey; cook, breaking up pieces with wooden spoon, until no longer pink and just beginning to brown, 3 to 4 minutes.

2. Add beans, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, chicken broth, and 1 teaspoon salt; bring to boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, for 1 hour. Pat remaining 1 pound turkey together into ball, then pinch off teaspoon-sized pieces of meat and stir into chili. Continue to simmer about 40 minutes longer, stirring occasionally (if chili begins to stick to bottom of pot, stir in 1/2 cup water and continue to simmer), until turkey is tender and chili is dark and slightly thickened. Adjust seasoning with additional salt. Serve with lime wedges and condiments if desired.

Makes 4 servings.

Download a printable recipe

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Cincinnati Turkey Chili

So here we go with the first of several Cooking Light recipes to help us all get off to a good start this new year. I'd never had this kind of chili before, but I like the idea of serving chili over spaghetti. I also have a special fondness for cinnamon in savory dishes. As a special treat, John whipped up some homemade spaghetti while I went to the grocery store to pick up the ingredients. He just got his pasta maker a week ago, and he's already got the whole pasta-making thing down to a science.

John and I both enjoyed this... it's a warm and comforting meal for a cold winter day. It's not hot at all, so add more chili powder if you want a little more kick. We served ours with corn muffins... yum.

Cincinnati Turkey Chili
from Cooking Light

Ingredients:
4 ounces uncooked spaghetti
Cooking spray
8 ounces lean ground turkey
1 1/2 cups prechopped onion, divided
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 tablespoon bottled minced garlic
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, undrained
2 1/2 tablespoons chopped semisweet chocolate
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (3 ounces) shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Directions:
1. Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain; set aside.

2. Heat a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add turkey; cook 3 minutes, stirring to crumble. Add 1 cup onion, bell pepper, and garlic; sauté 3 minutes. Stir in chili powder and next 5 ingredients (through allspice); cook 1 minute. Add broth, beans, and tomatoes; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat; stir in chocolate and salt. Serve chili over spaghetti; top with remaining 1/2 cup onion and cheese.

Yield:  4 servings (serving size: about 1/2 cup spaghetti, 1 1/2 cups chili, 2 tablespoons onion, and 3 tablespoons cheese)

And in case you keep track of this sort of thing, here's the nutrition info:

CALORIES 408 ; FAT 13.8g (sat 6.6g,mono 4.3g,poly 1.7g); CHOLESTEROL 67mg; CALCIUM 237mg; CARBOHYDRATE 47.4g; SODIUM 765mg; PROTEIN 24.5g; FIBER 7.9g; IRON 3.7mg

Download a printable recipe.
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Smoky Turkey Shepherd's Pie

Yes, I'm still on a comfort food kick. Don't expect it to stop anytime soon, especially since we got our first snow on Saturday!

When I was visiting my parents last weekend, we went to an Irish pub for dinner one night. I had a shepherd's pie, and wondered why I had never made one before (I mean, it has a mashed potato crust!). I remembered seeing a recipe for a turkey shepherd's pie in my Rachel Ray 365: No Repeats cookbook and decided I'd give it a try this weekend. I should say, I am not a huge fan of Rachel's (the cookbook was a gift!). It's not just because I find her personality kind of annoying, but also because the "30 minute meals" thing is a big fat lie. Her recipes have a ton of ingredients (that need to be chopped), and I usually end up using a lot of pots, pans, bowls, and utensils to get one of her meals together so it takes forever to clean up. Her recipes are not as simple and fast as something that claims to be a "30 minute meal" should be. That said, I've enjoyed the end result of each one of her recipes that I've tried. We do have a "30 minutes or less" tag on this blog, and I really don't think I can put that tag on this particular entry since it took me almost an hour to make this dish.

This is not a traditional shepherd's pie by any means. It has a lot more veggies than any other shepherd's pie I've eaten, and it gets its smokiness from bacon, paprika, and cumin. I mostly followed the recipe, except I ignored the part that told me to cook the bacon in 2 Tbs. of olive oil. I don't know what Rachel is smoking over there in the Food Network kitchens, but I'm pretty sure bacon does not require additional cooking fat, so I left it out.  If I make this again, I would use a little less chicken broth or else let the sauce thicken a little more on the stove top because it was more liquid-y than I would have liked. On the whole, we really enjoyed it, and it tasted great the next day too.

Smoky Turkey Shepherd's Pie
By Rachel Ray. View the original at FoodNetwork.com.

Ingredients:
3 large Idaho potatoes, peeled and cubed
Coarse salt
1/4 pound smoky bacon or turkey bacon, chopped
1 1/3 pound ground turkey breast
1 tablespoon smoked paprika, available in small cans on spice aisle of market
(You may substitute 1 1/2 teaspoons each sweet paprika and cumin combined)
Coarse black pepper
2 tablespoons, 5 or 6 sprigs, fresh thyme leaves
1 medium onion, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and diced
3 ribs celery from the heart, chopped
1 small red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
2 cups frozen peas
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup sour cream, divided
3 tablespoons butter
1 large egg, beaten
10 to 12 blades fresh chives, chopped or snipped

Directions:
Bring a medium pot of water to a boil, salt it, and cook the potatoes until tender, 12 to 15 minutes.

Heat a deep, large skillet over medium-high heat. Add bacon and brown it up, drain off most of the fat, then add ground turkey to the pan and break it up. Season the turkey with smoked paprika, salt and pepper and thyme. When turkey browns up, add: onions, carrots, celery. Generously season the veggies with salt and pepper. Cook 5 minutes, then add red pepper and peas cook another 2 minutes. Stir in flour and cook flour 2 minutes. Whisk in broth and combine. Add 1/2 cup of sour cream and combine. Simmer mixture over low heat.

Preheat your broiler to high.

When potatoes are tender, add a ladle of cooking water to the egg. Drain potatoes and return to the warm pot to dry them out a little. Add remaining 1/2 cup sour cream, butter, half of the chives, and salt and pepper. Smash and mash the potatoes, mashing in the beaten, tempered egg. If the potatoes are too tight, mix in a splash of milk.

Pour turkey mixture into a medium casserole dish. Top turkey with an even layer of smashed potatoes and place casserole 5 inches from hot broiler. Broil the potatoes until golden at edges and remove the casserole from the oven. Garnish the casserole with the remaining chives and a sprinkle of smoked paprika.

Download printable recipe.
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Turkey Meatloaf

It's December (sigh). Even if it's not officially winter yet, the cold mornings make me crave comfort food, so I decided to whip up this meatloaf for dinner. I have a lot of bad memories of meatloaf from my childhood (thanks, Dad!), but have grown to really love it as an adult. In college, my friends and I used to get together for "loaf night" (complete with biscuits and mashed potatoes) when we wanted some home-cooked food. This recipe isn't too different from what we used to make. The key is pouring tomato soup over the meatloaf before baking it, which keeps it really moist and flavorful. It might look a little weird, but just go with it.

Meatloaf is one of those things that you generally throw together with a pinch of this and a handful of that. I've never measured out my meatloaf ingredients before (until today, of course), so feel free to play with the recipe. I've made this with beef many times with similarly good results. One technique I do recommend following is grating, rather than chopping, your onions. This way you get the onion-y flavor without ever biting into a big chunk.

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground turkey
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup shredded cheese (I usually use mozzarella, but tonight's loaf had white cheddar)
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 Tbs. milk
1 Tbs. ketchup
1 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
salt and pepper
1 cup Italian-seasoned breadcrumbs
1 can condensed tomato soup, mixed with 1 can water

Directions:
1.  Cut onion into 4 quarters. Grate 3 of them, and slice the remaining quarter into thin strips.

2. In a large bowl, add turkey, grated onion, garlic, cheese, egg, milk, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, basil, oregano, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Add a handful of breadcrumbs and then dig in and mix it together (yes, with your hands). Add handfuls of breadcrumbs as needed until your loaf holds together but is still quite moist. You may not use the full cup of breadcrumbs. Hint: measure the breadcrumbs out into a bowl first. You don't want to be grabbing the container with meaty hands.

3. In a 13x9 inch pan, form the mixture into a loaf (it will be roughly 6 inches long, 4 inches wide, and 2 inches high). Pour the tomato soup over the top and then sprinkle your loafy creation with the sliced onions.

4. Bake at 350 degrees for one hour. Let rest for about 5 minutes after removing from the oven, then slice and serve, spooning some tomato sauce over each slice.

Makes about 4 servings

Download printable recipe
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Balls of Meat

About every couple weeks I get a craving for some delicious meatballs, and today was one of those days. Let me start by saying that my grandmother has made the best meatballs known to mankind, but it's been at least 10 years since they've made their way out of her oven. And my Mom makes damn good meatballs too, but I've tried her recipe and they never come out the way they do when she makes them. I think that's because she doesn't measure the ingredients, and just wings it from memory. That brings me to my brother, Joe. The guy can barely boil water, but somehow he has managed to almost replicate my grandmother's meatballs. And since he won't give me his recipe, although I know it pretty much only contains meatloaf mix and a block of Locatelli, I am left to search for my own.

I've tried lots of different recipes from various sources, and I just couldn't find one that knocks me out. Until recently. Now anyone who knows me will tell you that I kinda have a man-crush on Alton Brown, but I never thought that this crazy guy from Georgia could make a meatball. Well I was wrong. A few months ago I decided to give his recipe a whirl and was knocked out. Bec and I loved them. Granted they are not my grandmother's, but I was on to something here and hopefully with a little tweaking, I could have a recipe to call my own.

Here it is, based on Alton Brown's Baked Meatball recipe.

Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds ground pork
1 1/2 pounds ground round
1 box (10 oz.) frozen chopped spinach, thawed and thoroughly drained
1 cup of freshly grated Parmesan (Locatelli works here also)
2 eggs
1 Tbs dried basil
1 Tbs dried parsley
2 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp red pepper flakes (more like 3/4 tsp, use more if you like a spicy meatball)
1 cup breadcrumbs (1/2 cup for mix, 1/2 cup for coating)

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

In a large bowl, combine the pork, beef, spinach, cheese, eggs, basil, parsley, garlic, salt, red pepper flakes, and a 1/2 cup of the bread crumbs. Using your hands, mix all the ingredients until well combined. You can use the mix right away, or for a better flavor, cover the bowl and put the mix in the refrigerator for up to 24 hours.

Place the remaining 1/2 cup of bread crumbs into a wide bowl. Shape the meatballs into medium size balls (about 1 1/2 inches in diameter), roll around in the bread crumbs coating evenly, and place on a baking sheet. I get about 24 - 30 meatballs with this recipe, depending on the amount of meat. Bake for 25 minutes or until the crust is a golden brown and they are cooked through.

Notes
You may get some cheese oozing out of the meatballs when you bake them, believe me, this is ok. The original recipe calls for 1 pound each of pork, ground round, and lamb. I made them and they were indeed amazing, but I wanted to try it without the lamb and am very happy with this meat mix. You can also substitute turkey for the beef, it still tastes great.

Click here to download a printable version of this recipe!
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