Turkey and Stuffing Bake

Turkey and Stuffing Bake
(with comments and suggestions from my friend, Kristin)
It's really good, I made it last year and hoping to make it tonight!

Ingredients:
1 Jar (4.5 ounces) sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup Butter or Margarine
1/2 cup diced celery
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 & 1/4 cups Ranch Dressing
2/3 cups water
3 cups Seasoned Stuffing mix (I just used Stovetop Stuffing)
1/3 cup sweetened dried cranberries (I used a whole bag because I like
cranberries)
3 cups coarsely shredded cooked turkey (about 1 pound, i went to the
deli and found just regular turkey and asked them to slice it in
between half and inch to 3/4 of an inch thick and two slices cut like
that were perfect. I just pulled it apart when i got hope to give the
shredded affect. Either do that or you can go to boston market and get
turkey from them.)

Directions:
Drain mushrooms, reserving the liquid for later; set aside. Melt
butter over medium-high heat in a large skillet. Add celery and onion;
saute for 4 minutes or until soft. Remove from heat and stir in 1/2
cup ranch dressing, water and reserved mushroom liquid, mix well. Stir
in stuffing mix and cranberries until thoroughly moistened. Combine
Turkey, Mushrooms and remaining 3/4 cup dressing in a SEPARATE bowl,
mix well; spread evenly in a 8-inch baking dish. Top with stuffing
mixture. Bake @ 350F for 40 minutes or until bubbly and brown.
makes 4-6 servings.

Cranberry Bread

Ingredients
Serves 8
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pan
2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pan
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3/4 cup whole milk
1 bag (12 ounces) cranberries
1 tablespoon turbinado sugar, for topping (optional)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees; butter and flour a 9-by-5-inch loaf pan (8-cup capacity), and set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In a medium bowl, combine butter, egg, and milk. Add wet mixture to dry mixture, and whisk to combine; fold in cranberries.
Pour batter into prepared pan; sprinkle top with turbinado sugar, if desired. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack; let bread cool 30 minutes. Invert onto rack, then immediately turn right side up to cool completely.

I have extra cranberries to use up and I remember this bread recipe I make every year. Enjoy!

Grandma's Sloppy Joes

Ok, so I finally made it on here! I've never written on a blog before so I hope this is working. I am sorry for my absence on here. I actually tried to post a couple weeks ago and couldn't get it to work. Well, tonight I cooked using a recipe for the first time in I don't know how long. Usually it's pasta or something else that requires little work and ingredients. It was a long day at work, but for some reason I was in the mood to make my grandma's sloppy joe recipe when I got home. I'm sure you all have your own variation, but this one is my favorite.

1 1/2 lbs ground beef
1 cup catsup or chili sauce
1/2 cup water
1 tablespoons vinegar
2 heaping tablespoons sugar
2 tablesppons mustard
1 tablespoon Worchestershire sauce
garlic added to taste
salt and peper, dash of A1 steak sauce

Brown meat, add seasoning, then rest of ingredients.
Serves 6.

Slow-Cooker Pizza

This recipe is from my "Fix-It and Forget-It" cookbook.  I made it for the first time yesterday and it was a big hit.  It's super easy to make and really yummy.  Sorry that I don't have a picture of it!

INGREDIENTS:
1 1/2 lbs ground beef or bulk Italian sausage (I used Italian sausage and only used a pound because it was all I had)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
Half a box rigatoni, cooked
7-oz jar sliced mushrooms, drained
3-oz. sliced pepperoni
16-oz jar pizza sauce (This didn't seem like it was enough so I added a little spaghetti sauce)
10-oz mozzarella cheese, shredded
10-oz cheddar cheese, shredded

DIRECTIONS:
1. Brown ground beef (or Italian sausage) and onions in saucepan.  Drain.  Meanwhile cook rigatoni as directed on box.
2.  Layer half of each of the following, in the order given, in slow cooker: ground beef and onions, green pepper, noodles, muxhrooms, pepperoni, pizza sauce, cheddar cheese, mozzarella cheese.  Repeat layers. 
3. Cover.  Cook on Low 3-4 hours. 

NOTE:
Keep rigatoni covered with sauce so they don't become dry and crunchy. 

VARIATION:
Add a 10 3/4 oz can of cream of mushroom soup to the mix, putting half of it in as a layer after the first time the noodles appear, and the other half after the second layer of noodles.  (I did this because I wanted to make sure it wasn't too dry)

Jolene's Coleslaw

Jolene is one of our closest family friends (I've literally known her ALL my life!). She's also the best dentist in NW Iowa (and I miss having a good dentist...:/). But she's also an awesome cook--and is always good for some new recipes. She brought this coleslaw to one of our last holiday get togethers, and it was a hit. She (like me) really isn't all that into measurements--so this recipe is in it's original Jolene form. No worries, you really can't mess it up. Just make sure you don't go too healthy/skimpy on the dressing. No one likes a dry coleslaw...If you add the chicken breast, it's a great meal in itself, but I paired it the other night with steak and homemade sweet potatoe chips.

1 bag chopped coleslaw
red grapes, halved
chopped onion (I used about 1/2 an onion)
chopped walnuts
Marzetti's Poppy seed dressing (about 1/2 to full bottle)
chicken breast (optional)

Four Cheese with Bacon Mac from Family Circle

Can't resist....
Making this again tonight. Joe loves it and it makes great leftovers! :)



Ingredients
1 box (1 pound) cavatappi
6 slices bacon, diced
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups 2 percent milk
1/2 teaspoon onion flakes
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 pound sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 cup shredded colby-Jack cheese (4 ounces)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (4 ounces)
8 slices Kraft Deli Deluxe American cheese (6 ounces)
Directions
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat a 3-quart broiler-safe baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to boiling.

2. Cook cavatappi 8 minutes in boiling water, then drain. Meanwhile, in medium-size saucepan, cook bacon over medium heat until crisp, 6 minutes. Transfer to paper towels. Carefully pour off drippings, returning 2 tablespoons to pan. Add butter.

3. Whisk in flour until smooth. In a thin stream, whisk in milk. Stir in onion flakes, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat and simmer 2 minutes. In large bowl, toss together cheddar, colby-Jack and mozzarella.

4. Remove milk mixture from heat; whisk in American cheese and 11/4 cups of the cheddar mixture. Toss bacon pieces with remaining shredded cheese.

5. In pasta pot, combine cooked pasta and cheese sauce. Pour half into prepared dish. Sprinkle with a generous cup of the bacon-cheese mixture. Repeat layering.

6. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes. Increase oven temperature to broil and broil 3 minutes, until top is lightly browned. Cool slightly before serving.