Turkey Tetrazini.

I'm not sure what made me look for this recipe. But it had to be something with the noodles and creamy sauce.. Too bad I didn't have any Chicken like the recipe called for, so instead I found a bag of leftover Thanksgiving turkey (yes, thanksgiving). So I improvised and it was pretty delicious. I also had some elbow noodles instead of spaghetti open, so I threw those in.

Thanks to EatatHomeCooks.com, it is where I found the original recipe, before I altered it. She had a variation that had it in the crockpot, but I forgot to start it, so I had to go with the oven recipe. Either way- Easy, Yummy, Filling dinner.

Turkey Tetrazini (makes 8 servings)

3 cups Chopped Turkey (or Chicken)

1/2 cup Fat Free Chicken Broth

2 cans Cream soups (I used 2 C. of Chicken)

8 ounce F.F. Sour Cream

8 ounces cooked Spaghetti noodles (or Elbow macaroni)

1 cup low fat/fat free mozzarella cheese

Cook noodles according to package directions. Preheat Oven to 375. Mix Turkey, Broth, Soups and Sour Cream in a bowl together. Rinse noodles the mix into Turkey. Spread into 9x13 pan. Cover with Mozzarella cheese. Bake for 30-45 minutes (until cheese is golden brown and bubbly). Remove from oven and let sit for 5-10 minutes.

We served it with steamed broccoli, which was the perfect side for it. The only thing I could think that would make it better would be a dash of pepper and garlic salt. It's definitely a keeper!

Now I'm off to decide what type of pie I really need... B/C it's that or a cupcake, neither of which I have in the house and both I'm craving like crazy.

Homemade Turkey Pot Pie.

I do realize that it's April and not the normal time you would have leftover turkey on hand. When you find yourself digging through the freezer for the popsicle you dropped, and find a bag of leftover turkey from Thanksgiving, well you've got to find a recipe to use that turkey up (or at least some of it). I'm not sure which magazine I pulled it out of, because it was a Swanson Broth ad.

The other thing that drew my attention is that a lot of times Michael doesn't like all the extra crusts, which I LOVE, I could eat his and mine. But this recipe only had a top crust, no bottom, so I figured it would cut down on some of the calories. I missed the extra crust, but not enough that I would throw this recipe away. It was chocked full of vegetables and had great flavor.

This picture was just because the pot pie looked like something out of a magazine. It was beautiful and smelled delicious.

Then I actually cut it so you could see all the veggies inside. I had a bag of mixed veggies with carrots, corn, green beans and peas in it.

Turkey Pot Pie

(makes 6 servings)

1 egg

1 Tbsp, water

6 cups diced cooked Turkey or chicken

5 cups frozen mixed vegetables

2 Tbsp Butter

1/2 cup all purpose flour

2 cups Swanson chicken broth (low sodium)

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 of a package of Pepperidge Farm Puff Pastry (1 full sheet), Thaw

2 Tbsp chopped herbs (parsley, thyme, rosemary and/or oregano)

Heat Oven to 400 degrees. Beat egg and water in small bowl with fork.

Stir turkey and vegetables in 13x9 baking dish. Heat butter in small saucepan over medium heat. Add flour and whisk until smooth. Gradually stir stock into saucepan. Cook and stir 5 minutes or until mixture thickens. Stir in black pepper. Pour stock mixture over turkey mixture.

Unfold pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface. Roll pastry sheet into 13x9 rectangle. Place pastry over filling. Press pastry to the rim to seal. Brush Pastry with egg mixture and sprinkle with herbs.

Bake 25-30 minutes or until pastry is golden brown and filling is hot and bubbling.

Super Easy Salisbury Steak.

To add to my confused pregnant cravings, which is getting a little out of hand. My latest craving would make pickles and ice cream sound like chips and salsa to the normal person, 2 items that go together.... Cheese Pringles and Prunes? No, Not so much, huh? The other night I had made my Flounder with mustard cream sauce recipe, that I always enjoy. Except this time around, I had like 4 bites of it and just couldn't eat it. It didn't taste right to me. So I quit eating. 30 minutes later, I decide I want something sweet. Open the fridge to Prunes, they sound good. So I eat a serving of them. Then Michael gets up to go get his dessert and I sweet talk him into getting me the cheese Pringles that I had bought that day. It was delicious and disgusting all at the same time.

After that crazy night, I've had a few normal days, except for the extreme urge to have Taco Bell Nachos. Tonight's is a new recipe that my friend Michelle sent me. She swore by this recipe. She has a family of 5, so I can see why she likes doubling this recipe. It really is super easy. She gave me a great piece of advice for serving kids, make mini patties for the kids portions. Since my munchkin won't eat normal food I just made big patties. They were delicious, and I did improvise with the sauce a little. She found this recipe on Allrecipes.com and I think we both changed the original recipe to make it right for our family. I served ours with Instant Mashed Potatoes and Corn. Not the healthiest options, but just right to go along with this meal, real comfort food. We will definitely make this one again, even if it is giving me really bad indigestion at the moment. Apparently the baby isn't appreciating it as much as I did for dinner.

Salisbury Steak

makes 4 servings

1/2 medium onion diced

1 lb ground lean turkey (you could use lean beef too)

1 -10 ounce can Campbells French onion soup

1/2 cup bread crumbs (I had to use a little more b/c of the turkey needing extra binder)

1 egg

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp black pepper

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1 Tbsp All purpose flour

1/8 cup Ketchup

1/4 cup water

1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

1/2 tsp Dried ground Mustard

1 cup Beef Broth or 1 can beef broth

Saute the onion in 1 tsp oil, in a pan. In a large bowl, mix 1/3 can of French onion soup, ground turkey (or beef), bread crumbs, egg, salt & pepper. Shape into 4 patties (or multiple sizes for kids and adults). In same skillet with onions, brown patties on both sides. Pour off any excess fat (I didn't have any excess fat with the turkey).

In a small bowl, blend flour and remaining soup until smooth. Mix in ketchup, water, worcestershire sauce, mustard and beef broth. Pour over meat in skillet. Cover and lower heat to medium-medium low. Cook for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally and spooning sauce over patties.

Pot full of chili for 5.00.

I didn't plan so well with the weather in mind, seeing as next week it's supposed to be cool, and today it was in the 80's. But nevertheless, we did a pot of Turkey Chili. My mom used to make this with leftover turkey from Thanksgiving, but since I didn't have leftover Turkey (yet) I used ground Turkey. This chili is so great because it's so cheap and it will be at least 2 dinners and 2 lunches for both Michael and I. The only downside to this recipe is the dried beans, but all you have to do is pour 1/2 lb of dried beans into a pot, cover with water and cover with lid and then let sit overnight.

Ground Turkey Chili (Makes 16 cups)

WW pts: 2 pts a cup

1 lb. Ground Turkey (sale) .99 cents

2- 28 oz. can Diced Tomatoes, drained (BIGI free) 1.28

2 packages store brand Chili seasoning .59 cents each

1/2 lb. Dried Red Beans 1.68 for whole bag

Onion, diced .75 cents

3 stalks, celery diced.

1/2 green pepper, diced, (sale- sliced and frozen) .25

1/4 cup ketchup

1/4 cup mustard

1-28 ounce can filled with water

Brown ground meat if you need to, if you are using leftover Thanksgiving Turkey dice it up into chunks. Drain beans from water. Pour beans and Tomatoes into crockpot. Pour the remaining ingredients, stir to mix. You may need to add more water if it seems thick. The beans will soak up some more of the water, so you can always add extra and it won't be runny in the end. Then turn on for low for 8 hours and go to work or leave it be.

We always serve it with Original fritos and shredded cheddar cheese. And you can always add a little Louisiana hot sauce.

Monte Cristo... and not the Count of.

Has anyone ever seen that movie: The Count of Monte Cristo... I love it. It's one of those, I've seen dozens of times, but still watch it anytime it's on. Not sure why. It's definitely not the normal type of movie that I would choose.

Basic plotline: James Caviezel plays Edmond D. who is falsely imprisoned by his jealous friends where he meets an old priest in prison. After escaping, he go on a hunt for hidden treasure that the priest talked about, after finding it, he uses the new fortune to get revenge on his enemies.

All of this brings me to my topic for tonight. I found a WW sandwich for a Monte Cristo, which made me think of the movie. I've never had a Monte Cristo sandwich before, but have seen them on T.V. from different cooking shows. It sounded interesting so we decided to add it to our menu for the week.

Monte Cristo Sandwich (makes 2 sandwich)

WW pts: 6 pts. per sandwich.

4 slices whole wheat bread

2 oz Pepperjack cheese (it called for some expensive cheese, so I went with this and it was good and A LOT cheaper)

4 oz. Shaved Turkey (I usually get it sliced fresh as the deli counter, so I know exactly how much we have, and we don't have to worry about leftover meat in the fridge)

Brown Mustard

1 egg, beaten

Heat a skillet and spray with PAM. Take the bread, put dijon mustard on sandwich. Then layer the cheese and turkey. Combine bread to make sandwich. Then dip in beaten egg and put in hot skillet. Flip gently until done, then serve immediately.

*I added a slice of tomato, b/c we have like 14 tomatoes (not exaggerating). Next time I would probably toast the bread before making the sandwich, b/c the bread was so fresh that it was almost a little soggy.

We served it with potato fries (baked in the oven) and a side salad.