Turkey Galentine with Truffles & Chives...

Want something different from the traditional Turkey Dinner?

I was looking at options. A Regular Turkey can be boring in flavor for me! I love a smoked Turkey or just the dark meat. My taste buds demand more!!! 

While watching a TV program, we saw a recipe from the Medieval Period being prepared.

"YUMMY, Let's make that!", I said to my Hubby.

Am I glad I did! It was AWESOME...

"Turkey Galentine w/Truffles & Chives"

This style of recipe has been around since the "ages of time"!

There are SO many different versions and preparations. 

Simply speaking, this recipe is leftover's blended together,

 (Or as we call them...RE-RUNS).

 This recipe uses left over meats to prepare another meat based meal. Combining and stretching your leftover meat scraps, nuts, spices & veggies. The base consists of several types of meat, mainly Beef, Pork, Poultry...mixed & blended together. Kind of a Kitchen Sink recipe!!!

Basically, I think it's a Meat Lover's Paradise!

Below is One Version I used this weekend! It was fabulous!!!

FYI: LOTS of Photo's included for the preparation phase...

Turkey Galentine w/Truffles & Chives Recipe

(Ground Meat style)

*This recipe is doubled, it may be cut in half or tripled...

1 1/2 pounds of ground beef, lean....veal or hamburger

2 pounds of Pork sausage or ham, ground

3 pounds of ground turkey, *I used light and dark meat for more flavor

1/2 to 3/4 cup of diced chives (green onion)

2 cups chopped mushrooms

3 eggs

2 packages of Turkey gravy mix, dry... I used Knorr's brand

Spices as follows:

Mix together;

1 teaspoons of dried Espresso or Coffee

1 teaspoon cumin 

2 teaspoons of Worcestershire infused Pepper

4 teaspoons of Montreal Steak Seasoning

Mix well yielding 8 teaspoons

~~~

Mix everything except the spices...blend well

Then mix the spices.

Add 4 teaspoons of the blended spices and mix well...

**Reserve the remainder of the spices, adding 3 more teaspoons of Montreal Steak Seasoning for the rub/crusting on the outside of the meat loaf.

*I made two loaves and froze one to be used on Thanksgiving Day.

Divide meat mixture into 2 sections and form 2 loaves of meat.

*(see photo's below for preparation)

Cheesecloth for baking and twine or Cooking bands for tying

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 hours

*Meat thermometer should read 180 degrees when done. 

 Meat mixture...

 Spices

 Add 4 teaspoons of spice to the meat mixture...

Photo of Eggs being added ...

 Chives added...

 Mushrooms added...

Mix everything well...Go find the Hubby to mix this....

Whew, that is too much work! :)

 Cheesecloth & Cooking Bands...

 Use the remainder of the spices for the rub/crusting of the outside...

 I used some olive oil on my hands before I handled the meat....It helps the meat from sticking to your hands. Makes an easier clean-up.

The cheesecloth helps hold the meat mixture in place while cooking.

 After dividing the meat into 2 loaves wrap in cheesecloth for baking...

Lots of Photo's....but it shows the process.... ;))) 

 One loaf wrapped and banded ready for the oven...

This recipe is so moist after it's cooked....Mmmmm Good!

 Check the temp after 1 1/2 hours... may need a few more minutes...

Ohhh, the smell is enticing....BUT let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing!

 Ready to remove the cheesecloth...

 OMG....Dinner is DONE! The Aroma is amazing.....

 What a beauty!!! Dinner is READY...

 It slices beautiful....I'm already dreaming of leftover sandwiches..... :)))

OHhhh MY.....this is hard taking photo's...WHEN I'd rather have my fork in hand! 

We served Garlic Mashed Potatoes, Dressing and Truffles Stuffed with Creamed Spinach with our Turkey Galentine w/Truffles & Chives. Of course we poured Turkey Gravy over EVERYTHING!!!

I was too STUFFED to eat 2nd's...but I am lusting over the reruns tomorrow! 

Turkey Dinner Served w/Delicious Style...

Enjoy :)

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Easy Chocolate Crinkle Cookies...

These simple, 3 ingredient Cookies are pretty darn G-double-OO-GOOD!

Can't get any simpler....

 They are soooo good, I made two batches....

 3 ingredients...

1 box of cake mix, any flavor, Regular or Sugar Free

1 8oz package of cool whip, softened

Powder Sugar, about 1/2 cup

Mix well together the cake mix and cool whip,

 it will be very stiff & sticky!

Drop teaspoon size batter into the powder sugar and coat well

Bake at 350 for 12 minutes

 Ingredients

 Baked

Mmmm, Perfect...Ready to Eat!

So Yummy & Quick....Great for a quick treat or unexpected guests.

Cookies Served with Taste & Style...

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Fruit Salad Flower Apple Bowls

If you hang around me long enough it won't come as much of a surprise that I like to make things. I love to be crafty, to rearrange things that are in place to make something different. I love to bake but when I saw this pin I knew it would be a great snack for Naomi to take to school on her birthday. I am all about cupcakes but I know that teachers don't always love the idea because kids aren't always very clean eaters!! There was nothing with the pin to tell me how to make these fruit salad flower apple bowls but that's okay, I just need a photo (sometimes two) and I can pretty much figure out how to make things. So I talked to Naomi about making these apple bowls and she loved the idea. So, here is a photo step by step tutorial of how I made the fruit salad flower apple bowls for Naomi to take to school on her birthday!

I washed the apples in water with a splash of vinegar.

 Cut the apples near the top with a slight diagonal cut. Not too deep.

Then turn the knife the other way to make a "petal"

 Make ten cuts thus making five petals.

Cut the top part off the apple

Cut little triangles out between the petals giving it more of a flower look.

Then scoop out the apple insides to make a bowl. I used a melon baller...and you can save the apple pieces to use in the fruit salad as well (obviously not the seed part though!)

Then soak the apple in sprite or ginger ale or lemon juice to slow down the browning...

Once I had all the bowls and flowers made I added some fruit inside the bowl and called it good!

 I wrapped each apple individually to make it easier on her teacher and to help prevent further browning since I made these up the night before.

She said the girls loved them! And those who didn't like kiwi gave them to Naomi and she LOVED that!!

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Roasted Artichoke Soup...

Roasted Artichoke Heart Soup...

Roasted Artichoke Heart Soup

You're gonna LOVE this...

This soup was fantastic. It was very cold outside and I wanted something WARM!

I went to the pantry and started searching for something warm to eat. The artichoke hearts caught my eye and a recipe popped in my head!

 Roasted Artichoke Heart Soup:

4 cups of chicken broth, low sodium *(less sodium/salt in this recipe the better)

1/2 cup of heavy cream

2 cans of mushroom soup, condensed

3 jars of water packed artichoke hearts, drained and leaves removed.

Roasted in 1 tablespoon of butter. (*Use hearts only)

2 small onions or 1 large, chopped fine, saute in 1 tablespoon of butter

Marsala Wine, 2 tablespoons

2 tablespoons of butter, divided

Garlic Pepper, to taste

*(not garlic salt...accidentally grabbed the wrong spice bottle for the photo)

Bacon, 6-8 slices, cooked & crumbled. Use as garnish for soup.

 Chop onion, fine

Saute onions in 1 tablespoon of butter, 2 tablespoons of Marsala Wine.

Season onions with garlic pepper (to taste).

 Mmmmmm this smells wonderful! Add to the stock pot when done.

 Bacon, cook until crisp and set aside. Later crumble and use for soup topping.

 In a stock pot put 4 cups of low sodium chicken broth, 2 cans of cream of mushroom condensed soup, and 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream. Cream together. Cook over medium heat. Stir often. 

 Add grilled onions to the soup stock and stir.

 After the artichokes have been drained & trimmed of leaves, place in a fry pan with 1 tablespoon of butter. Cook artichokes until roasted. 

 Add artichokes to the stock pot and stir. Reduce to a low heat and cook for 25-30 minutes.

 Yum....Almost ready to eat!

This soup is so GOOD, I can't wait to make it again....SOON!

Don't forget the BACON! 

This Gourmet Soup has Style...

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Back to school (and work) slow cooker cooking

Did your kids go back to school yet? Mine did. And along with them going back to school I went back to work. After being a stay-at-home mom for six years I'm not sure I was really prepared for what I was about to do. But I survived my first week and am looking forward to going back next week. I am the Director of Afternoons at my kids school. I get to be home with my little girls in the morning and then spend my afternoons with my big two and their classmates (and a bunch of other kids). So, since I needed a job this really is the best job possible for me and our family! 

If your family is anything like mine...they like to eat. And well, it's good to eat. We need energy in the form of food in order to function properly. When we eat the right food we function even better! So, it's important with me working now that I find a way for my family to eat well while being easy and simple to prepare. Enter the slow cooker!! We use the slow cooker a LOT around here and I'm so grateful for the many recipes floating around in the web-o-sphere. I'm also grateful for the Fix-It and Forget-It 5 ingredient favorites: Comforting slow cooker recipes book that a lady from church gave me. This book has been used many many times and I plan to keep using it until we decide to stop using the slow cooker to make dinner (and with me working that won't be anytime soon). To only need 5 ingredients saves me a ton of time and money. These recipes are easy to throw together in the morning when I'm hanging out with my little ladies before I head to work. Then when we get home all we have to do is fix a simple side, of which I plan to stock the fridge with on the weekends...like rice and noodles or whatever. If you haven't started using  your crock-pot as a way to save you time and money (you won't have to eat out as much) then let me encourage you to do so. It's really rather simple and doesn't take too much prep work.

Case in point, I was able to prepare 8 freezer slow cooker recipes this week in the mornings while I was home with my little girls. Granted I did have the help of grandma to watch the girls but still these meals are easy to put together and could be done on a Saturday or Sunday while someone is able to watch the kids, or get them involved with the chopping and throwing things into the bags if they're old enough. I love this freezer slow cooker cook book from Stephanie Cornais. The recipes that we've already tried were delicious and had lots of flavor. They are easy to prepare and it's SO nice to know that my freezer is stocked in case I forget to get things for one of my other slow cooker meals. It's also great to have on hand in case someone has a baby or if a family member is in the hospital, these would be easy to take for them as well. The other great thing is the Stephanie only uses whole REAL foods. No cans of cream of whatever in these recipes. I've even branched out and tried some new things because of this cookbook. I'm really excited to try to the Peanut Stew that I prepared last week!! Check out Stephanie's blog and she has a new mini eCookbook called Back to school slow cooker freezer recipes. She also has a gluten-free, grain-free dessert cookbook!!

We have three freezers...a little excessive, yeah maybe. But one is a chest freezer because we get a whole hog worth of meat each year. The other came with the house and we have ours that we purchased when we bought our first house. So now my hubby has his "beer" fridge in the garage which has lots of space for me to store my slow cooker freezer meals!!!

One little trick that I like to do (and feel I can do since this is just in the garage) is write what freezer meals are in the freezer with a white board erasable marker on the outside of the freezer. Then it's super easy to see what I have to put in my rotation when meal planning!!

Do you have a favorite slow cooker meal? I'd love to try it. You can also see more meals that I've found and pinned here. Enjoy your back to school time and prep some slow cooker meals so you don't have to worry about dinner!!

And just in case you were wondering how cute my kids looked on their first day of school...here you go ;)

 These first day of school printable came from Paper Coterie!!

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