Weekend recipe: turkey pasta bake

Ugh. I've thought about posting this for days. But between battling the laundry monster, scheduling and then fretting about job interviews, making lists, losing lists, making new lists and chasing around a toddler...I sorta forgot. Sorry, y'all. One week soon, maybe I'll actually post a weekend recipe on the weekend.
Then again, like this turkey pasta bake...perhaps the idea gets better the next day.
I came up with this recipe as a way to repurpose leftover Christmas turkey (like leftover Thanksgiving turkey, just jollier). Really, I ended up stretching the turkey out longer. But no one complained. Not even after the third day.
In fact, it really did get better the next day. And not only did my husband, father-in-law and teenage niece like it, so did my little gobbler Josie. Then again, who doesn't like a simple, warm meal to cheer us up after the post-Christmas doldrums set in?

Turkey Pasta Bake
Time
About an hour
Ingredients and Equipment
-13-oz box whole wheat thin spaghetti
-extra virgin olive oil
-1 bunch green onions
-1 clove of garlic
-leftover turkey, pulled off the bone and shredded
-14-oz can stewed tomatoes (you can add 2 cans if you like)
-1 tablespoon Italian seasoning (dried oregano, thyme, parsley)

-salt and pepper

-1 cup whole or reduced-fat milk
-2 tablespoons flour (preferred Wondra)
-1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra in reserve
-about 1 cup grated cheddar cheese (mozzarella or any other kind would work just as well)
-pasta pot
-large sauce pan or deep-sided skillet
-baking dish (9x13 or so)
-spray oil
Directions
- Boil spaghetti noodles in a large pot with lots of salted water.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Trim and finely slice green onions. Then add them to a large sauce pan or skillet with a tablespoon or so of olive oil. Saute over medium low heat.
- Mince garlic and add to pan.
- Once green onions and garlic cook down, add the turkey, stewed tomatoes, Italian seasoning and salt and pepper to taste.
- In a small bowl or liquid measuring cup, pour a cup of milk. Then dissolve the Wondra or flour in the milk before pouring the mixture into the pan with the turkey mixture.
- Add Parmesan cheese. Mix well and allow all ingredients to come to a simmer.
- Drain the pasta and add to the turkey sauce. Toss well.
- Add the pasta and sauce to a baking dish that has been lightly sprayed with oil. Then, top with shredded cheese and a sprinkling of Parmesan.
- Pop in the oven and bake until the cheese is melted and there is a golden, bubbly crust.

Table scraps

Baby, I don't think we're in Jackson any more.
We are finally settling into our temporary home in the Atlanta area. Right now, we still live in a magical fantasy world of cardboard boxes and clothing piles. So, cooking is not the top priority. But I've managed to make some decent meals this week and Josie has tried some new things.

Babysaurus Rex
A while back, I fretted about whether and how to introduce Josie to meat. Turns out she's a big fan of animal flesh. I'm OK with it. I'm OK with it. I'm OK with it....(repeat).
Actually though, I am becoming OK with it. While I have made the decision not to eat mammals and flip-flopped back and forth with vegetarianism, I think Josie should eat what makes her happy and healthy. And that can include meat until she decides otherwise.
She's been a big fan of eggs and poultry — especially dark meat chicken and turkey — since the day she first tried it. In fact, on cranky days when we can't get her to eat anything else on her tray, she'll eat baked chicken.
She's had beef at day care. And she tried ham at my parents house last month.
Today, she tried lamb and fish (mahi mahi) for the first time. She ate both like she'd been eating them her whole life.
So, look out animals! Basically if you roam, crawl, fly or swim, Josie will eat you.
And there's more bad news. She'll get more teeth. (She still only has two)

Berbere baby
We've only been in the ATL for four days and already we've eaten Indian and Ethiopian. Food. Not people. Felt the need to clarify, after the previous post.
This was my first time eating at an Ethiopian restaurant. It was good. Hearty, spicy lentil stews. Garlicky collard greens. Spongy, sourdough, pancake-like rolls of bread for scooping and sopping.
Josie was a big fan of the bread, called injera. She also liked the greens (??? I can't figure out if she likes garlic or just humors me sometimes.) and the mild, stewed chick peas.
I didn't actually let her try any of the Berbere spice mix because I thought it may be too overpowering for her. But she ate some of Chris' lamb stew.
It made me happy to share a new experience with her. And I hope she's an adventurous eater as she gets older. I think it's a good way to broaden her palate and introduce her to new cultures.
Whose cuisine should we hit up next? Maybe Polish. 'Bout time she had some pierogi and borscht. Those are her birthrights after all.
Or maybe some Persian (Ahem. Samira, I will trade babysitting. Seriously.)
Or Korean. Or Lebanese. Or dim sum. Or South African. Or Jamaican.
Atlanta maybe rooted in the heart of Dixie, but it's dinner table has traveled the globe.

To meat or not to meat?

Here's my omnivore's dilemma: I eat some meat. Fish, fowl, reptiles. No mammals. I have vegetarian tendencies. My reasoning is a long, not exciting story, but my position is essentially that, as delicious as some animals may be, I can't bring myself to eat up the food chain in such proximity to humans.
And as an aside, I fear the hormones, antibiotics and chemicals used in mass farming of meat animals even though I'm a bit ignorant overall on the subject.
My husband eats any meat, though in very moderate amounts. He may have a steak once a quarter and pork on the rare occasions that A) someone else made it and invited him for dinner, B) it's a hotdog at a baseball park. He's also amenable to tofu, beans and meatless dishes, but holds none of my warm, furry aversions.
So where does that place Josie?

Turkey and green beans

I want her to eat what we eat, and that's been fairly easy except for this point where Mommy and Daddy diverge.

How do we introduce her to meats? Do we limit her meat eating until she is old enough to decide for herself? How do we talk to day care about what proteins we'd like for her to eat and which ones we'd like for her to avoid? Will she miss out on foods that are important to our culture or her friends' cultures? Are we limiting her palate? Are we being too controlling? Is there a compromise?

To meat or not to meat, that is the question.

She's had a few meats already. She's had chicken and turkey, both foods our family eats regularly. We're holding off on fish and seafood until she's at least a year old (which, gulp, is in weeks). 

And I know day care has given her a beef patty at least once. Not sure how she liked it, but there were no problems on the back end, if you know what I mean.
Still, I kind of which I had come to a decision, a solution to this dilemma before that happened. Shoulda paid more attention to the day care menu, too.
I have several momma mentors who probably have considered this before. So if y'all are reading, please weigh in. How did y'all do it? Would you do it differently? Am I just freaking out again?

CHOMP!

Weekend recipe: turkey meatballs

I need to air something out straight away: This recipe was inspired by those soft processed meat sticks sold as toddler food but are really Vienna sausages.

Now, let me explain. My husband and I passed them on a recent trip for baby supplies and I remember thinking, "Wow! Are those what I think they are? For babies?"

And while the snacks are marketed as healthy, easy ways to get your child to eat meat, I think you could still smoosh them onto a Ritz cracker and dot them with hot sauce.

But enough judgment, they got me thinking about what I could make that would deliver protein, allow Josie to eat with her hands and give me piece of mind that there are no unrecognizable animal parts (or lots of salt) in them.

To make it more of a challenge on myself, I also began plotting a way to sneak in vegetables. Not that I'm really worried about Josie rejecting veggies...yet. It's just that I've got a freezer of vegetable purees, she no longer will stand to be fed. (This goes back to her recent discovery of I-can-do-it-myself-edness.)

For more inspiration, I looked to my dad. While there are tons of trickery cook books out today that have recipes for brownies concealing spinach or mac'n'cheese(n'carrots), my dad invented "the sneak" as far as I'm concerned. I'm not braggin' or nothing. He was a master of getting veggies in very non-veggie stuff.

Though, to be fair, points would have to be deducted for his meatballs that were either alien shades of green or orange thanks to the plants lurking inside. The meatballs tasted great and, fortunately, my brother and I were intrigued by the color spectrum they painted on our plates.

Turkey meatballs

This recipe can make meatballs for the whole family. I made them for dinner in two sizes: nickel-sized for baby and tangerine-sized for grown-ups. I mixed one big batch out of the raw ingredients, but cooked them differently. For babies, I simmered them in unsalted chicken broth until they were thoroughly poached. For grown-ups, I baked them and then added them to a spicy marinara.

Time

Less than an hour

Ingredients and Equipment

- 1 1/2 pounds of ground turkey (We used very lean, 93/7 blend)

- 1 piece of whole wheat bread, dried out and pulsed into crumbs in a food processor

- 1 egg

- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

- 2 cubes pureed butternut squash (about two tablespoons)

- 2 cubes pureed sweet green peas (about two tablespoons)

- salt-free Italian herb seasoning (just a few pinches)

- several cups of salt-free or low sodium chicken broth

- food processor

- sauce pot

- slotted spoon

Directions

- Mix the ground turkey, bread crumbs, egg, olive oil, vegetable purees and seasoning in a mixing bowl. Combine using your hands to make sure everything is incorporated, but do not go crazy and over mix.

- Roll nickel-sized meatballs in the palms of your hands until relatively smooth. Lay them on parchment paper or a plate or really any clean, flat surface

- Bring the chicken broth up to a steady simmer, NOT A BOIL. Liquid that is bubbling and rolling too rapidly could cause the meatballs to break apart.

- Add just a few raw meatballs at a time to the simmering broth. They should float to the top, but make sure they have fully cooked before removing them. I allowed mine to simmer for at least 10 minutes (out of an abundance of caution). You may want to test the first one or two to make sure you have the timing down.

- Let cool and serve. I cut them in half for Josie, but older kids may be OK with whole ones.

As Josie gets older, I think I'll experiment with sauces and presentation, but I still think I may be employing "the sneak."

Josie vs. tofu

If a picture paints a thousand words, then this video paints a gazillion.

Tonight, Josie was introduced to tofu. I heard it's a good finger food. It's soft. It packs protein. It's mild flavored.

But none of that mattered to Josie. She just thought NEW!!! AIGHT!!!!

Gotta love her excitement about new food, no matter how bland or squishy. (Though, I must say I personally love tofu...just not plain like she tried it.)

I think I'll adopt her gusto. Even when it's a plain tofu-sorta day.