Greek Pastitsio

Happy 2013 everyone!  There's so many goals we have for the blog this year, but our #1 goal is to bring you great & fabulous recipes 3 times a week.  That's a big undertaking and will take lots of preparation on our part, but we're determined!  Also, Kyla is going to take a bigger role...she's going to have 2-3 recipes a month that she is in charge of.  I may still have to help her with the blogging side of it, but she's going to be finding, taking pictures and making it pretty much by herself!  She really is a great cook & I'm excited to try some of her stuff (and not have to cook a few times each month!)

Hope you are as excited as we are for this new year!  And with that we'll get on to today's recipe.

Pastitsio just means a casserole layered with pasta, meat and cheeses.  Nothing too fancy about that, although it's really fun to say & it sounds pretty impressive.  But this recipe is more than just pasta, meat and cheeses.  Add the spices and vegetables to it and you've got a wonderful main dish.

(You can make this dish healthier by substituting whole grain penne, using lean ground turkey, light cream cheese, skim milk and part-skim mozzarella...yeah for all of us with that certain new year's resolution that I seem to have EVER SINGLE YEAR!!):)

Greek Pastitsio

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1 pound (16 oz.) penne pasta
1 pound ground beef or turkey
1 large onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, pressed
2 tablespoons flour
8 ounces cream cheese (light works well)
2 cups milk (skim is great)
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 can (14.5 oz.) diced tomatoes, drained
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Cook the penne pasta according to package directions.

While the pasta is cooking brown your beef or turkey with the onion in a large skillet over medium heat.  Season with salt and pepper.  Drain grease from skillet and then add the garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Sprinkle the flour over the meat and then stir to combine.  Break the cream cheese into pieces and add to the meat mixture.  Let it melt and little and stir to combine.  Pour in the milk, nutmeg, and tomatoes.  Stir to combine and then cook over medium heat until simmering.  Let simmer for 5-7 minutes until mixture is slightly thickened.

Stir the pasta into the meat mixture and then pour into a greased 9 x 13 inch pan.  Sprinkle the mozarella cheese over the pasta and place until the broiler for about 3-5 minutes or until cheese is browned.  Watch it really closely or you'll have black cheese!!

Remove from the oven and serve.

Herb Brined Turkey

Our family had our very first Thanksgiving with just our sweet family a few years back.  It was weird not being with extended family, but we've actually done it a couple of times since then as well & we kind of like it.  Not that we don't love being with family as well, but sometimes it's nice to just have your own traditions & a little less quiet!:)

So, anyway, on that first Thanksgiving by ourselves we decided to try our hand at brining our turkey. 

WE WILL NEVER DO IT ANOTHER WAY NOW!

The turkey was so juicy & flavorful...and the gravy made from the drippings was AMAZING!

This is now our go-to turkey method.  It is really easy since we always use a turkey roasting bag so we don't have to worry about basting.  This bird is fabulous!  Thanks to Emeril Lagasse for the fabulous recipe!

Herb Brined Turkey

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• 1 turkey (10-12 pounds)
• 
  
• For the Brine:
• 1 cup salt
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 oranges, quartered
• 2 lemons, quartered
• 6 sprigs thyme
• 4 sprigs rosemary

For the inside of the turkey:

1 large orange, cut into 8ths

4 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature

salt and pepper

1 large yellow onion, cut into 8ths

1 stalk celery, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 large carrot, cut into 1 inch pieces

2 bay leaves

2 sprigs thyme

2 sprigs rosemary

1/2 bunch sage

3 or 4 sprigs parsley

For the brine:  Dissolve the salt and sugar in 2 gallons of cold water.  I usually use my water bath canner, but you can use a clean bucket or large stockpot or even a heavy-duty food grade plastic storage bag.  Add the oranges, lemons, thyme, and rosemary.

NOTE:  We usually roast the biggest turkey we can find because we love leftovers.  So, if you plan to cook a bird bigger than 12 pounds and need more brine just add an extra 1/2 cup salt and 1/2 cup sugar to every gallon of water.  You just need enough brining solution to cover your bird.

Prepare your turkey by removing the neck, giblets and liver from the cavity of the turkey.  (This is my very least part...I usually make Tony do the honors!)

Rinse the turkey inside and out under cold running water.

Place turkey in the brining solution and cover.  Refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to 24 hours.  I always start the brine on Thanksgiving eve.

When you are ready to cook your turkey, remove it from the brining solution and rinse under cold running water.  Pat dry with paper towels both inside and out.  Place turkey, breast side up, in a large roasting pan.  Rub the breast with one of the orange segments and rub on all sides with the butter, stuffing some underneath the skin (I actually like this part...I'm a freak I know!)  Season lightly inside and out with salt and pepper.

Place turkey in a turkey roasting bag and then stuff the turkey with the onion, orange, celery, carrot, bay leaves, thyme, rosemary, sage and parsley. 

Follow the baking instructions on the roasting bag.  

If you are inclined to make gravy...PLEASE, please, please don't throw away the drippings at the bottom of your roasting bag!  It makes the most fabulous gravy!

Here's how we make our gravy:

Measure how many cups of drippings you have.  For each cup of drippings you will need 1/4 cup of cold water and 2 Tablespoons of flour.

Heat drippings in saucepan over medium-high heat until boiling.  Mix cold water with the flour.  This needs to be mixed really well so that you don't have clumps in your gravy.  I usually put it in a mason jar and screw a lid on it and let the kids shake the guts out of it!

When boiling, add the water/flour thickening and stir until thickened.  This won't take long.  Pretty dang easy and you've now got  a killer turkey and gravy!!

Don't forget to make some awesome Creamy Mashed Potatoes to go with your gravy!

Leftover turkey Ciabatta Sandwiches

If you've got some leftover turkey I've got the most wonderful sandwich that you have just got to try!! Tony (the hubby) and I ate one every day for 3 days straight and ran out of Ciabatta bread and were not too pleased!:) They are that good!!

Ciabatta Turkey Sandwiches

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Ciabatta rolls

leftover turkey breast (white meat)

red onion, cut into rings and separated

cheese (your favorite...we just used sliced cheese but I think some Havarti would be divine on this sandwich!)

lettuce

tomatoes

Guacamole (we just use a guacamole mix found by the produce in walmart with some avocados)

bacon

miracle whip/mayo

First you need to toast your ciabatta roll. (these are found in the bakery section of most grocery stores...we got ours at walmart) Spread you choice of miracle whip or mayo on one slice and lots of guacamole on the other.

Use a small frying pan and put a little bit of olive oil in the bottom and then cook your onion and turkey together in the oil until a little browned. Salt and pepper to taste. Place on one side of the ciabatta roll.

Now just pile on all the other toppings. Cheese, bacon, lettuce, and tomato.

Smooch together and take a bite of heaven!!:)

Seriously, these were so good. Don't skip the guacamole...it is what makes this sandwich in my opinion!!