Easy Home Made Pasta Sauce + Baked Mini Turkey Meatballs - Dairy/Soy/Egg/Wheat Free

 We signed up for a food Co-op! We pay $15 every two weeks to get a laundry basket full of assorted fresh in-season fruits and vegetables! (You can find out if there's one in your area here BountifulBaskets.org).

 Anyway, with that said, we've ended up with some produce that we normally would not purchase, namely tomatoes. I hate tomatoes (HATE them!!), but I can eat them once processed, like in pasta sauce. Pasta sauce is so cheap that I usually just buy it in a jar, but since we a. are trying to get away from pre-packaged and processed foods and b. have a bunch of tomatoes to get rid of, I decided to try to make my own. It turned out to be surprisingly easy and so much tastier than purchased sauce. I think I may try to make some in a larger batch and can it. Hmmm...

Easy Pasta Sauce

1 tsp  olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 Tbsp minced garlic
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp chopped fresh basil (or 1 tsp dried)
1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/8 tsp sea salt
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
7 medium tomatoes, coarsely shopped and juices retained

In a medium sized saucepan, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add onion and garlic and saute until onion is translucent, about 5 minutes. Add in the remaining ingredients, including tomato juices, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer about 30 minutes.

Baked Mini Turkey Meatballs

16 oz 85% ground turkey (you can use leaner meat but you will have drier meatballs)
2/3 cup quick cooking oats (use GF oats if you choose)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 Tbsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp chopped fresh basil

Pre heat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl until just mixed. Do not over work the meat mixture or your meatballs may get tough!
Spread about 1 cup pasta sauce on a baking sheet.
Form the meat into balls about the size of large grapes (about 1 Tbsp meat each), to form about 30 meatballs, and place them evenly on the sauced baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

You can then either serve this with your pasta sauce and pasta, or once cooled, place the entire cookie sheet in the freezer. After the meatballs are frozen you can place them in a freezer bag and reheat them in the oven, in boiling pasta sauce, or in the microwave!

Turkey Wellington - Dairy Free, Egg Free

  My husband and I are suckers for all things Gordon Ramsay. We love Kitchen Nightmares, Masterchef, and Hell's Kitchen. We loved Gordon Ramsay's F-Word and we recently watched a docu-series of Gordon in India on Netflix. It seems that in almost every show you see Gordon on though, Beef Wellington is mentioned if not prepared. Beef Wellington is a traditional British dish made from beef fillet coated in pate and mushroom puree, wrapped in puff pastry and then baked. I've never had it, but it looks great!

  Well, Chris requested I try to make a Jack friendly version for Father's Day and, well, I think we were pretty successful! In fact, this was one of my favorite things I've ever made. My ONLY qualm with it, and it's a small qualm, is that it was soggy on the bottom. But it reminded me so much in flavor of a beef french dip sandwich that the sogginess actually seemed perfect. I searched "Turkey Wellington" and actually found lots and lots of recipes, but they were all very different from Beef Wellington, even some that included cranberry sauce in place of the pate. My recipe set out to mimic as closely as possible the ingredients used in traditional Beef Wellington.

  This was adapted from Gordon Ramsay's own recipe and actually only required a few substitutions to fit our needs.

Turkey Wellington

2 Boneless skinless turkey breast fillets 

3 tsp olive oil
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
16 oz package baby bella mushrooms
1/2 lb thinly sliced deli oven roasted turkey breast
2 tsp yellow mustard
1 can Pillsbury Big Flaky Crescent roll dough
1/2 cup melted Earth Balance buttery spread

Heat 2 tsp olive oil in a medium skillet over high heat. Rub turkey breasts with salt and pepper, being sure to really push the seasonings into the meat. Sear each side of turkey breasts until golden brown, about 1 1/2-2 minutes per side. This is only for color and texture, you are not trying to cook the meat at this point. Remove from heat. Brush turkey with mustard on all sides and set aside.
Coarsely chop mushroom caps and stems. Using a food processor or blender, puree mushrooms. You can also mash them with a fork, but the results won't be as smooth. Heat remaining oil in skillet over medium heat. Saute mushrooms until moisture is released (the puree will become more wet looking). Season with a pinch of each salt and pepper and set aside.
 Lay an 18 inch piece of cling wrap on your work surface. Overlapping slightly, lay half of the sliced turkey breast out. You will be wrapping the whole turkey breast in the sliced breast, so when laying out the slices be mindful the how long and big around your whole breast is and try to make the area covered large enough. I'm sorry if that is hard to understand, but once you are doing it you should understand. Spread half of the mushroom puree evenly over sliced turkey. Lay one whole turkey breast on the slices and wrap the slices around it. Wrap tightly with the cling wrap. Repeat with other breast and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
 On a lightly floured surface, unroll crescent dough. Pinch the perforated seams together along the diagonal lines to form four rectangles. Set two rectangles aside. Pinch the seams between the two rectangles to close the perforations and spread it out large enough to cover the turkey breast. Remove the cling wrap from one turkey breast and wrap it in the dough. Place it folded side down on a baking sheet. Brush with melted butter. Repeat with second breast.
Bake 35 minutes, covering lightly with foil partway through once dough becomes a nice dark golden brown.
Allow to rest 10 minutes before slicing.
Serve with roasted potatoes.

Creamy Enchilada Casserole - Dairy, Soy, and Wheat/Gluten Free

 I actually already have a recipe for enchilada casserole on this blog, and it is really yummy. However, this recipe is so different that it almost seems like a totally different food than the other, so I wanted to include it. While the first recipe calls for ground turkey, this uses cubed turkey breast. It also includes black beans and corn which give the recipe some texture, while the other is much smoother. And perhaps my most favorite part about this recipe, it calls for the 'sour cream' to be baked right in and something magical happens to cashew sour cream when it's baked; it becomes almost like a cheese sauce... it just totally made this recipe fantastic.

 I adapted this recipe from this post on AllRecipes.com, although I had to make many changes to make this recipe fit our needs.

Creamy Enchilada Casserole

2 turkey breast tenderloins, diced into 1/2 inch pieces

1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
2 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro
1 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 15oz can whole corn kernels, drained
4 medium flour tortillas (or corn tortillas, if gluten free)
1 cup Daiya Mozzarella shreds
1 cup Daiya Cheddar shreds
1 Tbs Mexican seasoning blend (optional)
1 recipe cashew sour cream (see below)
1 recipe enchilada sauce (see below) OR 1 10 oz can prepared enchilada sauce of choice

Cashew Sour Cream
1/2 cup raw chasews
1/4 cup coconut milk + 1/4 cup water OR 1/2 cup water
1 Tbs lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
 Place all ingredients in a high powered blender and blend until smooth

Enchilada Sauce
1 5oz can tomato sauce
half can of water
1/2 Tbs chili powder
 Place all ingredients in small sauce pan and heat over medium-high heat until boiling, reduce heat and simmer 5 minutes.

Pre heat oven to 375.
In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook turkey with cumin,coriander, salt and pepper until turkey is fully cooked through, about 6-10 minutes. Stir in cilantro, beans, and corn. Stir occasionally for 1-2 minutes, until beans and corn are heated. Meanwhile, mix Daiya cheeses and Mexican seasonings together in a bowl and set aside.
Spoon 4 Tbs enchilada sauce into the bottom of a 9x13 inch casserole dish. Place two tortillas over the sauce to make your bottom layer. Spread the turkey/bean mixture over the tortillas. Sprinkle half of the cheese evenly over the turkey. Drizzle a little more than half of the sour cream over the cheese. Pour the remaining enchilada sauce over the cheese. Cover with the remaining two tortillas. Top with the rest of the cheese, and drizzle with the remaining sour cream.
Cover dish with foil wrap and bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 5-10 minutes.
Allow to cool 15 minutes before cutting and serving. Enjoy!

Cracker Crusted Turkey Breast - Dairy, Soy, Egg Free

  I've read every magazine in the waiting room of my son's speech and occupational therapy office. Recently I found myself waiting without my book, Jack's iPad, and without my phone; essentially without anything to do but re-read a Ladies Home Journal from last September. This time around I read this recipe called Mrs. Potter's Chicken that I had previously skipped right over and it seemed so simple but sounded so good, I decided to try it that night. Of course we had to make adjustments; I used Daiya Mozzarella instead of Parmesan, turkey breast rather than chicken, and Earth Balance soy free buttery spread rather than butter. But this, like the original recipe, still only calls for 5 ingredients, was really easy, and very tasty.

  Cracker Crusted Turkey Breast 

1 lbs turkey breast cutlets
1 sleeve Ritz Crackers (we used the whole wheat ones), crushed
1/2 cup Daiya Mozzarella cheese shreds, crumbled*
2 Tbs Earth Balance Soy Free Buttery Spread, melted
1/8 tsp black pepper
optional: 1/8 tsp salt

Pre heat oven to 425 degrees.
Line a large baking sheet with foil and set aside.
In a pie pan or shallow bowl, combine crushed crackers, pepper (and salt if using) and cheese shreds.
Pound turkey cutlets between plastic wrap until about 1/4 inch thick. Coat the turkey with melted butter, then dredge through the crumb mixture, pressing crumbs firmly onto turkey. Place turkey on prepared baking sheet, continue with remaining pieces.
Bake for 12-15 minutes, turning halfway through, until golden brown and cooked through.

* Take a handful of cheese shreds and rub them between your hands to crumble.

Turkey Sausage Breakfast Gravy - Dairy, Soy Free with Wheat Free Option

  I've done a few different breakfast gravy recipes that were decent, but after a recent trip to Penzeys Spices and finding this breakfast sausage seasoning, our lives have been changed for the better! I now can make turkey breakfast sausage anytime with the ground turkey of my choosing rather than having to use the ultra watery Jenni-O tube of ground turkey sausage we had been relying on. I HIGHLY recommend you pick yourself up some of this seasoning mix. Seriously. Also, using coconut milk instead of almond milk really improved the flavor and made the gravy whiter than the previous versions. To boot, this recipe is a lot simpler in that you make it all in the same skillet without having to remove the meat. This is really good stuff, we had it for breakfast one day and then for dinner two days later because we loved it so much!

Turkey Sausage Breakfast Gravy 

 
1.25 lb lean ground turkey
1 tsp olive oil
1 1/2 Tbl Penzeys Breakfast Sausage Seasoning*
2 Tbl Bisquick, GF Bisquick, or other GF flour of your choice
1 cup unsweetened plain coconut milk, plus more if needed
1/2 tsp sea salt
a few cracks of fresh ground black pepper

In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Once oil is hot, add turkey and sausage seasoning. Break meat up with wooden spoon and stir until completely browned, about 5 minutes. Push all of the turkey meat to the back of the skillet, allowing the juices to come to the front. Add the flour to the juices and stir quickly to form a paste. Whisk the coconut milk into the flour paste until there are no lumps, then incorporate the turkey into the flour/milk mixture. If it is very thick, add more coconut milk. Remember that the gravy will thicken slightly as it cools so try to get it just slightly thinner than you'd like. Stir in salt and pepper and taste, adjust seasonings as desired. (For spicier gravy, add a pinch more of sausage seasoning). Serve over hot biscuits or toast.


 * The ingredients are:  salt, sugar, paprika, black pepper, dextrose (a simple sugar), nutmeg, cayenne pepper, sage, and thyme. I do not know the exact amounts of each, but you could try to make your own seasoning (and store in a small mason jar or other air tight container). Here is my best guess at the measurements for an 4-6oz jar:

4 Tbsp salt
4 Tbsp brown sugar
4 Tbsp paprika
1 Tbsp black pepper
2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cayenne pepper (more or less depending on how spicy you want it)
1 tsp sage
1 tsp thyme 
  

Turkey Fried Orzo - Soy, Rice, Egg Free

 The first Saturday of every month, Chris and I leave the kids at Parents Night Out and go to a Chinese buffet. The place we go to isn't extravagant or anything, but I love going because I can get my fill of fried rice that otherwise is totally off limits to us. We've done fried quinoa at home and while it's good, it just doesn't hit the spot the same way.
  Maybe I'm the last person on earth to know about orzo, but I had no idea what it was until I was walking down a grocery store isle this morning and noticed a box of what looked like rice in well known pasta brand box. Intrigued, I bought a box and then went home and Googled "What to do with orzo" and found that most people used it in place of rice in recipes. (For those like me who don't know, orzo is tiny rice shaped pasta. The brand I found was made entirely out of wheat, no eggs or other ingredients.)
 I decided to try to make fried 'rice' with the orzo and it was great! Of course, with no real traditional soy sauce and without the egg, it still isn't spot on, but it's much closer than fried quinoa!

Turkey Fried Orzo

1 package turkey cutlets, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 Tbl olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
several cracks of fresh ground black pepper
1 Tb olive oil
half white onion, diced
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 1/2 cups cooked orzo, drained
2 Tbl coconut aminos (soy sauce substitute)
1/2 cup frozen peas and carrots, thawed
3 stalks green onion, diced

In a wok or large skillet, 1/2 Tbl heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add turkey to wok, sprinkle with salt and pepper and stir fry until completely cooked. Remove from wok and set aside.
Add 1 Tbl olive oil and fry onions until transparent. Pour vegetable broth into wok and cook until it is reduced by about half. Add in cooked orzo and stir constantly, scraping the bottom to avoid sticking, until most of the liquid is absorbed. Add coconut aminos, peas and carrots, and stir rapidly, about 5 minutes. Return turkey to wok and stir until heated through. Stir green onions is just before serving.

Apple Sage Turkey Chops

  Turkey breast cutlets. I wish there was something nice I could say about them, but I can't. They are dry, filled with gristle, and generally awful. Around here it's very easy to find turkey breast cutlets, but finding their delicious cousins, turkey breast tenderloins, is a whole different thing. We have to go 40 miles into Fort Worth and even then the only place we can find them is the Joint Reserve Military Base which has limited to no access to the general public, especially not for grocery shopping. Needless to say, we don't get a hold of them often,so I'm trying to find more things to make with the dreaded cutlets.
  In the past, we've always tried to use cutlets in the place of chicken breast in recipes, but I mentioned to my husband that they seem more like a pork chop than a chicken breast when *LIGHT BULB* it hit me! What if I prepare them like pork chops? Maybe I could find a way to make them more edible and to be honest, I do miss pork chops. So I tried my favorite pork chop recipe and it came out really great. My husband even said if we fed them to someone who didn't know, they wouldn't be able to tell they weren't pork chops. The meat was moist and juicy and I did not notice much gristle, at least in my piece. I'd like to try breading them at some point, but for now, here is my recipe!

Apple Sage Turkey Chops

1 package turkey breast cutlets (usually 3 large 'chops')
1 1/2  tsp sage
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1 Tbl GF all purpose flour OR whole wheat flour
2 Tbl olive oil
1 medium white onion, sliced
2 red apples, cored and sliced thinly
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1 tsp lemon juice
1 Tbl brown sugar

Mix flour and seasonings in a small bowl. Sprinkle both sides of each cutlet with seasoning mix, retaining about 1/2 for later in the recipe.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet (use a skillet you have a lid for) over medium high heat. Once just barely smoking, add chops and brown, about 1 1/2 minutes on each side. Remove cutlets and set aside. (Turkey will still be uncooked in the middle.) Add onions to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally, about 3 minutes. Add apple slices and cook another 2 minutes, stirring frequently.
Stir in vegetable broth, brown sugar, and remaining flour mixture. Bring to a boil. Return cutlets to the skillet. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer 6-8 minutes.

Serve cutlets with apples and onion on the side and sauce from the pan drizzled over the top.

Crock Pot Corned Turkey and Cabbage - Soy, Wheat, Dairy Free

  Corned beef and cabbage is traditional St. Patrick's Day food, and some people (my family included) eat it on New Year's Day to represent wealth and health in the coming year.

  The term 'corned' really means cured or pickled with salt rocks (or corns). You can buy beef brisket already seasoned and ready to be cooked, but to my knowledge there is no such turkey product. Thankfully pickling a turkey roast at home was very easy, only requiring time to cure, and because I cooked this in a crock pot it basically made itself!
This had a very similar flavor to corned beef, and it was moist and juicy thanks to the brining.This was a fabulous substitute for corned beef!

Remember when making this that it takes 3-5 days to cure the meat. This is NOT something you can rush, it just won't be the same.

Corned Turkey 

brine:
4 cups water
1/2 cup kosher salt
2 Tbl brown sugar, firmly packed
1 Tbl pickling spice
2 cloves minced garlic

1 3lb boneless turkey roast, thawed and gravy packet removed (We use Butterball roasts with white and dark meat)
1 small bag baby carrots, or 3-5 medium carrots peeled and chopped
1 large yellow onion, cut into 8ths
1 medium head of cabbage, coarsely chopped
6 oz beer (Gluten free, if necessary. Dark stout is the best, in my opinion)
 2 large russet potatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 cup water
1 Tbl pickling spice

In a medium sauce pan, heat brine ingredients until sugar and salt are fully dissolved. Allow mixture to completely cool. Place turkey roast (netting still on but all other packaging removed) in a large Ziploc bag (we doubled up our Ziplocs just in case there was a leak!) and pour cooled brine mixture over turkey. Try to remove as much air as possible from the bag before zipping, then place in your refrigerator for 3-5 days, turning turkey twice a day to ensure an even brine.

Once ready to cook, place carrots, onions, and potatoes in crock pot. Pour one cup water over veggies. If desired, lightly sprinkle with salt. Discard brining fluid and place the turkey roast on top of the veggies. Pour beer over roast, then sprinkle the top of roast with pickling spice. Cook, covered, on high for 3 hours, then add cabbage to crock pot, recover, and continue to cook another hour.

Remove roast from crock pot and allow to rest on a plate for 10 minutes before cutting. Serve with veggies and sour kraut, mustard, or whatever your family likes with it!

Taco Pie - Dairy, Egg, Soy Free with gluten free option

  Now that we've got our new computer up and running, I will be updating more often again! I had some yummy recipes from Thanksgiving that I want to share, but first I had to share this taco pie because it is soooo good. It is similar to the cheeseburger pie recipe I posted in October, but easier and more flavorful. This is our new family favorite!

Turkey Taco Pie with Cashew Sour Cream

1 lb lean ground turkey
1/2 tsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 Tbl chili powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/4 cup vegetable broth
1/2 cup gluten free or original Bisquick
1 cup vegetable broth
EnerG egg replacer for 1 egg
1/2 cup Diaya cheddar and/or pepper jack shreds
Earth Balance Soy Free buttery spread to grease pie plate
 Sour cream: 
1 cup raw cashews
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup water
1 Tbl lemon juice

Preheat oven to 425.
Take a small pat of Earth Balance and spread it using your fingers over entire inner surface of a 9 inch pie plate.
In a medium skillet, heat olive oil until hot. Saute onions until transparent. Add turkey and brown over medium high, breaking up into small pieces. Once turkey is just browned, add in seasonings and 1/4 cup vegetable broth. Stir and simmer until liquid is completely evaporated. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a small bowl, mix Bisquick, 1 cup vegetable broth, and EnerG egg replacer until smooth. Set aside.
Scoop turkey into pie plate, trying to get mixture mostly level but not hard packed. Pour Bisquick mixture over turkey, shaking the pie plate slightly to evenly distribute among turkey. Bake for 30 minutes, then remove from oven and sprinkle with cheese shreds. Return to oven and cook for 5-10 minutes, until cheese is hot and bubbly. Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, place 1 cup raw cashews in high powered blender. Add approximately 1/4 cup water, just enough to cover the cashews. Add salt and lemon juice and blend 3-5 minutes, until smooth.

Store left over sour cream in refrigerator in an air tight container for up to a week. It will thicken when refrigerated until almost the texture of cream cheese. It makes a fabulous base for dips!

We love our taco pie served with salsa and cashew sour cream. You can also add shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, olives, whatever your family enjoys on tacos. Enjoy!

Turkey and Dumpling Soup - Dairy, Egg, Soy Free with Wheat/Gluten Free Option

Dumpling soup is such a yummy comfort food that was always one of my favorites as a kid. It's often made with condensed cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup, and the only dairy free recipes I could find were very involved, calling for more than an hour worth of cooking. There is no need for that! This recipe was delicious and you'd have no idea it wasn't 'regular' dumpling soup.

Butterball makes these yummy little turkey breast loaves that my husband loves. I like the ease of being able to bake them from frozen because I have the darnedest time remembering to thaw anything out. Aaaanyway, we had one on Wednesday night and had a little less than half left over, so I used to rest to make dumpling soup. Yum!



Turkey and Dumpling Soup

1 medium onion, chopped
32 oz vegetable broth
1/2 cup plain unsweetened almond or other non dairy milk
1 1/2 Tbl cornstarch mixed with 1/4 cup water or non dairy milk till lump free
1 1/2 cup frozen mixed vegetables (corn, carrots, peas, and green beans preferably)
1 1/2 cups or so cooked turkey breast and thigh meat, cut or torn into pieces
1/4 tsp celery salt
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper

1 cup Bisquick or Gluten Free Bisquick
1/2 cup plain unsweetened almond or other non dairy milk
sprinkle of paprika (optional)

In a medium large stock pot, saute onions over medium heat until transparent. Add vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Stir in 1/2 cup almond milk and cornstarch/water mixture. Return to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Add frozen vegetables, turkey, salts and pepper.

In a medium bowl, mix Bisquick and non dairy milk together into a sticky dough. Using a spoon, scoop about 1/8 of the dough mixture out of the bowl and drop it into the soup pot (be careful not to drop it from too high so as to avoid splattering yourself with hot liquid!). Repeat with the rest of the dough. Cover and cook about 10 more minutes, turning the dumplings over once midway through cooking.
Serve sprinkled with paprika and enjoy!

Turkey Cheeseburger Pie - Dairy, Soy, and Egg Free with Gluten/Wheat Free option

  A lot of things have happened in the past month, but one of them is that we decided to try to reintroduce wheat into Jack's diet for two reasons: 1) he is officially in remission of eosinophilic esophagitis, having scoped clean even off of steroids. This does NOT mean that he can start eating any of the foods he was found to be allergic to and the disease will not come back. In fact, it almost certainly WILL come back if we added them back in. Which brings me to my next point 2) he hasn't actually tested positive to wheat in the last two skin prick allergy tests. So we started out with these teeny tiny graham cracker bunnies (the only graham product I could find that was still vegan and soy free), 3 on the first day, 5 the next, and 7 the next. When he had no reaction, drop in appetite, or unexplained crying episodes, we made him a quesadilla with wheat tortillas (omg, SO hard to find soy free tortillas!!), Diaya cheese and Earth Balance Soy Free spread. He loved it! So after a three week trial, we've decided he may be ok, but we aren't completely letting our guard down.
  Anyway, we bought a box of Bisquick and have been going wild making biscuits, pancakes, and waffles using non dairy milk and egg replacer. Such a normal thing had brought so much joy to our lives, who knew!

  For those of you who are gluten or wheat free, Bisquick makes a gluten free mix that you can substitute in here 1:1. We could not use it though since it's main ingredient is rice flour.

Anyway, all of that to tell you that this recipe is super tasty! We will definitely be making this again, it was so easy!

Turkey Cheeseburger Pie

1 lb lean ground turkey
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
optional: 1 Tbl Worcestershire sauce, 1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp olive oil
1/2+ cup Diaya cheddar shreds
1/2 cup Bisquick or Gluten Free Bisquick mix
1 cup unsweetened plain dairy free milk
Ener-G egg replacer for 3 eggs
optional: 3 slices turkey bacon, cut into small pieces

Preheat oven to 400. Pour olive oil into a 9 inch pie pan and spread it around with a paper towel.
In a medium skillet over medium high heat, add ground turkey and onion. Cook, breaking up turkey, until completely browned and onions are transparent. Add salt and pepper (and optional Worcestershire sauce and garlic powder, if using,) and stir until incorporated. If there is any liquid in the pan, drain it off or raise heat to high for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly to cook it off.
Place turkey mixture into pie pan. Sprinkle with cheese shreds and set aside.
In a small bowl, mix bisquick, egg replacer, and non dairy milk until lump free. Pour over turkey and cheese.
At first it may look like you don't have enough bisquick batter but just gently shake your pie pan or even pat the top of the mixture with a spoon and it will soon incorporate the entire mixture. If using, sprinkle the top with turkey bacon pieces.
Bake for 25-35 minutes, until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean and top just lightly starts to brown. Allow to cool and set 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Serve with ketchup or barbeque sauce as you would a cheeses burger, or enjoy on it's own!

Boneless Buffalo Wings - Dairy, Wheat/Gluten, Soy Free

  It's football season...hooray. I guess marrying the man I did and then having two boys I should have known it wasn't going to be all Mystery Diagnosis and The People's Court on tv all day long but come on, man! It's baseball 24/7 until it's Football 24/7, until it's Baseball season again, with brief periods of golf and hockey in between. Oh yeah, and Nick Jr. Can't a girl get a break?!

  *Fwew* Glad I got that off my chest! So anyway, we wanted to try to make some sort of hot wings to eat while we watched the game, but since it seems almost impossible to get turkey wings around here (plus they'd be huge), I used turkey cutlets cut into chicken nugget-sized pieces. These were really tasty though the breading of course is not exactly like wheat breading. I'm not a fan at all of pan frying things, and I'm terrible at it, so you can pan fry these at your own risk but I can't tell you how, sorry.

  Also, Frank's Buffalo Sauce is vegan (it contains "natural butter type flavor" but when I called their 1-800 number I was assured that it is dairy free) and gluten free... its basically vinegar, cayenne, and butter flavor. But if you would like to make delicious vegan buffalo sauce from scratch, here's a great recipe.

Boneless Turkey Buffalo Wings

1 lb turkey cutlets, cut into 1 inch strips or nugget size pieces
1 cup corn meal (or use 1 cup Zatarain's Crispy Southern Fish Fri and omit the lemon pepper seasoning from the recipe)
1/2 cup GF All purpose flour (Bob's Red Mill)
1 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp lemon pepper seasoning, optional but recommended
3 Tbl FRANK'S buffalo sauce
*Optional 1/2 cup plain unsweetened almond milk

Preheat fryer to 375.
In a shallow dish or pie pan, stir together fish fri, flour, salt, and lemon pepper.
Toss turkey in flour mixture until well coated. We've found you get a slightly crunchier crust if you squeeze the turkey in your palm after flouring and then let them sit a few minutes before frying, but this is no way necessary. Fry in batches for 3-5 minutes, until just browned and crispy. Drain on a brown paper bag.
In a medium mixing bowl, toss fried turkey in buffalo sauce.
Serve hot, with carrot sticks and celery and dairy free soy free ranch.

*If you prefer a thicker, crispier crust, after tossing turkey in flour mixture, dip into almond milk (or other dairy free milk or melted Soy Free Earth Balance buttery spread) and re-dip in flour mixture before frying.

Potato and Sausage Breakfast Bake - Wheat/Gluten, Diary, Soy Free

 We needed breakfast and had some left over produce laying around that needed to be used before it went bad (I HATE throwing away money by letting food spoil!), so I threw this together this morning and it was so yummy I had to share!

Potato and Sausage Breakfast Bake

I sprinkled mine with fresh cilantro and ate it with salsa!

1lb ground turkey sausage (We use cheap ol' Jenni-O in a tube)
4 medium russet potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1 inch cubes
1/2 medium white onion, diced
1/2 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 tsp olive oil
6 (or so) white mushrooms, washed and sliced
1 cup Daiya cheese shreds (pepper jack or cheddar)
1/2 tsp salt
4-5 cracks of fresh ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 375.
In a skillet heated to medium-high heat, add turkey sausage, onion, and bell pepper. Break up the sausage with a wooden spoon, and cook stirring occasionally until all the sausage is browned and onions are translucent. Drain grease thoroughly.

Add the olive oil to a 3 qt casserole dish and spread it around with a paper towel to evenly coat the bottom. Place potatoes, mushrooms, Daiya, , salt, and sausage/veggie mixture into casserole dish and stir until well mixed. Sprinkle black pepper on top and bake for 40 minutes.

Turn broiler on to  high and broil for 2-5 minutes, until tops of potatoes are browned and crisp.

Great on it's own or with salsa.

Turkey Sausage Stuffing (Dressing) - Wheat, Dairy, Egg, Soy Free

  We're having a cold spell here in North Texas. With Fall just around the corner, it's like we got to start celebrating the new cooler season a little early. So today we had a mini Thanksgiving just for fun. We had grilled turkey cutlets, stuffing, and mashed potatoes and peach cobbler!
  I decided to make the stuffing on a whim and as such did not have all the ingredients, no celery or carrots and I usually would have made this with ground turkey sausage, but it was really good! I'd never thought of eating stuffing on any day other than Thanksgiving but this was easy enough that I think it could become a side dish (or even entree) we have often.

By the way, you could easily leave out the turkey to make this completely vegan and it would still be delicious, and add in sauteed celery and carrots for a more traditional stuffing.

This recipe makes 4 large servings.

Turkey Sausage Stuffing

6 slices of wheat free bread of choice (Food For Life White Rye)
1 medium onion, chopped
1 cup vegetable broth
1  turkey kielbasa sausage, sliced into coins OR ground turkey sausage
1 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp celery salt
1/8 tsp poultry seasoning
1/2 green apple, peeled, cored, and chopped
1/2 cup raisins
Soy Free Earth Balance buttery spread to grease pan

Preheat oven to 400.
Cut bread into half inch cubes, spread evenly on a cookie sheet, and bake 10-15 minutes.
Meanwhile, heat a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add onions and saute until transparent. Add vegetable broth to pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat slightly. Stir in salt, celery salt, and turkey sausage. Continue to simmer about 5 minutes (If using ground turkey sausage, cook until completely browned) .
In a mixing bowl, stir toasted bread cubes, apple, and raisins together. Pour broth mixture over bread cubes and stir until evenly coated. Sprinkle on poultry seasoning and toss to incorporate.
Spread a thin layer of Earth Balance around a 1.5 qt casserole dish. Pour stuffing mix into casserole dish and bake about 15-20 minutes, until the top begins to brown slightly.

Turkey Enchilada Casserole - Dairy, Wheat, Soy Free

  Ok, look. I know I am always saying everything is delicious but this is seriously DELICIOUS. I mean it. My dad came over for dinner tonight and I was nervous because he can sometimes have a hard time accepting Daiya cheese, but he raved how great it was through the whole meal, as did the rest of us.

  This involved a lot of cheese, it's not a typo, but trust me, it's great. The recipe made enough for 3 adults who ate way too much and two kids plus one portion leftover; you could halve the recipe pretty easily if making it for fewer people.

Mexican Enchilada Casserole

2 cups canned tomato sauce
3 Tbl chili powder
1/2 cup water

1/2 Tbl olive oil
1 1/2 lbs ground turkey
1 medium white onion, chopped
1 Tbl paprika
2 Tbl chili powder
1 tsp sea salt
2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 bag Daiya cheddar shreds
1 bag Daiya pepper jack shreds
12 corn tortillas, cut in half
olive oil to grease dish

Preheat oven to 425.
In a medium sauce pan, stir tomato sauce, chili powder, and water together. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat. Simmer, stirring often, until sauce has thickened, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a medium skillet, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add onion, turkey, and seasonings. Break turkey up while cooking until well crumbled and browned. Stir about 1/4 of the tomato sauce mixture into the turkey. Remove from heat.

Grease a 3 quart casserole dish. Mix pepper jack and cheddar cheeses together in a bowl or large ziploc bag. Place 8 tortilla on the bottom of the dish, arranging to cover as much of the bottom as possible. Spread about 1/3 of the cheese on top. Add 1/2 of the meat mixture, 1/3 of the remaining sauce, and repeat with the cheese, meat, sauce again. Top with remaining 8 tortilla halves, then spread on the rest of the sauce, making sure to completely wet all parts of the tortillas (other wise they will dry out and be pretty inedible). Sprinkle with the last of the cheese and bake for 20-30 minutes, until the edges are bubbly and brown.

Allow to cool 10 minutes and then cut and serve with black olives, sliced green onions, and cashew sour cream.

Spicy Peanut Butter Turkey - Dairy, Soy, Wheat/Gluten Free

  This sounds strange but is so tasty. I discovered it online and started making way back before we knew about most of Jack's allergies. Back then, we made it with chicken and real soy sauce and served it over brown rice. We've had to adjust the recipe some since then but it still is one of our very favorite dishes. Even though it has very few ingredients, it has a complex flavor and along with the spiciness and peanuts, it's very reminiscent of Thai food.

  Also, I recently discovered coconut aminos while at a great local health food store called The Sunflower Shoppe. It's soy free but tastes pretty close to soy sauce, though milder. The downside of that is that to replicate the flavor intensity of a recipe calling for soy sauce, you have to use a ton of it and, well, it ain't cheap. So if you have this stuff available to you, give it a try. Maybe you'll like the milder flavor and the convenience of not having to make your own "soy sauce" and it'll be worth the price. Here's my favorite soy sauce substitute recipe that works really well in this dish.

Also, you can adjust the spiciness by adding more or less red pepper flakes. 1 tsp is about what we use and it's not too hot for my 3 year old and almost 2 year old, but they have strange palates!

Spicy Peanut Butter Turkey

1 lb turkey cutlets, cut into 1 inch pieces
1 Tbl olive oil
1/2 tsp each salt and pepper
1 cup chunky peanut butter (smooth works fine too but isn't as fun!)
1/3 cup soy sauce substitute (recipe linked above), soy sauce, or 1/2 cup coconut aminos + 1 tsp salt
1/2 cup water
1 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt
2-3 green onions, thinly sliced
2 cups cooked quinoa (preferably cooked in vegetable broth rather than water, for flavor)

In a measuring cup or small bowl, mix peanut butter, soy sauce, and water until smooth and blended. Stir in pepper flakes, garlic, and onion powder and 1/2 tsp salt. Set aside.*
In a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium-high heat. Add turkey, salt, and pepper. Stir frequently to prevent turkey from sticking to skillet, about 6-8 minutes until cooked through and beginning to brown a bit.
Reduce heat to medium-low. Pour peanut butter mixture into skillet with turkey and stir constantly, being sure to scrape the bottom well, for 5 minutes. Stir in sliced green onions.
Serve over quinoa.

*The longer this mixture sits, the better all the flavors become. If possible, make this 30 minutes or so before you start cooking, but the flavor will still be great if you make it right before hand.

Turkey Corn Dog Bites- Dairy, Egg, Wheat/Gluten Free

  Ian's Natural Foods has a whole line of allergy-free, kid friendly frozen foods, like fish sticks and chicken nuggets. They also have these great Jack friendly turkey corn dog bites that we love, but they are a tad on the pricey side and I tend to shy away from pre-packaged foods if possible, so I tried my hand at making them myself.
  I was able to make a reasonable facsimile. I think that if these were frozen while the batter was still raw and then baked, they may be even better, and I'd like to try that next time!

Turkey Corn Dog Bites

1 package turkey hot dogs, room temperature and cut into fourths
1/4 package of Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free corn bread mix
1 Tbl sugar
Ener-G egg replacer for 2 eggs
1 Tbl Earth Balance Soy Free Buttery Spread, melted
3/4 cup or so plain unsweetened coconut milk or other non dairy milk
olive oil to grease plate

Pre-heat your deep fryer to 375*
In a medium mixing bowl, stir together corn bread mix and sugar. Stir in egg replacer and melted earth balance. Start adding in milk 1/4 cup at a time, stirring thoroughly, until mixture is the consistency of a milkshake.
Grease a plate generously with olive oil.
Dry hot dog pieces well with a paper towel and then dunk them into the corn mixture. Set dipped pieces on greased plate until you have enough for a fryer batch (for my Presto Cool Daddy, that was about 13 pieces).
Fry for about 5 minutes, until golden and beginning to brown. Drain well on brown paper bag and serve.

*If you do not have a deep fryer, you can pan fry these on your stove top in corn oil or your other favorite kind of oil for 4-5 minutes per side.
You can also try baking these at 400 for about 20 minutes, but this is just my best guess as I have NOT tried baking these before. You will have to use your judgement whether it needs more or less time.

 

Baked Turkey Meatballs - Egg, Dairy, Wheat/Gluten Free

  Still haven't found the camera, and my phone's camera leaves a little something to be desired...

  We had spaghetti and meatballs last night and think I am in love! The meatballs were yummy and so easy to make and can be made ahead and frozen (directions for freezing and reheating at the bottom). Everyone loved them, and they were easy to cut into bite size pieces for Jack to pick up without falling apart. Yay for meatballs!

Baked Turkey Meatballs

1.25 lbs lean ground turkey
2 Tbl Worcestershire sauce (or ketchup)
2 slices allergen free bread of choice, processed into crumbs OR prepared wheat/gluten/allergen free bread crumbs
1 Tbl olive oil
2/3 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1/2 Tbl Italian seasonings
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/3 cup Daiya Mozzarella Shreds (optional)

Preheat oven to 375.
Line a small casserole dish with parchment paper.
Mix all ingredients together until well blended. Form about 1 1/2 Tbl scoops of meat mixture into balls with your hands. Place meatballs in casserole dish leaving about 1/8 of an inch or more in between each to allow even cooking.
Bake for 25 minutes, until cooked all the way through and lightly browned on top.

To freeze, drain fat/juices out of casserole dish. Cover dish with a paper towel and let cool about 20 minutes. Remove paper towel, place casserole dish in the freezer, and freeze about 1 hour (This step will keep your frozen meatballs from sticking to each other). Remove meatballs from casserole dish and place in zippered freezer bag. When you want to reheat, remove as many as you need and heat at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes. You could boil them in pasta sauce or microwave them too, I'm sure, but I can't guess at the time.

Breakfast Sausage Gravy - Dairy, Wheat/Gluten, Soy, Rice Free

  This was an update to my first recipe, but this, my third version, is easier and the absolute best.

 We just moved into our new house, woohoo!!! I still have not found my camera, but I tried my hand at making breakfast gravy without rice flour (original recipe containing rice here) for the first time Sunday morning and it was so good, I had to share the recipe! So just use your imagination... it looked just like the normal sausage gravy you'd get on biscuits and gravy at a restaurant, but not quite as white. And it was delicious! Now I was experimenting so my measurements weren't exact, you'll have to fiddle around to get the right consistency if it's not quite right, either adding more flour or more liquid, but here is a good starting point. Thankfully this stuff is very forgiving.

Sausage Gravy

1 lb turkey breakfast sausage (preferably Jenni-O in a tube cheapo stuff)
3 Tbl Soy Free Earth Balance buttery spread
about 1 cup Bob's Red Mill GF pancake mix
about 1 1/2 cups plain unsweetened non-dairy milk of choice (we used almond)
water, if necessary
salt and pepper to taste

In a medium skillet with high sides, or even in a sauce pan, heat and break up sausage until just browned . If you've used the cheap stuff, there should be a lot of fluid in the pan*. Drain this fluid into a bowl and set aside, continue browning the sausage until you get some nice crispy edges. Remove the sausage onto a plate and set aside. It's ok, in fact encouraged, to leave behind some bits of turkey and any grease.
In the skillet or pan on medium/low heat, melt Earth Balance. Slowly whisk pancake mix flour into the melted butter until it forms a batter/dough that looks thick enough that you could pick it up but not thick enough to roll into a ball or anything. Stir it around to brown in the pan for about 30 seconds.
Have your almond milk ready right by the stove for this next step. Take the fluid from the sausage meat and SLOWLY whisk it into the pan. At this point, the pancake mix and the juices are going to puff up and make some sort of funky looking cake but just keeping breaking it up with the whisk. Immediately start whisking in the almond milk, breaking up any clumps that may have formed. If gravy is too thick at this point, stir in some water. If it is too thin, bring it to a boil and simmer it for a few minutes. It will thicken as it cools also.
Stir the sausage back into the gravy, and add salt and lots of pepper to taste.

*If your sausage meat does not have a lot of excess fluid in it, you probably used better quality stuff, and that's ok! Just skip the step which calls for whisking in the fluid and start whisking in the non-dairy milk. You will probably need more milk or water than called for to get the right consistency but it should be fine.

Turkey Meatloaf Muffins - Gluten/Wheat, Dairy, Egg, Soy Free

So I tried to make these poor little things once before and learned a good lesson about using quality ingredients... if you use cheap ground turkey with a high fat content, you will not get these to keep from falling apart. Sorry, Jenni-O in a tube, you are so cheap and you have your place, just not in a meatloaf (or meatballs!).

I replaced the usual need for egg and bread crumbs/oats simply by using cooked quinoa. This works fabulously and packs terrific nutritional benefits, too!

You are pretty much free to add or remove any seasonings that you want, meatloaf can be spicy and southwestern, pretty basic and just salty, you can add raisins, shredded veggies,  cheese... do whatever you want! That's the beauty of meatloaf!

Cheese Filled Meatloaf Muffins

1.25 lbs ground turkey
1 cup cooked quinoa (still hot if possible)
1 shake (about 1/2 a tsp) hot sauce
3 Tbl ketchup
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp garlic powder
2-3 cracks of fresh ground black pepper
1 green bell pepper chopped finely (reserve about 1/4 cup for topping)
1/2 red onion, finely chopped (reserve about 1/8 cup for topping)
1/2 cup Daiya mozzarella cheese shreds

Mashed potato 'frosting'
Use your favorite dairy/soy free mashed potato recipe or use this:

2 Tbl Earth Balance Soy Free Buttery Spread
1 cup water
1/2 cup unsweetened plain almond milk
1 cup mashed potato flakes
1/2 tsp garlic powder
salt to taste


Preheat oven to 375.
Mix all the meatloaf ingredients except Diaya together. Spoon mixture into muffin tins, pressing down with the back of the spoon, making sure it's very compact. Once all tins are filled, press your finger into the center of each muffin and fill the hole with Daiya shreds.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare the mashed potatoes. Bring Earth Balance and water to a boil. Remove from heat, stir in mashed potato flakes. Slowly pour in dairy-free milk until you get a good consistency for frosting, you don't want these to be runny (like I prefer to eat them by themselves) but also not dry and crumbly either. Stir in seasonings.
When the 20 minutes is up, remove the 'muffins' from the oven.
Scoop the mashed potatoes into a ziploc bag (make sure it's a bag with regular pointy corners, the larger bags sometimes have strange squared off corners that don't work). Cut the corner off about 1/2 an inch up and pipe the mashed potatoes onto the tops of the meatloaves. Top with onions and bell pepper and bake for another 10 minutes, then broil for 2-4 minutes, until the mashed potatoes begin to brown.

Allow to cool about 5 minutes and you can remove these easily with a spoon since the meat shrinks from the sides of the pan while cooking.