Turkey enchiladas with red sauce

When you’re tired of turkey hash and turkey soup and turkey sandwiches, make these turkey enchiladas!  Totally not “leftovers” but just a great Mexican-oriented meal.  I made half green sauce and half red sauce enchiladas. The green sauce was store-bought, the red sauce was this enchilada sauce recipe.

For the enchiladas, chop up a bunch of turkey. Sorry, no measurements, maybe 2-3 cups for a dozen enchiladas. It depends on how stuffed you like your enchiladas. Any leftover chopped turkey can go into this turkey sandwich spread or be used for many other leftover turkey recipes.

Grate some Cheddar cheese or use a Mexican cheese blend. (2-3 cups for a dozen enchiladas)

Turkey Enchiladas with Green Sauce

Heat some corn tortillas in the microwave in a tortilla warmer.

Use about 15 ounces sauce for each half dozen enchiladas.

Pour a bit of sauce into the bottom of  a shallow baking dish. Roll up the tortillas with some turkey and cheese inside and place seam side down. Top the enchiladas with the rest of the sauce, sprinkle some more cheese on top, and bake at 350 for 30 minutes or so.

Tuna Noodle Casserole

My youngest asked for tuna casserole tonight!  It’s been a long time since I made this so I browsed a few cookbooks and ended up with following the basic recipe in Joy of Cooking: 75th Anniversary Edition – 2006, which is really a great source of all kinds of great recipes, even old fashioned casseroles! (I was surprised to see our favorite King Ranch Chicken in here as well!). I used to make this with crushed potato chips on top, but we had some crackers about to go stale so I crushed them up instead and mixed with some Parmesan cheese and melted butter. Yum. This recipe called for a smaller tuna to noodle ratio than I was used to, but it’s quite good. If you need to stretch it out though you could easily add more noodles.

First, cook 4 oz of egg noodles to make 2 cups cooked noodles, and drain.   While they’re cooking you can mix together the rest of the casserole.

• 2 7-oz cans of tuna, drained
• 1 1.5 oz can cream of mushroom soup
• 3/4 cup of milk
• 2 cups cooked egg noodles (4 oz uncooked)
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1/4 cup canned pimentos
• 2 Tbs chopped green onions
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 cup cracker crumbs (or bread crumbs)
• 1/3 cup grated Parmesan
• 2-3 Tbs melted butter

Drain the tuna and put it in a large bowl. Use a fork to break it up into small chunks. Mix in the soup, milk, cooked noodles, peas, pimentos (or substitute minced red bell pepper), onions, and Worcestershire sauce.

Put the casserole mix into a shallow 1 1/2 or 2 qt baking dish, greased.

Mix together the bread or cracker crumbs, cheese and butter. (Or use crushed potato chips!). Spread the crumb mixture on top, then bake uncovered at 375 F for 25 -35 minutes.

serves 4-5.

Chicken and Broccoli Casserole

We had chicken cutlets last night for dinner, special request from college daughter that was home visiting a night.  I had leftovers, because I tend to make too much. Leftover cutlets are good reheated if you’re careful. Or you can turn them into any number of good chicken sandwiches, like these Sort of Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches . Here is my grandmother’s Chicken Divan recipe. But tonight I started with the leftover breaded and fried cutlets. I combined a few options.  It was okay. Not great. I had thought that the breading might let me just skip the typical breadcrumb topping but I think, in hindsight, it would have been better to just scrape the breading off the leftover cutlets. I liked it okay this way. Youngest thought it was blah.   But in case you are looking to experiment, here’s what I did.

• a few leftover chicken cutlets that had been breaded and fried
• enough broccoli to lightly cover the bottom of a 9×9 pan
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1/3 cup plain yogurt (or you could use sour cream or mayonnaise)
• 1 cup grated Cheddar cheese, divided
• 1 Tbs Dijon mustard (or use some curry powder instead)
• 1/3 cup bread crumbs

Chop the leftover chicken cutlets (or another form of leftover cooked chicken) and layer it and the broccoli in a 9×9 pan.

Preheat the oven to 350.

Mix together the soup, the yogurt, and half the cheese, then mix this together with the chicken and broccoli and spread out in a 9×9 pan.

Mix together the remaining cheese and the breadcrumbs (or crushed potato chips or corn chips or crushed croutons ….?) and sprinkle across the top.

Bake for 25-30 minutes.

This casserole doesn’t look pretty. Does any casserole look pretty?  But it is delicious!  I usually halve this for us, but since my youngest is packing lunches these days and LOVES this, I made a full recipe, figuring it would feed us both a few lunches.

• 1 tsp oil
• 1/2 an onion, diced
• 1/2 cup diced peppers (all green or a mix, like I did tonight)
• 2 15-oz cans cream of whatever soup, a combo of mushroom and chicken is quite nice. You can also make your own creamed soups (aka white sauce)
• 1 15-oz can Rotel tomatoes or your store brand of tomatoes with green chilies or a can of diced tomatoes and a small can of diced green chilies
• 2 cups or so cooked diced chicken
• 12 corn tortillas, cut or torn into pieces
• 2 cups grated Cheddar cheese or a Mexican blend

Heat the oil and cook the onion and peppers until softened. Stir in the soups, tomatoes and chicken and stir until blended.

Grease a 9×13″ pan, then layer 1/3 of the tortillas, 1/3 of the chicken mix and 1/3 of the cheese. Repeat, ending with cheese on top.

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

NOTE: I usually either halve the recipe or make it in two 9×9 pans and freeze half. If you want to do that, line one of the pans with foil, then do the layers, then freeze. When it’s solid, lift out the foil layer and freeze it in a freezer bag. When you’re ready to cook, just pop it into your 9×9 pan and it will fit perfectly!  Defrost and then bake, or bake from frozen but allow more time.

But once you’re past that stage, you find lots of time where you have a spare 10 or 15 or 20 minutes while you’re waiting for something to happen. If your kids are young, this is fantastic! You can help with homework, engage with their play, or read a very short book.   But when your kids get older, you might find yourself wasting this time. Don’t!  Think ahead to the next meal or the one after that!

Tonight, I pulled out the other half of the filling for  a chicken pot pie I had made last week. I made up a fresh pie crust for the topping tonight since I didn’t have one in the freezer. (I often freeze any extra pie crust for later.)  I defrosted the pot pie filling partially in the microwave and the rest of the time on the stove on low while I made the pie crust. Poured the filling in a pie tin and topped with the crust and put in at 425 to bake for half an hour.

When I put the pie crust over the pot pie there was extra hanging over, so I cut it off and put it on a small cookie sheet and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, then baked for 10 minutes or so. Makes a great snack or dessert.

I still had some time before dinner. Potatoes had been on sale this week, $1.99 for a 10 pound bag, the best price we ever see around here so I bought a bag.  I peeled 4 pounds or so worth and diced, then parboiled until barely done, drained them, and flash froze on a cookie sheet. After dinner I took them off the cookie sheet and put them in a gallon freezer bag. Now we’ll have some quick and easy fried potatoes for lunch or dinner.

I saw this and then this plus a few recipes in various cookbooks, including Feed Your Family Fast, Healthy Meals on $10 a Day (only available used but a great book!). I was thinking something with noodles and ground beef. This must have been the inspiration for the original hamburger helper.  I combined a few ideas and came up with this.  I’m going to tell you what I did, then tell you a few other ideas I didn’t do this time.

• 1 Tbs oil
• 1 onions, diced
• 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced or pressed
• 1 pound ground beef (or ground turkey)
• 8 oz elbow macaroni, cooked al dente and drained
• 2 15-oz cans tomato sauce
• 1 15-oz can cream of mushroom soup
• 1 15-oz can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• a few splashes of Worcestershire sauce
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 cup grated cheese (I used mozzarella this time but might opt for Cheddar or Parmesan next time for more flavor)

Heat the oil in a nice deep skillet and start the onions and garlic cooking.

Put a pot of water on to boil for the pasta. (Note: Some of the recipes had you cooking the pasta in the pan as the meat so you could skip this step,  maybe add a soup can of water to the pan and cook a bit longer, covered.)  Cook the pasta al dente then drain and set aside.

When the garlic and onions are soft, add the ground beef and cook, stirring to break up the chunks. (Note: this would also be a great dish to use boiled ground beef in.)  Cook until browned, then drain excess oil and fat.

Add the tomato sauce, kidney beans, cream of mushroom soup, cooked pasta, and Worcestershire sauce.  Heat through, stirring, then stir in the frozen peas, stir, and cover. Let the goulash simmer a few minutes to finish the pasta and heat the peas.

Top with grated cheese, cover, and let the cheese melt. Serve.

Variations:

Other variations I saw used mixed frozen vegetables instead of peas or no vegetables at all, tomato soup or stewed tomatoes plus juices or diced ;tomatoes plus juices or Rotel tomatoes instead of tomato sauce; cottage cheese instead of cream of mushroom soup or neither one of those; more dried herbs; taco seasonings; paprika, garlic salt, etc.

The two adults I served tonight thought this was great. My own girls picked at it (but one is not feeling well). My youngest had a friend over and she ate hers up readily enough. This poor girl was also here the night I experimented with Ground Turkey Picadillo.  (But she asked for the recipe for that later so I guess she was willing to experiment tonight!)

So mixed reviews from the household but a good review from the cook.

8 ounces egg noodles, cooked and drained

2 Tbs butter
2 Tbs flour
1 tsp dry mustard
2 cups milk
a dash of cayenne pepper
salt to taste, maybe 1/2 tsp to start

12 ounces tuna, drained and flaked
1/2 cup chopped green onions (optional)

2 Tbs butter, melted
1/4 cup dry bread crumbs or 1/2 cup fresh

Cook the egg noodles. Preheat the oven to 375.
Meanwhile, make a white sauce. Melt the butter of medium-low heat. Stir in the flour and mustard and cook a couple of minutes, stirring almost constantly. Turn up the heat a bit and slowly whisk in the milk. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly, then reduce and simmer a minute or two until thickened. Stir in the noodles and tuna, then pour into a 2 quart casserole dish (8×8 pan works great).

Mix the melted butter and bread crumbs, then crumble over the casserole. Sprinkle with paprika.

You can make it ahead to this point, cover and refrigerate. Bake it an extra 10-15 minutes to make sure it’s heated through.

Bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes.

Tonight I saw one that used sauteed chicken breasts rather than cooked diced chicken, fresh broccoli rather than frozen (which I just happened to have on hand), and bread crumbs with some grated Cheddar cheese on top, rather than the crushed potato chips. It did still call for the ubiquitous cream of chicken soup, which you easily substitute your own homemade version of, although I ended up using a can of cream of mushroom soup instead. I roughly halved the original recipe, needing to only feed 3 tonight and used Colby cheese rather than the Cheddar.

1 Tbs oil
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups fresh broccoli
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1/8 tsp curry powder
2 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Colby or Cheddar cheese
a few dabs of butter or butter spray

Heat the oil. Salt and pepper the chicken breasts and saute until done, turning in the pan to cook evenly. Cut each breast into half or thirds.

Cook the broccoli in boiling water for 2-3 minutes, then drain.

Spray or oil a 9×9 pan. Put the broccoli in it. Put the cooked chicken on top of it.

In a small bowl, mix together the soup, milk, mayonnaise, curry powder, lemon juice, and pepper. Spread over the chicken and broccoli. Sprinkle the cheese on top. Sprinkle the bread crumbs on top of that. Spray the crumbs with butter spray or dab a few bits of butter on top.

Now, the great part of this. You can cover and refrigerate until ready to bake for dinner. Uncover and bake at 350 for 30 minutes or so. If you haven’t had to refrigerate it, 20 minutes will probably do just fine.