Turkey Noodle Casserole–completely from scratch!

Hi everyone!  Okay, so the past couple of days I’ve been on a roll with creating some pretty awesome dinners (my family and The Man can attest to it, I promise!).  This was Sunday night’s dinner – a turkey noodle casserole with lots of fresh veggies.  I think my favorite part about this dinner is that I made it entirely from scratch.  Pretty often, I use canned “Cream of” whatever soup as the base for a lot of casserole-type dishes, but this one I made from scratch, with a little inspiration from Pinterest – if you don’t know what that is, you’re missing out!  Check out the website:

Anyway, I saw a recipe on Pinterest from Just Get Off Your Butt And Bake by a delightful woman named Jonna for a Chicken Broccoli Supreme Casserole.  Chicken is definitely a favorite in my house and I’m constantly trying to find ways to get The Man to eat more vegetables, so this sounded like a perfect idea to me!  So I took Jonna’s recipe (you can find the original here) and tweaked it to fit my needs and what I had available to me that day.  Here’s what it ended up looking like:

Please excuse my blurry cell phone picture (does anyone know why Blackberry thought it was a good idea to NOT include a flash on the Blackberry Curve’s camera?  Anyone?  Yeah, me either).  I’m working on getting a camera that is more suited to taking pictures of my food, but until then, just deal – it’s DELICIOUS which totally makes up for the blurry picture.

For my Turkey Noodle Casserole, The Man and I took a spin around the produce section of my supermarket and just grabbed things: a split turkey breast that had already been cooked by the delightful staff at said supermarket and looked delicious, two ears of fresh corn, two heads of fresh broccoli, and a small bag of baby carrots.  Then, we made our way through the rest of the store and picked up egg noodles, chicken broth (no, I haven’t tried making my own yet.  I’m getting there.  I’m a little scared of it, to be honest – it’s all whole chickens and big pots and I’m just not ready),  and some sharp white cheddar.  Then we came home and it was casserole time.

I preheated the oven to 350 degrees when I got home so that when it was time for this to go in the oven, it would be ready and waiting for me and not the other way around.  Then, egg noodles went on to boil.  For the last 3 minutes of cooking the noodles, I threw in half the bag of baby carrots and let them cook together.  While that was happening, The Man (who is a sweetheart and does whatever I asked him to in the kitchen, even though he doesn’t really want to) cut the kernels off the two ears of corn, cut the florets from the broccoli, and shredded 3/4 of the split turkey breast.  Then, I completed the most difficult part of the whole ordeal (which was SO stupidly easy) – the sauce.  I used Jonna’s exact recipe for the sauce and it turned out PERFECT!  Two days later, there are no leftovers and The Man already wants me to make more.  Success?  I’d say so.

Cooking like this really is the best idea I ever had.  This whole dinner cost me approximately $10 and it fed five people, with leftovers.  Yes, I think I will do this again.

Turkey Noodle Casserole – adapted from Just Get Off Your Butt And Bake

For the sauce:

6 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/2 cup cold water 
1/3 cup chicken broth
Salt & Pepper
2 cups milk (I used skim, but use whatever you have)
8 oz. sharp white cheddar cheese, grated (8 oz. is one of the normal size blocks of cheese you can find in the grocery store)

For the rest of the casserole:

3 cups of shredded turkey breast (you could definitely use cubed or shredded chicken here as well, just use whatever you have on hand)
1 to 2 cups of broccoli florets (depending on how much you like broccoli)
2 ears fresh corn, kernels cut off
1 cup baby carrots
1 lb. bag of egg noodles

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Place the egg noodles in a pot of boiling water and cook based on your package directions.  For the last three minutes of cooking, add the baby carrots.  Drain and place in a lightly greased baking dish (13x9 is what I used).  Shred the turkey and place that into the baking dish and stir together.  Cut the kernels off of the two ears of corn and stir those into the baking dish as well.  Steam the broccoli florets for 2 minutes and throw those into the baking dish as well.

Then, make the sauce.  Dissolve the cornstarch in the cold water and set aside.  Melt the butter and add the cornstarch/water mixture, chicken broth, salt and pepper, and milk.  Whisk until thickened, and then add the cheese.  Pour into the baking dish and stir gently to combine.

Top the casserole with panko bread crumbs (or normal breadcrumbs if you’d like) and a little bit more shredded cheese (I used monterey jack, but you could certainly use more sharp cheddar if you want). 

Place the casserole in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until the bread crumbs are golden brown and the cheese is melted.

Then, eat the entire dish over the stove because it’s just that good.  Seriously.

Triple Cheese Spirals... (aka "I can't eat anybody else's mac & cheese anymore!")

Hi long lost friends!  Apologies for my ridiculously prolonged absence - I have been trying to use a teaspoon to dig myself out from under the mountain of graduate school homework that is currently crushing me.  Okay so back to the food!

So during my time away, I've been basically doing two things - homework and cooking.  I've made quite a few successful dishes that I have on the proverbial back burner for future blog entries, but I honestly think my most delicious escapade is Triple Cheese Spirals.  I can't take credit for the recipe because I got it from Food Network Magazine (which just might be the greatest publication ever) but I can take credit for my little twist on the recipe!

The first time I made this recipe, my boyfriend and I had just started dating and I was looking for comfort food that was easy to make that I could really impress him with.  Enter Food Network Magazine!  (Sidenote: I bought my subscription for Food Network Magazine from Amazon.com and I only paid $25 for TWO YEARS. SO worth it).  So the cover of Food Network's April 2010 issue looks like this:

And I was immediately GLUED to the part where it said "mac & cheese five ways."  If there is one thing that would impress my darling boyfriend, it is a huge bowl of homemade macaroni and cheese.  So I open the magazine, find the page, and THIS is what I see:

OMG. Hello deliciousness, my taste buds are waiting for you.  So off to the store I went to pick up the few ingredients that I didn't have in my house already (cayenne pepper, ground mustard, and evaporated milk - very inexpensive ingredients that pack a serious flavor punch).  The first few times I made this dish, I stuck to the recipe like glue and my boyfriend was blown away.  For a while there, I was making macaroni and cheese for him every weekend AND making a tray of it for him to bring to work and share with his buddies.  He loved it, his coworkers loved it, and I was so proud of myself for creating something he enjoyed so much.

But as I've said in previous entries, there are days that I wake up starving and craving a specific food.  One day about a month ago, that food was this macaroni and cheese.  However, I wanted some vegetable goodness as well, so I decided to add broccoli and cauliflower to the recipe that time around.  It wound up being INCREDIBLY good (though my boyfriend is still partial to the normal version).  Recipe remix time anyone?  Here's what mine looked like:

Okay, so sue me.  I'm a no frills kind of girl - I'm not a food stylist (though sometimes I truly wish I was).  My picture is nowhere near as gorgeous as Food Network's recipe photo.  I can promise it was just as tasty (if not more so!).  Here's the original recipe, courtesy of the fabulous chefs at Food Network:

 Triple Cheese Spirals

Ingredients

• Kosher salt
• 12 ounces gemelli, cavatappi or other spiral-shaped pasta (I use Barilla's cellentani)
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 3/4 cup shredded yellow sharp cheddar cheese
• 3/4 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley, chives and/or scallions
• For my recipe remix, I added one bag of frozen broccoli and cauliflower that I steamed in the microwave.

Directions

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil; add the pasta and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes.
Meanwhile, melt 1 tablespoon butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the flour, mustard and cayenne and stir with a wooden spoon to make a paste. Cook, stirring, until the paste puffs slightly, about 1 minute. Whisk in both milks and 1/2 teaspoon salt and simmer, whisking occasionally, until slightly thickened and creamy, 6 to 7 minutes. Add the cheddar and jack cheeses and all but 2 tablespoons of the parmesan and whisk until melted; keep warm.
Combine the panko, herbs and/or scallions, 1 tablespoon butter and the remaining parmesan in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave until the butter melts, about 1 minute; toss.
Drain the pasta, reserving about 1 cup cooking water, and return to the pot. Toss with the remaining 1 tablespoon butter, then stir in the cheese sauce, adding the reserved cooking water if needed. Season with salt and top with the breadcrumb mixture. 

Recipe Courtesy of Food Network Magazine, April 2010.


And can I tell you the best part?  Recently, my boyfriend and I went out and he tried to eat macaroni and cheese that someone else made.  He stopped after two bites, looked at me, and I swear the first three words out of his mouth were, "I hate you."  I was shocked!  What could I have possibly done to deserve that?  He started laughing and said, "I love you.  But I can't eat anyone else's mac and cheese anymore because yours is so good."  That just melted my heart and was the perfect compliment.  I love you too, babe. :)

If you guys make this, original or remix, you have to let me know how it turns out!

More food sans frills very soon.
Enjoy!