Six-Cheese Turkey Manicotti Recipe

Here's another amazing recipe from my friend Heather. I had this stuffed manicotti at her house shortly after I met her, almost four years ago now, and I can still remember how melt-in-your-mouth delicious these were. I asked her for the recipe that night, she hand wrote it down for me and then I promptly lost it. So after getting to know her a little better, I decided it would be ok to ask for it a-gain and of course she happily gave it to me a-gain because she's awesome like that. So I finally recreated these last night to post and save this as one of my favorite recipes. I did use turkey instead of beef (which her original recipe calls for) so choose whichever you prefer. Turkey's just a bit healthier and I figured with all that cheese...

Ingredients
2 boxes manicotti noodles
2 cans spaghetti sauce
1 lb turkey (or ground beef)
2 (8oz) pkgs shredded mozzarella
2lb ricotta cheese
24oz cottage cheese
3 (5oz) containers asiago, parmesan and romano cheese blend
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp dried basil

Directions

1. Prepare manicotti in large stock pot according package. I like al dente.

2. Brown turkey (or beef) in a skillet. Drain if using beef.

3. In a very large bowl, mix together all packages of cheese except one of the mozzarella packages.

4. Fold in cooked turkey (or beef) and garlic to cheese mixture.

5. Put thin layer of spaghetti sauce on bottom of two 9 x 13" baking dishes.

6. Gently stuff manicotti with turkey and cheese mixture using a spoon. Place stuffed manicotti in the baking dish. If a manicotti noodle rips, don't worry, place the noodle rip-side down in the baking dish.

7. Pour spaghetti sauce over the manicotti, then put mozzarella over top.

8. Bake at 350˚ for 30mins. Sprinkle with basil right before serving.

Kathi Lipp's December 26th Chili Recipe

I asked Kathi Lipp (author of The "What's for Dinner?" Solution and The Christmas Project) for one of her family's favorite holiday recipes and she sent me this great idea for turning Christmas leftovers into a delicious post-Christmas chili. Throw it in bread bowl and it's a no-fuss dinner you can serve your holiday house guests (who may or may not have decided to overstay their welcome).

This recipe can be doubled or tripled, depending on how many people will be stopping by (or lingering).

Ingredients


3/4 lb. leftover chicken or turkey, shredded
1 cup onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1-16 oz. can stewed tomatoes
1-16 oz. can kidney beans
1-16 oz. can tomato sauce
3 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. basil
1-6 oz. can tomato paste
Salt & pepper to taste
Shredded cheddar cheese
Sour cream

Directions
Kathi says "It's truly this easy": In a large saucepan, sauté onions and garlic until the onions are translucent. Drain. Place in your Crock-Pot, along with the leftover chicken or turkey, un-drained tomatoes, drained kidney beans, tomato sauce, chili powder, basil, salt and pepper. Cook on low for at least four hours. Serve in a warm, toasted bread bowl topped with cheddar cheese and sour cream.


Serves: 4

Ground Turkey Stuffed Peppers Recipe

I actually like to use a 1/2 and 1/2 blend of turkey and ground beef whenever any recipe calls for ground beef. It's just a little bit healthier and it produces a really yummy and less greasy tasting flavor if you know what I mean. Feel free to go all-turkey if you want.

So, here's the recipe I use. It came from my mother-in-law who makes these (and so does her mother) and they are soooo good. She doesn't measure anything though so she just told me the ingredients. After many times making and tweaking this, I finally have gotten it to taste like hers...

Ingredients
1/2 lb ground turkey
1/2 lb ground beef
2 eggs
1 cup cooked rice
1/2 onion, diced
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp black pepper

1 tsp salt

1 tsp parsley

4 bell peppers (choose your favorite color!)
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 (10 3/4oz) can condenced tomato soup
1 (14.5oz) can diced tomatoes
1 tbsp sugar

Topping
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

Directions:
1. Cut off tops of peppers and remove seeds.

2. Knead together turkey and beef with eggs, rice, onion, salt, pepper, Worcestershire sauce and parsley.

3. Stuff peppers with turkey mixture. Place into Crock-Pot.

4. Stir together garlic, tomato soup, diced tomatoes and sugar. Pour over stuffed peppers.

5. Cook on low for 4 hrs or until thoroughly cooked. Serve topped with Parmesan cheese.

Yield: Serves 4

Things you'll need: