How to (Virtual) Tea

by Robin

The Black Hat Tea must go on, even during Pandemic times! Created by my friend Rox and scheduled in mid-October, it’s our annual way of getting together with friends for tea, traditional noshes, and celebration before the holiday commitments start pulling us in separate directions. Previously hosted in tearooms owned by friends Cindy and Danny, with a gap during 2020, in 2021 Rox scheduled a Zoom tea. Of course, this meant guests were responsible for their own tea and goodies. I can do this, if I work methodically, I hope. Challenge accepted!

Deep Dish Turkey Pot Pie

Post-Thanksgiving Comfort Food

Recipe by Robin

Seriously now, is there anyone who doesn’t like pot pies? When my friend Raven shared photos of her post-Thanksgiving turkey pot pies, I knew I had to give the concept a whirl with our leftover 12-pounder for 2. I eliminated the bottom crust to maximize the savory filling, and use more leftover turkey. To simplify further, I employed TJ’s all butter puff pastry rather than making my own. Any good crust will do, since it’s mostly about the filling.This batch o’ filling makes 2 round pies, which can be frozen. Since my freezer is packed, I made one giant pie in a 9” x 11” baking pan, the dimensions of my premade puff pastry.

Turkey, Apple, and Basil Sausage Burgers

Basil, Apple, Sweet Onion and Spices Compliment Meat

Recipe adapted from Smart Cooking the Costco Way

Happy 2015! During the final weeks of 2014 we enjoyed unseasonably warm weather in California. Our garden basil continued to produce strongly flavored if somewhat peaked-looking leaves. Right before the first cold snap, I harvested the remaining leaves and wanted to use them in a seasonal recipe for an oddly warm December. I found this recipe for mini-burgers in a book left over from our library’s book sale, which I purchased for just a buck. Right now you can purchase this cookbook, which has a surprising number of intriguing recipes, for $.01 (ten times less than I paid) at Amazon. I didn’t need another cookbook, but finding this wonderfully unusual combination of basil and sweet apple in a deliciously spiced burger was well worth my impulse buy.

Turkey and Veggie Meatloaf

Turkey Loaf Requires a Variety of Fall Veggies

Recipe adapted from The Cooking Decade

It’s that turkey time of year here in the US, and the colder weather makes me crave more comfort foods. Yet, it would be smartest not to gain weight before December’s usual slide into decadence. This spinoff from classic beef-and-onion meatloaf is chock full of healthful veggies and lower-fat ground turkey. My sister clipped this recipe from an unknown source many years ago. She presented it to me in a binder of family favorite recipes a few years back. She claimed to be starting her second “non-cooking decade,” and since I was just starting to cook family recipes, she dubbed this binder “The Cooking Decade.” Her kids loved eating this turkey loaf while they were growing up, and so will yours. Turkey Veggie Loaf is perfect for this time of year because it's hearty enough to stand up to cold weather and also takes advantage of the last of this  year's red pepper harvest. 

Hot Asian Slaw AKA Crack Slaw

Delicious and Nutritious

Recipe by Robin

The words “Crack Slaw” conjure up two vivid images in my mind, neither of which is appetizing. The term officially refers to the street drug crack and its addictive qualities, doubtlessly coined by someone who’s never seen the dark, vacant look in an addict’s eyes.  I’d like to reinvent this slaw as something sexy, something that we can choose to eat rather than mindlessly wolfing down, with a name that we can utter to our grandma or pastor without having to elaborate. Wouldn’t you really rather eat a Hot Asian Slaw?

Stuffed Turkey Swiss Burgers

Vintage Take on Cheeseburgers

Recipe by Robin

There’s something about warm weather that inspires me to remember summers past. Long-ago skinny-dips in a few choice lakes, sun and fun at the beach, picnics with family members who have now passed on. Along with memories of celebrations and excursions, I remember the day-to-day summertime of my childhood. When I was on break from school, my mom designated me as assistant cook. While still at work, Mom would call me and instruct me on how to begin preparation of the family evening meal. She completed the cooking tasks when she got home. Sometimes I’d come up with an idea on my own and cook the entire meal myself. So this recipe is one of my adolescent ideas. Surprisingly, it passed the blogability test when I made it recently after more decades than I’ll admit to.

Turkey Drumsticks with Veggie Gravy

Serious Comfort Food

Recipe adapted from Meals for One or Two

I’ve been wanting to share this wonderfully retro recipe from this classic 1978 cookbook ever since I started Seasonal Eating in 2011. Turkey drumsticks are baked with a wintry mix of finely chopped celery, carrot, and onion. Then the veggies are boiled down into a chunky gravy, flavored with catsup and paprika. The meat stays moist and lends its juice to the gravy because – get this – it’s baked in an oven bag! Just like Mom or Grandma used to make. How fun is that?

Unstuffed Cabbage Casserole

Slice of Un-stuffed Cabbage

Recipe Inspired by Weight Watchers and Mom

Someday I will make stuffed cabbage leaves, the delicious galumkis that my mother and grandmother used to make…sort of. I’ll make a no-beef-or-pork filling and no-Campbell’s-tomato-soup sauce. The family recipe was never written down, so this is a project for when time, patience, and creativity are simultaneously expanded. In the meantime, working on my cooking goal of exploring my Polish cooking roots, I found a Weight Watchers stuffed cabbage casserole, and set out to make a no-beef, more easily prepared version.

Homemade Spicy Italian Turkey Sausage

Grinding Up Spicy Red Pepper

Recipe by Bruce

Two things that I appreciate about my husband Bruce are his ability to cook and his willingness to do so. One of the first meals he made for me, 15 or so years ago, was spaghetti more or less like his Dad used to make it (recipe tomorrow)--plus the addition of his homemade turkey sausage. Back in those days, not many men made sausage unless they were professional chefs. Even my cynical roommate seemed impressed, and she didn’t even get to taste the results.

Herbed Turkey Mini Meatballs

Mini Meatballs, Spaghetti Squash & Baked Tomato Sauce

Recipe by Robin and Bruce

Regular readers have likely perceived that I’m involved in a love affair with herbs. Ever since picking up a paperback copy of Craig Clairborne’s Cooking with Herbs and Spices in college—the original un-enlarged, un-revised edition—I have been fascinated by the variety of plants that can be used to flavor foods. The many kinds of herbs and their individual flavors, the fact that some herbs play well together and some do not, how certain herbs compliment certain foods best—the unveiling of these mysteries is to me pure alchemy. So sometimes I push my herb use to the max, like in this recipe.

Slow-cooked Turkey Chili and Soup

Turkey Chili with Cabbage and Cheddar

Recipes by Jenn and Robin

What’s better than a simple-to-prepare recipe with only two ingredients that is low in calories and high in protein? A recipe created by a special friend that is so versatile that it can easily be made into three separate dishes!