Roasted turkey breast with Cauliflower puree

A turkey dinner is almost a requirement at around the holidays. To not have turkey for thanksgiving is as unamerican as not having pork for Easter is unchristian-like.  I usually make 2 turkeys around the thanksgiving but when we are not around the holidays I just want a turkey dinner without the cost of a whole turkey. that is where cooking a turkey breast comes in.  one breast is usually enough for two people and can be cooked on a weeknight without either having to come home early or having the dinner take so long that we wither away to nothing. Who would eat our wonderful turkey then.

For a side we follow a once popular low carb diet that suggested eating fake mashed potatoes where you would make a cauliflower puree and pretend you were eating mashed potatoes on a beach and drinking triple thick chocolate milk shakes.  They were lousy  as “mashed potatoes” but when you think of it for what it is,a tasty puree,cover them with gravy you can have a yummy side dish and get in another  serving of vegetables.

Roasted turkey breast with Cauliflower puree Recipes

Roasted turkey breast Recipe
Time: 65 minutes
servings: 4

1 lb turkey breast
1 tbls fresh minced garlic
one bay leaf
2 cups whole cremini mushrooms quartered
½ cup water
salt
pepper
poultry seasoning

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cut a slit in  the center of the turkey breast to a depth of half the thickness of the turkey breast.  Stuff the slit with the garlic and bay leaf.  Tie with string to keep breast together. Sprinkle breast on both sides with poultry seasoning, salt and pepper and place in greased baking dish and arrange mushrooms around turkey.  Cook for 45 minutes to an hour or until juices run clear and center temperature is at least 155 degrees.



Gravy Recipe
Time: 5 minutes

Turkey drippings
1 tbsp arrow root mixed with 2 tbsp water (cornstarch or a roux may be used)
salt
pepper

pour turkey drippings into sauce pan and heat to a simmer.   Salt and pepper to taste.  Add arrow root mixture 1 tbsp at a time until gravy reaches desired thickness.



Cauliflower Puree Recipe
Time: 25 minutes
servings: 4

3 cups cauliflower
1 cup of milk or cream
Butter (optional)
salt and pepper to taste

Cut cauliflower into florets and boil or steam until tender. Put florets into blender with half the milk or cream, salt and pepper and butter if desired.   Blend and pour remaining milk until you have the consistency of runny mashed potatoes. serve topped with gravy or eat plain.

Sausage and Mushroom Pizza

My first job was working washing dishes for a pizza place owned by some relatives.  By the time I had finished working there about seven years later I could roll pizza in my sleep.  Though we made dough fresh every day I never had the chance to decode the formula.  We always used random containers to make the dough, 3 containers of this about an inch of that, none of it using cups and tablespoons.  People came from miles around, from larger towns to eat the pizza in the tiny town. It is the pie that I judge all others against. 

When I am not in the mood to eat boxed pizza I try to convince my loved ones to have homemade pizza.  I very rarely succeed because the only thing worse than boxed pizza is a failed homemade pizza.   I have to make homemade pizza when I am home alone. I have finally come to a successful pizza.  I put this right behind the great pizza that I remember. I made my pizza with the Sweet Italian sausage recipe found Michael Ruhlman’s book, Charcuterie, which is better than anything that you can get in the store.   All it takes is some dough some sauce and cheese and cook in the oven  at 450 on a  baking stone for about 10 minutes. You can brush melted garlic butter or olive oil on the crust for some extra flavor.

Pizza dough Recipe

Time: 1 hour 30 min
Servings: 6   8inch pizzas, 2   12 inch pizzas   or 1   16 inch pizza.

Ingredients:
4 cups flour
1 cup body temp water
1 egg
1 tbsp olive oil
1 package yeast
1 tsp sugar
2 ½ tsp salt

In a food processor with blade attachment or stand mixer with paddle, pour yeast, water and sugar and mix lightly with spoon.  Let stand for 10 minutes.   Add rest of ingredients and mix until flour is incorporated.  Scrape dough out of mixer and put into a floured bowl.  Cover bowl with a towel and Let set for 30 minutes.  Divide into desired number of portions and roll into balls. cover with plastic wrap and let sit for another 15 minutes. (If so desired can be put into plastic bags or wraped in plastic wrap and kept in refrigerator and keep for 2 days.

Pizza Sauce Recipe

Time: 20 minutes

Servings: 8   8 inch pizzas

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 15 ounce can tomato puree

½ tsp minced garlic

1 5 oz can tomato paste

1 tsp dried marjoram

1 tsp dried basil

1 tsp brown sugar

Combine all ingredients in a sauce pan and bring to a simmer for 5 minutes. Spread over pizza dough and top with cheese and your favorite toppings. 

Garlic herb mayo

There comes a time in a man’s life when normal mayo out of the jar just ain't gonna cut it. That is where you start to add some extra ingredients. This mayo I put together to go into a turkey, artichoke, and homemade mozzarella sandwich. The herbs blended perfectly like the mayo was made just for the sandwich. Which of course it was.

Garlic herb mayo Recipe

Time: 3 hours

Servings 2

2 tbsp mayonnaise

1/4 tsp Garlic powder

1/8 tsp Salt

1/8 tsp dried parsley flakes

1/8 tsp dried oregano

1/8 tsp dried basil

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. refrigerate for 2-3 hours to let flavors marry together.  Goes great with turkey or vegetable sandwiches.

Life's ambrosia shrimp tacos

There is a lot that you can do with shrimp. Anyway that you can season chicken or you can season like any other seafood.  In our household we are partial to the Cajun grilled shrimp but I wanted to try something different.  So I went to google and typed shrimp and the first thing in the drop down was shrimp tacos.  Shrimp tacos was something that I had not heard about but it did look tasty. So I decided to make it.  The recipe I picked out came from the site called life's ambrosia. The recipe was a nice simple meal with few ingredients.  instead of sour cream I used Greek yogurt.  The flavor of the shrimp had a great spicy southwest flavor and the meal only took 30 minutes to make.  Check out the site as it has alot of other great recipes.