Special Turkey Sandwiches

This recipe is from Taste of Home's Light & Tasty Magazine October/November 2006 issue.

Ingredients:

*4 oz. fat-free cream cheese
*1/2 cup finely chopped spinach leaves
*1/4 cup finely chopped basil leaves
*1/3 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
*1 garlic clove, pressed or minced
*1/2 large red onion
*2 Tablespoons red cooking wine or red wine
*8 slices wheat bread
*3/4 lb. thinly sliced deli turkey
*8 slices tomato
*8 lettuce leaves (Romaine)

Directions:
In a small skillet, cook onion in wine until tender.  Set aside.

In a small bowl, mix together cream cheese, spinach, basil, garlic, and Parmesan cheese until well blended. 

Place the bread on a metal pan.  Top four slices with turkey.  Spread the cream cheese mixture on the remaining four slices of bread.  Broil 3 minutes. 

To assemble sandwiches, layer red onion, tomato, and lettuce over the turkey.  Top with the cream cheese slices.

Crispy Tacos with Ground Turkey

Makes 8 to 10 servings

Ingredients:
*1 lb. ground turkey
*1 package taco seasoning
*2/3 cup water
*crispy taco shells
*shredded 2% cheddar cheese
*2 Roma tomatoes, chopped
*shredded lettuce
*guacamole (optional)
*salsa (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325.  Brown turkey in a skillet over medium heat until no longer pink.  Drain fat.  Place cooked turkey back in the skillet.

Pour taco seasoning over turkey.  Pour water over turkey.  Stir well.  Bring to a simmer.  Simmer 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat taco shells in the oven at 325 degrees for about 6 minutes.  Assemble tacos in the taco shells with meat, cheese, lettuce, tomato, salsa, and guacamole.

BBQ Sausage Links

I grew up eating this.  This is my mom's recipe.

Ingredients:
*1 pkg. skinless smoked sausage links (turkey or beef)
*1 bottle KC Masterpiece Original BBQ Sauce (this is a sweet, dark BBQ sauce)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400.  Slice links lengthwise and then into about 3-inch chunks.  Pour some BBQ sauce on the bottom of a baking dish.  Spread with a spoon.  Place links in the baking dish.  Pour remaining BBQ sauce on top.  Spread with a spoon.

Cover with foil.  Bake 30 minutes.  Remove foil.  Baste sausages.  Bake 10 more minutes uncovered.

Let sit for 5 minutes before serving so sauce will thicken.

*Note:  Toast wheat bread, spray slices with I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spray, and place links with BBQ sauce on the toasted bread to make a BBQ sausage sandwich.

*Note:  My mom slices the sausage links after they are done baking, but I slice them before.  You can do it either way.

Asian Lettuce Wraps (Like Pei Wei or PF Chang's)

These low-fat and healthy lettuce wraps taste like the ones at Pei Wei or P.F Chang's.  I made these with ground turkey like the recipe called for, but I also think you could make them with chicken to make them even more like the lettuce wraps at Pei Wei and P.F Chang's.  This recipe is from Taste of Home Comfort Food Diet cookbook.

Makes 10 lettuce wraps

Ingredients:
*cooking spray
*1 1/4 lb. extra lean ground turkey (or boneless, skinless chicken breasts)
*1 pkg. (16 oz.) frozen stir-fry vegetable blend, thawed
*1/3 cup teriyaki sauce
*1/4 cup hoisin sauce
*3 Tablespoons reduced-fat peanut butter
*1 Tablespoon fresh ginger root, minced (the original recipe calls for 2 Tablespoon, but it was a bit much)
*1 Tablespoon rice vinegar
*1 Tablespoon sesame oil
*3 fresh garlic cloves, pressed or minced
*4 green onions, chopped
*10 Boston lettuce leaves (or Iceberg if you cannot find Boston)

Directions:
In a large non-stick skillet coated with cooking spray, cook the turkey over medium-high heat until no longer pink, stirring occasionally.  (If using chicken instead, salt and pepper the chicken lightly, spray the skillet with cooking spray, and cook 6-7 minutes per side.  Remove the chicken from the pan.  Dice up the chicken into very small pieces.  Return to pan.)

Coarsely chop mixed vegetables.  Add to the pan with the cooked turkey or chicken.  Stir in the teriyaki sauce, hoisin sauce, peanut butter, ginger, rice vinegar, and sesame oil.  Cook over medium-high heat for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.  Add the garlic.  Cook for 1 minute.

Remove from heat.  Stir in the green onions.  Scoop about 1/2 cup turkey or chicken mixture on each lettuce leaf.  Fold lettuce leaf over filling.  Serve with additional hoisin sauce if desired.

Pizza Bubble Ring

This is a recipe out of Pillsbury Bake-Off Prize Winning Recipes, Collector's Edition, Volume 2 magazine.

Servings: 20

Ingredients:
*6-8 Tablespoons margarine, melted
*1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
*1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
*2 cans (12 oz. each) Pillsbury Grands! Jr. Golden Layers refrigerated flaky biscuits
*40 slices pepperoni or turkey pepperoni
(about 3 oz.)
*8 oz. mozzarella cheese slices (not shredded), cut into 20 pieces (I cut the slices into fourths, so I had just a few more than 20 pieces.  The more cheese the merrier.)
*1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
*1 1/4 cups pizza sauce, heated
* Ranch salad dressing (optional)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F.  Spray a bunt pan with cooking spray.  In a small bowl, mix the melted margarine, Italian seasoning, and garlic powder.

Separate 1 can of dough into 10 biscuits.  Hold one biscuit in your hands, and use your fingers to press and stretch it out into about a 3-inch round.  Place 2 pepperoni slices in the center, one on top of the other.  Top each with a slice of mozzarella cheese.  Bring edges of dough up around the filling, and press the edges to seal.  Roll in the butter mixture, and place in the pan.  Repeat with all the rest of the biscuits in that can.  When you are finished with 1 can, it should look like this:

Sprinkle with half the Parmesan cheese.  Separate the other can of dough into 10 biscuits and repeat the above process.  Place them on top of the 1st layer.  Sprinkle with the rest of the Parmesan cheese.  If there is any butter mixture left over, pour it on top.  When you are done with the 2nd can, it should look like this:

Bake 33 to 38 minutes or until deep golden brown.  Cool 5 minutes.  Gently loosen the bread from the side of the pan.  I used a butter knife.  It should loosen fairly easily.  Place a large plate upside down on top of the pan.  Holding the plate firmly onto the pan, flip the pan so that it is upside down, and the plate is now on the bottom facing up.  Remove the bread from the pan.

Pinch off pieces to serve.  Serve with warmed pizza sauce or cool Ranch salad dressing.  This goes great with a green salad.