The Tale of the Turkey Tetrazzini

OK friends, I am sorry I didn't take a picture of this meal. It did turn out great. I will make it again and then add the picture if I think of it. I got a new recipe book at Christmas (I bought it for myself at a scholastic book fair). And everything in that book looks fantastic. I really wanted to try the turkey tetrazzini but I didn't have any turkey. At the store (late one night this week) I found a fresh turkey breast on sale (that needed to be cooked by the next day) and snagged it. Got up early, made the turkey breast and took all the meat off. I boiled down the "bird" to make stock and got some more meat off for soup (that is now frozen for another time). I froze about half of the breast meat for anther meal, and took the rest to make the turkey tetrazzini. Being the homeschooling mom that I am, I took this as an opportunity to show the girls that math really is needed. I told them that the turkey was about $12 (I rounded up) and if I made 3 meals out of it, how much was each meal going to cost. Tally quickly figured out $4 each. And then I said, what if I didn't boil it down and make soup, I would have only gotten 2 meals out of it. The she figured out $6 for each meal. I also took this as a chance to show them that nothing creepy was going into this dish. Basically turkey, noodles, sauce and cheese. I think they are more likely to eat "new" foods if I show them it is all safe.

All that to say...here is the version of the recipe that we made the other night (with my tweaks to it).

1 - 2 1/2 cups of cooked turkey (or chicken) diced
1 T minced dried onions
1/4 t tabasco
1/4 t marjoram
1 (10 oz) can cream chicken soup
1 (13 oz) can evaporated milk
1 (8 oz) package spaghetti -
broken and cooked according to package
4 0z cheddar cheese
1/3 cup grated parmesan cheese


Combine the turkey, onions, tabasco, marjoram, soup and milk and mix well. Divide the cooked noodles into 3 parts. Cover bottom of 9 x 13 greased dish with 1/2 of the noodles. Then add half of the turkey mixture. Then add half the cheddar cheese. Repeat - noodles, turkey mix, cheese, then we added the parmesan cheese. We covered ours with foil so the noodles wouldn't dry out. Cooked between 30-45 min. at 400. (I might have done 350 because I think my oven is a little hot). Let it stand for 10 before serving.

I served mine with cesar salad and green beans. I seriously had to step away from this meal...yummy...or I would have finished the turkey tetrazzini right out of the dish.