My mind is going a million miles an hour right now and I just want to write everything all at once. (Including a fab new recipe for turkey spaghetti hotdish!) Obviously that would be bad and fairly confusing, so let me segment …
1) It feels so good to be back! This is my first Turkey Tuesday recipe post in a while – so sorry I’ve been a little lax since before the holidays. But seriously, these things happen, right?
2) The recipe is an adaptation of “Billionaire Spaghetti Casserole” from Cristen at Food and Swine. I was actually on a conference call last week with Cristen, as she gave a presentation to several of us who write and post on social media about egg farmers and the egg industry. (It was so fantastic to learn from her experiences as a farm and food blogger!) I was already following her on Facebook but realized I hadn’t spent a lot of time on her blog, which is fabulous. So many fun recipes – plus posts about her family’s pig farm.
3) Cristen’s original recipe uses either ground beef or ground pork. I swapped out the ground beef for extra lean ground turkey breast (I used this Jennie-O Turkey store product) and kept a little bit of ground pork to give some added fat to the super lean ground turkey.
4) Cristen’s recipe makes two 9×13 pans of this delicious comfort food dish – so if you’re feeding a crowd, this is pretty awesome. Since I have a family of three to feed, I scaled back the recipe in half. Which, truth be told, is still A LOT for us. But that’s how I roll – I think I’m cooking for five or six people pretty much all the time. Teacher Man just shakes his head, but I know he appreciates the leftovers for lunches at school. 😉
5) I realized this recipe requires not one single thing to be chopped. This isn’t a bad thing, mind you. Although, I do actually love to chop vegetables, which is another thing Teacher Man thinks is strange. However, on a weeknight or if I have less time in the kitchen available, it’s nice to have a recipe that doesn’t require a lot of prep. This recipe fits that bill.
6) And finally … I’m super psyched to continue to be a part of Jennie-O’s Switch Circle of Bloggers in 2017. Obviously this is a no brainer, right? I love turkey, I am passionate about turkey farming, and I live in Minnesota – the #1 turkey producing state in the U.S. and home to Jennie-O. Can I get a #GobbleGobble?
I hope you enjoy this recipe and be sure check out Food and Swine too – I know Cristen would love to have you stop by!
XOXO –
Lara
(Note – I am not compensated to be a part of Jennie-O’s Switch Circle except for the occasional complimentary turkey products to try. Opinions are my own.)
Spaghetti Hotdish
Ingredients
- 1 pound Jennie-O Extra Lean Ground Turkey
- 1/2 pound ground pork
- 1/4 cup minced dehydrated onion
- 1 tsp Lawry’s seasoned salt
- 32 ounces marinara sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
- 1 one-pound package of fettuccini or linguini noodles cooked to al dente (2 minutes less than box says) and drained
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 3/4 teaspoon tsp garlic salt
- 1 eight-ounce packages of cream cheese
- 1 cup of cottage cheese
- 1/2 cup of flavored sour cream I used chive and onion
- 1-1/4 cups grated parmesan cheese divided
- 3 cups of shredded cheese divided (I used a combination of Mozzarella and Cheddar-Jack)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Meat Sauce
- Brown ground turkey and pork with onion and seasoned salt.
- Drain.
- Combine with marinara and set aside.
Noodle Layer
- Cook noodles to al dente (2 minutes less than package says).
- Drain noodles and toss with butter and garlic salt.
- Set aside.
Creamy Layer
- Mix cream cheese, cottage cheese, sour cream and 1/2 cup of the parmesan cheese together. Set aside.
Assembly of the hotdish
- Spray a 9x13 pan with nonstick spray
- Add 1/2 of the noodles to the pan.
- Sprinkle 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese over the noodles.
- Add half of creamy layer mixture and spread out evenly.
- Sprinkle 1 cup of shredded cheese onto creamy mixture.
- Add the remaining 1/2 of the noodle mixture.
- Sprinkle with 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese again.
- Add the remaining half of the meat sauce to the top of each pan.
- Bake hotdish for 30 minutes.
- Remove from oven, sprinkle with remaining 1 cup of cheese.
- Return to oven to bake for 20 minutes or until cheese is melted.
- Remove from oven and let stand 15 minutes before serving.
Notes
Press a layer of plastic wrap onto the meat sauce of the casserole. (Don’t add cheese to the casserole, simply keep it in the fridge or freezer for later use.)
Double wrap casserole with tin foil.
When ready to bake, thaw in refrigerator overnight, then bake for 40 minutes at 350, then sprinkle cheese and continue to bake 25 minutes more until cheese is melted. Adapted from Food and Swine