Category Archives: Turkey

Homemade Turkey Breakfast Sausages

Homemade Turkey Breakfast Sausages

When we moved from Florida to Australia, I quickly found that there are many grocery items that could not be purchased here.  One of those was breakfast sausages.  What they call sausages here are more like hot dogs.  Not exactly appetizing for breakfast.

That’s why I came up with this recipe.  It took several tries before I got the seasonings right, but this is as close as I could get to the turkey sausages we used to buy in America.

Homemade Turkey Sausage

This recipe makes a lot, and can be cooked and frozen.  When ready to serve, just microwave the number of sausages you want for 30 seconds to 1 minute.

These homemade turkey sausages are healthy and since you make it at home with your fresh ingredients, you can feel good about eating them.  No preservatives or mystery ingredients. 🙂

Minced_Turkey

Minced Turkey

Sausage_Mixture

Sausage Mixture – Minced Turkey and Sausage Spice Blend

Homemade Turkey Breakfast Sausages

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 32 sausages

Homemade Turkey Breakfast Sausages

Homemade Turkey Sausages

Ingredients

4 teaspoons ground sage

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoons black pepper

1 teaspoon white pepper

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

1 teaspoon marjoram

1 teaspoon thyme

1 teaspoon rosemary

3 dashes ground cloves

2 tablespoons brown sugar

2 pounds ground turkey

Instructions

Mix all ingredients in a large bowl.

Form into patties, links or place in muffin tins - half full.

Bake 10 minutes at 400 degrees F.

https://cookingwith.sharonspringfield.com/blog/homemade-turkey-breakfast-sausages/

This goes well with my Home Fried Potatoes recipe.

Rosemary Turkey with Mushrooms

1 pound turkey breast tenderloin slices, all visible fat removed
1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
Vegetable oil spray
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon snipped fresh rosemary or 1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
8 ounces chanterelle or button mushrooms, cleaned, trimmed and sliced
1/4 cup chopped shallots or onion
Fresh rosemary (optional)
Rinse turkey and pat dry. Set aside. In a small bowl, stir together broth, cornstarch, salt and pepper. Set aside. Spray a large skillet with vegetable oil. Place over medium-high heat. Add half the turkey to hot skillet. Cook about 2 minutes on each side, or until turkey is tender and no longer pink. Repeat with remaining turkey. Remove skillet from heat; remove turkey from skillet and keep warm. Add vinegar and rosemary to skillet, stirring to scrape up brown bits from bottom of pan. Return skillet to heat and add mushrooms and shallots or onion. Over medium heat, cook and stir until mushrooms are tender, about 5 minutes. Stir broth mixture and add to skillet. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly, about 3 minutes. Cook 2 minutes more, stirring constantly. Serve sauce with turkey. Serve on a bed of rosemary if desired
4  Servings

Roasted Stuffed Turkey

One 18-pound fresh turkey
About 12 cups of your favorite stuffing (see note below)
3 Tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 Tbsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
4 cups homemade fat-free turkey stock, as needed
Gravy
4 3/4 cups homemade fat-free turkey stock, as needed
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp cornstarch, dissolved in 2 Tbsp cold water (optional)
1/2 tsp salt (optional)
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
Remove turkey from refrigerator several hours before cooking. Position a rack in the lowest position of the oven and preheat to 325ºF.   Reserve the turkey neck and giblets to use in gravy or stock. Pull out the pads of yellow fat at both sides of the tail and discard. (These are sometimes already removed by the processor, so don’t worry if they aren’t present.) If desired, rinse the turkey inside and out with cold water. Pat the turkey skin dry. Turn the turkey on its breast. Loosely fill the neck cavity with stuffing. Using a thin wooden or metal skewer, pin the turkey’s neck skin to the back. Fold the turkey’s wings akimbo behind the back (the tips will rest behind the turkey’s “shoulders”) or tie to the body with kitchen string.
Loosely fill the large body cavity with stuffing and cover the stuffing with a small piece of aluminum foil. Place any remaining stuffing in a lightly buttered casserole, cover and refrigerate to bake as a side dish. Place the drumsticks in the hock lock or tie together with kitchen string.   Brush the turkey all over with the butter. Mix together the salt and pepper and season the turkey all over. Tightly cover the breast area (but not the wings) with foil. Place the turkey, breast side up, on a rack in the roasting pan. Pour 2 cups of turkey stock into the bottom of the pan.  
Roast the turkey, basting all over every 45 minutes with the juices on the bottom of the pan (lift up the foil to reach the breast area), until a meat thermometer inserted in the meaty part of the thigh (but not touching a bone) reads 180ºF and the stuffing is at least 165ºF, about 4 1/4 hours. (See estimated roasting times below.) Whenever the drippings evaporate, add broth to moisten them, one cup at a time, as needed. During the last hour of the roasting time, remove the foil and baste at least once to allow the skin to brown.  
Transfer the turkey to a large serving platter and let it stand at least 40 minutes before carving (it will not cool off; this allows the hot juices to retract back into the turkey meat), which gives you plenty of time for making the gravy and for finishing any other last-minute dishes.  
To make the gravy, use a rubber spatula to scrape the pan juices from the roasting pan into a fat separator, leaving the browned bits in the pan. Let stand 5 minutes; then pour off the dark brown drippings into a 2-quart glass measuring cup; reserve the clear yellow fat in the separator. Add enough stock to the drippings to measure 5 cups.  
Place the roasting pan over two burners on high heat. Measure 1/4 cup of the reserved fat and add to the pan. Whisk in the flour (a flat “roux whisk” works best to reach into corners) and let bubble for 30 seconds. Since this is a reduced amount of flour and fat, it won’t coat the entire pan so try to concentrate the ingredient to one part of pan to prevent the flour from scorching. One cup at a time, whisk in the stock mixture and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer, whisking often, scraping up the brown bits on the bottom of the pan, until reduced to about 4 cups, about 3 minutes. For a thicker gravy, whisk in the cornstarch, but keep in mind that as the gravy cools, it will also thicken, so it might not be necessary.  
Strain through a coarse wire sieve into a bowl. Taste; season with the salt and, if desired, pepper and rosemary. Transfer to a warmed sauceboat.  
Carve the turkey and serve with the gravy.
18  Servings

Panera’s Turkey Artichoke Panini

loaf pesto focaccia bread
8 ounces freshly sliced turkey
4 ounces spinach artichoke spread (Available at your local grocer)
2 ounces asiago cheese (asiago parmesan blend)
1 small red onion, diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1-2 tomato, sliced (6-8 slices)
1 pinch salt and pepper
Preheat panini grill to medium temperature. In a medium sauce pan, sauté diced red onion in olive oil until transparent. Add balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper to taste.  
Slice the loaf of pesto focaccia into two semi-circles, and halve each semi-circle. Layer the turkey onto the bottom halves of the focaccia bread, and spread spinach artichoke mix over turkey. Layer sautéed onions, asiago/parmesan blend and tomato slices. Close face of panini with the top halves of focaccia bread.  Add panini to preheated grill and press lightly. Grill 5 minutes on medium or until the cheese begins to melt and there are grill marks on the focaccia bread.  Serve hot with chips or your favorite soup!
4  Servings

Mexican Lasagna

6 ounces turkey breast tenderloin
1 14½-ounce can dried tomatoes with basil, garlic and oregano
3/4 cup skim-milk ricotta cheese
1/3 cup plus 2 tbsp. shredded nonfat (real mozzarella) cheese
2 tbsp. nonfat liquid egg substitute
2 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup chopped white onion
1 tsp. minced roasted garlic
1/2 tbsp. chili powder
Preheat oven to 400º F.
In a food processor, chop up the turkey breast.
In a skillet, add onion and 2/3 cup chopped turkey.  Add tomatoes, garlic and chili powder, and cook about 2 minutes.  In a bowl mix together the ricotta cheese, 1/3 cup mozzarella cheese, egg substitute, cilantro, salt and pepper.
Line a nonstick 9-inch-round cake pan with one of the tortillas and spread the turkey mixture over the tortilla, leaving a 1-inch border. Place a second tortilla on top and spread with all of the ricotta mixture, again leaving a 1-inch border. Add a third tortilla and cover to within an inch of the outside with the remaining turkey mixture.  Top with the fourth tortilla and cover with aluminum foil.  Place in oven for 10 minutes, remove foil and sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons of mozzarella cheese over top and put back in oven for 2 minutes.
 8  Servings