Turkey Archives - Fresh From Oregon

Bays English Muffins perfect for your Lunch Box!

October 18, 2015 · by Carrie Trax ·

Last month I was in Seattle for the 2015 International Food Blogger Convention where I got to network with other amazing food bloggers. I also had the opportunity to meet many companies in the food industry. One of the companies I had the pleasure of talking to was Bays English Muffins. I had the chance to talk to and watch George Bay, grandson and namesake of the family run business create some amazing sandwiches with Bays English Muffins. As I was watching George make a few sandwiches piled high with some savory ingredients I thought Bays English Muffins are not just a breakfast item but would make a great sandwich for anytime of the day. Thanks to Bays English Muffins I went home with some free packages of English Muffins ready to create my own sandwich combinations. The first thing I noticed when I opened the packages was how soft and fresh they felt. Bays maintains its standard of excellence by using only Hawaiian cane sugar, Minnesota spring wheat and whole milk, Wisconsin AA butter, and potato flour. This is why you will need to look in the refrigerated dairy case of your grocery store for them. All their muffins are made to order, and leave the factory within 24 hours of their baking and are shipped across the country in refrigerated trucks. Check out the quick and easy sandwiches I created with my Bays English Muffins.

Cuban English Muffin Sandwich
1 Bays English Muffin, lightly toasted
2 thick slices ham
2 slices Swiss cheese
1 dill pickle, sliced
Yellow mustard
Butter

On the inside of each Bays English Muffin spread a thin layer of yellow mustard and top each side with a piece of Swiss cheese. On one Bays English Muffin side place the ham and on the other side place the sliced pickles. Put the two sides together and brush the outside of each Bays English Muffin with butter. Place on a hot flat top grill or in a hot skillet over medium heat. Cook each side until golden brown and the cheese is melted. Remove from heat and it is ready to eat.

Hawaiian English Muffin Sandwich
1 Bays English Muffin, lightly toasted
2 thick slices ham
2 slices Swiss cheese
2 thin slices grilled peppered pineapple*
1 tablespoons cream cheese
Butter

On the inside of each Bays English Muffin spread the cream cheese. On one Bays English Muffin side place the ham and on the other side place the grilled peppered pineapple. Put the two sides together and brush the outside of each Bays English Muffin with butter. Place on a hot flat top grill or in a hot skillet over medium heat. Cook each side until golden brown. Remove and it is ready to eat.

* To prepare pineapple coat two thinly sliced pineapple pieces with olive oil and sprinkle with coarse black pepper. In a lightly buttered saute pan grill each side of the pineapple until lightly brown. Should only take a few minutes.

Monte Cristo English Muffin Sandwich
1 Bays English Muffin, lightly toasted
1 thick slice ham
2 slices turkey
2 slices Swiss cheese
2 teaspoons strawberry jam
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon butter
Powdered sugar

On the inside of each Bays English Muffin side spread 1 teaspoon of strawberry jam and a piece of Swiss cheese. On one Bays English Muffin side place the ham and on the other side place the sliced turkey. Put the two sides together, set aside. In small bowl beat the egg and milk. Add butter to a hot flat top grill or in a hot skillet over medium heat. Dip sandwich into the egg mixture making sure to dip both sides. Cook each side until golden brown and the cheese is melted. Remove from heat and sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Tip: You can wrap in a piece of foil to keep sandwiches warm if making several sandwiches.

Roasted Turkey with Homemade Cracker Stuffing

November 12, 2014 · by Carrie Trax ·

The roasted golden bird, the Turkey is the center piece of any Thanksgiving table. But in my family the favorite dish is my family’s cracker stuffing passed down from my mom from my grandmother and great grandmother. For four generations and probably longer it has been a holiday tradition making cracker stuffing in my family. My great grandmother comes for the town of Vejvanov, West Bohemia, Czech Republic a small city south west of Prague. I wanted to learn more about the history of cracker stuffing and read several Bohemian cookbooks and searched the internet. I found that it is called (Nádivkou) or Bohemian Cracker Stuffing. Crackers seemed to be an easy substitute for stale bread or bread crumbs. All the recipes I found online seem to be just a little different than mine, with an extra ingredient or seasoning but we like our basic one made with the recipe below. It was even featured on the Food Network’s kitchen website when I entered the recipe in a Stuffing Cook-off contest.

Cracker Stuffing

Cracker, onions and celery in vintage bowl

4 sleeves saltine crackers
2 stalks celery
1 cup butter
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 medium onion, chopped
4 eggs
1/2 cup milk

12-14 pound Turkey
4 stalks celery
6 carrots, peeled
2 can chicken broth
Olive oil
Salt & pepper

To make my cracker stuffing I used my Ninja food processor attachment this year to crush my crackers and chop the celery, it made my crackers more consistent in size. In the bowl of the Ninja food processor place one sleeve of crackers and pulse three times. That’s all it takes to make the perfect size cracker for this recipe. Empty crackers from the Ninja into a large bowl and repeat with the remaining crackers. In the same food processor bowl add the celery and pulse 8 times then add the celery to the crackers in the bowl. If you do not have a Ninja (add it to your wish list) you can crush the crackers by hand. With the crackers still in their sleeves, crush them with your hands (easier to crush this way, and it keeps your hands cleaner) then empty the sleeves into a large bowl. Chop celery into small pieces and add to the crackers. In a frying pan, saute the butter, onion and black pepper until the onions are tender, about 5 minutes. No need to add salt since you are using saltine crackers. Add cooked onions to the crackers and mix well. Add eggs and mix well. Add milk a little at a time (you might not use all of the milk), until the cracker mix is moistened. Cracker mix should form a ball which you can hold in your hand. When stuffing a turkey with cracker stuffing it does not expand, so you want to pack it in tight. With traditional bread stuffing you would pack it in the turkey loosely. When the turkey is ready, you pull out the cracker stuffing in one big chunk and slice it. Also great on a turkey sandwich the next day!

To prepare the turkey remove from packaging. Remove the neck (Do not worry it has been already cut off and is inside the turkey cavity). On the back end of the turkey there will be a bag of giblets including the heart, gizzard and liver. It may not sound good but do NOT throw away the neck and the giblets it will make a great turkey stock so just place all together in a bag and refrigerate. I will share in a later post the best turkey stock recipe using these parts and the carcass of the turkey after you have carved off all the meat. Rinse turkey under cold water and pat dry with paper towel. In your roasting pan add 4 stalks of celery and 6 carrots that have been cut up and toss with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. They will also be used later in making the turkey stock.

Place turkey on top of carrots and celery. Stuff the cavity of the turkey with the cracker stuffing and remember to pack it in tight. Do not forgot there is room in the back of the turkey where the giblets were so pack some stuffing in there as well. There is no need to tie the legs together just let the stuffing flow out the cavity. Rub some olive oil on the turkey and sprinkle with salt and pepper. This will help give your turkey a nice golden brown color and add flavor to the skin. Add two cans of chicken stock to the pan and cover with a nice tall lid.* Place in a preheated 325 degree oven and since we stuffed the turkey it will take 4 to 4 1/2 hours to cook. The turkey is done when the thigh meat reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees F.

* I have found over the years that if you have a tall lid on your turkey when it is cooking the air can circulate and your turkey will come out a golden brown without having to remove the lid the last 30 minutes to brown it. You may choose to bast the turkey once an hour with the juices from the bottom of the pan. I seem to get so busy I never remember and it bastes itself just fine with the tall roasting pan I use.

Do not forget after Thanksgiving dinner is over, save anything left in the pan, the turkey bones, pieces, carrots, celery, juice and bits left in the roasting pan. Place in a container and get ready to make some turkey broth to use in some other great dishes like turkey chili, turkey wild rice soup, turkey pot pie or in place of chicken broth in any of your favorite recipes.

Aneto Natural … 100% Fresh

September 23, 2014 · by Carrie Trax ·

Wow is this really an apron with my blog name on it “Fresh From Oregon”. After checking in Friday evening at the IFBC this weekend I saw this whole table filled with beautiful yellow and white checked aprons and thought “am I going to get one of those?” To my surprise not only was there one for me there was one for every person who attended the conference with their blog name on it as well. These aprons were hand stitched in Spain and all brought over in suitcases by the wonderful people of Aneto Natural chicken broth. They make 100% natural broths using fresh ingredients which they simmer for 3 hours just like you would make at home. They make 20 varieties of 100% Natural Broths and had boxes of their 100% Natural Chicken broth at the conference for us to have and try. I knew the perfect fall recipe I was going to use it in, my Turkey Chili. The first thing I did when I got back to Oregon was stop by and buy some ground turkey for my chili. Now if I had a Ninja like Devin Alexander demonstrated at the lunch on Saturday I could have used some Butterball Turkey and ground it in seconds in a Ninja. During the Pre-Gourmet fair reception Butterball spokesperson and Dad Blogger RJ Jaramillo prepared and served us Mini BBQ Turkey Burgers with the help of Butterball’s new recipe app, Butterball Cookbook Plus. They have a 2014 Butterball Cookbook Plus Blogger Contest and this Turkey Chili using Aneto Natural Chicken Broth will be perfect to enter and maybe I will win!

Turkey Chili Recipe

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Bays English Muffins perfect for your Lunch Box!

Roasted Turkey with Homemade Cracker Stuffing

Aneto Natural … 100% Fresh

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