Turkey Scallopini with Gravy & a sad attempt at scalloped potatoes

Sometimes things work out great when you're cooking and sometimes they don't. I think it's just as important to share the failures as it is the successes when you're in the kitchen. I also think it's kinda funny when you screw it up so bad it's inedible... this is what happened last night. I wanted to make turkey scallopini and scalloped potatoes. Not too difficult. The turkey turned out FANTASTIC! Will certainly be a staple recipe in our house moving forward. The potatoes - not so much. Here's the story of my unsuccessful scalloped potato attempt.

I started out like the recipe said, slice the potatoes, layer them in the dish and add a little flour mixed with salt in peper. I also added some diced onions to give an extra added layer of flavor. Mistake #1 - potatoes are not sliced thin enough.

The potatoes are in the pan, ready to go and...I forgot to add any liquid to the potatoes before I popped them in the oven. Yep. Mistake #2 Uncooked sliced potatoes in a casserole dish with onions, butter and no liquid = very not tasty at all. It doesn't end up tasting like a baked potato (which once I realized this, is what I was hoping for) since they weren't russet potatoes, it ends up like a bunch of dry potato goo.

So to try and remedy the situation, I added milk and baked for another 30 minutes. It helped but not enough. So on a last ditch effort, Matt tried to mash them and add some spices and bake for a little longer. This may have worked but now it's around 9pm (2 hours after we ate the turkey) and neither one of us is that interested. Mistake #3 Don't mash scalloped potatoes. Needless to say, we've got a bunch of inedible potato goo hanging out in the trash can.

Oh well. If you have a good recipe for easy (and no heavy cream needed) recipe, please send it my way!

Now on to the success - Turkey Scallopini! So tasty and so super easy. For how bad the potatoes were, the turkey was so good.

Skillet Turkey Scallopini (or Chicken if you prefer)
Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound turkey breasts (or chicken breast) pounded thin
• Bread crumbs (I used the panko ones)
• 1/2 a medium sized onion, diced
• 1/2 packet of turkey gravy powder
• 1/4 stick of butter (optional)
• 1 cup Chicken stock
• 1/4 water
• salt and pepper to season chicken
• Olive oil for the pan

Steps:

1. Pound the chicken till its about 1/2 inch thick, dip it into the panko bread crumbs and season with salt and pepper. Set it aside.

2. Heat up your sauce pan with the oil and add the diced onions. Cook them till they are translucent and starting to caramelize. Move them out of the pan but not too far away, you'll need them again soon!

3. Add a bit more oil to your pan and place the turkey in. Don't touch it. Let it cook for at least 5 minutes so it starts to brown on the bottom. Then flip it over and don't touch it till it starts to brown again. Cook it until the meat is almost done.

4. Mix up the gravy on the site and pour over the meat, add the onions. And if its not thick enough, add the water.
5. Cook the meat and gravy till the meat is done. The gravy keeps the meet nice and juicy.
Serve that sucker up!

Another side anecdote
One of our kitchen cabinets never ever stays close (ghetto I know but you learn to live with it because you're too lazy to fix it) but last night I banged my head into it about 100 times so finally, I had to get it to stay closed... wah la! My genius invention - closed-door-ala-spoon!

Chicken a la King

It's been hot - we haven't been cooking. It's been too darn hot... until last night! YAY!

Matt and I were chatting this past weekend about dishes we loved as kids, what mom used to make and what we loved out of the "meal rotation." So that's where Chicken a la King came up. Matt has mentioned it a few times as a dish he loved and it sounded pretty easy so we gave his mom a call, got the recipe. We didn't eat this exact dish in my house but we did eat a few things that were very similar. It's very easy to make, not too terrible for you and you can substitute very easily based on what you have in the house and your tastes. You could swap out the peas for celery or carrots. I'm not sure peppers would be a good flavor but why not try!

Chicken a la King
This recipe is for 2 people

Ingredients:

• 1 can of cream of chicken soup
• 1 can of cream of mushroom soup
• 1 cup of peas
• 1 cup of chopped broccoli
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 lb chicken breast or turkey breast (diced into large chunks)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 package of No Yolks noodles - extra broad (or you could use rice as well)
• 1/2 packet of turkey gravy (the dried stuff - this is optional)
• 1 tsp of olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan

Steps:

1. Dice up your chicken/turkey and your veggies so they are ready to be added
2. In a large sauce pan, add the olive oil to cover the bottom. Season the meat a little and then plop the meat into the hot pan. Add in the soups one at a time, then the peas, broccoli, gravy and lastly the milk. 
3. Once everything is mixed together, let it simmer for 30 min or until the meat is cooked. In the meantime, cook up those noodles!
4. After abou 30/45 min, take a quick taste and make sure it doesn't need any additional seasoning.
5. Serve the mixture over the noodles and enjoy!