OK… once again, I got off track on publishing a new recipe every week. I’m trying to get this done, perhaps the second part of 2010 is when it will really happen!

So, here is my latest thrown together meal recipe, a turkey kielbasa recipe and couscous recipe rolled into one… I hope you enjoy it as much as my family and me did.

To view this recipe, with instructions and possible variations, see this page. You can also find more great sausage recipes or share your own special recipes here.

Enjoy!

Risotto is an Italian form of rice that is simply delicious. You might have heard that it’s hard to make, but that’s not really true. It does take precision and time, however.

It’s not a meal you can just start on the stove and then forget about for a half hour. It needs pretty much constant attention. But the efforts are SO worth it! Delicious, flexible, useful either as a side dish or the foundation of a delicious one-pot dish, risotto recipes can be whatever you want them to be!

Risotto comes to us from the Italian culture. Basically, risotto is just an Italian method of cooking a specific type of rice, called arborio rice. Arborio rice is an Italian short-grain rice that is named after the town of Arborio in the Po Valley in Italy, where it is grown.

When cooked, the rounded grains are firm, creamy, and chewy, due to the higher amylopectin starch content of this rice. It has a starchy taste of its own, yet blends well with other flavors in a variety of risotto recipes.

Besides arborio rice, risotto recipes are crafted from broth, wine, onions/garlic and Parmesan cheese. Slow, steady cooking is the key.

Here are a few of the possible variations of the basic recipe:

• Roasted red pepper risotto
• Mushroom sage risotto
• Bell pepper risotto
• Artichoke and roasted almond risotto

You’ll find the instructions for those recipes and even more at my risotto recipes page on my main Thrown Together Meals website.

Enjoy!

OK… I’m billing this blog as my “Recipe of the Week” blog, but I haven’t been very good at posting a new recipe every week. In fact, this is the first time in January I’ve posted at all. Sigh…

I plan to do better from now on. Problem is, I’m webmaster for several sites and I’ve let the other ones take priority of late. No more. While I get together the next recipe, you might take a look at the cookbook reviews I’ve posted on the site recently:

• Rachael Ray’s 365: No Repeats
• The quintessential Betty Crocker cookbook for the generations
• Freezer Cooking Made Simple
• Robin Miller’s Quick Fix Meals

Oh, and have you seen my gift guide for cooks? I’ve pulled together a huge selection of suggestions for things that make great gifts for people who love to cook. The apron at right is just one of the great gifts you can find on the pages of our site.

Click here to visit our Gifts for the Cook section of Thrown-Together-Meals.com.

Just wanted to wish all my readers a wonderfully happy holiday season. I’ll be on hiatus until January. Hope you have a Happy New Year! Until 2010… happy cooking!

Chicken Broccoli Alfredo is a thrown together meal recipe using a simple white sauce recipe with chicken and broccoli… yummo!

One night I had a hankering for Alfredo sauce (yumm… Parmesan), and I had chicken and broccoli on hand, so I decided to put them together in one quick dish. A few other ingredients and a new classic was born!

To view this recipe, go to our Thrown-Together-Meals.com website and visit the Chicken Broccoli Alfredo recipe page. You can also find more great chicken recipes or share your own special recipes. Enjoy!

I love the taste of kielbasa sausage and since it’s already cooked, it is so easy to incorporate into a fast meal you can have on the table in minutes. Growing up, my mom used to make a dish called spam and potatoes when we would go camping. This is kind of a take off on that favorite childhood memory.

For variations on this recipe, see this page. You can also find more great sausage recipes or share one of your own special recipes with our readers.

Hope you enjoy this!

This recipe came in through my monthly recipe contest submission page. It’s a delicious way to use some of that leftover turkey from your Thanksgiving or other holiday meals. I tried it and it’s great! Hope you enjoy it…

For variations on this recipe, see this page. You can also find more great turkey recipes or share one of your own special recipes.

Our Mexican Rice Casserole is another thrown together meal, crafted on the fly from stuff I had sitting around the house, including ground turkey.

Even though I love to cook, I hate to shop, so I frequently find my cupboards and fridge getting a bit bare around the time I need to force myself to head to the grocery store for my monthly trip. One time, I came up with the Mexican Rice concept using the only kind of meat I had left in the house (ground turkey), some old prepared rice side dish packets (Southwestern Style and Mexican) I’d bought for lunch and never used and a few of my usual staples that I almost always have on hand, no matter how overdue grocery shopping is.

My hubby, mom and I were pretty pleased with the results!

I hope you like it too…

Serve the casserole with a green salad and/or cornbread or corn muffins. Yumm! To check out this recipe, you can go to our main Thrown-Together-Meals.com website and view the Mexican Rice Casserole recipe page. You can also find lots more great ground turkey recipes or ethnic recipes too. Or, if you’re feeling inspired, you can even share some of your favorite recipes there too!

Enjoy!

Looking for turkey leftover recipes? Wondering what to do with all that leftover turkey?

Ahh… Thanksgiving turkey dinner… is there anything better? Turkey galore, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberry sauce, green bean casserole… the list goes on and on, depending on what your holiday traditions might be. But, depending on how many people you cook for on the holiday and how big a bird you decided  to roast, you might have a lot of leftover turkey.

In my family, we always had a few days of turkey sandwiches for lunch and hot turkey sandwiches (with gravy) for dinner, but after a couple of days of that you might be looking for new ways to cook the turkey before it spoils.

You’ll find a couple of turkey leftover recipes on my main website:

• Mexican Turkey Skillet
• Turkey Nacho Casserole

But I am actively soliciting new turkey leftover recipes too. What are your favorite recipes using leftover turkey? I’m hoping you’d be willing to share your own leftover turkey recipes here… looking forward to seeing them!

To all my readers… HAPPY, HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

You know those scrambled egg sandwiches they serve at fast food restaurants? This is similar, but healthier. And it goes together in a jiffy!

I actually started making this sandwich as a hot lunch at work many years ago, using nothing more than a microwave and a toaster. But it would make a great dinner too, and could have a number of variations. So, here’s the recipe:

Easy Scrambled Egg Sandwich

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• Dash of milk
• Salt & pepper to taste
• 1 English muffin
• Butter
• Slice of American cheese
• Slice of deli ham

Directions:

1. First, split the English muffin with a fork and put it in the toaster to toast up.

2. Meanwhile, mix the eggs, milk and salt & pepper with a wisk.

3. Start heating a small frying pan sprayed with nonstick spray.

4. Pour in the eggs and stir frequently to make scrambled eggs.

5. When the muffin is done toasting, spread it lightly with butter.

6. When the eggs are done, spread them evenly across the muffin and top with a slice of ham and then cheese.

7. Add the muffing top & start eating!

This really is a quick easy meal that can be whipped up in mere minutes. You might serve it with fried potatoes or frozen tater tots if you feel you need an accompaniment. For some great variations, visit this page. And you can also get more great egg recipes for dinner at our main site too.