Turkey Pasta

Tonight, I made turkey pasta.

This is a recipe I used to make a lot when I was house-sitting for my uncles. I would make a big batch the first night I was there and then have it for either lunch, dinner, or a snack until I finished it off. Tonight, I decided to make a slightly different, slightly healthier version.

My first swap was using extra-lean ground turkey breast, instead of lean ground turkey meat, since the "meat" could really be any part of the bird. And I mean any. Also, because I'm absent-minded, I forgot to take a picture of the turkey meat I got, but just remember: extra-lean, turkey breast.

Second, I decided to use whole grain pasta. I couldn't find rigatoni, which is what I used to use and is so perfect because the sauce gets all inside the noodles, so I had to use penne instead. Whole grain pasta has a nice, nutty flavor, but takes a little longer to cook than regular noodles. Think 12-14 minutes instead of 8-10.

My last switch was using a heart-healthy pasta sauce. I used to use a mushroom pasta sauce but somebody doesn't like the deliciousness that are mushrooms (are? is?). They also didn't have a heart-healthy mushroom pasta sauce, but I could always make my own...

So, to make everything...I put a pot of water on to boil and added a tablespoon or two of canola oil to a separate pot. When the oil was hot enough, I tossed in the turkey meat and started breaking it up, adding salt and pepper along the way.

(This was right after, when the meat was still pretty raw)

Once the meat was pretty much cooked through, meaning it was mostly white, since turkey meat doesn't really "brown" unless it's on the bird and covered in butter and roasted in the oven a la Thanksgiving, I added in the entire jar of pasta sauce.

I also added in about half a jar of water. When this was at a good simmer, I added in some garlic salt. Meanwhile, Ryan was doing this:

At this point, my water was almost at a boil so I threw in some salt followed by the entire box of noodles. 

Note: I made a full batch just like I used to do with my old version because I intend to snack on this all weekend.

While my pasta cooked, I added about a 1/2-1 teaspoon of the stuff in the green can. Please forgive me, it is by far my favorite form of Parmesan. I hate the skinny shreds. It's the green can stuff or big slices or nothin'.

(Forgive the blurry picture, it was all the steam, y'all!)

By this point, my pasta was cooked and I added it to the sauce, stirred it around, added about a tablespoon more of parm, and dinner was ready!

So delicious, although it could have used stronger seasonings. Maybe a little more garlic salt, or maybe some Italian seasoning, but it definitely could have been a little more flavorful.

Now I'm making kale chips! I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.