turkey | Better Hens and Gardens

Turkey Lasagna

This is a favorite lasagna that’s a little lighter and easier – because it uses turkey and the noodles don’t get precooked. The recipe can be made ahead, refrigerated, and then baked just before dinner; so it makes a nice dish to bring along. It’s adapted from Barefoot Contessa Family Style by Ina Garten.

1 yellow onion (chopped)

1 1/2 pounds sweet Italian turkey sausage (casings removed)

1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes

1 6 oz. can tomato paste

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

1/2 cup chopped fresh basil leaves

Kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1/2 pound lasagna noodles

15 ounces ricotta cheese

4 ounces creamy goat cheese

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus 1/4 cup for sprinkling

1 egg, [...]

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Raising Buckeye Chicks

The Buckeye chicks are 21 weeks old now; and are starting to look like real chickens. We ordered 25 day-old chicks, received 30, lost two within the first three days; and the remaining 28 prospered. I wrote about how we intended to raise them when they first arrived (see Raising Day-Old Chicks); but we learned a few things along the way.

Temperature

For the first five weeks, the chicks were under a red, infrared lamp continuously to keep them warm. But, because fall temperatures swung so drastically, adjusting the lamp to keep the temperature constant was a pain. I checked the temperature [...]

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Grandma's Chili

This is an easy, versatile, and flavorful chili that my Grandma used to feed Grandpa and four growing boys. She’d mix it together, and then let it simmer to develop flavor while she worked on other things. It’s versatile because you can use ground beef, venison, or turkey; or any combination depending on what’s available. And, you can vary the heat by using mild, medium, or hot chili beans, use more or less jalapeno pepper (either seeded or unseeded), and add chili pepper if desired. The condensed tomato soup gives it a slightly sweet base, so the heat of the other ingredients hits you slowly. I regularly make several different chili recipes, but this [...]

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Feather Picking Chickens

After successfully raising the six Red Comet chicks to laying age and twenty eight Buckeye chicks through the first twelve weeks this year, we thought it was going to be smooth sailing. But no, things never go quite as planned…..

As the Buckeye’s were moving into week 13, they abruptly started picking the feathers off of each other’s back and eating them. Within two days, some of them were beginning to show bare backs where all the feathers had been picked away. Naturally, we were anxious about this behavior (a form of cannibalism) and wanted to get it stopped ASAP.

After posting [...]

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