Moving the blog

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Spicy Turkey Spaghetti

This is one of my favorite ways to make spaghetti. I try not to cook with red meat very often, so this is nice alternative to meat balls or ground beef. I add in some Sriracha sauce to give it a bit of a kick. It's quick and a great way to use up some jars of pre-made spaghetti sauce.

Spicy Turkey Spaghetti: Cooking Time:  45 mins

 Ingredients:
1 lbs ground beef
2 jars pre-made spaghetti sauce

1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
1 box spaghetti
1 Tbsp oregano
1/2 Tbsp thyme
2 Tbsp Italian spices (i.e. Mrs. Dash)

2 bay leaves
sea salt
pepper
Sriracha
ground garlic
olive oil



Optional:
Italian Sausage (i.e. Johnsonville)

• Make sure your ground turkey (and sausages) are thawed before you start cooking.
• Empty the two jars of pre-made spaghetti sauce into a large pot. Fill each of the emptied jars half way with water and pour it the remaining sauce and water into the pot. Heat the water and sauce mixture at medium heat. Stir occasionally.
• Heat olive oil in a frying pan. Dice the onion and garlic cloves into small pieces and add them to the olive oil in the frying pan. Cook the onions and garlic on low medium heat until the onions are translucent. Add the cooked onions and garlic to the sauce in the large pot.
• Reuse the frying pan to cook the ground turkey. Break up the ground turkey into smaller pieces as you add it to the pan. (This allows the meat to absorb the flavors from the onion and garlic.) Lightly sprinkle sea salt, pepper, and the Italian herbs over the ground turkey. Stir the ground turkey until all sides are brown. To prevent the turkey from drying out, ensure there is a small amount of the liquid at the bottom. (You can add a small amount of water or olive oil if the liquid has evaporated.) Pour the contents of the pan into the spaghetti sauce.
•  If you're adding Italian Sausage, brown the sausage on all sides. Cut open the sausage to ensure that it is completely cooked, inside and out. Add the sausage to the sauce.
• Turn up the heat to medium high for the spaghetti sauce. Add, the bay leaves, thyme, oregano, and italian spices to the sauce. Add Sriracha sauce to your liking. I usually add a couple of squirts (approximately 1-2 tsp) and it seems to be mildly spicy. Add more or less Sriracha depending on your preference.
• Stir the sauce and add additional amounts of the spices to your liking. Remove the bay leaves with spoon.
• Empty 1 box of spaghetti noodles into a large pot of boiling water. The water should cover the noodles completely. Once the noodles are cooked, drain and rinse them and empty them into a bowl.
• Serve the spaghetti sauce over the noodles and Voila! Dinner is served.

Notes:
Sometimes if the sauce is too bland, I add ground garlic and/or a bit of cooking sherry to the sauce.

If you accidentally put in too much Sriracha, try adding a bit of sugar. If it's still too spicy, add some more pre-made spaghetti sauce until it's to your liking.

Let me know if you liked it and if you added something different to your meal. Enjoy!

New Year's Resolution

I've been very delinquent in my posts. I originally created this blog so that I could chronicle my adventures in Japan and share some great restaurants that I found, along with some helpful directions. In the spirit of the New Year, I decided to get back on track by making a resolution. I will blog about 1 restaurant that I will visit in the Tokyo, Yokohama, or surrounding area each month. I will also add some recipes that I'm trying out at home to supplement the restaurant reviews. I hope you enjoy the adventure and try some of the restaurants and recipes. Please let me know if there's any restaurants that I should try! Thanks for reading and Happy Holidays!