Talking Turkey: Leftovers That Is!


 


Inevitably when the holiday meal is over there will be leftovers.  Of all sorts, not just of turkey, but most especially of turkey if you are a smaller family.  And honestly, a wise woman would make sure there are leftovers because it's so darned handy to have especially over the holiday weekend.  I have a small file of recipes I absolutely love to make with leftover turkey, some simple and some a little more fussy and all of them good.  But I'll also share a few other recipes for other things you might have leftover that I've learned works well.

But first, turkey!

I love Maxine's idea of bagging turkey in recipe portions right away after the meal.  She's right.  It's a huge help.  I always make broth/soup and turkey salad.  And then I'll get two or three other meals off the leftovers depending on how big a crowd I'd fed.

1.  Turkey Broth:  So let's strip that frame (Katie doesn't like the word carcass, so I've subbed in 'frame').  I usually include the wings and legs.  No one in my family eats those. Put that and any broth from the pan right into a large slow cooker or big old stockpot and get it simmering.  There will be meat left no matter how clean you think you've picked it.  Put in the skin as well.  It adds to the overall flavor of your broth. 

You can leave this on low overnight and the remove the frame the next morning.  When it's cool enough to touch, take the meat from the bones.    I feed the skin and soft cartilage to my dog and cat.  They love it and it's good for their old bones.

2. Turkey soup:  You likely will end up with 3 or so cups of meat and about 6-8 quarts of broth.  Half that broth and half the meat will make a lovely turkey soup.

Your choices are not limited to what I suggest.  We love Turkey and Rice, Turkey and Noodles as our soups of choice, but you can also make a Creamy Turkey Wild Rice, a curried soup, a southwestern soup, a white chili...Whatever you'd typically make with chicken works just as well with turkey!

3.  Turkey Salad:  I like to use the rest of the boiled meat in turkey salad.  I grew up eating it that way and that's the way I still make it.  It is just so good as a filling for sandwiches.  I keep it simple: boiled egg, pickle relish, mayonnaise and seasonings of salt and pepper and maybe a slight squeeze of mustard.  

4.  Turkey a la King:  Mama always made this following a turkey dinner and we loved it.  To a can of cream of mushroom soup, add 1 can of broth.  Lightly cook a diced onion, chopped celery (about 1 large stalk).  When the vegetables are soft, add in the soup, 2 cups of chopped cooked turkey (I often reduced this when we were straining the budget), a cup of green peas, 2 ounces of diced pimento or roasted red pepper.  Season to taste with garlic, a dash of soy sauce, pepper and salt.  Serve over rice.  Top with sliced almonds or chopped green onions.

5.  Turkey Tetrazzini:  This is my favorite, I think.  Cook 1 cup sliced mushrooms. Add one minced clove of garlic.  Add two cups turkey, 1 can mushroom soup, 1 can broth, 8 ounces cooked spaghetti, 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, a dash of cooking sherry (this is key to the flavor in my opinion), salt and pepper to taste.  Mix all and put into a large casserole or 9 X 13 pan.  Sprinkle grated parm or mozzarella over the top.  Finish with dry breadcrumbs and pats of butter.  Bake until hot and bubbly at 350F.

6.  Turkey Strata:  Start by dicing stale bread (use end pieces, or leftover rolls or loaf bread).  You'll want at least four cups.  1-2 cups of turkey, chopped.  1/2 an onion and 1 rib celery diced, and 1/2 cup red bell pepper if you like, then cooked until the onion is just translucent.  Mix the turkey, bread cubes, vegetables, 3 beaten eggs, 1/2 cup mayonnaise, 2 cups milk, a dash of dry mustard, salt and pepper, dash of Worcestershire sauce.  Top with shredded cheddar cheese.  This should fill a 9 in. pan.  You can stop here and refrigerate overnight if you like.  Bake at 350 F, allowing extra time for the dish to sit at room temperature (45 minutes) if you placed in the fridge before baking.  Bake 50-60 minutes.

Now that's my list of favorite meals from leftover turkey.  I didn't even mention Turkey Pot Pie or Curried Turkey or...never mind.  There are loads of ways to use turkey!

7.  Sandwiches: Of course, you can make sandwiches.  I've already mentioned turkey salad.  We like to slice turkey breast and save for sandwiches as well.  In fact, that's why I'm baking my own turkey breast this year!  John wants his turkey sandwiches.  

We like to serve the sliced turkey with salt and pepper, mayo and mustard and sweet pickle slices (that's how I grew up eating the sandwiches).  Over the years I've branched out a little.  You can also use rolls to make slider sandwiches, filled with turkey, cranberry relish, Swiss cheese and baked with a buttery smear on the top of the rolls.   You can use the same mixture in a Hoagie bun and serve the sandwich cold.  So good!

8.  Sweet Potatoes:  Leftover sweet potatoes or sweet potato casseroles can be turned into something yummy.  If you have plain sweet potatoes, so much the better.  If you baked yours with toppings, then skim the topping off and use the remaining potatoes in the following ways: 

Sweet Potato Biscuits:  Just add 1 cup of mashed sweet potatoes to biscuit dough. This is lovely as biscuits but you can roll it thinner and use to top a Turkey pot pie...YUM!

Sweet Potato Pie:  Same as pumpkin, just substitute in the mashed sweet potatoes.

You can stir mashed sweet potatoes into chili, beef stew, or make into a lovely velvety soup with cream and broth...

9.  Green Bean Casserole:  Last year I had leftover green bean casserole, and I used the remainder up in a Cottage pie, putting the bean mixture on the bottom of the casserole and topping with the beef mixture. Also, can use leftover sweet potatoes or mashed potatoes on top.  I used mashed potatoes.  This was very tasty!

10.  Dressing/Stuffing:  I pack this into smaller portions (two person sized) and then freeze.  Leftover stuffing thaws and reheats beautifully.  So good to serve with a lovely thick pork chop or fried chicken.  

11.  Mashed Potatoes:  Mashed potato pancakes.  Cheesy Casserole Potatoes (mix with eggs and grated cheese, a bit of grated onion and pile into a casserole or muffin tins.  The eggs will make them fluff up and become very light and airy).  Top a Cottage Pie.  Make into Gnocchi.  Ooh!  You could make sweet potato gnocchi, too!  Homemade Pierogi. Stir into potato soup to make it feel velvety without the cream.

12:  Cranberry Sauce:  Use on a sandwich.  Melt and drizzle over a plain cake layer.  Top with whipped cream or powdered sugar.  Make Catalina Chicken (1 packet onion soup mix, 1 cup cranberry sauce, 1 cup French or Catalina (or Russian) dressing.  Mix with cocktail sauce and pour over little sausages for an appetizer or over meatballs (great to make Meatball sliders with for a meal).  Use to glaze a ham or pork roast.  Make a Cranberry Jello 'salad that's a nice side to any roasted pork or chicken.  Fill a cored apple with a spoonful of cranberry sauce then bake.  Serve with cream or whipped cream for dessert.

There you are!  I've shared ideas for everything but desserts because most of those will freeze well.  Cakes with buttercream frosting will freeze as will pies and cheesecakes.  I've found it best to go ahead and slice the dessert item, then ease a bit of waxed paper down between slices so you can easily remove just enough without having to thaw the whole thing.

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Meals for the Third Week of November 2024

 


Is it the cooler weather?  The advent of holidays?  Just a less weary frame of mind?  I don't know but once more I feel I am in my element in planning meals.  I like this space far better than feeling tired of everything we have and wanting only what we don't.  Hideous state of mind, really, when one has so much.  I like this state of mind much, much better.  For one thing, I have not planned one single item that is not already on hand.  That's not to say I don't need to go shopping.  I still need a turkey.  I have a short list of outages (reminder to self, check allspice in my spare spices...).  But I am very appreciative that I have all I need for this week's meals.  That's saying something!

I cleaned out the fridge on Friday.  I usually do this on a Sunday afternoon and then plan from there, but this week, I wanted to get the food in the fridge sorted out.  I ended up tossing two pear halves from heaven knows how long ago and that cup of mashed potatoes that I never got around to making into pancakes as planned.  

I also found the red wine vinegar.  I mistook it for coffee and was pouring it down the drain before I saw the label.  And just a few days ago I was desperately seeking Red Wine Vinegar!  WHY did I put it in the fridge in the first place?  Well, it's gone now.  Too slow on the uptake with that one. Fortunately, it was only about 1/4 cup.

Then I gathered various leftovers, dumped them all in a pot and planned to call it soup.  It made a quart or so and I think we can eat it. If it's crud then I'll feed it to the pets over a few days' time.  If it's good, we'll eat it.  Either way, it will offset the loss of the three items that went into the trash.

Leftovers Soup.  A variety of things from the fridge: the last of the can of chili, a couple of spoons of meat sauce, a partial jar of Salsa, the gravy from the beef stew along with a few diced potatoes and carrots.  Then while digging in the freezer I found a portion of taco pasta.  Well, why not toss that in, too?  As I said, it's now a panful of soup and that will be nice at some point this weekend or week for a meal.

Butternut Ravioli with Creamy Sausage and Spinach sauce, Garlic Butter Toast.  I bought the ravioli a bit over a week ago.  Then I started seeing lots of recipes using the same flavor profile.  I thought this sounded like something we'd enjoy.  I plan to use breakfast sausage not Italian, and I will season it with a bit of lemon, garlic and sage.

BBQ'd Meatballs, Mashed Potatoes, Green Beans, Salad with Cranberries and Apples.  The original recipe called for cheddar cheese mixed into the meatball mixture, but I noted that the flavor was completely lost.  I'll serve them with shredded cheese melted over the top.  The original recipe was from Ruth Ann Zimmerman but there are loads of similar recipes online.

Zesty Chicken and Rice Bake, Green Peas, Waldorf Salad.  The best and easiest recipe for a one dish meal is so simple.  Melt butter in a baking dish, toss in diced onion and minced garlic, add 1 cup rice, 2 cups broth and top with chicken parts that have been well seasoned.  I plan to use lemon pepper, lemon juice and zest and salt.  Cover and bake at 350 for about an hour.  I'll check mine in 45 minutes, but it usually takes between 45-60 minutes to cook the rice fully. 

Now I plan to half the recipe stated above.  Cooking time likely will not change that much.  The package of thighs I plan to use has four and I'm pretty sure they are sizeable pieces of meat so I hope I can get two meals off them.  We'll see.  I never set plans hard unless I am absolutely sure of what I have.  If the thighs do prove to be sizeable, I'll boil the other two to make chicken salad for lunch sandwiches.

Breakfast for dinner:  Breakfast casserole, Fried Egg, Fruit salad.  I plan to only use half the package of sausage in the Butternut Squash sauce and a smaller breakfast casserole will work nicely for this meal.

Pan Sauteed Pork Chops, Scalloped Potatoes, Steamed Broccoli, Biscuits.  

something from the freezer.  I know that sounds completely crazy but I've a variety of things in the freezer that are portions of entrees: chicken cobbler, corn moussaka, stuffed cabbage rolls and I don't know what else.   I think I'll plan to go with the oldest one and if it's not enough the next oldest and serve whatever with a salad and some type of bread.

And there we are.  I have a meal plan!  What's on your menu plan for the week ahead?

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To Do/To Don't...List for the third week of November

 



Over the past week, I did the most random things.  Anything from my list?  Yes.  All of it?  Nope.  I bought 5 birthday cards and then remembered when I got home that I have another early December birthday, so I need to go buy that card. I picked up Christmas stamps.  I blew leaves off the two porches.  I took time to think about my theme for Christmas this year and might have decided it.  I wrote out several thoughts towards getting my 2025 resolutions pinned down.  I worked on bills and the 2025 budget (not on the list).  I wrote the last of the Thanksgiving series of blog posts.  That among all the usual meals, bread making (bread and bagels), making an apple pie, cleaning, running errands, going to small group, had a long and lovely phone conversation with Katie.  And nursed a tummy virus through it all, so I'm not beating myself up over what didn't get done.

But that was last week.  What about this week?

1.  Grocery shopping.  I have just planned a week's worth of suppers and I don't need to buy a thing for my meal plan.  I can make bread and I'm sure I've plenty of things for breakfast and lunch.  That's wonderful!  

But we have no fresh fruit, I haven't bought the promised turkey breast for turkey sandwiches, I plan to use my last bit of sausage, so I need to restock that, and I have a short list of things that I am out of.  It's the odd things you don't buy often but will miss if you don't replace them: canned diced green chilies, ground cloves and allspice, red wine vinegar, instant coffee, frozen butterbeans to make Brunswick Stew, our holiday canned cinnamon rolls...You get the idea.  I think this month might be the time to stock up on those things and look over the pantry inventory to see what else I might be missing.   And of course, I'll get fresh produce and whatever meat is on clearance to go into the freezer.  

2. Get the leaves off the patio.  If I'm feeling frisky this week, I'll clean out the pots I hope to plant with pansies and Kale, too.

3.   Go visit Mama.  I don't know what I'll be in for since I told her we're not coming for Thanksgiving, but I still need to go see her.  Might as well get it done.

4.  Get ornaments, tree, wreaths from the shed.   I won't even begin to put anything up until Thanksgiving evening or the day after.  But we do like to get things out and let them sit out so we know we aren't bringing in mice or bugs.  

I typically don't bring out ornaments so early, but I want to see what I think about the color theme I thought I'd use.  

5.  Decide what the kids and I will do this coming weekend.  I'll have them all day long but taking them out for part of the day will ease things a bit, I think. Maybe I'll tire them out.

6.  Plan Saturday meals and prep ahead.  The kids will be here from breakfast and likely through dinner.  I want to make things as easy on myself as I can.  I think for lunch I'd like to have 'make your own subs' on Hoagie rolls. I will be careful not to sugar them up while we're out, lol, since I can't drop them off at home...

I think, given that I'll be away from home two days (one to shop for groceries and one to visit Mama) I won't plan to do anything more.  With our usual cleaning and meals this should be quite enough to fill the week to overflowing.

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Journal for the Second Week of November: Love and Prayers

 


Nov. 9, Saturday:  Today has been such a day of mixed feelings of all sorts.

We left home very early, before 8am so that we could head to church for a special Veteran's Day recognition breakfast.  In a military base town, there are a copious number of veterans in the churches, and ours is no exception.  They had a limited capacity of 234 people, and I'd say that probably 224 seats were filled.  

It was a beautifully done honors day for our veterans.  And yes, John is a veteran.  The program was about an hour and a half long and included a very nice breakfast.  It is always moving when the music begins to play the anthems of each branch and those who served in that branch rise to acknowledge the music. 

Thanksgiving Preparation Timeline

 


The credit for this post and the next in this short series all go to Maxine who asked if I could write out a few more ideas on the subject of Thanksgiving meal prep and leftovers.  I'm happy to take her request and run ahead with it.  I hope you find the information helpful.

I think one thing I've never understood was the woman who spent countless hours in the kitchen preparing a huge holiday meal only to realize that fifteen or twenty minutes after she'd set it on the table everyone was done eating, and she had countless hours of clean-up ahead of her...

Coffee Chat: Well Traveled



I said earlier this month that the leaves on the pecan tree were getting thinner.  I looked out the window this morning into the front yard and realized my Faith tree is completely bare.  Leaves scattered all across the ground underneath and over the patio and I'm sure partly cover the front porch as well.  There was no brilliant color this year to enjoy, as we had too much dry fall weather and too warm temperatures.  I have a feeling the lovely drive I took on the way to Mama's and back the other day is going to be the bulk of what we see for autumn color this year.

John is off having lunch with his former work partner, and I am home alone with time on my hands.  And while I have a ton of tasks I might do, I have instead, settled down with the computer on my lap to write because if there is anything I miss in my current season of life, it is the uninterrupted, quiet time to write.  

Meals for the Second Week of November



We came into this weekend with leftovers:

Corn Relish

Meatloaf (about four servings)

1 cup of mashed potatoes

Talking Turkey: Leftovers That Is!