There you are you are faced with leftovers from that enormous bird you bought for Thanksgiving and you just don’t know what to do. You like turkey well enough, but good heavens, you don’t want to eat the same thing for a couple of weeks. Neither do you want to waste.

There’s a secret to enjoying turkey leftovers and I’m going to pass it on to you.

Now, my husband and I were all for a non-traditional Thanksgiving meal, but our son was pretty insistent that we have the traditional meal of turkey, dressing and pumpkin pie. So, being the mean, cruel and overbearing parents we are….

We had turkey, dressing and pumpkin pie.

I’d bought a couple of small pie pumpkins around Halloween, had used one for pumpkin bread and pumpkin muffins. We cooked the last one for the pumpkin pie and had about three cups left over. Some of that is likely to find its way into a soup, but I am seeing pumpkin muffins in our future as well. My son has now learned that making something from fresh pumpkin is pretty easy – chop it in half, scoop out the guts, bake it about an hour, scoop out the cooked flesh and puree. Easy peasy. Nuttin’ wrong with using canned, but we just happened to have a pumpkin sitting there.

Because of my habit of being a tightwad, I had considered buying a turkey breast instead of the whole bird. But at price per pound, the whole bird was an enormously better buy. Even though yes, a 12 pound bird was a bit much for the meal, I know how to make good on leftovers, boy howdy let me tell you what. Even so, we don’t want to get sick of eating turkey, do we?

What’s the secret to enjoying turkey leftovers?

The secret to not getting sick of turkey as a leftover meat, however, is to repurpose it in very flavorful dishes. Sure, sure, a turkey sandwich is delicious, as is turkey salad. But it’s just as easy to use those leftovers in other meals that aren’t quite reminiscent of the American white-bread meal that is Thanksgiving dinner. You want spices. You want strongly-flavored veggies. You want differences in color, presentation and texture.

The bones are going to go for stock, oh yes! If you’ve never tried turkey stock, give yourself a treat. It’s delightfully flavorful and enhances any dish where you’d use chicken stock. We’re not going to do Carcass Soup this year, tasty as it is. Instead, we’re going to use the turkey to make a few freezer meals. We’ll be doing turkey burritos (my family are crazy for burritos), freezing up some bags of diced turkey for stir frys or the (sorta) Puttanesca, and freezing up some bags of diced veggies and turkey for some delicious soups.

Except for the (sorta) Puttanesca, these are great freezer meals as well.

Turkey Burritos

Preheat oven to 350 and grease large pan.

Sauté turkey with chili peppers, cumin, minced garlic, onion, salt and pepper.

Spread tortilla with ~2 T refried beans, add ~ 2T meat and 2T cheese. Fold sides of tortilla in, and then roll tortilla, being careful not to roll too tightly and tear burrito. Arrange all 12 in pan, and bake at 350 for ~20 minutes. Serve with salsa, sour cream and gorilla nostrils.

If you intend to freeze them, skip the baking wrap well and freeze. When you intend to use them, defrost and freeze according to directions.

Turkey (sorta) Puttanesca

Set aside turkey breast. Combine all other ingredients but the olive oil and tomato paste. Mix well and let sit to let the flavors marry a bit. Sauté the turkey breast in olive oil, then add the olive, pepper and spice mixture. Sauté until the onion is translucent, then add the tomato paste. Turn to low and cook for about fifteen minutes. Serve over pasta.

Turkey Pot Pie

For pie crust:

For Filling:

To make the Pie Crust:

Combine salt and flour. Cut in butter or shortening until fine. Add cold water slowly until a stiff dough is formed. Divide dough in half. Roll each half in a 12″ circle. Use one circle to cover the bottom of deep 9″ pie plate. Do not trim edges.

For Filling:

Combine turkey, veggies and cream of mushroom soup. (Gosh, that was hard, wasn’t it?). Dump it all in the pie dish, cover the mess with the remaining circle of pie crust dough, fold the edged together and pinch together around the edges. This is a chance to make it look pretty, if you want. Cut a vent for steam to escape in the top of the pie. (I usually use a fork to poke the words I and You in it and cut a heart out in the center –nauseating, ain’t I?).

If you intend to freeze it, wrap well, label and do so. Then defrost and cook for about 1/2 hour at 425 o or until a nice light brown. If you don’t intend to freeze it ahead, just cook it according to previous directions.

Turkey Curry

If you intend to freeze for later, toss all the ingredients but the coconut milk in a gallon freezer bag and freeze flat. When you want to serve it for dinner, defrost, toss in a crock pot for 6-8 hours and serve over rice.

Otherwise, toss in crock pot for 6-8 hours. Serve over rice.

Ever one to try to experiment with a trend, and never one to be hip enough to be ahead of a trend, I am experimenting with Mason jar salads.

I tried them last week and they were wonderful. The lettuce stayed crisp and even though I made up a bunch of them Sunday night, the last ones to be eaten were still fresh and delicious come Friday lunchtime. The ease of just grabbing a jar for lunch was a thing of beauty and delight.

And… I like salads, okay?

Just for kicks, I figured I’d try and experiment with various flavors for this week. Anyone who says salads are boring lacks imagination in my opinion. You can do a lot with them. For those of you who think you might like to try these out for yourselves, I’m going to give the recipes.

The key to having a Mason jar salad work out is all in the order you fill the jar. No, it’s not just about pretty layers of tasty food color that looks great on camera. Nope, this is where beauty meets function in the best of ways.

To make a good Mason jar salad, you need to start with the wet stuff. Dressing, or whatever. Then you add the hard veggies that can stand up to a marinade for a long time in the jar. Think carrots, celery, or cucumbers. What you want is something that is going to absorb the flavors of dressing well. After that you can add your protein. Meat, beans, grains or cheese, anything you like in a salad goes in this layer. After that? Stuff in your lettuce.

When it comes time to eat your Mason jar salad, you have a couple of options. Some people prefer to dump them in a big bowl or on a plate. Others like to eat the salad straight out of the jar. I fall in the latter camp, but it is admittedly harder to mix up the ingredients as well that way without making a mess.

Either way, they’re quick to make, and easy to have on hand for a delicious, healthy lunch that is a grab on go meal for the summer.

For all recipes, just fill the jar with the ingredients in the order stated. I have no idea the nutrition information, but you could run it through MyFitnessPal easily enough if you care. I don’t. I don’t give amounts, either. Wing it! Live a little. Experiment. You really don’t want more than two or three tablespoons of dressing, though, unless you like a soggy salad.

Asian-inspired chicken salad

1. Ginger-orange dressing
2. Carrots
3. Celery
4. Chopped Cucumber
5. Diced red pepper
6. Cooked, diced chicken breast or thigh.
7. Mandarin Orange slices
8. Lettuce

Chicken Caprese Salad

1. Olive oil and Rosemary Vinegar
2. Carrots
3. Celery
4. Chicken
5. Mozzarella Cheese. The real stuff that they sell braided with some chopped basil
6. Fresh basil leaves
7. Sliced black olives
8. Lettuce

Kinda Mexican Chicken Salad

1. Sour cream
2. Salad in the level of hotness you like
3. Cherry Tomatoes
4. Chicken tossed in Chili powder and cumin.
5. Shredded cheddar cheese.
6. Black beans
7. Lettuce.

Apple-chicken I Just Made It Up Salad

1. Raspberry vinaigrette
2. Diced apples
3. Diced celery
4. Diced cucumbers
5. Chicken
6. Shredded cheese
7. Pecans
8. Dried cranberries
9. Lettuce

Bog Standard Chicken Lunch Salad

1. Caesar Dressing
2. Cherry tomatoes
3. Carrots
4. Celery
5. Diced red pepper
6. Chicken
7. Cheese
8. Lettuce

Does anyone else find it weird that we often throw away animal fat when cooking and then buy shortening?

I was setting up some chicken to go in the crock pot. I’d roasted a chicken and being utterly lazy, had just covered the chicken in its pan and put it in the fridge. When I took it out to put in the crock pot to make stock, there was a layer of solidifed fat over the gelatin.

Now, I always put the gelatin back in the crock pot with the bones and meat scraps to make the stock, but I often throw away the fat (if you’ve been raised in the Jewish cooking tradition, stop howling. I’m not one of the Chosen people and grew up in the dietary fat-phobic 1980s).

Looking at the amount of fat I’d taken off, I frowned and realized that was about as much fat as I’d use for dumplings when making chicken and dumplings (which I intend to do tonight).

So, tonight, I’m going to use that to make the dumplings. I bet they’ll taste awesome made that way.

My mother tells me that her grandmother used to save bacon fat and use that the way we’d use shortening to make biscuits. I bet they tasted amazing, too.

I do think that maybe in throwing away the fat, especially if we’re going to be adding other fat to the food, anyway, mebbe we’re being pretty wasteful.

• 1 lb(s), Pork – Fresh, loin, tenderloin, cooked, broiled
• 1 Chopped 89gr, Leek Raw
• 1 tbsp(s), Garlic – Raw
• 2 tbsp(s), Oil – Olive
• 1 Apple Medium, Granny Smith Apple
• 0.25 cup(s), Wine – Table, red

Cut pork into medallions and sauté in olive oil on high until flesh is just brown. Add leeks and garlic and sauté until garlic becomes aromatic Add apples and sauté until tender, then add wine and lower heat. Cook for about five minutes and serve with another vegetable.

Excellent with broccoli.

We just spent the week at the beach. As we often do the first night, we had rotisserie chicken, and various summer produce. (God, fresh corn and tomatoes just taste better when they’re grown in Virginia, they really do).

So, we had chicken carcasses left over. Now, Mom brings a crock pot, and neither of us likes to waste good material for stock, so I suggested a chicken soup or maybe chicken-n-dumplins.

I knew my husband and kids liked it, and was pretty sure that that adults would, but I was dubious my nephews were going to be all that into it. Well, one of them talked all week about it, so I promised my brother that I’d send him the recipe. He’s also an excellent cook, so this is not going to be the dumbed down version, but more suitable to a cook trained by Boo. (Our mother’s childhood nickname and grandmother name)

Aunt Noël’s Chicken-n-Dumplins

(this is more or less how I made it last week. Really, this is one of those dishes where you use up what you have on hand)

In the morning, pop the carcass in the crock pot, and cover with COLD water. Put it on low and do your day.

When you’re getting ready to get dinner on the table, sauté about a cup and a half of mirepoix, and a clove or two of garlic in a bit of olive oil. Add to large soup pot and drain stock into it. Add a bit of rosemary. Let simmer.

When the carcass has cooled enough to handle, pick out the meat, toss the bones. Add the meat to the soup with some salt and pepper.

Prepare dumplins according to the directions on the Bisquick box (look we were at the beach. We didn’t bring flour, shortening and all the rest! I have another recipe for dumplins when the kitchen is properly stocked), and roll into balls of about an inch in diameter. Drop in boiling stew, cover, reduce heat and let simmer for about 20 minutes. Serve and accept the ecstatic compliments of the kids.

Dumplins when the kitchen is properly stocked

(I would have doubled this recipe for the 11 or so of us, by the way)

• 1 c. flour
• ¼ c. shortening
• 1/3 c. milk
• ½ tsp baking powder
• Dash salt

Mix dry ingredients, cut in shortening until it resembles coarse crumbs. Mix in milk. Prepare as above.

I’ve gone back to eating low-carb because of Reasons. Okay, I have real reasons, but it tends to work for me. I eat less, after the first week just plain don’t crave sweets all that much, and tend to feel better. I’m not sleepy after meals, I don’t get that shaky feeling when I don’t eat every few hours, and I like meat, so it works for me. It doesn’t work for everyone, so don’t think I’m proselyting. You should eat as suits you.

Sometimes, in talking about the matter, though, I’ll get questions. Some I consider quite valid, and others kind of make me step back in shock.

The one I get the most is, “How do can you stay healthy without eating your vegetables?”

Well… I have no idea how one does that. I… well, I kinda eat veggies, so I’m no roadmap there.

Normally, I eat salads and I don’t give a lot of thought to measurements. Salads=vegetables and I don’t sweat the portion sizes all that much on them, other than try to not make it so big I can’t finish it.
However, because I bought some new lunch containers (stop laughing at me. It’s not nice to make fun of people who can’t help it) it really hit home. The containers are very specific to portion sizes, you see.

For instance, take a look at that small container. That’s a half-cup container. For most non-leafy vegetables, a half cup is considered a serving. See the rectangular container? That’s a cup. So, three servings of veggies right there.

Now we get down to the lower portion of the container. Yes, it’s full of chicken (low-carb, remember?) It’s also on a bed of spinach. I didn’t have a salad for lunch today because we ran out of greens, but that’s about half a cup of spinach as well. So, half a serving.

That puts lunch at under 6 carbs (minus fiber), for pity’s sake, with three and a half servings of vegetables. Most of my meals are comparable to this. I’ll probably have an artichoke tonight with dinner. So, yeah, veggies. I eat low carb, but yeah, I eats me spinach.