Turkey Leftover Recipes

TURKEY LEFTOVER RECIPES

With all those delicious turkey leftovers, here are a few recipes we look forward to each year after Thanksgiving!!! This is absolutely the best part of Thanksgiving.

TURKEY CHOWDER

My friend, Debi Nancarrow, shared this recipe with me in 1985 that had become not only a family favorite of theirs but also part of their "Twelfth Night Party" Celebration tradition. The recipe has been published in a coffee table book celebrating Colorado Christmas traditions and it is probably in other books as well. I guarantee this recipe is a winner for those leftover bits of turkey.

If you make homemade turkey stock from the leftover bones the flavor skyrockets to a perfect "10"! Even if you can't try this recipe out this year, be sure to save the recipe for future use. I usually double the amounts to have some soup for the freezer. If you let the soup sit a day, the flavor improves with age. We've eaten this in bread bowls that I've made. Fabulous!

2 C. sliced carrots
3 C. water, turkey broth or canned chicken broth
1 large floret of broccoli OR 1-10 oz box of broccoli
1 C. onion, chopped finely
1/2 C. celery, sliced
1 tsp. salt
1/2 C. ground oat flour (blend rolled oats in the blender to make flour)
2 C. milk or allergy alternative soy product
6 oz. Swiss cheese, grated
1-1/2 C. diced turkey

Combine carrots, broth, onions, celery, broccoli, and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Simmer 10 minutes. Bring to rolling boil again, and gradually stir in the oat flour, stirring constantly.
Let simmer another 10 minutes until lumps disappear. Reduce heat. Add milk, turkey. Remove from heat. Stir in cheese. Serves 4-6.

TURKEY TETRAZZINI

Serves: 6-8 servings (2-1/2 qt casserole)

3 cups diced turkey pieces
10 oz whole grain pasta of choice or use spaghetti
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour or 6 TB unbleached white flour
1-3/4 cups hot milk, low fat if desired
1 cup Turkey or Chicken broth (homemade is tastiest)
1/4 cup cooking sherry or white grape juice
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 Cup fresh mushroom slices, sauteed in oil or butter OR 4 oz can mushroom stems and pieces, drained
1/3 Cup Parmesan Cheese

1. Cook pasta according to package directions until just barely tender or use leftover spaghetti or other pasta. Rinse, and drain.
2. Make the sauce by blending flour into melted butter and cook and stir over medium heat about 1 minute; remove from heat. Blend in milk and chicken broth. Return to heat; cook and stir until thickened.
3. Blend in sherry, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and mushrooms. Combine pasta, turkey, and sauce and place in casserole dish. Top with Parmesan Cheese. Bake in 350 degree oven for 20-30 minutes or until bubbly. Make two casseroles, one for the freezer and one to serve.

GOURMET TURKEY SANDWICH

Sourdough bread, French bread or whole grain equivalent
Jellied cranberry sauce
Cream cheese
Leftover turkey meat (white meat, preferably)

Spread cranberry sauce and cream cheese on opposite
sides of bread, and then simply layer on some cold left-
over turkey meat.

An Emotional Day, A Good Day

Today, my daughters Laura, Mary and I, had the privelege of welcoming  home Laura's fiance Brandon's unit from the 101st Airborne from Ft Campbell from a 14 month deployment in Iraq. 

We arose at 3:00 am to be at the parking lot at 5:00 am and then we were bussed to the welcome home hanger.  The unit was scheduled to arrive in Kentucky at 7:00 am, and I have to say the wind chill at that early hour feels much colder than our typical Colorado morning weather despite the layers of hoodies, jackets, gloves, hats etc I had put on.  IT WAS FREEZING.

 Finally, out of nowhere, a commercial jet landed in front of the hanger, taxied out of site down the runway and then back in front of the hanger.  Soon the soldiers began to deplane single file with rifles, helmets, back packs and  other gear  after days of waiting in Baghdad for departure to Kuwait and many rescheduled arrival times.  



After they walked over to the hanger,  the soldiers  laid their gear on the tarmac in front of the hangar and prepared to get in formation to march into the hanger for the Welcome Home ceremonies.  The families were notified to return to the hanger bleachers for welcoming ceremonies.  After families returned to the bleachers, the unit marched into the hanger in formation for a welcome from the general, the Flying Eagles song, the Army song and AT LAST, were able to break ranks for 20 minutes to greet their loved ones.  Then back into formation, marched back out of the hanger to complete return of their weapons and other administrative functions, and at last had the rest of the day to enjoy their loved ones.

After weeks of waiting, numerous arrival date changes, a 1300 plus mile car trip from Colorado to Ft Campbell just ahead of a snow storm, and so much anticipation for this special day, I arrived at the ceremonies very emotional.  I realized I had just had my baptism into Army Life and I wasn't well prepared.  I will soon be saying Good-bye to Laura and Brandon, after their wedding on January 3.  Heavy on my heart is knowing my son Stephen, an army ROTC cadet will soon be following this difficult yet heroic path.

Many army moms and wives will know a bit of the emotion I experienced.  But readers, I have to tell you, until you experience these welcome home ceremonies you can not imagine or begin to appreciate the sacrifices and stresses of the deployments and what a toll it takes on family life nor the pride you can feel in seeing just a small group of the armed forces.

There were quite a few soldiers who had no family to welcome them home after all they have been through.  It broke my heart to see men in groups without family to greet them. God spoke very loudly to my heart saying, "You can get out on that floor and personally thank  and welcome home some soldiers who don't have any families around to them."  Obediently, I  to shook hands with many soldiers and thanked them.  I wish I could have done it without a few tears. 

In rural Paonia, I have been well insulated from the real world! 

I don't think we in our everyday lives think about how much has been sacrificed for us.  I wish I knew
more tangible ways to reach out.  If you have some ideas, please share them with me and others at this blog for a complimentary copy of my Holiday Open House ebook, a $6.97 value.

Encouraging Thanksgiving during the Thanksgiving Season

Thanksgiving is just around the corner, and will be a bittersweet celebration for my family this year. Although I usually look forward to the opportunity to take a couple days off before Thanksgiving to focus on making my favorite Thanksgiving foods with my children, this year will be different. My daughter Laura will be getting married January 3, and is making final preparations to not only get married but move to Clarksville, TN to be with her husband-to-be, Brandon. They will be stationed at Ft Campbell. As most of you already know, this will be our family's first Thanksgiving and holiday season without my late husband Duane who passed on to glory in April of this year.

I have decided that instead of focusing on the busyness of the holidays and a wedding, that I want to focus on Thanksgiving, I mean all the ways, large and small, God has met me in this difficult year. I'll be honest, there have been some very rugged challenges and I continue to struggle my way through denial, anger, and grief on a regular basis. I'm determined to begin a "Thanksgiving Journal" to record God's faithfulness through this year and through the holiday season.

Monday, I wrestled with worry and anxiety about some computer/business issues as well as wedding concerns and I really wondered if I was going to get through the day. By Tuesday morning, I realized all three things I worried and fretted over all day Monday had positive outcomes as of Tuesday morning, (yesterday). I knew I needed to record these small victories before I forget.

Just recently I learned that 40% of what we worry about never happens, 30% of our worries is over the past, 12% is over matters of which we have no control, and 8% are legitimate concerns. Well, I may not have the percentages exactly right, but Tuesday morning (yesterday) I realized I worried needlessly and I needed to focus on thankfulness.

I suspect you and I are a bit like the Israelites who quickly forgot all the miraculous things God did for them to get them to the promised land alone! Well, it just seems like the month of November is the time to focus on Thanksgiving more and the food preparations less. Perhaps you will be challenged to join me and begin a little prayer notebook filled with things to be thankful for, answered prayers to unnecessary worries and scriptural promises that we can cling to and claim during difficulties.

Here are two scriptures that have been getting me through:
Phil 4:6-7- "Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

Psalm 34:8,19 "O taste and see that the Lord is good, blessed is the man that trusteth in him...Many are the afflictions of the righteous: but the LORD delivereth him out of them all."

I know I am not the only one who had some serious setbacks in 2008, I would love to hear from others of you and ask that you share the scriptures with me and others that have helped you through trial after trial this past year.  Please post your comments or email me at marilyn@urbanhomemaker.com with the scriptures that get you through trials.  Let's encourage one-another during this Thanksgiving season.