My friend stopped in for a glass of wine and some conversation in our usual place, "nana's kitchen". We started discussing our latest Thanksgiving dinner. She also had a turkey" size" problem. Her boss always gives them an 18lb. turkey, but she only had 4 people for dinner. That's a lot of leftovers. As for the turkey story, it wasn't defrosting as quickly as she wanted, so she put it in a 5 gallon bucket of cold water in the garage. Every time she took it out to change the water, it slipped from her grasp, fell back into the bucket, and doused her with water. On Thanksgiving Day she cooked the turkey in her roaster, but concerned that a turkey that size would take too long, she placed it in a Reynolds roasting bag. When the turkey was done, she started to pull it, and the bag, out of the roaster. The side of the bag was stuck to the roaster and the turkey fell back into the roaster, splashing her and her kitchen with turkey juice. The turkey drenching was now complete.( I guess you had go be there.) We decided that Thanksgiving is sometimes more work than it's worth. But we also decided that it would be terribly wrong not to have dinner at home, no matter how much work it is. It's all about family, tradition, and giving thanks.
As for my leftover turkey recipe:
Cheesy creamed turkey
2 T butter2 c. cubed cooked leftover turkey
6 green onions sliced
1 can cream of mushroom soup ( I prefer Campbell 's)
1 1/2 c. shredded cheddar or Monterrey jack/Colby cheese
1/2 c. milk
1/4 c. turkey stock ( if you don't make turkey stock with leftover bones, use chicken broth.)
Saute the green onions in butter. Add the turkey and continue cooking for a few minutes.
Mix the cream of mushroom soup, turkey stock, and milk until smooth. Add to turkey- onion mixture. Heat through, then add the cheese. Stir until the cheese melts. Salt and pepper to taste. Serve over noodles or toast. Makes approximately 3 cups.
For those of you who want to make homemade turkey stock the recipe is as follows:
Place the turkey bones ,carcass and all, in a large pot. Add several cans of chicken broth.(I like Swanson's ) and water. Add two carrots, several stocks of celery, 20 peppercorns, and salt to taste. Simmer for 2 hours. Strain the broth and refrigerate. The fat will congeal at the top and you will be left with a gelatin. You can then freeze it in either large or small quantities, depending on how you plan to use it.
Here's another" leftover" recipe from my 30 year old Campbell Soup " Cooking with Soup" cookbook:
Chicken/Turkey A La King
1/4c. chopped onion
2 T chopped green pepper
2 T butter or margarine
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1/3 to 1/2 c. milk
1 1/2 c. cubed cooked chicken or turkey
2 T diced pimiento
Dash pepper.
Cook onion and green pepper in butter until tender. Blend in soup and milk. Add chicken, pimiento and pepper. Heat slowly and stir often. Serve over toast. Makes 2 1/2 cups.
I'll add some more recipes from this great book in the future.
