Plan Ahead for Ways to Use Your Leftover Turkey

Instead of scurrying around the day after Thanksgiving to figure out what to do with all that extra turkey, why not have a plan in place on how to use it up before hand.  This year we are traveling back to see our families and to help out my mother-in-law, I am helping out by planning to make a special lunch the day after Thanksgiving with her left over turkey.  So during my holiday grocery shop, I also picked up a few things to bring along to make up a Chicken Broccoli Ring. Obvisoulsy I am using left over turkey instead of chicken, but the broccoli and Swiss cheese in it will different flavors from our traditional Turkey Day meal from the day before.

Here are a few other of my recipes that work great with cooked turkey (or chicken) that you may want to plan on having to help use up that leftover turkey.

Turkey Cranberry Ring

Chicken Broccoli Ring

White Chicken Enchiladas (with turkey)

Chicken/Turkey Divan

BBQ Chicken Stromboli (with turkey)

Chicken Wild Rice Soup

Creamy Chicken and Noodles 

Cheesy Spinach Pasta Casserole

Chicken Pasties

Oriental Cabbage Salad

Other options for using up the leftover turkey:

1) Divy it up to your guests before they leave with a few extra cressent rolls and suggest they have turkey sandwiches the next day.

2) Cut it up, package it and put in the freezer for future meals.

3) Make Turkey Broth - Don't forget that you can get a two for one in making up some extra turkey broth for future use as well when you are done with your turkey.  Throw the carcass of the bird with all the little bits of meat left on it, some onions, carrots, celery, parsley, salt and pepper in a large pot with about 8 cups of water bring it to a boil.  Cover it and let simmer for 45 minutes, then let it cool for 10 minutes.  Strain it and then use it in a soup right away or freeze it for future use.


No one wants the added pressure of coming up with meals after one of the biggest meals of the year to plan for but a few extra minutes of planning can help you have a lot less stressful holiday.  My hopes are that these ideas will help you out a little bit.  Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

How to Feed 15 People for Thanksgiving for Under $65

Thanksgiving is all about being thankful for what we have been blessed with, but most importantly it's about that big turkey dinner with all the fixings.   Growing up it was tradition in our family that everyone would bring a side dish along with some kind of dessert to help feed our large extended family of about 23 people.  But when my little family moved to England for a few years, I took on making an entire Thanksgiving dinner for ourselves.  Each year though we would invite our friends and neighbors to join us and we would have up to 18-20 people over to share in this wonderful American tradition.  You might think it would be very expensive to feed that many people as my little family of four can easily spend $50 eating a dinner out at a restaurant.   But I have come up with a fabulous homemade menu will all the fixings that can feed up to 15 people for under $65 - that's only $4.33 a person!

During this time of the year all stores will have amazing sales for Thanksgiving meal items, so taking advantage of those will help cut down your costs.  Please note that the prices that I quote below are averages I've found from my local IGA, Kroger and Walmart stores over the past 2 weeks.  Be prepared that your biggest expense will come from your turkey and the extra items needed to prepare it (almost half your budget).  I found turkey prices ranging from $0.67 - $1.49 per pound so I took an average price of about $0.99/lb for a turkey. Using the general rule of thumb is to buy 1 pound of turkey per person and 1.5 lbs per person if you want leftovers - it will cost you about $20 for a turkey to feed 15+ people.

I have created a shopping list for all the rest of the items needed to create the menu I have listed out below along with estimated costs.  The next list is of items below needed that I assumed most people would already have in their pantries and refrigerators.  If you don't have them your costs might go up a little.  Now click on the links below to see the recipes for each of my favorite "Things I Like to Make" for Thanksgiving!

Menu:

• Herb Roasted Turkey
• Mashed potatoes and gravy
• Green Bean Casserole (I just follow recipe on back of Campbell's Cream of Mushroom soup)
• Sweet Potato and Marshmallow casserole
• Cranberry Apple Salad
• Jellied Cranberry (from the Ocean Spray can - just for nostalgic purposes)
• Crockpot Stuffing
• Homemade Butterflake Rolls (my friend Lana's recipe- but only need to make 1/2 batch for 18 rolls)
• My Aunt Tammy's Chocolate Pie
• Pumpkin Pie with Strudel Top

Grocery List:

• 20 lb turkey (gives you a little extra for leftovers)- Average price I found was $0.99/lb = $20
• 1 pkg fresh sage - $2
• 1 pkg fresh thyme leaves - $2
• 5 lb bag of Russet potatoes - $2
• 3 - 16 oz packages store brand frozen green beans - $3
• 2 - 10.75 oz cans cream of mushroom soup - $2
• 1 large can French fried onions (6 oz) - $2.50
• 2 1/2 lbs sweet potatoes - $0.79/lb = $2
• 1 - 10 oz pkg marshmallows - $1
• 1 - 12 oz package fresh cranberries - $2
• 1 - 20 oz can crushed pineapple - $1
• 1 - 3 oz pkg cherry jello - $0.50
• 1 - 3 oz pkg orange jello - $0.50
• 6 medium granny smith apples - $2
• 2 medium red apples (stuffing) - $0.68
• 1 lb package whole carrots (turkey - 5) - $0.75
• 1 - 3lb bag of onions (4 medium - turkey, 2 medium (2 cups) stuffing - $1.50
• 1 bunch of celery (5 ribs - turkey, 4 ribs (2 cups) stuffing) = $0.75
• 5 medium mushrooms (stuffing) = $1.50
• 1 loaf white bread = $1
• 2 - 14 oz cans chicken broth = $1.20 (free if you use your own homemade broth)
• 16 oz of evaporate milk (1 1/2 cans) (3/4 cup rolls, 1 cup pumpkin pie) = $2
• 1 cello package of graham crackers $1.50
• 1 pkg chocolate pudding instant = $0.50
• 1 pkg vanilla pudding instant = $0.50
• 2 cups vanilla ice cream - $1.50
• 1 quart milk - $1.75
• 2 - 8 oz tub whipped topping - chocolate pie and topping for pumpkin pie = $2
• 1 regular sized Hershey's chocolate bar - $0.75
• 1 - 15 oz can pumpkin - $1.69 (free if you made your own pumpkin puree)
• 1 can jellied cranberries - $0.89 
• 1 lb margarine = $0.80
• unbaked pie crust = $0.75

Grand total = $64.51

Stuff to find in your pantry or fridge:

• salt and pepper
• yeast - 1 Tbsp (rolls)
• garlic - 4 bulbs (turkey)
• olive oil (1/2 cup for turkey)
• sour cream (mashed potatoes 1/2 cup)
• poultry seasoning (1 tsp for stuffing)
• dried sage (1 1/2 tsp for stuffing)
• dried thyme  (1 tsp for stuffing)
• cream cheese (1/2 cup for mashed potatoes)
• garlic salt (1 tsp for mashed potatoes)
• brown sugar  (1/2 cup for sweet potatoes, 1/2 cup for pumpkin pie strudel) 
• cinnamon  (1/2 tsp for sweet potatoes, 1 tsp for pumpkin pie)
• ground ginger (1/2 tsp for pumpkin pie)
• eggs (1 for sweet potatoes, 2 for stuffing, 1 for rolls, 2 for pumkpin pie
• sugar (1 cup for cranberry salad,  2 Tbsp + 2 tsp for rolls)
• flour (4 cups for rolls, 1/2 cup strudel topping for pie)
• corn starch (3 Tbsp for gravy)

Happy Thanksgiving and happy eating!!!!!

"Give Thanks" Felt Banner

I love making things from felt and it's an inexpensive and fun material to make little banners to help get my house festive for the holidays.  I made this "Give Thanks" banner last year to dress up my fireplace in England and this year it looks great in my rental American house and next year it will look fabulous in my new house that we are building.  I do have to say that it is certainly nice to have little things like this that you can make and put up no matter where you live, so for that I'm thankful for this little project I took on.  Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Materials:

Dark brown felt

Gold felt

Orange felt

burnt sienna embroidery floss

2 yards of 1 1/2" wide coordinating ribbon

How I Made It:

I started out by using Word Art in a Word document to create chunky letters about 1 3/4" to 2" wide and high.  I cut out the letters to use for "GIVE THANKS."

I pinned the letters onto the orange felt.

Then cut the letters out with a small pair of scissors.

Next utilizing a rotary cutter (regular scissors work fine as well), I cut out ten 3"x3" squares out of the gold felt.  Then I cut out ten 4"x4" squares out of dark brown felt.

Then I used a burnt sienna embroidery floss about 4 strands thick and straight stitched the orange letters to the center of the golden felt squares.

Next I continued using the straight stitch to attach the golden squares onto the center of the dark brown squares. I laid out the squares evenly in the middle of the ribbon and attached the brown squares to the top edge of the ribbon with little a "x" in the corners of the brown squares.  Then I ended up with a good 18" on each side to tie up to small tacks underneath my fireplace mantle.  

*Note: You could make the ribbon 1 yard longer if you wanted to tie proper bows on the ends.

Turkey Cranberry Wreath

We made this festive all-in-one tasty treat at my Thanksgiving-themed Pampered Chef party and I loved it. Even though we made it before Thanksgiving for the party, I loved making it again to use up my turkey leftovers after Thanksgiving. The cranberries add that lovely sweet zing in this savory dish. This would also be perfect for a holiday party and if you live in England I would make this for Boxing Day to use up all that lovely Christmas turkey!

Ingredients:

1 packet (6 count) chilled fresh croissant dough

6 Tbsp mayonnaise

4 tsp Dijon mustard

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

8 oz cooked chicken or turkey, finely chopped

1 stick celery or red/green pepper, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, crushed

3 Tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped

3 oz dried cranberries

1 1/2 oz walnuts (opt) - chopped

3 oz gruyere cheese

1 egg

Method:

Preheat oven to 375F/190C.

Arrange 6 dough triangles in a circle slightly overlapping with wide ends in the centre.

Press together using roller.

Add together chopped chicken/turkey, celery, parsley and walnuts, garlic and cranberries. Mix in pepper, mayonnaise, and mustard.

Scoop mixture evenly over pressed seams of dough forming a circle.

Lift each point of dough and fold over the mixture tucking firmly under the opposite side. Glaze the top with beaten egg and back for 25 - 30 minutes.

Cut into wedges and serve while warm.

Pumpkin Pie w/ Strudel Topping

I have been working so hard over the past couple of years to make the ultimate pumpkin pie. I have failed so many times, but you don't learn anything if you don't mess up. I use the classic Libby's Famous Pumpkin Pie recipe straight off the can, but I think I have finally found a technique that isn't hard to do and keeps the crust nice and crispy without burning. Also found a marvelous variation to the average pumpkin pie by adding a strudel topping to it.

Ingredients:

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1 can solid packed pumpkin (425g/2 cups)

6 oz granulated sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 cup evaporated milk

Method:

Preheat oven to 425F/220C.

Roll out pastry to line a 9-inch, deep pie plate. (Fold in quarters and lay in pie plate, then unfold. Trim to size.

Create a fun edge by squeezing the edge with your finger and thumb or pressing with a fork.

Using a fork, poke the bottom of the crust several times.

Next cover the crust with plastic wrap and put it in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Bake the crust blind at 425 F for 10 minutes. Take crust out. Reduce heat to 350 F/180 C.

Combine filling ingredients together.

Before pouring mixture in pastry case, set the pie plate on a moderate sized piece of aluminum foil. Fold the edges up lightly around the top edge of the crust to protect it.

Pour in pie mixture into pastry case and carefully put it in the oven. It is best to pull out the oven tray and carefully place the foil wrapped pie plate down on the rack with both hands keeping it level and steady.

Bake for 40-50 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Allow to cool.

Strudel Topping Variation:

Streusel Ingredients:
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup unsifted flour
¼ cup margarine
¼ cup nuts (optional)

While pie is cooking, combine brown sugar and flour in small bowl. Cut margarine in until crumbly. Stir in nuts. After the 30 minutes of baking, sprinkle streusel on top of pie. Bake for another 10-15 minutes or until knife inserted from edge comes out clean. Let cool. Serve with whipped cream or plain.

Orange Rosemary Roasted Turkey with Gravy

I found this amazing recipe in a Real Simple magazine while sitting at my mom's house last summer and said I MUST make this recipe for Thanksgiving. It turned out absolutely amazing and I am a true believer in the "turkey bag." If you are going to spend a nice chunk of money on a big bird like this, invest in the tiny little bag that locks in all that moist goodness. It cost me a whole 50 pence to protect my 25 GBP turkey...trust me in saying that I made this same recipe only 4 days earlier for another dinner without the bag and I will never make that mistake again. What I found unique about this recipe was that little tang that the orange adds with the hint of rosemary...yummy!!!

Ingredients:

2 onions, cut into wedges

2 carrots, cut into 2 inch pieces

8 sprigs fresh rosemary

3 small oranges, halved

1 - 12-14 lb turkey

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 cup chicken broth

Method:

Preheat oven to 325 F/160 C. In a large roasting pan, scatter onions, carrots and two sprigs of rosemary; place four orange halves in the corners of the pan, cut side up. (If using a turkey bag, place the bag as directed in the roasting pan, then place the veggies inside the bag.)

Stuff the turkey with 6 sprigs of fresh rosemary...

and 2 oranges (halved).

Tuck the wings under the body and place turkey on top of the vegetables (wings are not tucked under yet in this picture - it's a huge bird and it was hard to hold).

Brush with oil.

Season with 1 tsp of salt.

If you don't have a turkey bag, you can cover the turkey loosely with a large piece of foil if the bird starts to darken too quickly. With the turkey bag you will want to brush with the oil and season with salt before placing the turkey inside the bag on top of the vegetables. Seal the bag as directed and make sure the bag is not touching the side of the bird to allow the hot air inside to roast that bird.

Roast the turkey until the meat thermometer reads 165 F. (This usually takes about 15 minutes per pound of turkey you have). Let it rest 20 minutes before carving it.

To Make the Gravy

Ingredients:

(contents from turkey)

1 cup dry white wine

1-3 cups low sodium chicken broth

4 Tbsp butter

1/3 cup flour

salt and pepper

Method:

Discard carrots and onions from pan; reserve oranges. Strain drippings. Let stand and skim off fat.

Squeeze juice from roasted oranges into skimmed drippings.

Place the empty roasting pan over the burners. Add wine and cook over medium heat scraping up bits for 1 minute. Pour liquid into skimmed dripppings and add enough to make total 4 cups liquid. Melt butter in large sauce pan over medium heat. Add flour and cook 4-5 minutes. Whisk in broth; reduce heat and simmer until thick (8-10 minutes). Season with 3/4 tsp salt adn 1/4 tsp pepper. Strain before serving.

Corn Bread Muffins

I wanted to find something new to add to our Thanksgiving dinner this year and what could be more America than corn bread! I used to go to a restaurant in South Falls, South Dakota that made the most amazing cornbread muffins that actually had whole pieces of sweet corn in it, so I found a cornbread recipe and tweaked it a bit to make these. I love to slather them up with butter and honey.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2/3 cup white sugar

1/4 cup honey

2 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup cornmeal/polenta

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup milk

3/4 cup thawed corn kernals (or canned)

Methods:

Preheat oven to 400 F/200C. Grease 12 muffin cups.

In large bowl, mix together oil, sugar, honey, eggs, and salt. Mix in flour, cornmeal/polenta, and baking powder.

Blend thoroughly.

Add milk and corn.

Stir in gently.

Pour into muffin cups and back for 20-25 minutes.

They taste best when served warm.

Pilgrim Hat Cookies

At Thanksgiving time, I wanted to find something fun for my kids to make along side all the things I was preparing for our big meal. I found this cute recipe in a Taste of Home magazine. I did import some mini Reese's peanut butter cups from the US to make these, but I used Cadbury's Rich Tea Biscuits instead of the Keebler Stripe Cookies as the recipe calls for. If you can't get get peanut butter cups, any type of round truffle chocolate would work.

Ingredients:

1 package striped shortbread cookies or chocolate dipped rich tea biscuits (11 1/2 oz)

1 cup vanilla frosting

yellow food coloring (about 7-8 drops for a nice yellow color)

1 bag mini Reese's peanut butter cups (or round chocolate truffle candies) (approx. 32)

plain M&Ms or orange Chic-lets (approx. 32)

Method:

In a small bowl, combine frosting and food coloring. Remove wrappers from chocolates.

Spread ample amount of frosting on the bottom of the peanut butter cup.

Firmly press cup down on cookie frosting side down forming a hatband and crown.

Add an M& M or Chic-let to represent the buckle on the hat. Repeat for remaining chocolates and cookies. Let set until frosting is slightly dry then store in air tight container.