I didn't actually wake up this morning with any intentions other than maybe a bit of sweeping up and straightening... LOL Alas, then I turned on my computer and well, here we are!
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One thing I love about these big eating holidays is that there are almost always leftovers at our house. This is partially due to my diligent "no plate left unfilled"--ever--strategy.
I think that one of the worst nightmares I have is that I throw a party and there isn't enough food. So, naturally, I cook enough (as my mother used to say) for Cox's Army (whatever that was). lol In my due diligence, I cook more than I need to almost every time, because obviously, more is better. And then when the smoke clears and the dust settles and everyone is gone, I have loads of stuff to figure out what to do with.
This year, as I carved the turkey--(And when I say carved, I mean ripped that sucker to pieces!!) I had my trusty stockpot sitting there in the sink, so all I had to do with every bone or piece of deliciously roasted skin (and wings) was toss it over into the gaping maw. (sorry, but I don't hardly ever get the chance to say gaping maw, and this was probably it for this year). When my 2 turkeys (one was 20lbs and the other 10) were stripped and the succulent moist pieces were in my biggest crockpot, I filled that stockpot with water and set it on the back burner on low. And there it sat, all day long. Both of my sisters-in-law kept wanting to turn it off, because they obviously don't know the secret of a good stock. lol One of the secondary benefits to cooking all those bones for hours, besides leaching out all the mineral-y goodness, is that it softens them even more than the initial roasting and makes them suitable doggie treats. And before anybody gets excited, I will say here and now that I ALWAYS give my dogs chicken and turkey bones and they have never had a problem. (Well, except the one time that Caylee got a short bone wedged sideways in the back of her mouth and I had to risk life and limb to stick my hand in there and pull it out. I got it and she didn't bite my hand off. Success!!!! lol
Anyway, this year I decided to can my turkey broth instead of freezing it, as I'm trying to move away from using the freezer for anything but the essentials. I lost a freezer this year, and frankly, don't want to replace it if I don't have to. And I probably don't. lol I am drying and canning more stuff than ever. The picture above is the canned turkey broth--7 pints with turkey chunks in them and 4 that are just plain broth. Nothing much goes to waste in this house. Anything the dogs or chickens can't or won't eat, goes into the compost, which goes into the garden, and so the cycle of life continues.
I canned this the day after Thanksgiving, and we have a mudroom that is uninsulated and good for storing things in that need to be kept cold. So I had set the stockpot out there overnight.
The day after Thanksgiving, I made a shepherd's pie out of leftover turkey and gravy. The Irishman had been out cleaning up the garden and brought me in a basket full of tiny odds and ends that got missed, like carrots, beets and turnips. Oh, and a small potato. I chopped them up, added some onion and garlic. Threw in a couple of handfuls of chopped turkey meat and cooked it all together. Added just enough gravy to make it wet. Took some leftover stuffing and lined a pie plate, poured the mixture in and topped it with crumbled chunks of dressing. Baked it at about 350 for maybe 25 minutes and VOILA! supper.
Yesterday we had little turkey sandwiches on leftover rolls. My SIL brought Sister Schubert rolls from Sam's and they really were good...sweet and yeasty. You put them in the oven for 10 minutes and they're done. I put a little mayonnaise on the bottom of the roll, piled them with turkey and topped them with cranberry sauce. They were awesome. The Irishman ate 3 of them. I had one with some of my kimchi on the side.
I managed to put 2 pies into the freezer...one was a pumpkin and one was a regular 2 crust peach pie. They weren't touched. We had so much dessert...and everyone was so full...well--you get the picture. lol The Irishman finished off what was left of the lemon meringue last night.
We still have cookies and a part of a peaches and cream pie left...my sister baked chocolate chip cookies. and hers might be some of the best I've ever had. Oh yeah, I think there's still some bread pudding too, that my other SIL baked. It rocked, with a vanilla butter sauce on top. I'm thinking I could slice it up and toast gently on the griddle and it would be like french toast for breakfast, Basically the same ingredients, right??
I will bake another peaches and cream pie soon and do the recipe on here. I came up with it by the seat of my pants when I was baking the peach pie. I was afraid that I didn't have enough filling for my deep dish pie crust, so I opened a jar of canned peach slices from our trees and threw it in. Of course, then I had too much filling for one pie and not enough for two. So...I looked in the fridge saw cream cheese and sour cream, and the rest is history. You will be knocked out by this recipe, if you're a cheesecake fan....
Okay. I need to go look in the fridge and figure out what we're having for dinner. :) Might be a turkey pot pie in our immediate future!
