Quick Fix for Thanksgiving Leftovers

This year my family cooked a 20 lb. turkey for Thanksgiving. In previous years we would purchase a smaller bird and end up with leftover meat for only one extra meal. This year we decided to get a larger bird, thus ensuring more leftovers! This turkey was a beauty! But I'm not going to lie, my arms are a bit sore from lifting it out of the oven every half hour for basting. My husband and I split the leftover meat with my family and came home with a hefty Tupperware container full of juicy, flavorful turkey. Sweet!

I found this recipe for Turkey Pot Pie and it was an instant must-have. I had all of the ingredients on hand, saving me an excursion into the evening crowds at the grocery store. I didn't have buttermilk on hand, but a friend gave me a kitchen tip: add a splash of vinegar to a cup of milk and let it stand for a bit. The milk will sour, thus ending becoming buttermilk. This meal was quick to fix and turned out so much better than I had anticipated! The biscuits were incredibly moist and buttery and paired perfectly with the creamy veggies and turkey. If you don't have turkey on hand, a few cooked chicken breasts do the job.


Turkey Pot Pie
Recipe from Ziploc.com

Serves: 4

Filling Ingredients:
3 Tablespoons butter
3 Tablespoons flour
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 celery stock, sliced
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 cups leftover mixed vegetables
2 cups cooked turkey, cubed
1 teaspoon fresh thyme
Salt and pepper to taste

Biscuit Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
6 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2-2/3 cup buttermilk
2 Tablespoons fresh sage, chopped

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
For filling: Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Add onion and celery and cook about 5 minutes, until tender. Stir in flour. Slowly add chicken broth. Increase heat to medium and stir until thickened, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat and add turkey and mixed vegetables. Stir in thyme and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Pour into a 2 qt. casserole dish (a 1.5 qt. worked for me).


For biscuit topping: In a food processor combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add butter and pulse until coarse crumbs form. Add sage and pulse a couple more times.


Gradually add buttermilk through the feed tube and process until the dough just sticks together.

Turn dough out onto a floured board and knead a few times. Pat dough into a circle about 3/4-inch thick. Cut dough into 4 or 5 circles with a circle cutter or glass. Place circles on top of filling in casserole.


Bake pot pie at 400-degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.

Pumpkin-Orange Muffins

On a typical fall day in the Pacific Northwest, nothing sounds more appealing than being inside, curled up on the sofa with a good book. I was visiting my parents in Portland for a few days and stopped at Powell's the first morning, thus ensuring I was well stocked with reading material. With my new book in hand, the cat comatose in front of the fireplace and the heavy raindrops cascading down the side of the house; it was the setting I always yearn for when the weather turns nasty. These wet fall days call for homemade baked goods. Pumpkin-Orange Muffins are a cinch to whip up and call for ingredients you will likely have on hand this time of the year. They are incredibly moist and are the perfect afternoon snack on a rainy day.

Pumpkin-Orange Muffins

From the American Institute for Cancer Research

Makes 9

Canola oil spray

1 egg

1/2 cup skim milk

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

1/4 cup canola oil

1 tsp. grated orange zest

1.5 cups unbleached flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

3/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. salt

1. Preheat oven to 375-degrees. Spray muffin tin lightly with oil.

2. In a medium bowl, beat egg, milk, pumpkin, oil, and grated orange zest, mixing well.

3. In a separate bowl, combine the dry ingredients. Mix dry ingredients into pumpkin mixture.

4. Spoon batter into a greased muffin tin, filling each cup 1/2 to 2/3 full. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the middle of a muffin comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes.

5. Remove from oven and set on a wire rack to cool, about 5 to 10 minutes. Remove muffins and allow to cool completely on rack. Serve immediately or store in a plastic bag or other sealed container but do not refrigerate (If making more than one batch, extras can be frozen.)

Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness

"Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,

close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;

Conspiring with him how to load and bless

with fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

To bend with apples the moss'd cottage-trees,

and fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;

To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells

with a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,

Until they think warm days will never cease,

for summer has o'er-brimm'd their clammy cells."

-"To Autumn", John Keats

Fall has become my favorite season of the year. The excitement of approaching holidays, the vibrant oranges and ambers of leaves still clinging to their branches, breathing in the crisp morning air that holds a hint of winter, and hearty foods that evoke memories of family dinners past.

In many cultures, families have solid traditions of eating meals together at the dinner table. This is the one time of the day where everyone is together, enjoying their meal and sharing various events from their day. Sadly, the fast pace of today's American society encourages quick meals on the go. Many families are too busy to sit down and spend an hour together enjoying a homemade meal. I was very blessed to grow up in a family where we had a sit-down meal together every night. I remember sitting on a barstool at the kitchen counter with my dad, munching on chips and salsa (some things never change!) while my mom prepared dinner. Once dinner was ready, my family would sit down around the table and say grace. One at a time, we would each state one thing that we were thankful for; be it a good day at school, for the wonderful meal before us or for all of the cute kitties in the world. The daily ritual of coming together over a meal strengthened our family bond and established cooking as something to share with loved ones.

Honey-Mustard Chicken with Apples is a wonderful dish to prepare on a week-night. Everything is cooked in one pot, making clean-up a much easier task. The apples and onions add a vibrant bite of flavor to the chicken. The chicken simmers in the broth-honey mustard mixture and stays incredibly moist throughout cooking. This would pair nicely with a side of mashed potatoes. Next time I will double the amount of apples from two to four; they are truly amazing with the chicken. Always use caution when handling the pot after removing it from the oven; those handles are hot!

Honey-Mustard Chicken and Apples

Food Network Magazine, October 2010

Active: 30 min Total: 40 min. Serves: 4

8 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs (2 to 2.5 lbs)

Salt and freshly ground pepper

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 large onion, cut into large chunks

2 cooking apples (such as Cortland), cut into chunks (I recommend 4 apples)

1 cup low-sodium chicken broth

2 to 3 tablespoons honey mustard

1.5 teaspoons unsalted butter, softened

1 to 2 tablespoons roughly chopped fresh parsley

1. Preheat oven to 450-degrees. Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat the olive oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Working in batches if necessary, add the chicken, skin side down, and cook until golden, about 6 minutes. Flip and cook 2 to 3 more minutes, then transfer to a plate. Pour off all but 2 tablespoons of the drippings.

2. Add the onion and apples to the skillet and season with salt and pepper. Cook until slightly softened, about 4 minutes. Mix the broth with the mustard, then add to the skillet and bring to a boil. Arrange the chicken, skin-side up, in the skillet. Transfer to the oven and roast until the chicken is cooked through, 15 to 20 minutes.

3. Mix the butter and flour to form a paste. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the chicken, apples and onion to plates. Bring the pan juices to a simmer, whisk in about half of the butter-flour mixture and boil to thicken, 2 minutes. Continue to cook, adding more of the butter-flour mixture as needed to make a slightly thick gravy. Season with salt and pepper. Pour over the chicken and sprinkle with parsley. Enjoy!