Turkey Leftovers - Spicy Turkey Lentil Soup

I still seem to be fighting off a cold.  Nose running, achey, all the good stuff.  I wanted tomake a dish with all the healthy, immune enhacing, cold-fighting spices I could and came up with a great way to do so and use up the last of the leftover Thanksgiving turkey.  Ginger, garlic, turmeric, cayenne and curry powder wrapped up in a nice warm broth with lentils and turkey for protein sounded perfect. 

1 carrot, peeled and diced
1 onion, diced
2 celery stalks
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves minced
2 in piece of ginger, peeled and minced
1 Tbsp curry powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 cup chopped tomatoes
8 cups water
1 cup red lentils
any leftover turkey bones
chopped turkey meat
salt

-- In a large soup pot heat the oil, add the onions, carrots and celery with some salt and sautee about  5 minutes

--Add the garlic and ginger and sautee about 2 more minutes

--Add the curry, cumin, turmeric and cayenne and stir in about 2 minutes

--Add the chopped tomatoes and stir

--Add the 8 cups of water, the turkey bones and lentils and simmer for about 30-45 minutes.  The bones will come out, I'm just adding them here for extra flavor.  Instead of water you could use chicken or vegetable stock.  I only had chicken on hand and didn't want to mix my poultry

--Continue to taste and season as necessary.  At the end, pull out the turkey bones and add the chopped turkey meat to warm through.

Turkey Leftovers - Turkey, Cream Cheese and Cranberry Sandwiches

Turkey leftovers.  Lots of leftovers.  That's what happens when the moms decide to cook not 1, not 2, but 3 entire turkeys.  They wanted to make sure that there would be enough for leftovers.  I think they succeeded.

Luckily, I was able to enjoy my favorite post-thanksgiving turkey treat

Bread
Leftover Turkey
Cream cheese
Leftover cranberries

Make a sandwich, it's delicious.

Turkey Tacos for Cinco de Mayo

For over a week I have been craving Mexican food, Cinco de Mayo working on my subconscious!  I had some frozen ground turkey meet in the fridge and figured a great way to use it up would be to make some turkey tacos.  A quick trip to the co-op for a variety of vegetables, a delicious Cascade Farms sour cream and a stop by Strack & VanTil for the tortillas and shredded cheese and I was in business.  Turkey tacos with sauteed zucchini and bell peppers, a variety of toppings and a side of black bean salad.

Over the years I had developed a disdain of turkey meat.  Thanksgiving is my least favorite holiday from a culinary standpoint and I let that color my feelings toward eating the bird at any time of year.  But my experimentation with the turkey burger and mini turkey meatloaf muffins has been quite successful so I am starting to change my ways. 

The most labor intensive part of this meal was chopping up everything for the bean salad and taco toppings.  My next step is to develop my own taco seasoning mix.  The pre-packaged mix I had stashed in my cupboard is delicious, but after the list of spices there are a significant number of ingredients I don't recognize. 

TURKEY TACOS

1 lb ground turkey meat
1 package taco seasoning
Corn tortillas

Heat a skillet over medium heat.  Add the turkey meat and stir in taco seasoning.  Cook until meat is nice and browned.

Heat oven to 200 and throw a few tortillas on a sheet to warm.

SAUTEED VEGETABLES

1 zucchini sliced
1 large orange bell pepper cut into slices
salt
cumin
cayenne
chili pepper

Heat oil over medium heat in a sautee pan.  Add zucchini and bell pepper slices.  Season liberally with salt, cumin, cayenne and chili pepper (at this point I had run out of coriander while making the bean salad or I would have added that as well).  Cook thoroughly, until all veggies are softened.

TURKEY TACO TOPPINGS

Chopped green onion
1 roasted poblano pepper, cut into strips (roast the poblano just like you would a red pepper)
Chopped cilantro
Shredded taco cheese
Sour cream (I recently tasted the Cascade Farms brand and love it)
1/2 avocado sliced
lime wedges

Take your tortilla, top with turkey meat and whatever vegetables and toppings your heart desires, serve with a side of black bean salad and enjoy!

Quinoa Turkey Muffins with Wild Rice Pilaf

I had seen a recipe for quinoa turkey burgers that I've been wanting to try, especially since the success of my last turkey burgers.  We decided to try making little quinoa turkey muffins to have for the week.  I had a bag of wild rice that I've been waiting to do something with, and along with some carrots, mushroom, onions and celery it made a delicious pilaf!

QUINOA TURKEY MUFFINS

Makes 12 muffins
1/2 cup dry quinoa
1 cup water
1 lb ground turkey
1 egg
1 packet dried onion soup mix
worcesteshire sauce
black pepper

Preheat the oven to 375

For the quinoa:
Rinse the quinoa.

Put the quinoa and water into a sauce pan and bring to a boil.

Cover and simmer until all the water is absorbed, about 20 minutes

For the muffins:
In a large bowl mix the turkey with about 2/3 of the quinoa (I felt like cooked, all of the quinoa was going to be too much)

Whisk an egg and add it to the bowl with the turkey along with the packet of soup mix, a few shakes of worcestershire and some black pepper.

Scoop the mixture into the 12 muffin tin.

Bake for 25-30 minutes

Turkey Burgers

I'm not much of a Thanksgiving meal fan, so I didn't burn myself out on turkey.

My friend Michelle had passed along to me her turkey burger recipe and I had been wanting to try something similar.  I combined her used of dry onion soup mix with a few other flavors and am really happy with the result!  It's an easy week night meal and provides me with some protein for a few days!

TURKEY BURGERS

1 lb ground turkey meat
1 package dry onion soup mix
Worstershire sauce
3 oz (approximately) feta crumbled
Garlic powder
salt and pepper

Put the turkey in a big bowl.  Add the onion soup mix, a dash or two of worstershire, a few sprinkles of onion powder, the crumbled feta and some salt and pepper.  Mix well, form into patties and grill on a stove top grill pan.

I don't usually cook meat, but I would say I cooked them about 5 minutes on each side? 

The burgers were tasty!  I topped mine with some homemade tzatziki sauce for an extra kick!