Slow Cooker Turkey and Noodles

     After Thanksgiving, we usually have a terrifying amount of leftovers. This is because I have no idea how to cook for small groups. This year, for myself, The Wife, and The Spud, I cooked a 12 pound turkey. That's all well and good, but there's only so many turkey sandwiches you can eat. At The Wife's request, we took a Chicken and Dumplings recipe we have used from The Gooseberry Patch Super Fast Slow Cooker Cookbook. This works great because I promised some of you the recipe some time ago. Simply replace all instances of "turkey" here with "chicken" and you'll be fine. This makes a nice, thick, dish. Remember, this isn't soup, so don't come fussing when you say it is too thick. If you want soup, just keep adding stock until it's the consistency you want. This is a real winner on a cold day.

Slow Cooker Turkey & Noodles

Ingredients

• 1-1/4 pound shredded cooked turkey
• 2 cans (10.5 ounce) cream of chicken soup
• Chicken/Turkey stock equal to 4 cans (about 5.25 cups)
• Seasoning of your choice to taste. (We used Ukrainian Village Seasoning from the Spice House) 
• 24 ounces (two frozen bags of wide noodles or dumplings. I am referring to the thick square noodle type dumplings, not pot sticker or kreplach style)

Directions

1. Load everything except the noodles/dumplings into a slow cooker (5 quart or larger).
2. Cook on LOW for 6 hours.
3. Add the noodles/dumplings and cook another 30 minutes on LOW.

Good Times!

Turkey, White Bean and Kale Soup

     One of the big problems after Thanksgiving is figuring out what to do with the leftover turkey. There's only so many turkey sandwiches you can eat. One of the first things I do with the turkey is strip all the meat and then boil the carcass. This leaves me with an extremely rich stock for later use. I wound up using it for this recipe. It's sort of a riff on Tuscan White Bean Soup. I was fairly pleased with the outcome. If you like extra heat, it benefits greatly from a shot or two of Frank's hot sauce. Obviously, you could easily substitute chicken and chicken stock if you don't have turkey on hand.

Turkey, White Bean and Kale Soup

Ingredients

• 1 quart turkey stock
• 1-1/2 cup chopped cooked turkey
• 1 can (15.5 ounce) great northern beans, drained and rinsed
• 4 cups kale, spines removed, chopped
• 1 medium red onion, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup orzo
• 1 tablespoon Ukrainian Village seasoning (from the Spice House) 

Directions

1. In a large pot, add stock, turkey, beans and seasoning. Bring to a simmer.
2. Heat oil in a saucepan, add onion, celery, basil and garlic. Sautee 3-5 minutes or until onions are tender. Add kale, sautee 2 more minutes (the color of the kale will brighten during cooking.  When you see that, you know it's ready).

   

   This is what I'm talking about.

3. Add contents of saucepan to soup pot. Add pepper flakes and orzo and bring to low boil for about 5 minutes. Lower to simmer.
4. Stir in cream. Simmer another 2-3 minutes or until orzo is tender.

Good times!

The Thanksgiving Chimichanga

     I give unto you one of my favorite holiday recipes. The Thanksgiving Chimichanga came about some seven years ago. We had a glut of leftovers and were tired of turkey sandwiches with cold side dishes. As luck would have it, I had the deep fryer out and full after making some Scotch eggs. The aftermath? Pure delicious. Everybody who hears about these first thinks they will be disgusting. Then they taste it and come to their senses. Here you go:

The Thanksgiving Chimichanga

Ingredients

• Some big flour tortillas
• All of your Thanksgiving leftovers
• Turkey gravy
• Oil for deep fryer

Directions

1. Get a deep fryer running at about 375F
2. Take a tortilla and lay it flat
3. Fill it with thin layers of all of your leftovers. Yes all. Even the cranberry sauce.
4. Roll it up like a burrito. You may have to stick a toothpick through it to keep it from unrolling.
5. Deep fry that bastard until it's golden brown
6. Take out of fryer and put on paper towel to absorb excess oil and cool a bit
7. Pour turkey gravy over top to serve
8. Thank me later.

   

   I assure you, it tastes way better than it looks.

Good times!