What to do with your leftovers from Thanksgiving!

So Thanksgiving has come and gone.... now the trees are going up, the lights are being hung and the carols are being sung, but you still have a fridge full of leftover turkey? What to do with it??? You have the cold turkey sandwiches, turkey noodle soup, and many many other ways to use it. This year though, a friend of mine posted that she was making home-made Turkey Pot pies. YUMMM! And why the heck have I never thought to make these? Well first, because maybe I thought only Marie Callender could make them! I never thought to make them at home, well duh!! So she sent me over her recipe and I was excited!! I told my hubby what we were having for dinner,  and well that is when the excitement stopped. He looked at me and said, "yeah I don't like those because of all the veggies in them." DANG!!! Ok back to the drawing board for this one.... Then it dawned on me, Meat and Potato Turkey Pot Pies for him and the normal ones for me and the kids. We were back in business!
So I made these up... Not following the directions completely. I had left over gravy and wanted to use that up and so I thinned it out with chicken broth and also used ham to fill up two of them since we didn't have enough turkey. While I was making them, I got THE LOOK.... you know they "yuck! Do I have to eat that" look!! I tell ya, making 5 people happy when you cook is a slim to none bet! But they all had to eat at least one piece, and guess what.... EVERYONE, yes you read that right, everyone went back for seconds. Not only that but my hubby took it for lunch the next day and him and the kids came home from school and work that day and ate it for a snack!!!! Holly Cow I thought... I hit this one out of the park!! Way better then cold turkey sandwiches!
Moral of the story... this will be on our dinner menu a lot more. While I was making it, I thought, those little chickens they have at the store, the rotisserie ones for about $5.00, one of those would easily make 2 more pot pies, and how cheap and easy would that be.

So here is the recipe that she sent me...http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Turkey-Pot-Pie-I/

And this is what I did to make 2 pot pies...

Turkey Pot Pies
2 boxes of Pillsbury Pie Crusts
6 washed and diced up potatoes
3 stalks of celery
1/2 of red onion
About 2 cups of diced up ham
2 cups of leftover turkey diced up
3 cups of turkey gravy
1 can of chicken broth
1/3 cup of flour per pot pie

I greased up 2 pie pans and preheated the oven for 350. I then rolled out 1 pie crust and placed in the bottom of each pie pan. I then diced up the celery, onions and potatoes. In one bowl I mixed half of the potatoes, all of the onion and all of the celery, setting the remainder off to the side. Then I diced up the Turkey and the ham, mixing them up. Then I took half of turkey and ham and added them to the veggies in the bowl, tossing and mixing them well. I then added the mix to one pot pie. With the left over turkey, ham and potatoes I mixed them up and added them to the "veggie-less" pot pie. On the stove I made up the gravy and mixed it with the chicken broth. I then sprinkled 1/3 cup flour over the top of each pie. After the gravy was warmed up I added it over the top of each pot pie. Then I rolled out the remaining 2 pie crusts and covered each pie, crimping the sides together and making small slits in the top for steam to be released. I then cooked them for about 45-60 mins until the top was brown. When they were done, I let them cool and set up for about 10 mins before cutting and serving.
I really hope that your family enjoys this as much as ours did!!

Yummy English Muffin Bread

This is by far my families favorite bread! And I love to make it!! The recipe makes 4 loafs which I love because I can freeze some, give some to friends and family or like most of the time, we use them. This bread makes great sandwiches, toast, or just to have a piece of bread and butter. And lets face it, when your a mom, you don't have time to make bread daily, so 4 at once, hey I will take it!!
Not to mention it makes your house smell oh so yummo and is super easy!!


English Muffin Bread

5 1/2 cups warm water
3 package quick rise yeast
3 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons salt
11 cups flour, all purpose flour

 

Mix all ingredients together. Spoon dough into four very greased loaf pans. Let the dough rise in the pans until it reaches the top, (it takes about 20-30 mins) then pop them into the oven for 45 minutes, or until brown on top. Let rise in pans until dough reaches the top of the pans, and bake in 350 degree oven for 45 minutes or until golden brown. About the last 10 minutes before the bread is done, brush it with melted butter. When done, remove from oven and let it cool completely before cutting and serving.
Give it a try, I am sure you will love it!!

 

Bacon Wrapped Turkey

One of my favorie dishes yesterday had to have been the bacon wrapped turkey. When we made this last year for the first time, I did it as more of a joke for my husband and dad. I really didn't think that the turkey would have been that good. But ohhhhh wow! The bacon seals in all the juices of the turkey, and all the drippings from the bacon drips down into the turkey meat and it is amazing! So I thought, ok well we might as well try it again this year.
When I make my turkey, in the roasting pan I always line it with onions, celery, and carrots, and maybe a lemon or two. Then I also stuff the same things into both cavitys of the turkey. I place the turkey on top of these veggies to help give it more of a taste then to just have it sittng on a rack. After it is in the pan, I then lift the skin carefully without ripping it and stuff butter mixed with minced garlic, Italian seasoning and a little bit of Johnny's seasoning. I rub down all the meat under the skin and then begin to wrap it with bacon. Once it's all covered with bacon I then pour about 2 cans of chicken broth into the pan and pop it in the oven. Once it's all done cooking, you will want to remove the bacon and skin from the turkey and let stand for a few minutes before you carve it. The turkey is oh so good!! It's super juicy and not dry at all! Give it a try!

 

Just a forewarning.... it makes everyone smile and then fall asleep quickly :)

 

 

Grasshopper Balls

Holly mint chocolate goodness batman!! I have never made truffles before because I always thought they would be too hard. Wow, not these. Start to finish I was done in about 30 mins. My husband thought I had slaved all day! I made these a few days before Thanksgiving. We had my Uncle, Dad, a few of my Dad's friends and our family here once they were done. So I let them all try one, well I went back into the kitchen after awhile and they were all gone, so I am guessing they were pretty good. On Thanksgiving I made the rest of the batch (I had doubled the first batch and kept the dough in the fridge.) And they were a huge hit too.
These are super gooey and soft inside and the hard chocolate on the outside holds it all together and makes them amazing! OHHHH SOOOOOO GOOOD!!!!
So you have to give these a try... 30 mins, 3 ingredients, and your a star!!

Grasshopper Balls

 1 pack of Grasshopper cookies (or thin mints when they are in "season"
1 package of cream cheese
1 pack of backers chocolate

 

First take your food processor (or a rolling pin and baggy) and grind the package of cookies the finest you can get them

Take your package of cream cheese and beat until smooth in your mixer. Then  add your cookies to your cream cheese and mix together. Place in fridge for at least 20 -30 mins.

Once your dough is chilled in the fridge, in a double boiler, melt your chocolate until smooth. While that is melting, take your dough and make it into balls. I tried this with a melon baler to make them all perfect and round... it didn't help though. I then went for the good old fashion way of just rolling them in my hand. it works just fine. - I let the kids do this part too and they were cracking up at the chocolate getting on their hands and laughing at each other. - They had a blast!

 

Once all your balls are rolled, and your chocolate is melted, take two forks, roll the ball with the forks in the chocolate and then remove with the two forks and place on wax paper. Let cool and outside chocolate harden and serve. You will completely enjoy these! I am still amazed how fast and easy they are. Have fun with these - decorate them for Christmas, roll them in mint chocolate, etc. Have fun! And enjoy!!

How to Wash Potatoes

On Thanksgiving we had 10 people total, since I think that I have to make extra food every time, we ended up with enough food to probably feed 30 + people. I made 15 lbs of potatoes, a 20 lbs turkey, and a 16 lbs ham and tons of other things. (Make sure you check out the before and after pictures below... not much changed, though we were all so stuffed after we couldn't eat dessert.)

But when I saw this the other day, I had to try it. I saw that you take the potatoes that you are going to use and put them in the dishwasher and put them on rinse. I thought if this works, thank goodness because I hate washing potatoes. So I gave it a try for thanksgiving... and it did great!! Just remember not to have it on hot water, just on rinse. Thought I would pass on this time saver to you to try. Now if I could find one to peel the potatoes too..... I will work on that one.

Before:

After:

 

Thanksgiving Traditions

Thanksgiving, and other holidays for that matter are important to me. Not only to be with family and celebrate, but one big part that is important to me is to make sure my girls learn something from the holiday. Weather it be leaning how to make a meal, a dish or how to make a craft, I want them to know how to do these types of things when they get older. This year I we had some new traditions we started, while caring on others.

I think one of my favorite ones is this Thanksgiving tradition. We go to the dollar store and pick out white plates. The girls get to draw turkeys, thankful sayings etc with colorful permanent markers. Then you bake them for about 40 mins on 350. When you remove them, be careful because all the writing on it will be wet and wipe off if you touch it at all, and they are very hot! Let them cool for a few hours and you have a plate you can eat on, and hand down. My plan is to have the girls make these each year till they move out. Then I can give them a set of plates to have for their first thanksgiving. I hope they enjoy this tradition as much as I do.

The other new tradition we started yesterday, was each person at thanksgiving signs their name, date, and what they are thankful for on a table cloth. Then the table cloth is passes to the person who is having thanksgiving the next year and we do it all over again. I thought it would be fun to go back and look at what people said and who was there and so on from year to year. I think it would be fun to do something like this too for Christmas.

Chocolate Filled Raspberries

Happy Black Friday!! Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!! Did you try anything new for your meal? We did, and they were all a big hit!! I will have a few posts today on so oh so good treats!
This first one, I had seen a few different forms of this. The first one, was with strawberries, the second with raspberries. While I bought both, the kids had got to the strawberries before I did. So, even though I am just showing the raspberries, this would work for both berries, or any kind really.

Chocolate Filled Raspberries
Raspberries
Bakers Dark Chocolate (you can use what ever kind of chocolate you want, dark just sounded good with these - and it was!)
Wax Paper
Turkey Baster

With a double boiler, start by melting your chocolate. While that is happening, get a piece of wax paper and lay it out close to your stove. Try and keep your raspberries in the fridge and cold until the chocolate is melted, this makes them cold enough to help set the chocolate once they are filled. Once chocolate is done, use your turkey baster, to fill them. Since raspberries are so small, it was too hard to use a spoon, I tried a few things, then thought... turkey baster!! It was brilliant and works perfect! - So fill all of your raspberries, laying each one on the wax paper to cool. Then place in bowl or plate and serve. Forewarning though, I bought a small box of them thinking it would take too long to do a lot of them... it doesn't and they go very fast. So if you are taking them to a party or get together, buy a few boxes.

Enjoy these! I know our family did!!