Sous Vide Turkey Breast

That's cranberry jam on that sandwich!

It's not too late to talk turkey. Yes, Thanksgiving is over, but turkeys aren't done being sold. You can buy a lovey turkey breast all on its own, or do what I did - buy a whole turkey and cut it into reasonable pieces.

Right now, I have one breast and two thighs in the freezer. One breast has been cooked. The carcass, legs, and wings were roasted. Some parts became stock that then became gravy or soup. Meaty parts had their meat removed and added to the soup.

In years past, I smoked turkey breasts, or I cooked them on the barbecue grill. This time, I decided to go the easy route - I cooked it via sous vide. Some turkey went into sandwiches, and some went into other recipes. But mostly, I wanted that breast for sandwiches. It's one of my favorite things to do with turkey, and by cooking it sous vide, I had a super-tender breast that wasn't the least bit dry.

I'm finding that cooking pretty much anything sous vide is insanely easy now that I have the Anova Sous Vide with bluetooth and wifi which has an app with a bunch of recipes. I basically just typed in "turkey breast" and picked one of the recipes to get the time and temperature. I didn't continue with crisping the skin since I just wanted the meat for sandwiches.

Sous Vide Turkey Breast

1 boneless turkey breast (can be skinless or not)
Seasonings (whatever you like - I tried a smoked salt)
Butter or olive oil (optional)

Put the turkey breast in the sous vide bag along with whatever flavorings you like. I had gotten some salts (about a tablespoon each) as a sample, so I used some of the smoked salt. I didn't add any fat, but I considered it momentarily. But any herbs or flavorings you like would be fine, I'm sure. Seal the bag.

Set the sous vide for 145 degrees and three hours. Place the bag in the water and cook.

When the ime is up, you can brown the skin in a hot pan with a little oil (pat the turkey dry first), if desired I just let it cool and used it for sandwiches.

The turkey breast meat was cooked through, but it was definitely pink. If that bothers you, then you might want to cook it at a higher temperature. I thought it was fine. And when I used it in dishes where I heated it further it wasn't overcooked, so that was a bonus,

Yum

Thanksgiving Bread Pudding - now with cranberries!

I love stuffing. I've even made bread that tastes like stuffing - which is pretty amazing for a turkey sandwich.

But that's not the same as actual stuffing. I grew up eating stuffing that was cooked inside a turkey. Lately, though, I've been cutting the turkey up and cooking the pieces separately. A few times, I've smoked the breast while cooking the dark meat in the oven.

But ... that meant I had to find a different way of cooking the stuffing. I tried a lot of variations of cooking stuffing in a casserole dish - which I guess means it's dressing - and they were all fine. But then I had the brilliant idea of making a stuffing flavored bread pudding. And it was amazing.

This year, I decided I wanted an early Thanksgiving, so I bought and cooked a small turkey breast. I enjoyed my sandwiches, but then I started thinking about stuffing. Then, I went to an event sponsored by Sprouts Farmers Market and they tossed a can of cranberry sauce into the goodie bag.

And I had a great idea. A stuffing bread pudding studded with chunks of turkey, with a layer of cranberry sauce on the bottom. It was like Thanksgiving in one bite.

This would be a great lunch or brunch meal, or a perfect dinner item for folks who like the stuffing better than anything else. You could certainly use leftover cooked turkey for this.

Or, if you're not the one who hosted the holiday and you have no turkey, you could cook a small turkey breast, or you could get some turkey deli meat. Just ask for the turkey to be cut into 1/2-inch slices so you can cut it into cubes.

This would also be good with chicken instead of turkey.

Thanksgiving Bread Pudding with Cranberry Sauce

4 tablespoons butter
3 ribs of celery, diced
1 medium onion, diced
1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
1 teaspoon rubbed sage
Salt and pepper, to taste
4-6 cups cubed stale bread
2 cups cubed turkey
1 can cranberry sauce
8 eggs (more, if needed)
1 cup milk (more, if needed)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and have an 8- or 9-inch baking dish standing by.

Heat the butter in a saute pan. Add the celery and onions and cook until it begins to soften. Add the poultry seasoning, sage, salt, and pepper. Continue cooking, stirring as needed, until the vegetables are cooked through. Taste for seasoning. This should be well seasoned, since it will be combined with a lot of bread and eggs.

Put the bread in a large bowl. Add the cooked vegetables and turkey. Toss to combine. You don't want to mash or tear the bread any further - just mix it together.

Spread the cranberry sauce evenly on the bottom of the baking dish. Add the bread cube mixture to the baking dish.

Beat the milk and eggs until well combined. Pour this over the bread in the baking dish. The amount of liquid the bread will absorb depends on the bread, and how dry it is. You want to make sure all the bread is moist, and that there is liquid surrounding the bread. It's fine if there are bread cubes sticking up above the liquid a little but there should be visible liquid.

Here it is, before it went into the oven.

If the bread isn't thoroughly moist, and there's not enough liquid, beat some more eggs with milk and add it as needed. If you need just a small amount of liquid, you can just add extra milk.

Bake at 350 degrees until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. It's fine if it's wet, but it shouldn't be coated with egg.

Serve hot or at room temperature. This is also good cold, if you happen to like cold stuffing.

The Sprouts event was held at the National Cattleman’s Beef Association, and had absolutely nothing to do with turkey - we learned about cooking beef. But yeah, I used their cranberry sauce in this recipe and they provided a gift card to allow me to shop for anything I liked.

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Retro Recipe Redo - Impossible Turkey Taco Pie

Way back when, there were a whole bunch of recipes for what were called Impossible Pies. They were magical recipes that made their own "crust" as they baked. And they all used Bisquick to make that magical crust.

I was browsing through some old newspaper and magazine clippings I had saved and scanned, and I found a recipe for Impossible Taco Pie. I had made that recipe many times back in the day, and I really liked it. I decided to make it again, to see if I still liked it.

But of course I made some changes.

I used turkey instead of beef, and I have to say that I doubt anyone could tell the difference in this recipe. Which is a good thing.

I didn't have any Bisquick in the house the first time I made this, but there are a lot of "make your own Bisquick" recipes online, so I figured I could do that rather than run to the store.

Nope. It didn't work. Not at all. I made it with Bisquick, and it was perfect. So, although that "make your own" recipe is probably a fine substitution for some recipes, it didn't work for this one. Maybe if I fiddled around with it some more, I could work it out, but that doesn't seem like a good use of my time.

Or my ingredients.

So now I have Bisquick. So it's a pretty sure bet I'll be making this again. Or maybe some other version of it. Because, seriously, this is comfort food, in the best possible way.

Panela cheese is interesting. It's a fresh cheese with a mild flavor. It softens when warm, but it doesn't really melt. So you'll end up with soft pockets of cheese in the pie, but they won't melt and get disappear into the pie.

Impossible Turkey Taco Pie

1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 large onion, diced
1 pound ground turkey
2 tablespoons chili powder (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
1 fire-roasted red pepper, diced
4 ounces panela cheese, cut in small cubes
3/4 cup Bisquick
1 1/4 cup milk
3 eggs
1 4-ounce can diced Hatch chiles
4 ounces shredded provolone cheese
Diced tomatoes (as needed for garnish)
Diced avocado (as needed for garnish)
Green salsa (for garnish)

Green Salsa

8 medium tomatillos
1 small green pepper, cored and seeded
1 serrano pepper, cored and seeded
1 small bunch cilantro
1/2 teaspoon salt (or to taste)
2 teaspoons lime juice (or to taste)

Heat your oven to 400 degrees and have a 9-inch pie plate standing by.

To make the taco pie:
Heat the olive oil in a saute pan. Add the onion, turkey, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, and salt. Cook, stirring as needed, until the turkey and onion is cooked through. Take it off the heat and add the roasted red pepper and the panela cheese.

Add the meat mixture to the pie plate and level it.

Mix the Bisquick, milk, and eggs in a medium bowl. Pour over the meat in the pan. Sprinkle the chiles on top.

Bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. Sprinkle the provolone cheese on top and return the pie to the oven. Bake for an additional 10 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the pie comes out clean.

Let the pie rest for 5-10 minutes for easier slicing.

Garnish with chopped tomatoes, avocados, green salsa

To make the salsa:
Put all the ingredients in a blender, and blend until smooth.

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The Turham - a ham stuffed into a turkey!

I've always wanted to create a new food-related portmanteau. And there are so many related to turkey. I mean, think about it - there's the Turducken, and Tofurky.

Wait, I see we've lost a few people running to Wikipedia to see what a portmanteau is. We'll give them a second to get back here before the fun starts.

For those of you who haven't fled, portmanteau translates to "suitcase" and it's two (or more) words that have been mashed together. So, a tofurkey is tofu and turkey, and a turducken is turkey, duck and chicken. And we also have this year's Thanksgivukkah and the lovely menurkey.

So, I came up with the ...

But wait. Let me tell you a story first.

When I was a kid, we always had turkey for Thanksgiving. Never failed. Always. Then, when Christmas rolled around, mom would ask if we wanted turkey again, or if we wanted something else.

Ah, the vague and nefarious "something else." Because the problem was that the list of possibilities was pretty short. Chicken was too common. Ham was a possibility, but that's what we usually had for Easter. We didn't really do fancy beef or pork roasts.

So, we were back to turkey again. Or sometimes ham.

And that got me thinking ... and thinking ... and portmanteau-ing. I mean, if you can stuff a duck inside a turkey, why not stuff a ham in there?

Yes, I'm serious. One problem with the turducken is that it has to cook for a long time for all the meats to cook. But I figured that a fully-cooked ham only had to get warm, so I could pull it out of the oven as soon as the turkey was done.

So, I bought a 10-pound turkey and a 10-pound bone-in ham. I de-boned a turkey, leaving just the leg bones (I removed the thigh bones) and all the wing bones. For easier access, I cut it at the backbone, so I could lay it flat.

Then, I took the bone-in ham and removed those bones. I also removed the tough skin and some of the excess fat. And then I put some seasoned bread crumbs inside the turkey put the ham on top of that, and then wrapped the turkey around the ham and skewered it shut.

In retrospect, I would have been better off using one of those rolled boneless hams, because getting the ham to fit neatly was a bit of a chore. I had way more ham than I needed, but the shape wasn't optimal for getting it to fit inside the bird.

But I got it done. It took about an hour for the prep, and then I popped it into the oven and roasted it just like I'd roast a turkey. It took a bit under 3 hours for the turkey to be fully cooked.

And that was that.

The neat thing about having the bones removed from the turkey was that after I removed the legs, I could slice straight through the bird and have slices of ham surrounded turkey. Like this:

Presenting the Turham!

Next time I might also use less ham and have a slightly thicker layer of stuffing instead of the thin layer of bread crumbs. but overall, I think it was a pretty successful attempt.

What do you think? Would you do it?

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Thanksgiving Leftovers: Turkey Soup

There are two things I take very seriously when I'm making soup.

First, the liquid has to be very flavorful. It should be delicious all on its own - it shouldn't be mildly salted vaguely vegetable-scented water.

Second, the soup has to be substantial. Around here, soup is very seldom an appetizer - usually it's a meal. Maybe some bread on the side. Or a small sandwich. Or a salad. But if there's soup, chances are it won't be followed by a roast with all the trimmings.

There are some exceptions, but not many.

In this case, the turkey stock started with wings that I got from KOL Foods. Wings have a lot of flavor, but not a lot of meat compared to breast or thigh. You can strip the meat off, if you like, either after roasting or partway through the cooking, if you want to toss the meat back into the soup.

Or, just let the wings cook and cook and cook and cook until you've got a liquid that's so concentrated it jellifies and jiggles when it's cold.

Yeah, that's what I'm talking about.

Turkey Stock

6 turkey wings

1 onion, peeled and quartered

2 stalks celery, cut into a few pieces

Roast the turkey wings until they're a lovely mahogany brown. It doesn't matter if they're cooked all the way through - these are going into the soup. When they're roasted, put them into a slow cooker. Add all the drippings. Add water to the pan you cooked the wings in and scrape up every last bit of browned goodness that you can. Every bit. Add that water to the slow cooker. Add the onion and celery. Add enough water to just barely cover the wings.

Cover and cook on low for as long as you can. I let mine cook for 14 hours in the slow cooker.

If you want to salvage the meat* from the wings, check them after about 2 hours. Remove the wings, salvage as much meat as you like, and return everything else to the pot and continue cooking.

You might have noticed that I didn't add any salt yet. There's a reason. It's hard to tell how much you'll need, since your wings could have been brined before roasting, which means you might not need any additional salt. There's plenty of time to season that stock before we're done.

When the stock is done, remove the wings and strain the stock through a fine-mesh strainer to remove any odd bits. Skim the fat off the top. If you aren't continuing the soup-making right away, you can refrigerate the stock and the fat will rise to the top and solidify so it's easy to remove.

*Normally when I make turkey soup, I use the carcass of a turkey, so it has already been roasted and the usable meat has been stripped off. If I want meat in the soup (and usually I'd rather have it in a sandwich) I cut up chunks of breast meat or whatever else is left from the meal and add that at the end of cooking.

Turkey Vegetable Soup

Stock, from above

3 stalks celery, sliced

4 carrots, sliced

1 cup frozen pearl onions

2 cups mixed frozen vegetables

1 teaspoon poultry seasoning

Salt, to taste

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1/2 pound kluski noodles

Put the stock in a large saucepan, Dutch oven, or similar vessel. Add the celery and carrots. Cook on medium heat - a happy simmer is what you're looking for - until the vegetables are cooked almost all the way through. Watch the level of the liquid, and add water as needed. You should have a very flavorful stock that doesn't need additional reduction.

Add the pearl onions, frozen vegetables, and poultry seasoning. Cook until the frozen vegetables are nearly done. Taste for seasoning and add salt, as needed. Add the lemon juice. Add the kluski noodles and continue cooking until the noodles are cooked through, but still slightly al dente. (Or, if you prefer, you can cook the noodles separately and add them to the soup when it's done, but I like it when the noodles absorb the flavor of the soup.)

If your liquid-to-solid ratio is making this seem too much like a stew and not enough like a soup, add water, as desired - but this should be a hearty, flavorful soup and not a vat of liquid with a few bits of lonely vegetables floating through it.

Taste for seasoning again and add more salt, poultry seasoning, or lemon juice, as desired.

Serve hot.

Disclaimer: I received a package of turkey wings from KOL foods for this post.

About KOL Foods:

You might be asking, "Who is KOL Foods?" Well, here's what they had to say about themselves:

KOL Foods is the only source for domestic, 100 percent grass-fed, kosher beef and organic, pastured, kosher chicken, turkey and duck. We also provide, grass-fed no-nitrate deli and sausage as well as grass-fed lamb and wild Alaskan salmon. KOL Foods’ products connect to tradition, the land, a sustainable future, and good health for friends and family. We know our farmers and tell the story of their animals. KOL Foods is committed to kashrut, transparency, the environment, animal welfare, health and offering the most delicious meat on the market.

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Gadgets: The Turkey Canon

I was slightly disappointed that the turkey cannon ($25) does not shoot turkeys. What it is, according to the manufacturer, is beer can chicken on steroids.

Unlike shoving a beer can into a chicken and forcing it to stand upright, this lets the turkey rest at an angle. Which makes a heck of a lot of sense, since most of us don't have an oven (or outdoor grill) that's tall enough to allow a turkey to roast vertically.

The cannon is pretty heavy duty, and it's dishwasher safe. But does it work?

I decided to use a Butterball turkey since I've probably eaten my weight in Butterballs over the years - I know exactly what I should expect. I opted not to brine (even though the cannon came with a brining kit) because I didn't want the brining to affect the testing.

I filled the cannon with a flavored liquid and then encountered the first small hurdle - getting the turkey onto the cannon. The instructions said that turkeys over 18 pounds might need to be roasted breast-side down, but my 17-pound bird didn't fit comfortably breast-side up, so it had to roast breast-down. The turkey breast wasn't quite touching the pan, but it was close, so I propped up one end of the cannon so the turkey for sure couldn't touch the pan. Probably not necessary.

Wrestling the turkey onto the cannon wasn't all that difficult once I figured out which way it needed to rest. I stabbed the bird with a thermometer and set it to roast at 325 degrees.

After an hour in the oven, the turkey looked ... uh ... uncomfortable.

After two hours, it was getting a nice brown color, but still looked strange.

Roasting at 325 degrees, the turkey was done in about 3 hours - faster than conventional roasting, that's for sure.

Second small hurdle was getting the bird off its perch, and it wasn't as difficult as I expected. A spare pair of hands held the cannon in place while I donned protective gloves and wiggled the bird a bit to dislodge it where it was slightly stuck to the cannon. Then it pulled right off.

Since the bird had roasted upside down, the breast was pale, but I was more interested in how well it had cooked. This cannon can also be used on a grill, and in that case the bottom would have browned just fine. And of course a smaller bird would have perched upright so the breast would have browned. Or, I could have taken it off the cannon a bit sooner and let it roast upright for the last part of cooking.

But I did none of those things, so my turkey looks like it has a bald spot.

Since the cannon cooked the turkey from the inside because of the steam, cooking was much more consistent. I've had fully-cooked turkeys, measured in both breast and thigh, that had pink juices in the cavity of the turkey. This had none of that.

The meat was definitely moist - people who have only tried conventionally-roasted turkeys will be totally impressed. And the turkey cooked much faster than it would have otherwise.

So, it's it worth $25 for something you might use once a year? Perhaps not. On the other hand, it can also be used to cook chicken or other poultry (from 4 to 20 pounds according to the site, although larger turkeys might work with some strategic propping), and it can be used in the oven, on the grill, or in the smoker.

I have a couple gadgets that are designed for beer-can style cooking of chickens in the oven, and one problem is that a completely-upright chicken can be a little tall. And wobbly. I've tipped more than one over. Cooking it at an angle while still taking advantage of the steam makes a whole lot more sense. And, unlike the chicken devices that shoot steam from the open end of the device, this has holes along the sides as well, so there's more steam-action inside the bird.

Overall, I'm pleased. Plus, if someone peeks in your oven, you get the joy of seeing the "what the heck is that!?" look on their faces.

The product was supplied for the purpose of a review on Serious Eats; this was previously published on Serious Eats.

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Turkey Crepes for World Diabetes Day #WDD

In my house, necessity often the mother of "why did I think THAT was a good idea?" But it always amazes me how often the crazy things I try actually work.

In this case, I wanted to make crepes. I had a lovely crepe pan from Anolon, and I wanted to use it. I had the book Crepes by Martha Holmberg, so I figured I could use one of the recipes for the crepe batter. And then it all went sideways, because I didn't have nearly enough milk. Feh.

But I still wanted to make crepes. Without going to the store. So I started to think about what I could use instead of milk - juice? water?

Aha! Heavy cream! I had that in the refrigerator!

But I knew that would be way too heavy, so I figure that if I mixed the cream with water and didn't use any other butter or fat, I might have something I could work with. So I cobbled together a recipe.

I used the instructions from the book for technique and the basic ratio of liquid to flour, but the rest is my own strange invention. And it worked. Perfectly. I was sooooo happy!

Well, sort of. Because, you see, this post is for World Diabetes Day and it's sponsored by Anolon and Microplane. I don't know that much about cooking for diabetics. but Shelby from Diabetic Foodie passed along some tips. My filling follows her rules, with lowfat turkey and vegetables, (although it also has a roux base) ... but those crepes ... well, they've got the heavy cream and the white flour. But on the other hand, they've got white wheat flour which is a whole grain and ther's a lot of eggs, and those are a good protein.

So, I tried. I think overall, this is a decent dish. I used homemade stock with the fat removed, and even though the crepes might have been less than perfect, one crepe with a nice salad isn't too awful, right?

And then I also made a salad. Mmmmmm.... salad.

Wow, I felt like I was trying to get a good grade there. But I don't have a lot of practice cooking for diabetics. It's a bit of a challenge.

Obviously I'm not your go-to source for all things diabetic, but it's not about me, it's about spreading the word. More on that in a bit.

And a GIVEAWAY courtesy of Anolon and Microplane. Isn't that awesome?

But first, the recipe.

Crepes
Makes 16

1 cup water
3/4 cup heavy cream
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup white wheat flour

Blitz the water, cream, eggs, and salt in a blender. You're just looking to mix it up, not make a smoothie. Add the flours (I'm thinking this could have been all white whole wheat, but I didn't want to push my luck on the first try) and blend until there are no bits or lumps of flour. Scrape down the sides of the blender if you need to, and blend again.

Let the mixture sit at least 5 minutes for the flour to hydrate, or up to 30 minutes at room temperature. You can make this well in advance - just refrigerate it. But really, it takes no time at all to blend, so it's not like you need to have a vat of it stored somewhere for emergencies.

Heat a crepe pan on medium heat. You can make crepes in different sort of pan, but let's assume you own a crepe pan, hmmmm? The pan should be warm enough so a bit of butter sizzles but it doesn't immediately brown or burn. Use a teeny bit of butter and wipe it with a paper towel. Olive oil would also work, I guess, but butter is traditional. I used probably a teaspoon of butter for all 16 crepes.

The batter should be the consistency of heavy cream - not as thick as pancake batter. If it's too thick, add water to thin it. After you've sizzled the butter on (or just wipe with an oiled/buttered paper towel, take the pan off the heat and pour the batter - eyeball about a quarter cup - into the center of the pan while you start swirling the pan to coat the whole bottom of the pan. If you have too much batter, pour it out. If you have holes, you can add a bit more batter or just deal with the fact that you've got some lacy edges. No big deal.

Put the pan back on the heat and let the crepe cook until the bottom is nicely browned. At that point, the top view will show you that the edges are looking dry and sort of lifting from the pan. If you shake the pan, the crepe will release and slide around. If it's not releasing, it needs more cooking.

Check for brownness underneath, then flip the crepe over. I found that the most foolproof way was to slide the crepe until it was peeking over the edge of the pan, then I grabbed that edge with my fingertips and flipped the crepe over. Easy peasy. The crepe cooked on the second side for maybe 30 seconds.

The first side had prettier browning and the second side was spotty looking. See, the one on the left is a little spotty. That's what the second side looks like after it's cooked.

Then, as the crepes are cooked, just pile them up on a pan or a wire rack. They can be refrigerated if you're making them in advance, or fill them right away.

Crepes can also be frozen.

Turkey Filling
Makes about a quart

2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour
2 cups turkey stock
2 cups mixed frozen vegetables
1 small onion, diced
1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
1 cup julienned zucchini
2 cups cooked turkey breast, medium dice
Salt, to taste

Yes, I have left over turkey already. And it's wonderful. The turkey stock I used was from the turkey carcass, but you could certainly use chicken stock and chicken breasts for this recipe.

Normally, I have a lot of vegetables left over from Thanksgiving dinner that I use for soup and other dishes, but I didn't have much on hand, so I used frozen mixed vegetables along with fresh zucchini and onion.

I julienned the zucchini because I was having fun with the Microplane Slicer that I got. I reviewed it here. It's a handy little devil since it slices and it's got a julienne blade. Even better, the blade stores attached to the slicer in a safe place, so you don't have to keep track of it (I'm prone to mis-placing small parts of things) and the hand guard also attaches to the slicer for storage.

I also used the slicer when I made salad - but more on that later.

So, melt the butter in a saucepan, then add the flour and stir it around and let it cook a minute or two. Add the stock, stirring to get rid of any lumps. Bring to a boil and let it cook for a minute. Add the frozen vegetables, onions, and poultry seasoning. This time when it comes back to a boil, reduce it to a simmer and let it cook until the onions and vegetables are cooked to your liking. Add the zucchini and turkey and cook just long enough to warm them.

Taste for seasoning, and add salt, if desired. If your turkey stock was seasoned, you might not need any at all.

To make the crepes:

Put 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the turkey mixture and roll up - you can tuck in the ends like a burrito, or leave them open - whatever you like. I garnished mine with a dollop of Greek yogurt. If you fill with 1/2 cup, you'll have fatter crepes, but you'll only be able to fill 8 of the 16. If you use 1/4 cup of filling, you'll use up all the crepes. It's up to you.

And ... lets talk about pots and pans a second, shall we?

When I was a kid, my mother wasn't really into this whole "presentation" thing. She was more likely to put a cooking pot on the table than she was to put food in a pretty bowl and serve it. That's just how it was. So that's something that I purposely don't do.

But as part of this Virtual Potluck event, I got this sweet Nouvelle Copper Stainless Steel 9.5 inch covered skillet with two side handles. It's pretty. It's really pretty. It's so pretty that I almost don't want to cook in it. Which is also something I don't do. I use my cooking equipment, I don't display it.

But this pot is really pretty. Oooooh shiny.

And I have one that I'm going to GIVE AWAY. Yuppers, I'm gonna give you one. AND something else.

So, let's talk about salad a second, hmmmm...?

So, to make this little meal just a teeny bit healthier, I made a salad. When it comes to salad, I don't eat them because they're good for me or because I feel like I have to. I actually like salad.
Yeah, I'm weird.

So this one is a mix of butter lettuce, topped with sliced cucumbers, zucchini, and red bell pepper, all sliced on the Microplane slicer.

I didn't use a mixed dressing. Instead, I sprinkled the salad with some Greek spice mix, then squeezed on lemon juice, drizzled with a bit of sherry vinegar, then finished with a chive olive oil. It was really good.

OH! And I'm giving away a Microplane slicer, too! Wheeee!

It's like an early Christmas!

More About Diabetes and why we're posting

* November is National Diabetes Month

* Walgreens and the American Diabetes Association have teamed up to do a pin pad donation campaign. From now until Nov. 30, participate at your local Walgreens by donating $1, $2, $5 or $10 when you use a debit or credit card, and help raise critical funds for resources and educational programs in local communities.

* More than 371 million people have diabetes

* Half of people with diabetes don't know they have it

* Half of the people who die from diabetes are under the age of 60

* In 2012, 4.8 million people died from and 471 billion USD was spent on diabetes

* More facts & figures here.

Now, for a GIVEAWAY!!!

I've got one Microplane Slicer and one Anolon Nouvelle Copper Stainless Steel 9.5 inch covered skillet with two side handles to give away to one lucky winner.

To enter - comments must be left here on the blog, on this post.

1. Leave a comment telling me what your favorite leftover Thanksgiving meal is - this is your mandatory entry. For additional entries:
2. Follow Cookistry on Facebook, then leave a comment telling me you've followed.
3. Follow Microplane on Facebook, them leave a comment telling me you've followed.
4. Follow Anolon on Facebook, then leave a comment telling me you've followed.

Contest is open to US residents only, 18 and older. Winners will be chosen randomly and prizes will be shipped directly by the manufacturer to the winner. Contest ends at midnight, mountain time on Friday, November 22. All usual contest rules apply.

Disclaimer: I received products from both Anolon and Microplane for the purpose of this post.

Other members of Virtual potluck also have giveaways. Go visit Shelby at Diabetic Foodie for a  Advanced 3.5 qt Covered Straining Saucepan and a Microplane Slicer; Milisa at Miss in the Kitchen has an Advanced Bronze 5.25 qt Covered Sauteuse and a Microplane slider; Matt at Thyme in Our Kitchen is giving away a Nouvelle Copper Stainless Steel 12 inch skillet and a Microplane slicer; Theresa from Foodhunter's Guide has a Nouvelle Copper Stainless Steel 3 quart covered saute with helper handle and a Microplane slicer; and Susan from 30AEats is giving away an Advanced 5 qt covered saute with helper handle and a Microplane slicer.

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Flash Recipe: Turkey Tacos, Part 2

Not that long ago, I posted about the turkey tacos I'd made using turkey legs that I braised specifically to make the tacos. Shortly after that, I decided I wanted to roast a turkey breast in a more traditional way. Instead of the usual mashed potatoes, I roasted potatoes along with the turkey.

I guess that made up for the lack of stuffing.

After I had a few sandwiches, I was ready to get a little more creative.

This isn't much of a recipe - it's all about what you like, so the amount are up to you. Use more or less salsa, and whatever proportions of meat and potato you like. If you've got other left over vegetables that would make sense in a taco, add them.

The great thing about this meal was that it was incredibly fast to throw together, since I was working with leftovers. I just cubed the turkey and potatoes, tossed them with a salsa I had on hand, and quickly heated them.

I served this on tortillas, topped with my favorite lime-pickled red onions.

    

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Turkey Noodle Nonsense

So, ya wanna see what kind of crazy stuff I put together when I'm not being creative for the blog?

This is a prime example. It's simple, it's filling and it used up left over turkey and some other odds and ends I had in the pantry and freezer.

Yes, I know it's only Thanksgiving now and I'm talking about leftover turkey, but since I'm not doing Thanksgiving at home this year, I cooked some turkey early, and this used up the last of it.

This stretched my leftovers into several more meals. Almost like free food. What else can a gal ask for?

This would work just as well with chicken. As for the spinach, other frozen vegetables would be great, too. I almost reached for peas, but decided the spinach would be more interesting just this one time.

And if you want something a little lighter than a bowl of noodles, there's an easy way around that - just add enough water to turn this into soup. There's enough concentrated stock here to make that work. You might want to add a pinch of salt, though.

Turkey Noodle Nonsense

1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 onion, diced
1 potato, peeled and diced
6 not-huge carrots, peeled and sliced
1/2 bag egg noodles (about 6 ounces)
1 quart turkey stock
Salt, as needed
2 cups cooked turkey, diced or shredded
2 cups frozen spinach
Lemon juice (optional)

Melt the butter in a large pan (I used a large saucier) and add the onion, potato, and carrots. Cook, stirring as needed, until the vegetables begin to soften.

Add the noodles and cook, stirring as needed, until the noodles are lightly toasted. Depending on the shape of the noodles, you might not get all the surfaces toasted. That doesn't matter.

Add the turkey stock and cook, stirring as needed, until the noodles and vegetables are cooked through. If you need more liquid, add water, as needed. The goal is to have some liquid without this being soupy.

Taste for seasoning when the liquid is about halfway absorbed. Whether you need salt or not is going to depend on how salty the stock was. And that depends on how salty the turkey was. Add salt, if needed.

When the noodles are fully cooked, add the turkey and spinach, and continue cooking, stirring, until the turkey and spinach are warmed through.

Serve with a squeeze of lemon juice, if desired. I like lemon with spinach  so lemon made perfect sense to me.

    

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Turkey Sandwich #Thanksgiving #Leftovers

On Thanksgiving, my husband will be celebrating 11 weeks in the hospital. Well, celebrating might not be the right word, but we continue to see gradual improvements, and that's something to be happy about. Despite that happiness, I'm really not in the mood for my usual Thanksgiving celebration this year.

Not only is my husband not going to be home for Thanksgiving, but he's also not able to eat anything yet, so it's not like I could bring him a meal - not even mashed potatoes and gravy. And there's no way I want to spend a lot of time prepping and cooking a huge meal that would keep me away from the hospital.

But that didn't stop me from buying a turkey. At this time of year, they're just about the cheapest meat you can buy. How could I pass that up? So I bought a turkey and disassembled it so I could make smaller meals from all the parts. A few days ago I roasted a breast half.

The day after Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days of the year. The house is clean and all the usual chores are done, I'm looking forward to a few days off of work with no big obligations to do anything, and I have fantastic leftovers.

That's what I was most looking forward to with that turkey breast - turkey sandwiches.

Of course, there's the traditional turkey, mayo and tomato sandwich, but I decided to change things up a bit. And of course the bread was home made. Of course ...

The extras on this beauty were raspberry jam and Roth Horseradish & Chive Havarti cheese. Of course, if you've got cranberry sauce, you could use that instead of the raspberry jam. And then I pressed and warmed the sandwich in a sandwich press. Perfect!

What's your favorite Thanksgiving leftover? Follow the #SundaySupper hashtag in Twitter to share your thoughts and get ideas before the big day-after.

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Thanksgiving made easy(er) (Sponsored video)

That darned turkey! Are you afraid of ruining it with your poor carving skilz? Hey, everything's online. Like this video on HOW TO CARVE A TURKEY. It's only one minute of video. It will take you a little longer than that to carve yours, but that's because you're going to be sneaking bits of crackly crispy skin and snagging a few bites as you go.

What? You don't do that. Um, well, neither do I, I guess.

And what goes with turkey? POTATOES.

Here's a quick video on how to make mashed potatoes. I thought everyone grew up knowing how to make mashed potatoes, but given some of the un-good potatoes I've eaten, perhaps there are a few people who could benefit from this one.

And really, there are good tips here.

Last, but not least, let's have some vegetables. Or at least PRETEND we're having vegetables, as we stuff ourselves with stuffing and gravy.

But really, if you're going to make vegetables, you might as well blanch them ahead of time. It keeps the color bright and makes the final cooking a little more civilized. I like blanching those little teeny fancy green beans - you know, the hairy corvairs? Or haricot verts, if you prefer. I like to blanch them, then give them a quick reheat on the stove in some butter before serving.

This method works for a lot of different vegetables, actually.

So there ya go. Three simple videos to help make your Thanksgiving just a teeny bit less stressful. Now pass the gravy, please.

This post is sponsored by Campbell's Kitchen

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It's a mini Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is a big food event. But what if you've got a small family? What if you're flying solo? What if you want to save money by buying an extra turkey, but you don't want to eat another traditional stuffed bird in a month or three?

What if you don't want a traditional bird at all?

And what if you want to top it off with a small but decadent dessert?

This year, I think I fit the "all of the above" category. Or most of them, anyway. With my husband still in the hospital, cooking a big Thanksgiving meal is not on my radar. But I love turkey. And I love a bargain. So I bought a 14-pound turkey and went to work.

When it comes to poultry, I love dark meat. When it comes to turkey, my least-favorite part is the legs. Or, more accurately, they're my least favorite part on turkey that's cooked the traditional way. The meat is never tender and it's impossible to cut into nice pieces for sandwiches. I'd rather have thighs. Heck, I prefer breast meat, if it's not overcooked.

But if you treat those legs differently - cook them like the tough meat they are - well, you get nice, tender meat. It's still not great for slicing, but it's perfect for shredding. And perfect for ... TACOS!

Yep, turkey tacos. And they were incredibly good.

But before we get to making the tacos, let's talk about dismantling a turkey. If you've ever cut up a chicken, it's the same thing, only bigger. The bones are a sturdier. But it's the same thing. A good, sharp knife and a pair of poultry shears makes the job easier.

I really love the OXO shears for two reasons. First, they do the job well. And second, they come apart. That means you don't have to worry about bits of stuff sticking in the hinge. When you're dealing with raw poultry, that's a big deal.

When I was done, I had two legs, two thighs, and two breast halves. The back, wings, and the rest of the carcass went into the oven for roasting. The thighs and breast halves were wrapped and frozen.

Meanwhile, the legs went into the slow cooker, not quite covered with water, and I cooked them on low until they were fork tender - about 4 hours. I took the legs out of the slow cooker and let them cool a bit and then the roasted turkey went into the slow cooker (less some parts saved for nibbling) to make stock. That's not part of the turkey taco recipe, though, but if you decide to disassemble a turkey, it's a good way of handling it.

The turkey legs can be shredded immediately, or you can refrigerate them and shred the next day.

The sauce is based on a very simple pepper sauce that I make quite often, but this time I pushed it a little further with some spices and chocolate. It's not mole, but it flirts with the idea of mole.

You can find adobo seasoning in just about any store these days. Some have a lot of salt; some have very little. That's why you need to taste and adjust seasonings at the end.

When the tacos are assembled, you can add whatever toppings you like. I opted for some shredded cabbage and lime-pickled red onions. I also tried a some of my spicy pickled cauliflower on some. Avocado chunks or guacamole would also work well.

Turkey Tacos

2 turkey legs, braised until tender
1 cup Simple Pepper Sauce
1 teaspoon adobo seasoning
1 ounce chocolate
Salt, to taste

Shred the cooked turkey meat and add it to a small skillet. Add the pepper sauce, adobo seasoning, and chocolate. Cook, stirring as needed, until the liquid is mostly gone and you have shredded turkey in a thick sauce.

Serve on tortillas with your choice of toppings.

And now for DESSERT

Going with the theme of dinner for just a few people - or just one (with leftovers, which is the best part of Thanksgiving) I made a very small cheesecake - just four inches in diameter.

As much as I like cheesecake, most recipes are huge - for serving 8 or 12 or 14 people. That's way too much for me to make on a regular basis, and way too much even when we've got company.

Mini Pumpkin Cheesecake

For the crust:
2 graham crackers
Pinch of salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon butter

For the filling:
8 ounces softened cream cheese
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons canned pumpkin
1 egg yolk
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of nutmeg
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Have you ever used a ricer to crush crackers?

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Wrap the outside of a 4-inch springform pan with aluminum foil.

Crush the graham crackers. You should have about 1/4 cup of crumbs. If not, crush some more. Mix the crackers crumbs with the salt and sugar. Melt the butter and mix it with the crumbs until they're evenly moistened.

Press the crumbs into the bottom of a 4-inch springform pan. Set aside.

Cream the cream cheese and sugar together in a medium bowl. Add the pumpkin, egg yolk, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and vanilla extra. Beat until thoroughly combined. Pour this mixture into the springform pan.

Place the springform pan in a cake pan or other ovenproof container. Add about an inch of hot water to the cake pan. Bake at 325 degrees for 35 minutes. When the cheesecake is done, it will still move a bit when you jiggle it, but it shouldn't be sloppy wet looking.

Take the pan out of oven (carefully! You've got really hot water there!), remove the springform pan, and let it cool for about 15 minutes, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours before removing the cheesecake from the pan and slicing.

Did I mention that this post is sponsored by OXO and that there's a really AWESOME giveaway right HERE? And I'll tell you about some of the tools I used and why I love 'em.

Oh yeah, you're going to absolutely love it!

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Turkey Meatball Dumplings

They say that necessity is the mother of invention. I'm not exactly sure who "they" are, but in my kitchen, leftovers and poor timing are sometimes the step-parents of invention.

In this case, the leftovers included about 12 ounces of ground turkey, crushed crackers, turkey stock, and an assortment of miscellaneous vegetables.

Soup sounded good, so I skimmed the fat off the turkey stock, strained out the bones and bits, and put it in a pot with some carrots and onions.

The ground turkey. Hmmmm....meatballs might be nice, I thought. So I mixed up the turkey, the cracker crumbs, some random spices, and one egg. Since I had ground the turkey myself, and since I brined it before that, I knew I didn't need any more salt that what the crackers had provided. I didn't measure the cracker crumbs, but I'd guess it was no more than 1/3 cup.

When I was getting the egg out of the fridge, I noticed the container of leftover cooked potatoes. I grabbed those and added what was probably the equivalent of a medium-sized potato to the turkey, I mashed it roughly with a fork and mixed that into the turkey. Then I covered the bowl and stashed it back into the fridge while I fiddled with the soup.

Soup wasn't anything special. By the time it was done, it had (besides the carrots and onions) some diced piquillo peppers; the rest of the leftover potatoes, diced; green peas, and some whole wheat elbow macaroni. Salt, pepper, spices; some saffron. Some sweet paprika. I think that's it. If I had other vegetables, I would have added them, but that's about all there was.

When it was meatball time, I had the mad idea that I should just cook the meatballs in the soup instead of browning them, like my instincts were telling me. But the evil little voice on the other side was saying, "Drop one in; test it. See if it breaks up or holds together."

The voice was tempting, because if I didn't brown the meatballs, I wouldn't have to wash a frying pan. So I figured I'd give it a try. At worst, I'd have bits of turkey floating in the soup. So I scooped some up on a teaspoon, dropped it in, and...

It disappeared. Down to the bottom of the pot. It sunk like a rock and vanished.

I stirred things up a bit, and found it. I was a little amazed that it had held together, but there it was in a nice compact little lump. I got to work with the teaspoon and dropped the rest of the meat into the pot of simmering soup.

And then it got a little weird, as the meatballs started bobbing to the top. And they had gotten larger. Not as much expansion as you'd expect in a dumpling, but they were significantly larger than they were before.

So, we had soup for dinner, and although I called them meatballs before I tried one, they were a lot more like dumplings. Soft and fluffy and moist and delicate. Cloudlike. Ethereal. Okay, maybe that's a bit much, but I've had regular dumplings that were denser than these. It was hard to believe they were mostly meat.

The soup was just soup. But those dumplings! Oh my. I'm already thinking up other ways to use them.

So here's the rough ingredients:

Turkey Meatball Dumplings

12 ounces ground turkey
1/3 cup finely crushed crackers (it was a mix of Ritz and water crackers)
1 large egg
1 peeled, quartered, boiled and cooled white potato, roughly mashed
Salt if needed, and spices to taste.

*After I mixed all of the above, I stashed the mixture in the fridge until I was ready for it. I don't know if that step is necessary, but I'd imagine it helped to hydrate the cracker crumbs a bit.*

Drop a spoonful at a time into simmering soup. I didn't time how long I cooked them, but they were on the heat for a while after they floated. It's easy enough to check, though. Just break one open and see if the meat is cooked.

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Dinner Tonight: Smoked Turkey Breast

Last November, when turkeys were on sale in the days after Thanksgiving, I bought a bird and stashed it in the freezer. Last week, I decided it was time to thaw the bird and free some freezer space.

When it was thawed, I cut it into pieces: two wings, two legs, two thighs, and two breast halves. Neck, back, and giblets went into the crockpot to make stock while the cut sections went into a brine with some apple cider, salt, peppercorns and a few poultry-friendly spices for an overnight spa treatment.

Next day, the turkey pieces came out of the brine and I rinsed it, patted it dry, and grabbed a thigh and breast to grind up for another recipe. The rest went back to the fridge for a little drying session.

Smoking came the next day. I smoked the remaining breast half and wings with applewood and I smoked the two legs and the remaining thigh with oak. All of this was done in my handy little stovetop smoker. It looks sort of like a little Weber grill, but it's made by NordicWare.

Yeah, it's not the same as smoking outdoors in a real smoker, but it's still good. And I can use on days when it's too cold and miserable for me to want to poke my toes outdoors.

The key to using the stovetop smoker to its best advantage is to get the temperature adjusted so that it's high enough so that smoke is created, but it's low enough so the wood keeps smoldering for a long time and so the meat cooks very slowly and has time to take on the smoky flavor.

The breast and wing sections were in the smoker low and slow for a couple hours before the breast temp reached 160 degrees.

But we're not done yet. The smoked meat was cooled, then refrigerated. The legs, wings and thigh have been set aside for future use, but the breast was destined for tonight's dinner. I glazed it with some apricot goo I had left over from another recipe, and popped it in the oven to warm up to serving temp. It was already fully cooked from the smoking, so I just wanted the glaze to get happy and the turkey to reach a serving temp.

The meat was moist, tender, and smoky and the apricot glaze added a nice sweet-tart accent. Makes me almost sad that there isn't another turkey in the freezer. Silly me, I forgot to take photos of it right out of the oven, but here it is just as I was packing it up for tomorrow.

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