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Leftover Turkey?
A Gourmet Treat
By Deborah Taylor-Hough
It's that wonderful time of year again -- pumpkins, autumn
leaves, crisp days, and ... leftover turkey. Oh, my! What on earth can you do
with those never-ending leftovers besides serving one more cold turkey sandwich?
I personally love Turkey leftovers. I even plan the size of
turkey I buy based on how much I want left over (the more, the merrier!). I use
leftover turkey in meals I prepare ahead of time to store in the freezer (a
delicious freezer-friendly recipe follows), but I also dice and shred some of
the meat to store in two-cup freezer containers (or zip-top bags) for an easy
addition to meals I'm preparing during the week. Skillet meals, casseroles, and
shredded meat sandwiches become quick and simple "on-the-go" family meals.
If you're in need of a wonderful recipe for roasted turkey, feel
free to use my family's traditional turkey recipe. It even comes complete with
freeze-ahead instructions to save you time and energy on the holiday. To
retrieve the instructions and recipe via email autoresponder, simply send an
email to: turkey@sendfree.com
Now, on to those gourmet leftover treats I promised!
Gourmet Turkey Sandwich
Sourdough bread
Jellied cranberry sauce
Cream cheese
Leftover turkey meat (white meat, preferably)
Spread cranberry sauce and cream cheese on opposite sides of
bread, and then simply layer on some cold left- over turkey meat (I personally
prefer slices of white meat in this sandwich).
Oh, goodness ... just thinking about this sandwich makes me
hungry!
Turkey-Stuffed Manicotti
8 servings
(Reprinted with permission from 'Frozen Assets: How to Cook for
a Day, Eat for a Month' by Deborah Taylor-Hough)
2 tablespoons butter, melted
4 cups cooked turkey meat, chopped or shredded
2 cups ricotta cheese
Ground black pepper to taste
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
2 green onions, chopped
1 teaspoon dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
2 eggs, lightly beaten
4 cups tomato sauce, or 2 jars (15-oz.) spaghetti sauce
16 manicotti shells, cooked until just barely softened
In large skillet, brown turkey in butter for 2 - 4 minutes. Mix
turkey with ricotta cheese. Add pepper, Parmesan, green onions, parsley,
rosemary and egg; mix well. Cover bottom of baking pans with one cup tomato
sauce.
**Stuff manicotti shells with turkey mixture; place in baking
pan(s) and cover with remaining sauce. Cover baking pan(s) with foil; label and
freeze.
To Serve: Thaw. Sprinkle 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese over manicotti.
Baked uncovered at 350 F for 35 minutes, or until bubbly and hot in the center.
- **I've found that cooling the manicotti shells completely before stuffing
them (just run the cooked noodles under cold water in a colander), makes the
stuffing process much easier than attempting to stuff hot noodles. I've also
discovered that a long
- handled infant feeding spoon (with a tiny bowl) works perfectly for
stuffing manicotti shells.
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For more information on cooking ahead for the freezer, consider joining
the Frozen Assets Email Discussion -- share tips, recipes and
encouragement with cooks from around the world. Discover the time and
money-saving benefits of freezer-meal cooking. For details, archives,
and subscribing information, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/frozen-assets/ Deborah
Taylor-Hough (work-at-home mother of three) is the author of the popular
book, 'Frozen Assets: How to cook for a day and eat for a month, and the
recently released 'Frugal Living For Dummies(r)' (Wiley Publishing,
2003). For more articles and freee-newsletters, visit Debi online at:
http://hometown.aol.com/dsimple/
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