Leftovers Week: Vegetable & Turkey Casserole

~~posted by Jen




First and Foremost, a big Happy Birthday to Nik, our resident "Pouch Diva." She is taking a couple days off to enjoy her birthday, so y'all are stuck with me for the weekend. Nik, party it up, girl! We love you!!

Left to Right: Nessa, Nik, and Andrea. The guy in front is some random wedding guest in their hotel lobby. Pic by Melting Mama. Thanks, Beff!

Today is our last day of Leftovers Week, we hope you've enjoyed everything we've shared and that you use these recipes to make new meals from your holiday extras. At holiday meal time, everyone always has green bean casserole for the most part, at least where I come from. I made a healthier version of the traditional for the Holiday Preview and shared the recipe a couple weeks back. Well I clearly remember in packing up my things to come home from Baltimore, I still had a four pack of canned green beans leftover.

I know I packed them, I distinctly remember putting them in the re-usable shopping bag with the remaining Atkins baking mix and Splenda to bring back home. What happened to them between my hotel room in Baltimore and my home in New Jersey, only the good Lord knows. All I know is that when I went to make my green bean casserole on Thanksgiving Day, they were NOWHERE to be found! I had 5, yes, I said FIVE, cans of Fried onions. Not. one. single. can. of green beans.

Well of course there is a vegetarian in the house, I can't very well just serve turkey and stuffing and call it a day. Y'all know what I did. I made it WORK, people!!

I always have a ginormous Costco size bag of "Normandy style" (that's cauliflower, broccoli, baby carrots, and yellow squash, what makes it Normandy style is beyond me) vegetables in the freezer.

So I combined the idea of two of my usual Thanksgiving dishes, Green Bean Casserole and Broccoli Casserole, into one dish. A couple days after Thanksgiving, I needed to use up the leftovers, so I added some turkey breast meat to it and called it dinner.

This was a big hit with everyone, and in fact will most likely replace good ole Green Bean Casserole at future holiday meals. Here's how I made it:

Jen's Cheesy Mixed Vegetable Casserole with Turkey


Ingredients:
1 can (10 3/4 ouncese) reduced fat Cream of Mushroom Soup
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon salt
Dash ground pepper
1 tbsp Garlic Powder
1 tbsp Onion Powder
3 cups "Normandy Style" mixed vegetables, thawed
1/4 cup Greek Yogurt
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
1 can stems & pieces mushrooms
2 cups cooked turkey meat, chopped into bite-sized pieces
2/3 cup French Fried Onions


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together the soup, milk, Greek Yogurt, and seasonings. Stir in the vegetable medley, mushrooms, turkey meat, and 1 cup of the shredded cheese. Continue mixing together until thoroughly combined. 


Spray a 3 quart casserole dish with cooking spray, then pour the mixture into the dish. Spread it out evenly with a spatula. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes until it is bubbling and hot. Remove from oven, stir the mixture, then top with remaining cheese and the fried onions. Return to oven for an additional 5 minutes, or until the cheese melts and the onions are crispy.


Note: You can also cook this in the microwave if you prefer, just follow the instructions here. 

Leftovers Week: Nik's Corn, Okra and Tomato (WLS style!)

~by Nikki



Ok, so by now you shouldn't have too many "leftover" leftovers...as in, stuff you cooked on Thanksgiving. We hope you've checked out our recipes so far, made some or have just frozen your stash for late in the winter when you are too weary from shoveling snow to cook. Then you can just pop your leftovers in the oven and have dinner in under an hour!

Today's offering seeks to use up my "other" leftover supply. Things I overbought, thinking I'd use them for Thanksgiving, but I didn't.

Such is the case with corn. I always buy too much of the stuff. In general, my household isn't a big corn eating household. We do like cornbread on occasion (especially with my Turkey/TVP chili), but otherwise, we usually just eat it in the summertime, on the cob, when we're grilling out.

When I realized I had an excess of corn, this recipe immediately came to mind. It's a popular dish in the South. Jen has been slowly convincing me that Maryland is a part of the South. I have been dubious. The fact that my momma made this dish way up here in Maryland while her momma was making it way down in Georgia might be used as evidence to support her case though. :)

At any rate, I switched up my momma's recipe a bit. Hers starts with rendering a LOT of bacon fat, so you can see why I might have wanted to make a few swaps. I do believe, however, I did her dish justice.



Nik's Corn, Okra and Tomato (WLS style)

Ingredients:

1 small onion, diced
2 tsp minced garlic
8 oz. turkey smoked sausage (or kielbasa), sliced and halved
1 pkg frozen corn (or 1 can of sweet corn, drained and rinsed)
1 can chunky diced tomatoes, with juice (I had some Roma's in the fridge that needed to be used so I used about 7 of them in what you see here)
8 oz. (1/2 pkg) frozen cut okra (if you absolutely hate okra, you can use chopped zucchini in its place...and no it doesn't have to be frozen)
1 tbsp chili powder
Salt and pepper, to taste

Optional: (if you like spicy food, like me) 1/2 - 1 tsp Cayenne pepper (depending on your heat tolerance. If you like things just a little kicky, go more toward 1/4 tsp).

Directions:

In a sprayed pan, cook the smoked sausage until you it is a bit blackened on both sides.

Add onions and garlic and cook until thoroughly caramelized (they'll be brownish-yellow in color and very soft).

Add the corn and the tomatoes (juice and all) and allow them to thaw out before finally adding the frozen okra. The okra should go in DEAD LAST. See, the thing about okra is that the more you handle it, the more likely you are to get the characteristic okra "goo." If you throw it in at the end and just stir it occasionally, I PROMISE there will be no goo! If you are using zucchini, add it at this stage also to ensure it doesn't get too soft on you.

Bring it to a boil and then reduce to a simmer and then add your chili powder and cayenne if you choose to use it. Note to my spicy food lovers: don't use more than a tsp. Trust me on this one. All these ingredients absorb spices REALLY well.



Simmer for about another 10 minutes or so and you're ready to serve! This will be my lunch today. It's warm, comforting and a great way to use up corn without taking the express bus to carb town!

Leftovers Week: Nik's Swirly Stuffing Barbecue Meatloaf

First off, I should say…and this is not to brag but…I make the best damn stuffing in the world. I got the recipe from my mother who got it from her mother who got it from HER mother who…well, I don’t know where she got it from but it’s good!

For those who attended the Holiday Preview or who ordered the Portable Preview, you got the recipe for a variation of that stuffing: my low-carb cornbread craisin stuffing. The main difference between that and what I take for the fam is that I don’t use craisins and I added some browned, spicy pork sausage.

Due to a food contribution mishap (one of my cousins brought stuffing and arrived before I did to dinner), I ended up with a lot of extra stuffing. La Petite Diva loves the stuff, but it’s not so great on the stats end. Since I knew we were doing leftovers week, I endeavored to figure out how to get more protein bang for my stuffing buck.

Then the other day I was flipping through a magazine and saw a swirl cake. You guys know about my love of rolling things. Well, just then the idea popped into my head: why not make a swirly meatloaf using my stuffing!

And so it is that I came up with the following recipe:

Nik’s “Swirly Stuffed” Barbeque Turkey Meatloaf

Ingredients:

(This makes a small loaf. I used double everything to make a big loaf with the intention of freezing half)

1 lb. 85/15 or 90/10 lean ground turkey
1 c. textured vegetable protein (if you are going “huh?” click here)
1 small onion, finely diced
1 small green pepper, finely diced
1 egg, beaten
½ c. Italian blend shredded cheese
(in accordance with Jen’s method of binding meatloaf with cheese instead of bread crumbs)
1 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
2 c. prepared stuffing, whatever kind you have
1 c. barbecue sauce, divided
Salt, pepper, garlic powder

Directions:

Mix ground meat and TVP in a bowl. Cover it and walk away for about five minutes. Trust me…walk away! Or better yet, sautee your onions and peppers. Also, set your oven to 350.

Now come back and add your eggs, shredded cheese and soy sauce. Add the onions and peppers and mix well.



Line a cookie sheet with plastic wrap with about 4 inches of overhang on each side of the sheet.



Place your meat on the plastic wrap and press it flat until it reaches about ½ inch thickness. Cover “meat sheet” with stuffing mix.

Using the plastic wrap overhang, fold a third of the meat over onto itself. Peel back wrap and roll the meat again until it forms a log that looks like this:



Transfer the log to a baking pan, seam side down and pinch the sides closed.



Brush with barbecue sauce and then cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and cover with the remaining barbecue sauce and bake an additional 15 minutes.

Allow to cool 10 minutes before cutting.

This dish is a winner! Although, using turkey, the swirl isn’t as apparent as I’d like it to be, I can see it. And the stuffing kept everything wonderfully moist. I didn’t add much salt and seasonings to the meat because there was a lot in the stuffing already.

This dish hit a home run with the divas, my Mom, and my stepdad. I probably wouldn’t make it outside Thanksgiving (stuffing is not safe in my house), but it’s a nifty recipe. I would tell you how well it keeps in the fridge...but it's gone already. Even the extra I made to freeze...

I imagine mashed potatoes would work in place of stuffing if that’s your thing. This year I infused my mashed potatoes with Any Whey unflavored protein and NOBODY knew the difference (seriously…that stuff is like magic…). So with the meat, the TVP and the protein mashed potatoes, that would be a slam dunk of nutrition!

Enjoy!

BF Basics: Making Stock

~~posted by Jen

Veggie pieces hit the stock pot

Leftovers week continues, so today I'm sharing an easy way to make stock. This is a terrific use for all those leftover vegetable stems and pieces, plus it utilizes the bones from your turkey, chicken, or beef. This is more the basic "method" for making stock, not so much an actual recipe. It starts out as straight up vegetable stock, then change it to meat stock based on whatever bones you add to it.

My turkey carcass and all the veggies I used during roasting all go in the stock pot

Since I now have a resident vegetarian, that is how all this started. He will only eat fish or seafood, so I can't use chicken stock in any of the things I make for him. Vegetable and mushroom stock from the store get kind of pricey, so I figured there had to be a cheaper way to make this at home. And there is!

What I do is this, every time I cut up fresh vegetables, I save all the peels, stems, etc that would normally go down the disposal get stashed in a zip-top bag in the freezer. Then when I'm ready to make stock, I just take it out of the freezer and away we go! (Yes, even onion peels, I know it sounds weird, but just go with it.) You can also freeze the bones and roasting vegetables whenever you roast a chicken, they'll keep in the freezer for up to 2 months if you don't want to make stock right away.

Pot full of goodness, ready to simmer all night

I make mine in the crock pot, this is the easiest way I have found and doesn't require standing over a hot stove or stirring all the time. I use a 6 quart Crock Pot. Here's how it's done:

Jen's Easy Basic Vegetable Stock
Ingredients:
Stems, peels, and pieces of assorted vegetables from my "Stock Pot Bag" (usually includes: carrot ends; celery leaves & core; cabbage core & outer leaves; potato peels; onion stems, peels, & cores; pepper stems, cores, & seeds; mushroom stems; asparagus stems; eggplant stems; stems from fresh herbs; root ends from scallions.)
2 full heads of garlic cut in half, peelings on
8 large tomatoes cut into chunks, core, peel, and all (or 2 large cans whole tomatoes)
3 large carrots, cut into pieces, peels and ends included
4 celery stalks, cut into pieces, ends and leaves included
3 tbsp Salt
1 tbsp Pepper
4 tbsp Garlic Powder
4 tbsp Onion Powder
2 tbsp ground Cumin
2 bunches Fresh Herbs of your choice: good ones include Parsley or Chives 
Water


Directions: Add the vegetables to the crock pot, then cover completely with water. Add the seasonings and top with the herbs. Stir together, then cook on high for 2 hours just to bring it to a good simmer.


Reduce the heat on the crockpot to low and let it simmer all night, for at least 10 hours. Cool completely, then strain through a mesh strainer. Pour into ice cube trays and freeze. Once the trays are frozen, remove the cubes to a freezer bag for storage.

My cooled and strained broth, ready for ice cube trays and the freezer

Poultry or Meat Stock Variation:
Add the meat bones or poultry carcasses (don't forget the veggies and herbs you used during roasting, add those too!) to the pot first. I usually use an 8 quart Crockpot for Chicken or Beef Stock. Then follow directions as above for the vegetable stock. Your choice of herbs may vary, for chicken or turkey stock I usually add some fresh rosemary, sage, and thyme. For beef, I use lots more mushroom stems and fresh thyme, also add some Montreal Steak Seasoning with the herbs. 

Leftovers Week: Jen's Mediterranean Vegetables with Turkey

~~posted by Jen

Today's feature for Leftovers Week is turkey. We probably all still have some hanging around. My boys and I loved the Gobble It Down Pizza so much on Sunday that I made it again last night. You can substitute leftover chicken breast for the turkey and it's just as yummy. Later today I'll share the BF Basics of Making Stock, so you can finally get those turkey carcasses out of the way.

You've heard me mention the resident vegetarian on occasion, and since I do 98% of the cooking here, I am learning lots of tasty new ways to create vegetarian dishes so you don't "miss the meat." That's how today's dish started out.

We have an awesome farmer's market not far from here, and usually once or twice a week we swing through there and check out the deals. Inevitably, we load up and come home with tons of awesome veggies. This trip was no exception. They have the absolute BEST sundried tomatoes there, so good you could eat them straight from the container and we frequently do.

I call this "Mediterranean" because it sounds fancier than "Italian" and has lots of the veggies used in that region: Portabello Mushrooms, Sun-dried tomatoes, and Zucchini. Here's how it goes:

Jen's Mediterranean Vegetables with Turkey
Ingredients:
4 medium zucchini, cut into quarters 
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes (packed dry, not in oil) roughly chopped
4 portabello mushrooms caps, chopped into bite-size pieces
1 can petite diced tomatoes, with the juice
1 small sweet onion, peeled and chopped
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and roughly chopped
1/2 stick butter or margarine
2 tbsp Extra Virgin Oil Oil
1/2 cup chicken stock or vegetable stock
1 cup leftover turkey meat, cut into chunks
1 tbsp Pesto Concentrate (on the Italian foods aisle, comes in a tube, right by the tomato paste tubes)
1 tbsp Garlic Powder
1 tbsp Onion Powder
1 tbsp Italian Seasoning
1 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
2 cups shredded 6-cheese Italian Blend
Optional: 1 pound cooked whole wheat penne pasta (this was for the non-ops, I can't handle pasta at all)


Directions:
Save the stems from the mushrooms and whatever remnants you cut off the other vegetables in a plastic bag in the fridge, you'll need these later when we make stock. 


Preheat a large non-stick skillet on top of the stove. Once it's hot, add the butter/margarine and the olive oil. Add all the vegetables and saute for a few minutes. 


Stir in the stock and seasonings, cover the skillet, and let it cook until the vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally for about 6 to 8 minutes. 


Add the turkey and stir together until completely combined. Sprinkle the cheese over the top and cover the skillet again so it melts. Serve over pasta if you choose.   

Leftovers Week: Jen's Gobble It Down Pizza

~~posted by Jen

By the Sunday after Thanksgiving, your family is probably moaning and groaning about still having to eat turkey sandwiches (mine already is) so you need to use up all that food but make it look and taste different, right? That's where we come in with Leftovers Week. Starting tomorrow, Nik and I will share two recipes with you each day to "Remix" those holiday leftovers into something delicious that fits your plan AND your family will enjoy! Added bonus, they probably won't even notice it's leftovers!!

If you haven't already done so, go ahead and remove the rest of the turkey from the bone (don't throw the carcass away, we're making stock later this week!), and get your other leftovers organized in the fridge or freezer so you have easy access to them for makeovers this week. That way you're all set to use these yummy recipe ideas all week.

Since it's Sunday and my boys are watching football and/or hockey on tv, I usually make them up some snacks to enjoy during the game(s). They were complaining about turkey sandwiches, so I came up with what I think is pretty clever, it's definitely delicious, and can be cut into perfect sized party "bites" for appetizers on game day or if guests drop by. This is your first taste of "Leftovers Week!" I call it "Gobble It Down Thanksgiving Pizza."

Before I had my RNY Gastric Bypass surgery in July 2008, my favorite thing about Thanksgiving leftovers was taking some turkey, stuffing, and cranberry sauce and making a sandwich on smushy white bread with lots of mayonnaise. This may not sound like a great combination, but oh my Martha is it tasty together.

I probably couldn't even handle half of one these days, for which I am thankful, but it's one of those "food memories" I wanted to find a way to re-create. Y'all know what that means! Yep, to the "lab" for some experimenting. On a side note, my kitchen now has a new larger fridge and a dishwasher, this benefits y'all more than you may realize!

S'anyway, I was thinking on this idea, and originally I was going to make the same sandwich on an Arnold Thin. But then I thought, "Nahhh", because to me the white bread and mayo are part of what makes this sandwich so divine. Then, as I was testing out the new Arnold "Artisan Ovens" Flatbreads, I had a moment of inspiration. How about a Thanksgiving PIZZA???? 

By George, it is DELICIOUS!!! Even the vegetarian scarfed it down, he picked the turkey off his slices. Here's how I did it:

Jen's Gobble It Down Pizza

Ingredients: (for 2 pizzas, yields 12 small square slices)
2 Arnold Multigrain Flatbread thins
4 tbsp leftover Jen's Sugar Free Cranberry Sauce (jellied or whole berry is fine, your choice)
2 tbsp mayonnaise (light is ok, but don't use fat free or it will taste "off")
4 oz leftover roast turkey or chicken breast, cut into small pieces or shredded
2 oz leftover stuffing
1 cup shredded Italian 6-cheese blend

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the two flatbreads side by side, a couple inches apart, on a non-stick cookie sheet. 

In a small bowl, whisk together the cranberry sauce and mayonnaise. Spread half of the mixture evenly over each flatbread, this is your pizza "sauce."

Sprinkle the turkey meat evenly over the sauce. Then spoon the stuffing into small rounds, I made "pepperoni" from the stuffing. This way you get some in almost every bite without complete carb overload!

Now sprinkle cheese evenly over the top of each pizza. If you like yours less cheesy, you can certainly use less. I tend to like lots of cheese on my pizza, plus it's extra protein and the richness of the cheese complements the sweet tanginess of the cranberries very nicely.

Bake at 350 for 8 to 10 minutes, until heated through and cheese is melted. The pic at the beginning of the post is the finished pizza, fresh out of the oven.

Let cool slightly, then cut each pizza into 6 squares for serving. Don't forget, the cook gets the first bite! Delicious!

 Don't want to serve them now? Assemble the pizzas but don't bake. Instead, freeze them in airtight freezer bags, then the next time guests stop by unannounced or you kids want a quick snack, you're all set! Pull the pizzas out of the freezer then bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.