Turkey Leftovers

What to do, what to do ... so many choices!  Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm!  If I run out of turkey before recipes I am privileged to be the proud recipient of 4 frozen turkeys courtesy of my dear Dad.  He knows the way to my heart is finding a great deal on groceries!  Brings a tear to my eye!

After I drop Mike off at the Park And Ride at 5:50 A.M. (!!!!!!) and after I take Anna and Mary to the orthodontist and after we finish school then I plan to evaluate my current turkey stash.  There were 4 gallon sized bags of turkey leftover after Thanksgiving, one of which I gave to John.  Once I evaluate the amount left I plan to, at the very least, make:

Turkey Pot Pie
White Turkey Chili
BBQ Turkey Kolaches

By the time we finish those off I figure we'll be sick of turkey and ready for some beef.  I'd really like to make some Turkey Enchiladas as well but have to confess that I know none of the littler kids like enchiladas.  I can't really understand why but it's a fact.  Weird kids.  Enchiladas are the perfect ratio of meat, sauce, green chills, corn tortillas and cheese.  They are like the Zingers of Mexican food.  One day I'm sure my kids will embrace this reality but until then I make them quesadillas instead.  Sheeesh.

This could possibly be a doozy of a week.  I'm not thinking too far in advance in an effort to curb a panic attack.  It's back to reality after the Thanksgiving break.  Hohum.  Mike will be gone, dance twice per week, chess three times, Wednesday night church fellowship, ortho appointments and so on and so on.  Tuesdays and Thursdays HAVE to be crockpot meals or I will, in my a weak restaurant-loving state, find a "Family Night" place to eat ... even the thought of it brings Chick-Fil-A on Tuesday and Wahoo's on Thursday to mind ... Satan get behind me!  So, my thoughts are as follows:

Monday: Turkey Pot Pies
Tuesdays: Crockpot Turkey Chili
Wednesday: Burgers and Fries (this is a mercy meal for my kids sake)
Thursday: BBQ Turkey Kolaches (hopefully with extras to freeze for the drive home from church)
Friday: Pizza (unless I can talk the family into a secret Holiday plan I've been formulating *)
Saturday: Date Night, Date Night, Date Night (I don't really care what the kids eat as long as I get to escape for a minimum of 2 hours)
Sunday: Nachos or Leftovers!

Sound good?

*I'm thinking on Friday nights until Christmas we should pick our favorite Christmas movies to watch one per week and plan our meal around the movie.  For example, for Christmas Story we'd have Chinese Food (Fa-ra-ra-ra-ra Ra-ra-ra-ra!) or Elf we'd have "candy, candy corn, candy canes and syrup" (Ok, I'd have to work on that one but you get the idea).

** Amended Monday Night: I made Ree Drummond's Turkey Pot Pie Recipe but I put frozen biscuits on the top instead of pie crust.  Mmmmmm!  It was delightful!  I also added potatoes because I found Ben eating handfuls of my diced turkey at lunch time leaving me lacking ... don't worry, he still has both hands, I simply told him to step away OR he'd lose a hand.

Thanksgiving 2012

We had a lovely, relatively small Thanksgiving this year.  John's family and my parents came making for a total of a mere 18 guests.  John brought the turkeys and some rockin' Adobo Chili Mashed Potatoes and my parents brought our favorite stuffing and cranberries.  Oh, and John also brought wine and champagne.  Mmmmmm!  

"Grown-Ups" Table ... using that term very loosely.

Kids Table

To make room for us all, in that our Dining Room is currently our School Room, I put two long tables down through the Family Room on into the School Room.  It worked really well!  

John made two turkeys.  One was Alton Browns recipe where you brine the turkey and fill it with lots of aromatics.  The second, was America's Test Kitchen's Traditional Stuffed Turkey where you cover it with salt pork for the first two hours stuffed.  Then you remove the salt pork, unstuff it (baking the stuffing separately) and finish cooking the turkey.  In my humble, food-loving opinion, the America's Test Kitchen recipe was the best.  Alton's was dryer and not as flavorful.  The ATK recipe, using delicious salt pork along with a stuffing, gives the turkey and amazing flavor!  So, so yummy!  

For an appetizer I made Ina Garten's Sausage Stuffed Mushrooms!  Oh my, oh my so wonderful!  Lizzy ate the leftover stuffing with a spoon for lunch.  

We also played hours of football and had a roaring firepit.  The younger kids, John and I had a hilarious time telling silly, scary stories with a flashlight.  This, for these little kids, really just involved making up funny words and giggling a lot.  We were very, very thankful to be home with family this year.  I love my family.  I love being in Colorado where I can watch my nieces and nephews grow up and where I can watch my parents and brothers grow old.  That last part sounds odd I suppose but when we were in Texas I felt like I was missing my parents "golden" years.  It's nice to share the aches and pains of aging with family by your side.  

The Troops Return

The dino riding troops have returned from South Dakota!  What a strange season in life I am in where 6 kids go on a vacation with Daddy while I stay home with the 3 older kids and a toddler because of the older kids classes and work.  Very, very strange indeed.  This is Lizzy, Anna, Rachel, Jacob, Ben and Timothy at Dinosaur Hill in Rapid City.  Great picture, Mike!

This is what the laundry room looked like 45 minutes before they got home.  I got every single bit of dirty laundry done while they were away.  Every towel, sheet, comforter, article of clothing, washcloth, sock ... everything and for that 45 minutes I basked in the emptiness of those hampers.  Then they returned.  7 sleeping bags, 3 days of clothes for 7 people equaling 21 outfits although I'm fairly confident a few kids wore the same clothes ALL three days!  Ewww!  I was reassured that teeth were brushed and fruit was eaten.  Oh, and the pillow cases which look like they've been lived on for 3 days.  Bleh.

The trip was a fantastic success.  A great time was had by all!  And, now that they are home, Thanksgiving can begin!  Hooray!

Spanakorizo (Greek Spinach Rice)

Recipe courtesy of http://www.closetcooking.com
(makes 4 servings)

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion (chopped)
2 cloves garlic (chopped)
1 bunch spinach (roughly chopped)
1 cup long grained rice (I used brown rice)
2 1/2 cups chicken broth (or water)
1/4 cup parsley (chopped)
1/4 cup dill (chopped)
salt and pepper to taste
1 lemon (juice and zest)
1/4 cup feta (crumbled, optional)

Directions:
1. Heat the oil in a pan.
2. Add the onion and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
3. Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about a minute.
4. Add the and spinach and cook until the spinach wilts.
5. Add the rice, chicken stock, parsley, dill and season with salt and pepper and bring to a boil.
6. Reduce the heat, cover and simmer until the rice is cooked, about 20 minutes (50 minutes for brown rice).
7. Hit with a splash lemon juice and garnish with feta.

I stumbled onto this recipe tonight while looking for a side dish for grilled, Greek chicken.  It was delightful!!!!  Yum, yum, yum!  I love spinach.  I love rice.  I love Greek food .  Those are the facts.  (Not necessarily in that order.)

Time Travel

I have temporarily been transported back in time ... to a time when I only had 3 little kids and, once John picks up his kids, Winston and Lily, I'll just have Eli here with me.  Mike left this morning with Ben, Jacob, Timmy, Anna, Rachel and Lizzy to visit his dad in South Dakota.  Mary and Luke are at school all day and Joe is working.  The house is SO QUIET!  While the 3 littles were playing in the blanket fort we built in the front room, I thought I'd turn on a morning news show while I drank my coffee ... I mean no one is here to home school or beg to watch Ninjago so why not?!  I flipped through all the channels and couldn't find any shows that resembled any thing I watched back in the day.  I think the last morning news show I watched had Garth Brooks as a musical guest.  The musical guests I saw this morning were definitely NOT Garth Brooks.  Ew.  I turned it off and cleaned out my pantry.  Hohum.  So lonely without my loud, rowdy, busy, messy, hilarious, loving, snuggly kiddos.   Winston, Lily and Eli are equally as bored.  There is no one here to tell them what they are playing today.  Now it is nap time and despite the occasional, "Aunt Kafryn, is it time for me to get up yet?", from Winnie, the house is spookily scary.  For years ALL my kids napped in the afternoons and then gradually they graduated to reading and finally to working or classes so they aren't here altogether.  This reminds me of the napping days.  I'd make my lunch and eat it, ALONE, while watching cooking shows.  I did the same today but it seems to have lost it's magic.  I like watching the cooking shows with my older kids now.  We can oooo and ahhh and, if I'm lucky, one of them (MARY!) might actually make the recipe for me.  At least I know tonight my older kids will be home to entertain me.  Until then the littles and I will try to make do.  I think a tea party my boost my spirits this afternoon ...