Thanksgiving was last week and if you traveled over the river and through the woods to visit “Grandma’s house” you're probably back home and have been gradually tapping the final stash of leftovers from the take-home goodies Grandma gave you: turkey, gravy, dressing, cranberry sauce, rolls, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and pumpkin pie.
But if you're the grandma you've probably got a Ziploc bag of leftovers in your fridge screaming at you to be creative with its contents. But what do you do with one dried out turkey leg, part of a wing and bits and pieces of light and dark meat? Most of the good stuff went to your kids and their families.
That's what happened in my house, and I questioned myself why I didn't give it all away. I'm sick of turkey!
I asked Nelly (my inner child).
“So, are you the one who decided to keep some of the turkey when I was making up the “to go” boxes?”
“Yep!”
“Why’d you do that?”
“Because I like the drumstick and I didn’t get to have one on Thanksgiving because you said the real kids would want them and then they didn’t even take one but Pa Pa Gary ate one.”
“So, when you saw the other one was left, you put it in the bag to keep?”
“Yep! And I like wings too, especially the skin and now that we’re on this low carb diet thing we can eat all the skin on chickens we want and I knew we’d get to eat all the skin on the turkey so that’s why we’ve got a wing. What happened to the tips of the wings? I like that skin too!”
“Well when Gary carved the turkey he broke off that part of the wings and then those tips got put in the pot to make turkey soup. Remember we tasted one after it had simmered for several hours and it had no taste?”
“Yeah, I didn’t like it one bit! It was like chewin’ on a slug ‘cept I’ve never chewed on one, but it was all floppy and jellyish. Ick!”
“So, now what Nelly? We’ve got to decide today, because you can’t keep turkey very long. Do you want any of it today?”
“NO! I’m sick of turkey! I want something else, like steak or a pork chop. Don’t make me eat more turkey, please!”
“Whoa, settle down, we won’t have turkey today! How ‘bout a little turkey soup though?”
“NO! Please, I’ve had four cups of that soup and I’m done. Let’s dump it!”
“Well, no, we can freeze it and have it in a couple of weeks. I think I’ll freeze the Ziploc bag of turkey too, because it’s still very tasty and I agree with you I’m also sick of turkey.”
Thank heavens for freezers! Because the leftover turkey is dry, I’m going to grind it up in the Cuisinart and freeze it for use in a casserole next month, or add some mayo and make turkey salad. The turkey soup (broth) can be used anytime I need broth for many recipes I use, and it’s always nice to have a nice hot cup of broth as a pick-me-up in the afternoon on these cold winter days.
If you're sick of turkey, freeze it. I promise that you'll want turkey again...someday.
Here's a poem I wrote about having Thanksgiving at my house when I was a young mother. (I recorded it so you can listen.) http://blog.cluborganized.com/a-traditional-thanksgiving-poem-like-youve-never-heard-before-0-0
Love,
