This year our Thanksgiving was a quiet affair with just my dad and myself. Greg and Betsy were in Boston and couldn’t come home. Wednesday, I had received a call from Greg but I was watching Mockingjay with a friend and when I called him back he was busy. It was about 1:30 am, when Greg finally was able to call me back. And when he did, I was the first one to find out that he had proposed to Betsy! I’m happy to welcome Betsy into our family!
Good news aside, my post today is about what I did with leftover turkey. I love me some turkey, but I’m not really fond of leftover turkey. I don’t do turkey salad or turkey sandwiches, so I have to find a way to use the leftovers. The question was: What should I do with the leftovers? Last year I made them into a potpie. I had to work the Packer game so I needed something I could put together and let sit on the stove while I was up at the stadium. This year I decided on making them into a soup.
I found a few recipes that looked promising. The one I decided on was a White Turkey Chili.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon stick margarine or butter
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 tablespoon minced seeded jalapeno pepper
1 garlic clove, minced
3 cups chopped cooked turkey (about 15 ounces)
2 (19-ounce) cans cannellini beans or other white beans, drained and divided
2 (16-ounce) cans fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 (4.5-ounce) can chopped green chiles
1 cup frozen whole-kernel corn
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 cup 1% low-fat milk
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Directions:
Melt the margarine in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion and next 4 ingredients (onion through garlic), and saute 5 minutes. Add turkey, 1 1/2 cups beans, broth, and next 6 ingredients (broth through black pepper), and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes.
Mash remaining beans. Add mashed beans and milk to the turkey mixture. Simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes or until mixture is thick, stirring frequently. Stir in chopped cilantro.
I followed the directions, with only a few minor changes. I used about half the amount of onions, omitted the celery, doubled the garlic and only used one can of beans. But I think it turned out for the best, I don’t like a whole lot of beans in my chili.
It got the seal of approval from my dad so it must have been good.
What do you guys do with your turkey leftovers?
Crafty Llama by Lonie 