My Favorite Leftover Turkey Rice Soup

(muchkneadedrecipes.com)

My favorite thing to make with Thanksgiving Leftovers is Turkey Rice Soup!  Below is the Recipe.  (I also love Turkey Pesto Sandwiches made with turkey, pesto, sourdough bread, and provolone cheese, all cooked like a toasted cheese sandwich!  Mmmmmmm.)  What are your favorites?

TURKEY RICE SOUP

1 turkey carcass

Leftover turkey

Cooked rice

Grated carrots

1 thinly sliced onion

Sage

Pepper

Salt

Boil one turkey carcass with the meat mostly removed along with an whole onion and a celery stick or two for 1-12 hours...however long you have time for.  Drain broth, and return the broth to the empty pot.  Add leftover turkey, onion, cooked rice, grated carrots, Sage, Pepper, and Salt to taste (You have to taste it because the amount of spice depends on how much broth you have.  Boil for 30 min.  Super easy and delicious!  (You can also make this in the crockpot, just put the finished broth, raw carrots (use sliced carrots for the crockpot), spices, and cooked turkey in on low for 4-8 hours, and add cooked rice at the end.)

Friday Pizza Night

(allrecipes.com)

We have a friday night tradition of pizza and a family movie. One way we make it healthier is making Pita Pizzas.  Here's the recipe:

Take one whole wheat pita round per person.  Top with spaghetti sauce, cheese, turkey pepperoni, or turkey sausage and veggies.  Bake at 400 for about 8-10 min. or until cheese is bubbly.

So easy and fun!

My Favorite Cooking Website

skinnytaste.com

I love the Skinnytaste.com website because everything I've made from it is DELICIOUS!  And healthy!  My family loves it too! And the recipes are pretty quick to prepare. We just recently made this  Embarrassingly Easy Crockpot Salsa Chicken:

(skinnytaste.com)

And it was AWESOME!  Have fun exploring and experimenting on the site!  You'll be glad you did!

Corndog Casserole

Note: Next humor story: Nov. 1st!

1/4 lb. margarine
2/3 C sugar
2 eggs
1C cornmeal
1 C flour
1/2t salt
1/2t baking soda
1 C buttermilk
hotdogs, cut up

Beat together flour and sugar. Mix in eggs. Mix together the rest of the dry ingredients. Add alternately to butter/sugar mix with buttermilk. Beat until just combined. Stir in hot dog pieces. Pour into greased 9x9 dish. Bake at 375 degrees for 30-40 minutes. Yum!

Sunday Ham and Lipton Potatoes

Note: Next Humor story Nov. 1st!

I love to make this crockpot on Sunday so it is ready when I come home

1 pre cooked ham or turkey ham, sliced
enough potatoes to feed your family peeled and quartered
2 T olive oil
1 bag lipton onion soup mix, or just enough to coat the potatoes

Mix potatoes, oil, and soup mix in crockpot. Cook 8-9 hrs. on low or 5-6 hrs. on high.
When you get home from church, warm up the ham slices in the microwave on a plate and serve next to the potatoes. Delicious!

Hot Beefs

Next humor story Nov. 1st!

This is one of my mom's recipes that we love! It takes a long time, but it's crockpot so it's no fuss.

4-5 lbs beef roast (any cut)
1 small onion chopped
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can beef broth
garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste
1 or 2 T worcestershire sauce
buns

Start this dinner before you go to bed the night before you want it for dinner. Put roast in crockpot and sprinkle with spices. Add onions, soup, Worcestershire, and broth and mix toward the bottom. Cook on low overnight and all day until dinner time. Shred beef with forks and mix with liquid. Serve on buns.

Pastrami Green Bean Salad

I realized I had forgotten to post a recipe on Friday so here is one of my lunch favorites...weird but delicious! Next humor story Oct 1st!

1 Can green beans (cut)
4 slices turkey pastrami, cut into chunks
1 light cheese stick sliced into chunks
7 almonds (whole)

Heat green beans for 3 minutes in microwave. Drain. Mix in the rest of the ingredients and enjoy! (Optional: you can add a garden tomato or some canned mushrooms too if you like) (Serves 1)

Quick Summer Tomato Crab Salad

Note: next humor story Aug. 1st! July one posted below.

Imitation crab meat, shredded
Garden Tomatoes, chopped
Shell shaped pasta, cooked
Mayonnaise

We put all of these ingredients in separate bowls and let everyone build and mix their own salad the way they like it in their own bowl. That way the mayonnaise dressing is fresh right when you eat it, and it hasn't soaked into the noodles. (We only make this when we have fresh tomatoes from our garden...store bought tomatoes just don't do it justice)

Speedy Fake Spaghettios

Note: Next humor story June 1st! May story posted below.

I make this more healthy and cheap version of Spaghettios for my kids, but I like it too for lunch. It's nice because it only takes 2 minutes in the microwave.

1 serving

1/4 c couscous
1/4 c spaghetti sauce (or more if you like it more saucey) (click here for recipe. I like to keep some on hand in the fridge)
1 mozarella cheese stick

Put the couscous and 1/2 c water in the microwave. Microwave for 2 minutes. Let sit one minute. Pour on spaghetti sauce and cut the cheese into chunks and mix all together and serve. (note: the cold sauce will cool down the couscous so it is just the right temp)

Toasted Reuben Sandwiches

Note: Next humor story June 1st. May humor story posted below.

Dark Rye bread
Deli Corned beef (Sometimes I use pastrami if I don't have corned beef)
Canned saurkraut
swiss cheese, sliced
light mayonnaise
ketchup
butter

Preheat griddle to medium high. Mix together ketchup and mayo until it turns a pink color (or you can just use Thousand Island dressing instead). Butter the rye bread. Place one bread, butter side down, on the griddle. Spread a layer of ketchup and mayo mix on the bread. Then add meat, cheese, and saurkraut on top. Place other slice of bread, butter side up, on top of sandwich. When the bread has browned, flip and toast the other side until golden brown. Delicious!

Sunday Chicken

Note: Next humor story June 1st! May humor story posted below.

This recipe is what I love to cook on Sundays because it is almost no work and tastes like rotisserie chicken. (It's also a frugal way to make Sunday special)

1 family size package of bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs (or leg quarters)
Seasoning salt

I usually have one of these packages of chicken in the freezer. I take it out of the freezer Sunday morning at 8 or 9am and cook it in the microwave for 10 minutes so that I can pry the pieces apart. Then I place them, still frozen, in a large crockpot. Season liberally with the seasoning salt. Cook on high all day until dinner time around 5 or 6pm. Remove chicken to a platter and keep warm. Make a gravy with the chicken drippings at the bottom of the crockpot. You may need to add salt to the gravy. Serve hot with rice or potatoes. (We don't eat the skin on the chicken, but cooking it with the skin gives the chicken and gravy more flavor)

(The leftovers from this meal make an excellent chicken pot pie! Just mix the chicken/potatoes/gravy together, add a frozen veggie and cook under a pie shell until done).

Easiest Pizza Dough

Note: Next Humor story will be May 1st. Apr. story posted below.

This fast easy dough cooks up crusty on the edge of the pan and soft on the inside of the cookie sheet pan so you can please both types of dough lovers. You can make this dough in a bread maker on the dough cycle too...just put wet ingredients on the bottom and dry on the top.

Makes 2 cookie sheet size pizzas

1 1/4 C warm water
1 scant T Yeast
3 1/2 C Flour
1t salt
2T Olive oil

Put yeast in water and let sit for a minute. In a stand mixer with a dough hook add flour, salt, and olive oil. Mix. Add Yeast mixture and mix. If dough looks too crumbly add a tiny bit more water (2-4 T) until it forms a soft but not sticky dough ball. Mix for 10 minutes to make a more elastic dough. (This dough does not need to rest or rise. You can start rolling it right away) (if you don't have a dough hook you can use a regular mixing attachment to mix the dough)

Cut dough ball in half to make two pizzas. Spray two cookie sheets and your counter top with cooking spray. Use rolling pin to roll out dough on the sprayed counter in the shape of your pan. Lift dough to your pan. Use fingers or a small pastry roller to roll the dough to the edges of pan. (To clean cooking spray off counter use first a dry towel then a wet cloth...it comes off easily this way). Top your pizza with sauce, cheese and toppings. Bake one at a time in a 425 degree oven for 15 minutes (check at 10-12 min.). Serve hot.

Lemon Chicken Couscous, the ultimate fast food

Note: Next humor story on May 1st. The April humor story is posted below.

I love to eat this for lunch. This recipe makes one bowl for one person. You can make more bowls for more people if you desire since it only takes 2 minutes to cook.

1/4 C couscous (can get in bulk section of grocery store)
1/2 C water
1 lemon
1/4 C ready to serve grilled chicken pieces (we get ours from Costco, or just use leftover chicken)
Salt and pepper

Put couscous and water in a bowl. Microwave for 2 minutes. Let sit 1 minute. Warm up chicken in microwave. Add chicken pieces to couscous. Salt and pepper to taste. Take a lemon zester and add the zest of the lemon to the couscous. Cut lemon in half and squeeze both halves over the couscous and chicken. Serve.

The BEST Pizza/Spaghetti Sauce

Note: next humor story May 1st! April Humor story posted below.

This is the best recipe I have ever found.

1 14.5oz Can S&W tomato sauce (S&W is the sweetest and thickest sauce so it's better than other brands)
1/2 t garlic powder (or 1 clove fresh garlic, crushed)
1/4 t oregano
1/2 t basil
1/4 t salt
1t sugar
1t parsley flakes

Mix all together in the morning. Let sit in fridge for flavors to blend. Microwave until warm before serving. (You can add cooked, crumbled ground beef too if you desire)

Homemade Hamburger Helper

Note: Next Humor story Apr. 1st. The March story is posted below.

This is one of the kids' favorite dishes. It has a kind of sweet flavor they enjoy.

1 lb. hamburger
1 t onion powder
2 cans tomato soup
1/2 of a 13oz. can evaporated milk
2T brown sugar
1 1/2 T Worcestershire sauce
1t salt
1/4 t pepper
3 or 4 C uncooked egg noodles

Fry hamburger in a non stick frying pan until no longer pink. Add soup (undiluted), seasonings, milk, sugar, and worcestershire sauce. Simmer 15 minutes. Cook noodles in boiling, salted water and drain. Add noodles to meat mixture and stir together. Serve warm.

Monte Cristo Sandwiches

NOTE: Next Humor story April 1st! (The March humor story is posted below). Also, see the sidebar for links to my recent author interviews on other websites. The following recipe is a family favorite of ours. Hope you enjoy!

Whole Wheat Bread Slices
Eggs, beaten
Ham, sliced
Mozzarella cheese, sliced or grated

Grease the surface of a griddle. Dip each bread slice in beaten egg on both sides. Fry one side until egg is cooked, then turn. Add ham and cheese on half of the bread slices. When egg is done and cheese is melted, top with the other egg coated bread to form a sandwich. Serve hot.

Yummy Healthy Egg Rolls

NOTE: Next Humor story April 1st!

1 package egg roll wrappers
1/4 lb. cooked hamburger
3/4 package cabbage slaw
Salt and pepper to taste

Boil cabbage for about 1-3 minutes until slightly wilted. Drain and put in a medium mixing bowl. Add hamburger, salt and pepper. Place 2-4T filling on a corner of each egg roll wrapper. Roll half way, fold in corners, and roll the rest of the way, sealing the edge with a tiny bit of water.

Spray the egg rolls with cooking spray. Spray an electric griddle with cooking spray. Cook on medium high heat turning until all sides are browned and crispy. To make a quick savory dipping sauce mix 1/4 c soy sauce with 1/4 c vinegar.

Chicken Quesadillas

Note: Next humor story Mar. 1st!

These Quesadillas are modeled after the ones at Chilis because my husband loves them.

1 package tortillas
Butter
Monterey Jack cheese, grated (or mozzarella)
1/2 pound cooked chicken, cut up (I use leftover or throw some frozen thighs in a crockpot in the morning so they're ready by dinnertime)

Optional ingredients: black beans (prepared) and mild green chilis.

Butter all the tortillas. Place half the tortillas butter side down on griddle. Sprinkle with cheese, chicken (and black beans and chilis if desired). Top with the other tortillas, butter side up. Cook until the bottom tortilla is crispy and browned. Flip and cook the other side until crispy and brown. Lift off the griddle and place on a plate. Slice into quarters with a pizza cutter. Serve with sour cream and salsa if desired.

3 Can Black Bean Chili

Note: Next Humor story Mar. 1st. And the humor book "Confessions of a Completely Insane Mother" is now available online! Hooray!

3 Can Black Bean Chili
1 lb. ground beef, cooked
1 T chili powder
1 chopped onion
1 t cumin
1 14.75 oz. can tomato sauce
1 14.75 oz. can diced tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 14.75 oz. can of black beans

Throw all ingredients in a crockpot and cook on low for six hours or high for three hours. (Okay, don’t throw them…you might break something. Lay them in gently.) You could also simmer this for 20 min. on the stove. Serve with corn chips and grated cheese.

Bacon Beef and Cheddar Pitas

Note: Next humor story Feb. 1st!

8 whole wheat pita halfs
roast beef lunchmeat
low fat cheddar cheese, sliced
turkey bacon, cooked in microwave

Layer roast beef, cheese, and cooked bacon in each pita. Warm in microwave until cheese melts (about 30 sec.). Delicious!