Delicious Thanksgiving Leftovers - November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!

We want to extend a Happy Thanksgiving wish to you and your family from all of us at Living On Dime! We hope you're having a great day!

Don't forget to get your free "Gifts In A Jar" e-book at http://www.livingonadime.com/ebooks/gifts-in-a-jar-promo.html

Have a great holiday weekend!

-Tawra
www.LivingOnADime.com

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Happy Thanksgiving!

Hopefully there aren't too many of you out there who are reading this today (Thanksgiving Day) but instead are having a great time with your family and friends. For the few of you who for one reason or another happen to pop in I would love to wish you all a Happy Thanksgiving!

Some of you may be so stuffed right now that the thought of food will send you reeling, but if you are reading this the day after Thanksgiving you will be lapping it up. You now have mounds of leftovers sitting in your fridge mocking you and daring you to throw them out. Just the thought of them can leave some of us shaking in our boots.

I have been writing tips on Thanksgiving leftovers for so many years that I was having my doubts as to whether or not I could come up with some new and different ideas. My daughter gave me a small finance magazine to read so while I was taking a break from writing this I decided to read through it.

On the back page they had an article entitled "Thanksgiving Leftovers". I thought, "How perfect... maybe I will get some new ideas." As I read it I thought, "Boy, this sounds good!" and was going to pass the info on to you guys..., but then I got to the end. It said "by Jill Cooper" of Dining on A Dime. Boy if I didn't feel dumb, reading my own stuff and not recognizing it! Now my kids have even more ammunition to have me committed.

After having a break and a good laugh at myself my brain jump started again so here are a few recipes I hope you like.

Today's Tips:

• If you have a small amount of whipped topping left over, place dollops of it on a wax paper and freeze. Then place in an air tight container. When you need a quick topping for a dessert or some to go on a late night cup of hot cocoa you can just grab one out of the freezer.
  


• Don't throw out that pickle juice from the pickles you used on your relish dish. Use it to make French dressing next time instead of vinegar.
  
  

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Today's Recipes:

Saucy Turkey Sandwiches

In place of the usual lettuce and mayo, try making your turkey sandwiches with a slice of leftover cranberry sauce and cream cheese instead. Spread butter on one slice of bread and cream cheese on the other adding a slice of turkey and cranberry sauce in the middle.

Swiss Turkey Stuffing Pie

3 cups prepared stuffing
2 cups cooked turkey, cubed
1 cup (4 oz.) Swiss cheese, grated
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk

Press stuffing into a greased 9 inch pie plate, coming up the sides, too. Layer with turkey and then cheese. Beat eggs and milk and pour over everything. Bake at 350° for 35-40 minutes or until knife inserted comes out clean. Let stand 5-10 minutes before serving.

Turkey Hodge Podge

1 cup turkey gravy
2 cups turkey, cooked and cubed
2 cups mixed veggies (frozen that have been thawed or leftovers)
2 medium potatoes, cubed and cooked
1 can refrigerator buttermilk biscuits

Mix all but biscuits together and heat through. Pour into an 8 inch square baking dish and top with biscuits. Bake at 400° 12-16 minutes until biscuits are golden and mixture is bubbly.

Candied Carrots

3 cups (about 5 small) carrots, cooked
2 Tbsp. margarine
1/4 cup jellied cranberry sauce
2 Tbsp. brown sugar
1/4 tsp. salt

In sauce pan, melt butter. Add cranberry sauce, sugar and salt. Add carrots and simmer 3-4 minutes. This can easily be doubled or tripled.

Vegetable Vinaigrette

Here's a different way to use the leftovers from the relish dish.

2 tomatoes, sliced (could use cherry tomatoes, too)
1/4 lb. mushrooms, sliced
1 cup broccoli florets (pieces of broccoli)
1 cup cauliflower pieces
1 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup vinegar
2 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. each sugar, salt and parsley flakes
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp dry mustard
1/4 tsp garlic powder or 2 cloves of fresh garlic crushed.

Mix and place all the veggies in a casserole dish. Combine the rest of the ingredients and pour over veggies. Cover and chill for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally. Garnish with diced green onions.

Thanksgiving Feast - November 18, 2008

Hi!

I hope you are on track getting ready for Thanksgiving! We are having Thanksgiving at our house this year instead of eating out, but mom is doing all the cooking at her house. Weird, I know, but I'm not feeling too great now, so getting the house in decent order will probably be enough for me (uh, I mean for Mike LOL).

This week's Sale Of The Week is 10 Christmas Recipe E-books for $10.00! With lots of delicious recipes and tips for holiday fun and games, this e-book package is sure to add some cheer to your holiday season! Learn more about it here!

Have you checked out the blog lately? We are still working out a few minor kinks, but we are up and posting so check it out here!

Have a great week!

-Tawra
www.LivingOnADime.com

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Thanksgiving Feast
by Jill Cooper

It's really hard to find ways to save on your Thanksgiving dinner because, let's face it -- It doesn't get a whole lot cheaper than a turkey dinner! Still, I have found some ways that you can save and today I'll pass them on to you! ;-)

For starters, the larger turkeys are usually cheaper, so buy the largest one you can. I hear some of you groaning now about what to do with all those leftovers because you really don't need a 22 lb. turkey for 6 people. Not to worry -- just don't bake the whole thing.

I discovered one year by accident that my butcher (at a regular national chain grocery store) would cut it in half for me. Even if it is frozen he can still do it. This discovery really changed my life. (That sounds dramatic, but I was really having a problem becoming "one" with my turkeys.)

I suddenly had the revelation that I didn't have to deal with mounds of leftover turkey that haunted my post Thanksgiving menu for years. I had just enough for a good old turkey sandwich and some soup. I mean Thanksgiving really isn't Thanksgiving without a few leftovers, is it?

It was so much easier to handle and prepare an 11 lb. turkey rather than to man handle a 22 lb. one. Getting it cleaned and into the pan was a breeze and in and out of the oven was just plain simple.

Just wrap the other half and freeze it to use for Christmas. I've often made ham for Christmas just because by Christmas we are so sick of turkey that we don't want to think of preparing another one -- ever! By not creating so many leftovers, your family might not mind having turkey again. That's also potentially one less thing to buy for Christmas dinner.

If you still don't want to have turkey for Christmas, save it for some cold day in January. If you have a large enough crock pot, cook the turkey it the crock pot. If not, cook it on very low in the oven so that it slow cooks all day. Do you know how delightful it is to come home to the yummy smell of slow cooked turkey?

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Save by making your own pies and instead of buying the expensive pre-made ones. If you are daunted by the thought of making pie crust, just buy a ready made one. They are usually on sale for very little around Thanksgiving.

It really isn't that hard to make the filling for most pies. Often they are easier to make than a cake or cookies. If you like the traditional pumpkin pie, most cans have the recipe on the back. I also know a really good book you can find the recipe in called Dining on a Dime. HA!HA!

If your family and friends aren't fussy about having the traditional, then you can make banana cream, chocolate, or butterscotch pie. Just take a box of banana pudding, mix it up and pour it into a baked pie crust. Cover with sliced bananas and whipped topping. For the chocolate pie use chocolate pudding with chocolate chips in it and cover it with whipped topping. For the butterscotch use butterscotch pudding, whipped topping and sprinkle with butterscotch chips. My mouth is watering just thinking about it!

You don't have to make so many pies that you could open a bakery. I have found that most kids are just as happy with a platter of cookies. Don't overdo it. You'll just wear yourself out! If you have time, make the cookies in the shapes of pumpkins and turkeys.

Save on your relish dish. Buying ingredients for a relish dish can get expensive, especially where we live. One year I paid more for my relish dish items than my turkey. If you're having this problem, only use 3-4 veggies on it instead of 10 and cut out on the more expensive veggies. For example broccoli and cauliflower are very high priced for us so I would probably use carrots and celery. I fill the celery with cheese or peanut butter or cut them into fancy shapes. On this occasion, the turkey is the star and most people won't even notice that you cut back on the relish dish.

Don't make so many side dishes-- Like I said the turkey, gravy and mashed potatoes are above all else. By the time everyone stuffs themselves on those, they only eat a token amount of the side dishes. Why? ---Because of course everyone wants to save room for dessert!!!!!