Leftover Turkey Rice Soup

Wondering what to do with your left over turkey? The easiest thing to do is make soup! Remember back in October when we brined and roasted a chicken then made stock with the carcass? No? Well, go here and refresh your memory. If you're not up to making your own stock but still want to make soup, stay here and let's continue.

Ingredients:

8 cups chicken, turkey or vegetable stock.
1 cup chopped carrot
1 cup chopped celery
1 can chickpeas, drained
1 can diced tomatoes, with juice
1 tbsp parsley flakes (and any additional seasonings you like)
salt & pepper to taste
1 cup rice, cooked (any variety)
2 cups cooked turkey, chopped (great way to use up all that dark meat no one eats!)

1. Add stock to a large pot and bring to a boil. Add carrot, celery, chickpeas, tomato, parsley and salt & pepper. Simmer on medium-low for 15 minutes.

2. Add rice and turkey. Simmer for another 15 minutes.

Clean Out The Fridge Vegetable Soup

I'm terrible when it comes to eating my vegetables. I throw out so much produce, it's ridiculous. Last week I had some limp celery, wilting carrots, a wrinkled zucchini and a soft bell pepper. Not wanting to put them to waste (yet again) I decided to chop everything up and throw it in a pot. The resulting soup was easy and fast to make and quite tasty. The below recipe is what I put into my soup, but you can add anything you have on hand.

1 zucchini, chopped
2-3 stalks celery, chopped
2-3 carrots, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 onion, chopped
4 cups vegetable stock (or any stock)
2 cups water
salt & pepper
dried herbs of your choice (parsley, basil, celery seed etc.)

1. Add everything to a stock pot. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes until vegetables are tender.

2. Remove pot from heat. Using an immersion blender, puree mixture until desired consistency reached. Serve immediately. Freezes well too!

*You don't have to puree your soup, I just prefer puree over chunky.

Roast Beef Dip Sandwhich

What do you do with left over Roast Beef? Make a beef dip, of course!

There isn't really a recipe for this one. It's a "throw together" leftovers meal. I also cheated and used a packet au jus gravy mix from the grocery store, although there are several recipes online if you'd prefer to make an au jus from scratch.

1 tablespoon butter
3 button mushrooms, sliced thin
1/4 small onion, sliced thin
Left over roast beef, sliced thin
slices of mozzarella or provolone cheese
crusty hoagie style buns
horseradish mustard (optional)

1. Melt butter in a saute pan. Add onion and mushroom and cook until onions are translucent and mushrooms are browned. Add roast beef slices to pan just to warm through slightly.

2. While onions and mushrooms are cooking, slice open and toast hoagie bun. Once toasted, butter the bun and dress with horseradish mustard or any condiment of your choice.

3. Arrange sliced beef evenly over the bottom hoagie bun. Top with cheese slices and then layer onion and mushroom mixture on top. Replace top bun. Slice in half and serve with a cup of au jus for dipping.

Ahi Tuna Asian Salad

It's left overs for lunch.

Top a big plate of lettuce and veggies with left over Sesame Crusted Ahi Tuna pieces. Drizzle generously with the Sweet Sesame Soy Dipping Sauce (from the Ahi recipe). Sprinkle with crispy wonton pieces and mandarin orange segments. Add a dollop of Wasabi Mayo to the centre (to dip your Tuna into) and voila. Left over lunch perfection!

Yum yum!

Pot Roast Pizza

Pizza B.C. (before cheese and before cooking)

Pot roast and pizza? An odd combination for sure. It came to be one day when I had some left over slow cooker pot roast, a pizza shell and a hungry tummy. The slow cooker pot roast was so flavourful and fall-apart-fantastic that it suited the top of my pizza just perfectly. Add to that some diced onion, zucchini and some sliced mushrooms and you have a comfort food feast.

1 pizza crust - store bought or homemade. Whatever suits your fancy
1 cup pizza sauce - ditto on the above
1 small chunk of left over pot roast, pulled apart into small pieces
1/2 small zucchini, sliced and quartered
1/2 small red onion or 1 small shallot, sliced thin
3-4 button mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup shredded cheese of your choice (I used a Tex-Mex blend tonight!)

1. Do you really need directions?


Pizza P.C. (post cheese and post cooked) and topped with fresh parsley

Italian Wedding Soup

When I made spaghetti and meatballs the other day, I reserved about 1/4 of the uncooked meatball mix and rolled then baked smaller meatballs to use towards soup. One of the easiest soups to make is Italian Wedding soup, especially if your meatballs are pre-made and ready to go. If you don't have meatballs left over, that's okay. Try the easy ones shown below. And contrary to some reports, the soup is not named Italian Wedding because it is served at Italian weddings. Rather the term "wedding soup" is a mistranslation of "miestra mariata", which means "married soup" in Italian and refers to how well all the ingredients in the soup blend (marry) together.

Meatballs:
1 lb ground beef or pork or a combination of both
1 egg
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/2 small onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
salt & pepper to taste

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Using your hands mix all together to spread ingredients evenly.

2. Using your hands, form into small balls (ping pong or gumball size).

3. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Bake in 350 degree F. oven for 25 minutes or until meatballs are lightly browned.

Soup:
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups beef broth
1 cup fresh baby spinach, torn into smaller pieces
1/2 carrot, finely chopped
1/2 celery stalk, finely chopped
1/4 cup Orzo pasta or Macaroni, pre-cooked*
Prepared meatballs
salt & pepper to taste

*It is very important to cook your pasta PRIOR to adding to your soup. If you add uncooked pasta, it will absorb your broth and the pasta starch will thicken the soup. You want a very clear, thin broth.

1. Add chicken and beef broth to a large pot and bring to a boil.

2. Add carrot and celery. Reduce heat to medium.

3. Add pasta and meatballs. Add spinach. Reduce heat to medium-low.

4. Simmer for 10 minutes then serve immediately.

Note:You can omit the meatballs entirely to make a very delicious vegetable soup, or add cooked diced chicken or cooked ground beef and more diced veggies for a quick and easy chicken soup or hamburger soup.

Huevos Rancheros with Cooked Salsa

A weekday morning off work means a big breakfast. In my fridge I found three eggs, one flour tortilla, shredded Tex-Mex cheese and some left over homemade salsa. Perfect ingredients for a quick, simple Huevos Racheros.

Huevos Racheros means country-style eggs in Spanish and is a traditional breakfast dish in Mexico. Typically Huevos is made with lightly fried corn tortillas topped with fried eggs and cooked salsa. Some versions include a layer of refried beans or avocado. I add cheese to mine, just because. If you don't have time to make your own salsa, canned salsa works just as well!

Serves 2-4

Cooked Salsa:
splash olive oil
1/2 large white onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
1 can diced green chilies (or two green chili peppers, seeded and diced)
1/2 green pepper and 1/2 red pepper, diced (optional)
pinch sucanat
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/8 tsp chili powder
handful fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped (reserved)
salt & pepper to taste

1. Heat oil in a saute pan. Add onions and cook until translucent. Add garlic and stir.

2. Add tomatoes, chili pepper and bell pepper. Add all seasonings. Reduce heat to medium-low and let simmer for 10 mins, stirring occasionally.

3. Remove from heat. Stir in chopped cilantro. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Huevos:

4 small flour or corn tortillas
4 eggs
splash of olive oil plus olive oil cooking spray
1 cup prepared salsa
1/2 cup shredded cheddar, jack or Tex Mex cheese blend
1 can refried beans (optional)
1 avocado, peeled, cored, sliced (optional)
fresh cilantro for garnish (optional)

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Heat olive oil in non-stick saute pan. Add tortillas to pan and heat for a minute on each side. Arrange tortillas on serving plates.

3. Spray the same pan with olive oil cooking spray. Crack eggs into the pan (sunny side up style). Cook until desired yolk "done-ness" is reached (about 4 minutes for runny yolks). After two minutes of cooking, I covered my pan with a lid and cooked the eggs for another 4 minutes for semi-firm yolks.

4. If using refried beans, spread a thin layer of beans on each tortilla.

5. Remove eggs from pan and place one egg on each tortilla. Top with some cooked salsa and shredded cheese.

6. Slide plates into the oven and bake for a few minutes to melt cheese. Remove from oven and garnish with sliced avocado and chopped cilantro.

Grilled Chicken with Roasted Beet & Sweet Potato Pies

There is no recipe for this dish.

Last night I had a Roasted Beet & Sweet Potato Salad for dinner. This time, I topped it with a bit of grilled chicken (quickly marinated in lemon juice, olive oil and Epicure Herb & Garlic Dip Mix). I made some extra veggies and chicken so I would have lunch for today.

This morning while looking through the fridge, I found left over puffy pastry from when I made Turkey Pies.

Et voila!

Roll out your puff pastry into a rectangle. Place beets, sweet potatoes and shredded chicken on half. Add some feta if you have it. Drizzle with balsamic vinaigrette and lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper. Fold over, pinch closed to seal, cut a few slits in the top, brush with egg wash, and bake in oven at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes. Everything inside is already cooked so it was just the pastry that needed a quick bake & brown.

These pies (as well as the Turkey Pies) freeze well too so they make a quick and easy re-heatable dinner.

Turkey Pies

The worst part about a turkey holiday is dealing with the turkey left overs. One can handle turkey soup and sandwiches for so long! The inspiration for Turkey Pies came from the Dear Food Network Thanksgiving day special. One of the hosts used pre-made puff pastry and created turkey pot pies. Initially I tried to make pot pies as seen in the episode, however puff pastry is not as easy to work with as I thought it would be. Instead I ended up making "strudel" style pies - much easier with beautiful results. The filling was concocted with the veggies I had available in my fridge. This isn't the healthiest meal but it sure is tasty and and is a quick and easy way to use up those dreaded left overs. You can also make the pies smaller to serve as appetizers.

Turkey Pies:

1 pkg frozen puff pastry, thawed at room temp
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup diced onion
1 cup diced carrot
1 cup diced celery
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup diced sweet potato
1/2 cup diced zucchini
1 tbsp dried parsley
1 can low fat cream of chicken soup
left over turkey gravy
salt & pepper to taste, if needed
egg wash (1 egg, lightly beaten mixed with 1/4 cup water)

1. Heat oil in a saute pan. Saute onions, celery and carrot until translucent.

2. Add other veggies and continue to saute until mushrooms have reduced slightly.

3. Add soup and gravy. Stir well to mix. Let simmer on low for 15 minutes.

4. Add salt & pepper if needed. If your gravy was well seasoned, additional S&P probably won't be necessary.

5. Roll out puff pastry on a flour covered counter top. Cut dough into squares to suit your pie size (for example: 3 inch square for appies, 5-6 inch square of entree).

6. Spoon turkey mixture on half of a pastry square, leaving a 1/4 inch on each side.

7. Fold pastry over to cover mixture. Press down sides with finger tips to form a tight seal. Ensure your seam is sealed otherwise tasty juices will leak out while baking!

8. Slice 3-4 slits across top of pie to let steam escape.

9. Brush tops and sides with egg wash.

10. Bake on parchment lined cookie sheet in 350 degree oven for 30-40 minutes. Pastry will be puffed up, flaky and browned lightly on top.

No Fuss Clean Out Your Fridge Stir Fry

A few nights ago, my first day off and coming off a night shift, I didn't feel like making dinner. It was one of those days where you feel like eating but can't find anything to eat even though your fridge and freezer are full. I kept opening the fridge door, rummaging around and closing the door again. By 730pm I still hadn't made dinner. I had not eaten since lunch and was on the verge of having 2 scoops of frozen yogurt and calling it a night. Somehow, somewhere I found the motivation to cook. I pulled out all my near wilted vegetables, improvised a sauce and made a pretty decent vegetable stir fry.

Make your own No Fuss Clean Out Your Fridge Stir Fry very easily. Use whatever you have.

Mine looked like this:

2 cups broccolini
1 cup snap peas, trimmed
1 cup green beans, trimmed & cut in half
1/4 red onion, sliced
2 white mushrooms, quartered (more would have been nice, but it's all I had!)

For the sauce I mixed the following:

1/4 cup oyster sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp agave syrup
1/2 tsp chili garlic sauce (like sriracha)
1/2 tbsp minced ginger
1/2 tbsp minced garlic
pinch salt (because I used low sodium soy sauce and felt the sauce needed salt)

I blanched the green beans and broccolini for a couple mins then added them with the snap peas to a hot wok with a drizzle of peanut sauce. After stir frying for a few mins, I added the onions and mushrooms. After another couple minutes I added the sauce and stirred to coat the veggies, then lowered the heat and simmered for about 8 minutes while the accompanying buckwheat noodles cooked on the burner next door.

Total prep and cook time, about 25 minutes.

For a sauce, if you don't have those ingredients, just add a bit of vegetable broth, garlic and soy sauce to the pan. Or use a bottled stir fry sauce. If you have chicken or beef or tofu, throw that in too. Use whatever veggies you have on hand. Serve it on rice, noodles or all alone.

Stir fry is an anything goes meal. So take whatever you have and go with it! Much more satisfying than 2 scoops, pizza delivery or drive through fast food.

Roasted Beet & Sweet Potato Salad

This salad is so delicious but it takes a bit of time to prepare, most of it inactive while you wait for the veggies to roast. An hour to prepare a lunch dish can be a little unreasonable. If you have the time, definitely do it. If not, I suggest making roasted veggies for dinner the night before then use the left overs to make the salad for lunch the next day.

Serves 2

1/2 large sweet potato (or 1 small), peeled and cut into chunks
2 small beets (or 1 large), trimmed, peeled and cut into chunks (use gloves to avoid red hands!)
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 avocado
1/2 small red onion, sliced thin
1 tbsp pine nuts
2 tbsp goat's milk feta cheese
3 cups mixed greens (baby spinach, spring mix, arugula etc)

dressing:

3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
pinch salt
pinch pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Arrange sweet potato chunks on a baking tray and drizzle with 1 tbsp olive oil. Arrange beet chunks on a separate baking tray and drizzle with the other 1 tbsp olive oil. Separate trays are necessary otherwise your lovely orange sweet potato will turn pink.

3. Roast veggies in the oven until tender, about 30 mins-40mins.

4. While veggies are cooking, roast pine nuts over medium heat in a dry skillet. Remove from skillet just as they start to turn golden brown. Do not leave unattended as they can burn quickly and you will need to start over!

5. In a glass container with a tight fitting lid, mix dressing ingredients and shake well.

6. Arrange the lettuce on two plates. Top with red onion slices.

7. When cooked, remove veggies from oven.

8. Peel, pit and slice the avocado. Arrange avocado pieces on top of lettuce (1/4 avocado on each plate).

9. Arrange roasted sweet potato and beet pieces on top of salad (1/2 on each plate).

10. Sprinkle pine nuts and goat's feta over top of each salad.

11. Finish each salad with a drizzle of dressing.

12. Serve immediately, while veggies are still warm.

13. Sit and savour. Smile at the gorgeous, healthy meal you have created.

Variations:

- Use walnuts instead of pine nuts
- sub butternut squash for the sweet potato
- try blue cheese instead of feta or...
- omit the goat's feta for a vegan dish

The possibilities are endless!