Necessity is the Mother of Invention...and also Recipes!

After dinner last night we were looking for a little sweetish something. We had a half gallon of vanilla ice cream in the freezer but no toppings. Since we are both chocolate fans I decided to see about making my own hot fudge and here's what I came up with:

Combine one stick of butter in a saucepan with 1 cup chocolate chips, a quarter cup honey, and 1/2 to one cup half and half or cream depending on thickness desired. Heat gently until hot and pour over ice cream or pound cake.

When a Thrifty Cook Gets Started, Results Can Be Interesting!

Well the apples just keep coming and coming and I'm determined to use them. Since one shelf in the freezer is already over half full with frozen apple sauce, I've been trying make (or bake) some different kinds of goodies.

Since I also had a blender full of bread bits and several biscuits (from Cracker Barrel) and some cinnamon bread in the freezer (a delicious yeast bread from a friend), I decided to make Apple Brown Betty. As I broke up the bread and read the recipe, I decided some of my bread was too hard for a good result.

What's for Dinner? Turkey Alfredo -- Sort of....

Well, I am dealing with lots of holiday leftovers. and yesterday I decided to work on the turkey. It was leftover from Thanksgiving but was in the freezer and I took it out to make turkey soup. But I still had a lot of the white and dark meat separate from the carcass that I didn't want to put in the soup. What to do?

Hmm...why not a sort of Alfredo. So here it is.

Alfredo noodles if you have them or spaghetti or just about any noodle even Ramen would do, enough to serve 2-4. I used regular thin spaghetti because that's what I had on hand.

Three cups of cut up turkey meat
1/2 onion chopped
3 large mushrooms chopped
2 Tbs. butter
1/2 cup light cream
2 eggs
1 cup parmesan cheese
salt and pepper to taste

(Set water on to boil and add spaghetti while you are making the Alfredo Sauce.)

 Cook onion and mushrooms in butter. Add turkey meat and heat through. Remove from heat while you mix up Alfredo Sauce.

Alfredo Sauce: In a microwavable bowl heat cream until warm but not hot enough to cook the eggs. Beat the eggs and add to the warm cream with the parmesan cheese (I used the Kraft powdered because it's what I had on hand. Fresh would be better.) Mix well. Return turkey mixture to heat and add Alfredo mixture. Cook about five or six minutes until sauce thickens. Serve over spaghetti. Serves 2-4.

The Thrifty Cook: Lots of Leftovers; I'm in my Glory!

I love leftovers. They represent a challenge to the thrifty cook who wants to present them in a new way that makes them a special meal unto themselves.

Holidays provide a real opportunity to make the old new and fresh.

Tonight I had a lot to work with: the Christmas ham, Texas "caviar" made by my daughter-in-law which is a combination of black beans, corn, tomatoes, avocado, onions, etc. and rice from the parmesan chicken with rice. (I always make enough rice to feed an army.) Now, what can I do with these?