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?

Quote for the Day

"Approach love and cooking with reckless abandon." The Dalai Lama

This quote made me laugh. My kids consider me the expert at opening the refrigerator, perusing its contents, and throwing dinner together from its miscellaneous contents in thirty minutes or less. Doesn't everybody do that?

The other night I made a great seafood bisque with a can of mushroom soup, several ounces of leftover grilled Tilapia cut into chunks, a dozen frozen cooked shrimp (all that was left in the bag) and two teaspoons of Old Bay seasoning. A little sherry would have made it perfect but I didn't have any. Next time maybe I'll try a little white wine and some chives from my garden.

I served the soup with a tossed salad and crackers. Yum! It looked a lot like the photo above, but was all eaten before I thought of taking a picture.