Turn Leftover Turkey Into Two Different Dinners

Ah... Thanksgiving night. The stock has been made from the turkey bones and all the leftovers are put away. Now I start thinking about what I'm going to do with all that turkey. We had an extra turkey this year due to a fluke, so I'm looking to make two delicious dishes from the leftovers. Of course I will make a Turkey Pot Pie, but the cool and rainy weather today has me thinking soup. I really enjoy soup and a Turkey Posole sounds wonderful!

While I have all the ingredients on hand to make the pot pie, I am short a few items for the posole. I refuse to hit the stores the day after Thanksgiving with all the crazy shoppers & drivers, so it looks like the posole will have to be made later this weekend.

The Turkey Pot Pie is a meal unto itself, but a nice green salad is a good accompaniment. I like to serve a good, homemade cornbread (possibly jalapeno or cheddar) with my Posole. Both of these meals are terrific comfort foods as well as family favorites.

Turkey Posole
Serves 8
3 tablespoons olive oil

2 yellow onions, cubed
2 fresh poblano chile peppers, seeded and cut into 1/2 inch strips
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 quarts turkey broth
4 cups cubed cooked turkey
1 (4 ounce) can chopped green chile peppers
2 (15 ounce) cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
2 (15 ounce) cans white hominy, drained
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 tablespoons ground cumin
2 tablespoons dried oregano
water, as needed
salt and pepper to taste

In large Dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat. Cook onions and poblano chiles in oil until soft. Stir in garlic, and cook for one or two minutes.

Season with chile powder, cumin, and oregano. Add turkey broth, cooked turkey, canned green chile peppers, cannellini beans, and hominy. Add water if more liquid is needed to just cover everything in the pot. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low, and cover. Simmer, stirring occasionally, for about an hour to blend flavors.

Garnish with tortilla chips and sour cream or a squeeze of lime.


Turkey Pot Pie
Serves 8
1 recipe pastry for a (10 inch) double crust pie
4 tablespoons butter
1 small onion, minced
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, diced
3 tablespoons dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste
2 cubes chicken or turkey stock/broth
3 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 1/2 cups cooked turkey, cubed
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Roll out bottom pie crust and place in the 10 inch pie pan and set aside.

Add 2 tablespoons of the butter to a large skillet. Add the onion, celery, carrots, parsley, oregano, salt and pepper. Cook and stir until the vegetables are soft. Stir in the bouillon and water. Bring mixture to a boil. Stir in the potatoes, and cook until tender but still firm.

In a medium saucepan, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Stir in the turkey and flour. Add the milk, and heat through. Stir the turkey mixture into the vegetable mixture, and cook until thickened.

Pour mixture into the unbaked pie shell. Roll out the top crust, and place on top of filling. Flute edges, and make 4 slits in the top crust to let out steam.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking for 20 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.

Operation Baking Gals - Round 5 - The Holiday Round

Your Place Gourmet is again hosting two Operation Baking Gals teams for Round 5. This round is really special since the packages will arrive around Christmas and New Year's Day. Since Operation Baking Gals is designed so that the featured soldier shares all the goodies with his/her fellow soldiers, it helps to get goodies into the hands of soldiers who may never receive letters or packages from home.

Our soldiers for Round 5 are Alan Scobel, deployed to Qatar, and Kathy Miller, deployed to Iraq. Alan is based out of Maryland and Kathy from Phoenix.

Below is a little info about both soldiers as well as some pics. To join one of my baking teams to send holiday goodies to these brave soldiers who are far from home, protecting our freedoms, please go to the Baking Gals website . There, you can register, and then join a team - it is a two-step process. For my past bakers, you should already be registered so all you have to do is sign in and join a team or two! The shipping window for Round 5 will be December 5th - December 19th, so get signed up NOW!

Alan Scobel is a Senior Airman stationed at Al Udeid Air Base in Doha, Qatar. He is in the 379th Expedititionary Civil Engineer Squadron and is an HVAC Technician, which is heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration, there are about 150 soldiers in his squadron, which also includes carpenters and plumbers as well. Alan deployed to Qatar on August 1st and will be there till late January or early February, than he will return to his home base, which is Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland and is part of the Air Force District Of Washington Command. He works the night shift and and for the bakers, the temperature can get to 85 in November. He was asking about no bake cookies and oatmeal raisin.

Kathy Miller is also a flight nurse here in Phoenix and, when not deployed, works for the same company as Deb Davis. Here is some info from Kathy: "I miss everyone back in Phoenix, but really love what I am doing here as well. Deb is about 3-4 hours away by plane. We landed in Qatar, dropped Deb off, then flew on to Iraq. Qatar is a small country that comes off of Saudi Arabia and sticks out into the Persian Gulf. We are in the middle of Iraq north of Bagdad. Would love to receive some cookies for my troop. We have 5 providers, 6 nurses, and 13 med techs. The people I have asked said either chocolate chip, white chocolate macadamia, oatmeal raisin, or chocolate chip with walnut. Whatever you guys want to bake would be great though. The food here isn't that good and anything from home is a big treat!!"

Again, to join one of my baking teams to send holiday goodies to these brave soldiers who are far from home, protecting our freedoms, please go to the Baking Gals website . If you have difficulty with the site, please send me an email to chefkim(at)yourplacegourmet(dot)com with "I want to bake" in the subject line.

Operation Baking Gals - Round 4 Has Shipped!

Round 4 is Done! A huge thanks to all the bakers on my TWO teams this round. Here is a few pic from one of them who also got their local library to donate books and movies. Looking forward to Round 5 - Get your favorite holiday cookie recipes out to share them with our brave men and women serving overseas.

Round 5 will be our holiday round, with our shipping window falling early to mid-December for delivery around Christmas. I'll be posting again shortly with the info on joining an Operation Baking Gals team for Round 5. Stay tuned!