Seriously. This is going to be an interactive post, because what I'm about to say I'm borderline embarrassed about, but there HAVE to be others of you out there who would've done the same...I hope...
So, we had some leftover turkey from T-Day weekend, and I was earning some serious points in the barefoot-wife-in-the-kitchen department (and an extra gold star for being barefoot because I was still in PJs in mid-afternoon, right?) trying to use it all up. We had delicious turkey noodle soup with homemade noodles (a childhood favorite), a saucy turkey, rice, and veggies combo, turkey with mashed potatoes & gravy, and cold turkey sandwiches on homemade rolls. Sounds yummy, right? It was. But, even after all that, we STILL had one meal's worth of turkey left, and I couldn't for the life of me think of something else to make with it.
But, instead of throwing it out, I made a divine spaghetti sauce and replaced the ground beef with, you guessed it, finely chopped turkey. (I think that I believed that if I cut it up small enough, no one, meaning Paul, would even notice. Heh. That's cute.) The kids loved it. LOVED it - they, who typically turn up their little pug noses at leftovers in favor of a freshly made grilled cheese, have devoured their lunches of "turkey spaghetti" for three days straight now. Paul and I have respectfully declined the invitation to join them in their feasts. (Oh, wait, I take it back - Paul did take some for lunch the next day. It was either that or a thermos full of mustard, which is about what we have in our fridge right now. And I think he considered both options for quite some time...)
Tell me you've all done something similarly strange to not be "wasteful"? Pretty please? I have, seared to my memory, Paul's rather incredulous look uponst his discovery of the imposter bird meat in his beloved spaghetti, and I want to come armed with evidence that his wife isn't SO weird. At least, not in this particular instance.
So, c'mon. Out with it.
7 comments:
hmmm... you know i'm not domestic. ryan hascome to know my general disclaimer: 'i'm not surehow this is going to be, so if it's awful there's frozen (fill-in-the-blank) that we can heat up.' this is because i rarely make the same recipe twice, meaning that when i don't have the right ingredients i find what i hope to be an acceptable substitute. sometimes it's great and sometimes... well, ryan is kind and eats it anyway. oh yeah, and (confession:) i also once served up some raw chicken. i'll be writing my own cookbook soon.
thinking...thinking...nope. Never done anything weird in the kitchen before. Sorry. :)
Yummy! I thought all of those dishes sounded so good. We didn't' cook a turkey for Thanksgiving, but since I wanted leftovers I went out and bought one for the following Sunday. We had lots of sandwiches, quesadillas and even turkey Alfredo over the next week. I didn't mind it at all, I actually really enjoyed it. See, you are not the only one!
Trying to feed my family more healthy foods I have tried out putting these vegetable purees in our dinners. Oh dear...Joey has become my guinea pig along with the children while trying out some "Deceptively Delicious" meals from Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook. Some recipes are great while others are well let's just say "Sweet Potato grilled cheese" and stop there.
When the turkey is nearly gone, there's always enough for a great turkey and raspberry jam sandwich!
One time Larry made a strange dish with turkey and peanut butter that he swore he ate on his mission. I believe it. I also believe he wouldn't have remembered it with such fondness if the other meals he'd eaten weren't so pitiful.
My lack of inventiveness in the kitchen is well made-up for by my husband's creativity. I get a little nervous when he's in charge and we are low on groceries... But I am highly impressed with your turkey spaghetti surprise. You should submit it to NPR's Dr. Zorba Pastor (sp?) to try to win a prize. I'm serious.
I am so impressed by your ingenuity. I'm much lazier. I've never made our own turkey, but I would probably use all the leftovers for just one thing and make my family just deal with it! and I'm with julie...never done anything weird in the kitchen....although I can think of something a couple of my college roommates once did (hahahaha!)
Post a Comment