Tom Turkey Treats
November 26th, 2008. Filed under: Wednesday's Wonders.Oh, my. The aromas of Thanksgiving have filled my kitchen and are escaping into every nook and cranny. Consumer Man and I had an early Thanksgiving as he had to return to his job on the east coast today. Of course, we had some of the traditional dishes including the turkey, corn bread casserole and sweet potato pie. I caught a great deal on turkeys and bought two this year. I baked one ahead of time and warmed it up in the oven yesterday for our “feast.” After the meal, I cut off the turkey and simmered the carcus along with celery, onion and seasonings to make broth. By the time it cooled, I was tired and didn’t care about it. That baby went straight into the fridge. There’s always tomorrow.
I was more interested in watching one of my former Bucs favorite, Warren Sapp, on Dancing with the Stars. Consumer Man indulged me both Monday and Tuesday nights because he knows how seldom I watch TV. Since this was the week of the finals, I’m afraid I would have had to do bodily harm to the man if he hadn’t been so sweet. Warren didn’t win, but my man was one of the last two remaining couples. I’m happy with that. But I digress.
Today I was faced with that huge pan of turkey carcus juice and stuff plus the second turkey that was living in the bottom of my fridge while he thawed. So, out came the handy dandy turkey roasting bag and I got that big boy in the oven. Then I pulled out the turkey stuff, took off the lid and then put the lid right back on. Have you ever looked at congealed turkey stuff? I needed another cup of coffee before dealing with that. I put it on a burner on low and let it warm up and turn into something nicer looking. The fun began after it cooled a bit. I had all the equipment gathered up and in front of me. A couple bowls, big slotted spoon, big ladle, measuring cup, ziploc bags, black Sharpie, two damp sponges, a couple hand towels. Now the fun began. Dip up some of the turkey stuff and let the juice drain out, pick the turkey off the bones. That was deposited in one bowl and the bones, skin, fat and yuck deposited in the other bowl. Man, that felt as if it were taking forever! Eventually, I ended up with a quart bag of turkey and 8 cups of turkey broth for the freezer. I also ended up daydreaming of turkey and homemade noodles. Yum!
That took long enough and made me hungry enough to look at the clock. Dinner time. Big boy was out of the oven by that time and cooled enough to cut off a couple nice slices for my meal. I didn’t feel like having any salads or side dishes, but I did spy the remainder of the two sweet potato pies. Consumer Man took one and I planned on freezing the rest in small individual slices for whenever the mood struck. Well, the mood stuck and a small slice of that pie went quite nicely with my turkey. No whipped cream, but what the heck. I just put that piece of pie in a bowl, grabbed the eggnog and added a little. Hey, don’t laugh until you try it. It’s every bit as good as whipped cream.
Now to my bed with dreams of Mr. Tom Turkey waiting to be prepared for my freezer meals. Oh, yes, more of that turkey yuck, too. I’m thinking turkey tetrazzini for starters. Any more ideas on what kind of casseroles and turkey dishes to make up for my freezer meals?