Let’s talk turkey!

Some people dread the after-Thanksgiving leftover turkey, but not my husband. No sirree. He is a turkey junkie of the first order. He looks forward to holiday dinners just so he can eat a week’s worth of turkey dishes. One Christmas, I cooked a pork loin roast for a change. It was delicious! Our guests loved it and raved about it. But hard as he tried, my beloved couldn’t hide the disappointment in his eyes. I knew he missed the turkey.

Back in 2002, I met Gary and Linda Straka, cookware vendors, at an RV rally in Orlando. On their display was an EXPENSIVE stainless steel turkey roaster. I grabbed it from their display and said, “This is mine.” (By the way, Gary and Linda have become good friends since that unusual first meeting. They buy my RV cookbooks, and I buy their cookware.) I told my husband I’d bought an EXPENSIVE turkey roaster. He didn’t so much as blink. Instead, his eyes brightened and he rubbed his hands together, smiling in anticipation of the turkeys I would cook in them. Hang the cost! He knew my purchase meant he would enjoy turkey with even greater frequency!

I’ll admit the EXPENSIVE stainless steel turkey roaster makes moist, delicious turkeys. I’m glad I bought it, and so is my turkey-junkie husband. (The pan also cooks great pork loin roasts, but he claims that’s a misuse of the product )  The roast turkey dinner is the beginning, for him, of a week of heavenly eating. I make turkey and rice soup, turkey salad, hot open-faced turkey sandwiches with mashed potatoes and gravy, turkey burritos, turkey Fettuccine, turkey pot pie, and cottage pie (That’s shepherd’s pie with turkey instead of lamb).  Naturally, I collect recipes for turkey leftovers and welcome your suggestions.

Here is one to help you through this Thanksgiving’s leftovers:

RECIPE

Turkey Curry Salad

Ingredients:

1/4 cup light mayonnaise
1/4 cup light Sour Cream
½ tsp Curry Powder
2 cups Chunked Cooked Turkey
½ cup Chopped Apples (Do not peel)
½ cup Celery, diced
½ cup Seedless Grapes cut in half
½ cup Peeled Cucumber, diced
1/4 cup Chopped Onion
1 Tbsp Sliced Almonds

Directions:

Combine sour cream, mayonnaise, and curry in a medium-size refrigerator storage bowl. Add remaining ingredients except almonds, mix together, then cover and store in the refrigerator for at least two hours. Add in the almonds before serving.

Serving suggestions:

Stuff tomatoes with the turkey salad, or make turkey salad sandwiches using croissants or bakery buns.

Last Christmas day, Gary and Linda were our guests for dinner.  We had turkey. 

Diva Cheryl