The meal that keeps on giving

Adorable heart-shaped cranberry sauce morsels took shape during Thanksgiving preparations in one of the ice-cube trays we used to use for playful shapes to bump things up a notch in our killer Christmas Party Champagne Punch in days of yore. There were star shapes too.

We heart homemade cranberry sauce. Easier than pie and a delight for eye and ear when the fruity skins start popping as the cauldron boils. No toil nor trouble nor doggy odor. Following the instructions on the Ocean Spray package, we boiled the fresh berries in sugared water, then set aside about half for whole-berry sauce and strained the rest for clear, smooth, tender hearts. After chilling 'em, a quick twist of a butter knife around the edges released them smartly from their molds.

Creamed Turkey takes us back to childhood days of Creamed Dried Beef, our number one fave way back when. Mummy whipped it up and served over a bed of toast. Can you say comfort food?

Thanksgiving is the meal that keeps on giving. Sandwiches to die for, of course, but this year an all-turkey-all-the-time Creamed Turkey -- above on a bed of rice with leftover Sweet Potato Puree, Susie's peas and candied carrots -- took the cake. Calories? Who's counting. Here's how we did it:

Make a roux of equal amounts of leftover turkey lard and flour -- 3 tbsp each in our case -- and whisk in about 2 1/2 cups leftover jellied turkey broth and a little white vermouth to make a velvety sauce. Again, in our case, we used what we had to hand, including about 1/2 a cup of leftover Velvety Gravy. Halve a few leftover creamed onions and add to the sauce. Make a batch of rice, set out on a plate, pile with leftover turkey and then smother with creamed sauce. Turn it around, and there's Son of Thanksgiving.

If you're lucky, you have Perfect Apple Pie and Susie's Mincemeat Tarts waiting in the wings.

Comments

[Ed Flinn]

In addition to the greatly superior quality of the taste is, I think, the noiseless quality of homemade cranberry sauce, lacking the distinctive, shudder-invoking, sound of store-bought slowly coming free from the can.

[Elisson]

Take that creamed turkey, throw in some peas, carrots, pearl onions, and diced parsnips, stick it in a double crust, and BINGO! Turkey Pot Pie. Mmmmmmm.

[Teresa]

How yummy it all sounds. There is nothing like left overs from a turkey dinner. If you have any gravy left and want to throw together a quick meal for you and Tuck:

Buy a couple of zucchini (I like mine on the small side or get one large) - slice them into thin rounds (or as mine turn out I quarter or halve them, then slice, so they're easier to pick up on a fork). Boil some pasta of your choice. Now saute the zucchini in olive oil to your preferred doneness (I like mine softer rather than crunchy), add a cup of chopped up turkey and saute to heat through, add the noodles then a cup or so of left over gravy. Heat through - add salt and pepper to taste and... Voila! Takes about 15 minutes - you can slice the zucchini and pull the turkey into small chunks while the water is heating for the pasta. Add a clove of crushed garlic and some sliced shallots to the zucchini while sauteing to add some extra good flavor.

We are doing our turkey at Christmas when darling daughter puts in an appearance. I only do that level of cooking once a year. An all day effort that has always turned out excellently well but WOW - the energy required. *grin*

[Joan]

We polished off the last of everything tonight, with the last cups of incredible turkey broth with dinner.

We've determined, at Christmas, we need a bigger turkey (11 pounds was too small for the 5 of us), and at least 2 apple pies.

It all went much too quickly.

[bird dog]

Creamed chipped beef on toast! The best! A belly-filling, heart-warming, artery-clogging Yankee treat!