THANKSGIVING LEFTOVERS: Perky Turkey-Vegetable Lentil Soup and Cranberry-Cheddar Biscuits

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There is simply nothing like Thanksgiving leftovers. Nothing so fun, fast, and fine as raiding the fridge late at night for a bowl of cold cranberry sauce and stuffing or getting up before everyone else for a snack of pumpkin pie and whipped cream on Friday morning. I’m especially fond of a complete blow by blow repeat of the dinner the next night, scraping everything into oven dishes and heating it all at once for 40 minutes at 350F. And like the rest of the U.S., I totally wait all year for the post-holiday turkey sandwich —with mayo, of course. (Did you know that turkey is America’s favorite sandwich??) But at some point, there’s that last cup or two of shredded or chopped turkey sitting sadly in the back of the middle shelf with nothing else to keep it company. That’s when it’s time for turkey soup if you haven’t already done it, that is. And you can make good, old-fashioned turkey noodle or turkey-wild rice — sure you can — or you might try my Perky Turkey Vegetable-Lentil Soup, which along with sounding sort of silly, combines the filling pairing of lentils with root vegetables but also adds a splash of red wine vinegar in each bowl– hence the “perky” part.

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KIDS BAKE THANKSGIVING: Ginger Cranberry-Blueberry Muffins

Ginger and cranberry? You betcha!

Need other Thanksgiving dishes? Click on THANKSGIVING in the word cloud or click on/type into the search box individual words like TURKEY, BROCCOLI, PIE, SOUPS AND STEWS, PUMPKIN, etc.

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Thanksgiving breakfast gets short shrift in our world but it doesn’t mean it should. I mean, people are hungry on Thanksgiving morning, aren’t they? Or is it just a sad human bean thing to hold on for hours on holidays with nothing but coffee sloshing around in our tummies until mid-afternoon feasting? Surely we don’t need huge egg and cheese casseroles or piles of pumpkin pancakes with butter, syrup, and pork sausages (or maybe we do), but a small something like a perfectly perfecto muffin would, I think, go over a treat. Ginger Cranberry-Blueberry Muffins, based on my best blueberry muffin, can be prepped the night before by kids (or adults) — see below MUFFIN TIPS — and quickly baked long before it’s time to slide the pies, rolls, and your sweet turkey bird into the hot oven. If you’re the planning sort, they could be baked and frozen this weekend and taken out to thaw on the counter next to the big butter dish and a pile of cute napkins on Wednesday night. A little Greek yogurt with a honey drizzle would round out such a simple meal and, I think, keep you from dreaded coffee tummy. I mean, who wants that?

Just in case you want choices, I’ll include a few other muffins for you.

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Slow Cooker Black Beans with Chorizo + Ham

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Thinking ahead to Thanksgiving? Click here for ideas for the meal and the leftovers.

Thanksgiving Music: Wednesday – Sunday

Need a gift for your Thanksgiving host? Make some cranberry-apple-nut granola to take along!

It’s been a crazy sort of few weeks around our house. Which made it a great time to work on a new slow cooker meal that’s up and cooking a big pot of dinner in not too many minutes at all. Isn’t that how slow cooker recipes should be?! Welcome SLOW COOKER BLACK BEANS WITH CHORIZO AND HAM….just in time for November football games and holiday gatherings…or for just the two of you with a few quarts in the freezer for later. Move over chili, there’s another great pot in the house easy to customize with your very favorite usual suspect toppings, including crushed tortilla chips, red onions, queso fresco or Cheddar, lime crema, tomatoes, avocado, sliced jalapeños, or….

But….why has it been crazy? For quite a while, we’ve barely held our heads above water. Good pun, but you’ll need to know the story. Sad, but true.

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