Leftovers

I could probably eat ham and turkey sandwiches for a week (sometimes grilled, yum!). But sometimes, I try to make meals from leftover ham and turkey. Some of the things I have made in the past are:

• turkey pot pie
• turkey and/or ham fried rice
• split pea soup with ham (using the ham bone)
• ham and cheese omelets
• curried turkey salad
• ham and pineapple pizzas
• triple corn casserole with ham

I'm sorry I don't have any recipes for these (maybe for some of them), but I improvise. If you want an idea of what I put in it, let me know.

Any other suggestions? I am also trying to figure out how to reinvent the collard greens and cornbread dressing (stuffing).

More Thanksgiving fun

If you are looking for more Thanksgiving fun (and beyond), go to the Tip Junkie. Laurie found my turkey rolls and gave me a "great tip award". I am truly honored, but I am more excited about finding out about her blog and sharing it with you all.

My friend Alan also received an award for his Thanksgiving Carols. I had forgotten about those and thought you might want to check them out.

Some thanksgiving ideas...

Here are some of the fun things we have cooked on Thanksgiving:

Turkey rolls! You can use any roll dough. I used cloves as the turkey's eyes.
[updated 11/18/09: Here's the recipe I used for the rolls]



Another year we grilled turkey legs, like those you find at the agricultural fairs. Mmmm...

We have also grilled a turkey breast. It came out pretty good, but the seasoning didn't penetrate much. My husband wants to do it again this year, although I am not sure what recipe. This time, we'll be using smoking chips for sure.

Last year, I wanted to make caramel apple turkeys. I made the apples, but didn't have time for the turkey. The idea was that the apple would be the body and the feathers could be attached to the stick. Then a head would be stuck on front. If I do it this year, I'll let you know. If you try it, let me know too :-)

My first thanksgiving turkey

Believe it or not, last year was the first time I ever cooked a turkey. To make sure it would come out good, I checked a couple of sources, but my one stop place for ideas came from the Food Network. They have recipes and videos that make it easier to understand. I pretty much followed the Good Eats Roast Turkey recipe (except for the brining because I bought one of those frozen turkeys on sale a few weeks before). And I made a celery and carrot "rack" inspired by Michael Chiarello.



Here it is ready to go in the oven:






Here's the neck bone and some veggies for the gravy broth (I guess I took this picture so I'd remember what I did). I was so proud of myself that I had remembered to take the neck out of the cavity:





And here's the final product:

Now, if you look carefully at the bottom right part of the turkey breast, you will see something like a round stamp. It turned out it was the gizzards bag I had left in!

The turkey still came out fine.

Thanksgiving is just around the corner...

And so the subject of avoiding weight gain comes up.

Actually, I don't like the topic of weight much at all. One day I'll write a post about this when I have more time to dedicate to this subject (but if anyone already knows of a great source, let me know). The reason is that people think that a magic number equals good health. But health can't be measured by weight alone. Furthermore, many times the goal weight is unrealistic and unecessary. It is possible to be considered "overweight" and be healthy, and be in a "normal" weight range and be unhealthy. It's the lifestyle that will make a difference.

That being said, it is often hard to maintain a healthful lifestyle during the next 6 weeks. Anything in excess is not going to be good for you. I have never tried this, but I would argue that lettuce eaten in excess it would be bad for them (maybe it would have the soporific effect as in Beatrix Potter's The Flopsy Bunnies). There are many strategies out there, but there is one a dear friend of mine once said that makes the most sense:

Don't eat something you don't really like.

That's right. My friend doesn't really care for pumpkin pie, so why eat it when there is so much else to eat?

About Halloween Candy

You may be wondering why I haven't posted on this before halloween. I have three simple reasons:

• I just moved to another state
• I spent my childhood in Australia, where they don't celebrate halloween (although we went trick or treating a few times anyway)
• Since I've lived in the US, I have not lived in areas where people trick or treated (or I didn't know I was supposed to turn the porch light on).

So this was my very first real halloween and I DID give out candy. I realized that, from a nutritionist's perspective, I have a lot of thinking to do about this.

A comment on What to Eat blog said the following: "What kind of killjoy can’t bear to give kids candy on Halloween??! It’s just one day out of the year, and as long as they’re not eating crap for the other 364 days, why ruin the fun?"

No, I don't want to be a killjoy by not giving out candy but the kids were coming around to my place with LOTS of candy. I would say that most of them could have filled at least a one gallon ziplock bag (and that's being conservative here). They definitely had more candy than they could eat in one night.
Furthermore, my 15 month old was bouncing off the wall after eating maybe 6 m&m's .

You've probably heard this before, that all foods are ok, as long as they are eaten in moderation. Well, when does moderation become excess, and at what point does it become a cause for concern or alarm?