Thanksgiving Leftover Turkey Idea

This is not my own idea by any means, but it's a yummy alternative to your run of the mill reheated turkey.

The filling is:

1 Cup of chopped Turkey. (If you pick the bird, this would be place to use the little scrap pieces.)
1 Cup of chopped Veggies. (I use one bag of the steamable California mix - broccoli, cauliflower & carrots. Partially cook them or they won't cook in time.)
1 Can of either Cream of Chicken or Cream of Mushroom soup, whichever you like
1/2 Cup of Sour Cream
1/2 Cup shredded Cheddar Cheese
A little bit of milk - just enough so the mix isn't too thick


Crust - This takes a little bit of work, but it's so worth it.

2 - 10 Piece packages of refrigerated dinner rolls (When it's only the three of us, I use the Grands and then freeze 1/2 of the filling to use another time.)

Open up the pack of rolls, separate them and let them warm up a bit. They are easier to work if they are not cold. (Only do 1 pack at a time or they will dry out too much before you're done.)

Lightly spray a muffin tin.






Pat them down flat

With your thumb, start pressing the center until it is as flat as you can make it,

and the center is the size of the bottom of the muffin tin.

Put it in the muffin tin and then press the sides until they reach the top of the tin.

IMMEDIATELY fill the muffin tin with the filling (If you don't, the biscuit will shrink down again.)

Repeat until they are all filled, then bake as per the biscuit package.

They pop out of the tin very easily with your nail and a fork.

If you are making these ahead of time for a party, then don't bake them all the way, then you can either freeze them at this state or you can refrigerate until you need them, then pop them in the oven for five - seven minutes until they are heated through.

November 28th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina – 

Gobble, gobble, gobble. The day of the feast has finally arrived.

I went to bed early last night, I think I was asleep by 9:30, with the hopes of getting a few extra hour of sleep, so I could be well rested for all that still needed to be accomplished today. As you can see by the timestamp of this post, it didn’t quite work out that way.

I woke up at 2:30 and couldn’t fall back to sleep. I laid in bed until three and then gave up. So far all I have done was load the dishwashers – that’s not a typo, we actually do have two dishwashers. It’s a cool, two drawer, independently run unit by Fisher and Paykel. The dishwasher came for free as a promotional item with the stove we purchased, a stove which later today will have all six of its burners running at the same time, and will be baking our turkey as well as several sides all at the same time! Can you tell I LOVE my stove?

 

After I finish this blog entry and my first of, I’m sure, several cups of coffee, I need to find quiet things to work on so I don’t disturb my sleeping family. Vacuuming at 4:30 in the morning will not go over well. What I think I’ll do is get all the food prepped and in the pots/pans/dishes to be cooked. I can do that, put it all on the back porch to get it out of my way (okay, so a cold day does have its benefits at times, but I still don’t like the cold), and then I can get my kitchen cleaned.

The turkey doesn’t need to get into the oven until 10:30 to be ready for supper at 6, so that will give me time to whip up a batch of corn bread. First thing I’m going to do though is stick little PostIt notes all over the kitchen saying, “Don’t Forget the Butter!” It’s a standing Thanksgiving joke around here. The corn bread recipe I use calls for melted butter. I melt the butter in the microwave while I’m combining the other ingredients. I make the corn bread, actually corn breads, I do those little individual loaves. They look beautiful on the cooling rack. I open the microwave to pop in whatever’s next, and there’s the butter. I have done this several times, and it’s always and only the corn bread I screw up, year after year. I’ve even make it a point to tell whomever is helping me in the kitchen, not to let me forget the butter, and they forget to remind me. I would just give up, but when the recipe is done correctly, it’s the yummiest corn bread ever.

Other than the biscuits which I’ll pop in right before we eat, the corn bread is the only baking I need to do today. Last night, Lys baked an apple pie and two pumpkin pies for me. I had asked her to use my deep-dished Longaberger casserole to make the apple pie, and to use three jars of the apples I had canned. Since we were only making one apple pie, I wanted it to be a big one. Instead of the casserole dish, Lys used a Longaberger pie plate, and she did use 3 quart sized jars to fill the pie.

Holy crow. If I had just made pies with fresh apples, I probably would have gotten at least five pies; but since we picked the apples so early, I couldn’t use fresh, I had to can them or they would have gone bad before I could have used them. I filled eight quart sized jars of apples. I already used two for a cobbler I made a few weeks ago, and now Lys used three to make one average sized pie, which means I only have one pie’s worth of apples left. That’s sad. Cleaning, peeling, cutting and canning those apples took hours. Seems like an awful lot of work for very little yield.

Okay, it’s going on five already, and if I want to get finished by one so I can sneak in a nap before people get here, I had better get moving.

I hope you have a blessed day, and Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Your Last Challenge was:

I’m thankful for…

 

I know ten minutes will not be enough time for this challenge, because I really do have much to be thankful for, at least fifteen minutes worth. J

I’m thankful we have food to eat.

I’m thankful we can provide shoes for our children’s feet.

I’m thankful for the roof over our head.

I’m thankful we can sleep in a bed.

I’m thankful for those who gave their lives so we can live free.

I’m thankful for our dear friends and family.

I’m thankful I have a husband and children to love.

I’m thankful for the many blessing we receive from above.

 

Since I knew I couldn’t possibly list everything, I guess my brain thought a more generalized poem would suffice. Yup, I’m still a little baffled when a challenge produces a poem. The one thing I didn’t mention above was I am incredibly thankful to be able to do something I truly love, writing; and I am thankful for all of you, reading.

 

Your Next Challenge is to go have a wonderful day with your family.

 

You have all day. Enjoy them and your time together. Eat delicious food. Throw your calorie counter out the window. Have a slice of pumpkin and a slice of apple pie. Laugh and make memories. Go.

November 11th Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina – 

Happy Monday Morning Folks! I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend.  

 

Today, in its entirety is going to be spent getting caught up on Faerie Tale Queen. By day eleven we are supposed to be up to 18,333 words which means I have to get almost 5K words done today. The good news is, five thousand words should equate to about two chapters, which means I will have one in reserve for posting if I fall behind again.

So have you been reading along? I do get random comments every now and again, but they are usually from the couple of brave souls who comment regularly. I know there are a bunch of you out there who read my blog, because when you see me in person, you tell me. This time, I could really use your comments. A few words would be great. This novel is stepping out of my comfort zone and I want to make sure I’m giving the readers something they would enjoy.

 Okay, I’m off to pound the keys. I wish you a wonderful day and happy writing!

 

 Your Last Challenge:

 

You are a turkey and you overhear the farmer’s wife say Thanksgiving is next week.

 

“Mabel. Mabel! Oh my goodness. Oh my goodness! Did you hear? Did you hear?”

 

Mabel rolled her eyes, “What has ruffled your tail feathers this time Priscilla?”
 

“The farmer’s wife. The farmer’s wife! I heard her. I heard her!”
 

At this point Priscilla’s panic had drawn a crowd in the barn yard. Even the cows had wandered over to see what all the fuss was about.

 

“Quit clucking like a chicken and tell me what your heard Priscilla.” Mabel snapped.

 

“Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving! It’s next week. Next week!”

 

Pandemonium erupted amongst the turkey population. All squawked, many ran around, some cried, and two even fainted.

 

“Ladies.” Mabel looked around for a higher perch, hefted her considerable bulk upon it, then tried again, “Ladies! Enough! Panicking will not solve this problem. What we need is a plan.”

 

Sorry, I didn’t get very far. My daughter is up and eating her breakfast in front of the tv, so I can’t concentrate. Better luck tomorrow.

Your Next Challenge is:

 

Write a story containing the following three words: Gate, Strange & Butter.

 

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

November 9th Writing Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina – 

Dang it’s chilly today, beautiful, but chilly. Then again, it is November in the Northeast, so what else should I have expected? I don’t know about you, but for some reason I feel like we are going to have a bad winter this year. I hope I’m wrong!

Yesterday my daughter slept until eleven, which meant I got an extra hour of writing time, so I was very happy. Chapter three of Faerie Tale Queen is posted on my FB page for all of you to see. At this pace, it means chapter four is due tomorrow and I’m a little concerned because of my abbreviated weekend writing time.

Thankfully the chapters are short, one of the pluses to writing a modern day romance novel, they are meant to be a quick read. If you only have a few minutes to sneak away to read, you can finish a chapter in the time you have. There are short chapters in the historicals as well, but they are not as frequent, and they are usually the sub-plot chapters. Historical romance novels are also, at least, 25K words longer than a modern romantic novel, so you have leeway to add more detail, a lot more detail.

Okay, as I said yesterday, these are going to be short and sweet until Monday when I have more time. So, wishing you a very productive day, and happy writing!

Your Last Challenge:

 

 

Don’t laugh. Don’t laugh. If you do, the little boogie will think it’s funny and he’ll do it again. How the heck did he get the jar open?

All I needed was ten minutes to get dinner in the oven, and I knew I couldn’t do it without giving Jamie something to keep him occupied while I did. I also knew I couldn’t deal with my normal failsafe of a pot and a wooden spoon. Those I reserved for my more elaborate dinner preparations because they bought me a minimum of twenty minutes.

Tonight all I had to do was pop a roast and some potatoes in the oven, ten minutes, tops. I plopped him next to the dishwasher, out from under foot, gave him his wooden spoon, but instead of a pot, I gave him a sealed plastic jar of peanut butter. It still made noise so it would keep Jamie happy, and I would get to sit down to dinner without a splitting headache for once. It was a win for everyone.

He banged for a few minutes, then was quiet for about twenty seconds. I was just about to peek around the table to check on him when he started singing, so I thought I was okay. In fact, he was being so good, I figured I even had time to set the table without him glued to my hip. Three extra minutes…bonus. I placed the plates and silverware on the table, folded the napkins and began to set the places. When I turned the corner of the table to place the remaining two settings, that’s when I saw my little cherub.

 

Your Next Challenge is:

 

You are a turkey and you overhear the farmer’s wife say Thanksgiving is next week.

 

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.

May 23rd Challenge

Hi, it’s Christina –

Good Morning! I did something interesting yesterday; I searched through over 100K photos in search of a new cover photo for A Second Chance. I narrowed it down to two and sent the choices off to Caligraphics for their opinion. I found one initially that I fell in love with, I thought it was absolutely perfect and the rep from Cali emailed me and asked if I realized the photo I selected was more than 5x the normal going rate. Leave it to me to have expensive tastes.

Needless to say, I went back to the drawing board and looked at photos until my eyes crossed. As I said, I narrowed it down to two. My favorite has no price listed (nothing on the one site has prices listed) and my second choice, from a different site, is only $19 (less than the average price of $25). I’m waiting for a response from the rep to see what he thinks of my selections.

I am a little nervous because the selections I made are quite a bit different than the current cover. I was not able to find a photo of an old English country manor house that would work, if I found a possibility, I would zoom in for a closer look and find a car, a satellite dish or some other modern gadget, and to be honest, none of the choices absolutely thrilled me. So I decided to go the couple in an embrace route instead. The choices of couples in Victorian garb are nearly nil, so clothing was out. Are you getting the gist of why I’m nervous??? I don’t want the book to come across as erotica since it is far from it. I’m pretty sure they will be sending me mock-ups and, if allowed, I will post the choices, and get your opinions before I make a final selection.

 

Yesterday’s challenge was:

 

Truth is stranger than fiction…

 

My spin on “Truth is stranger than fiction” is “Truth is funnier than fiction”. Here is a prime example. A hundred years ago in a previous life, I used to work for a big name financial firm. One of my functions with the firm was to travel to clients so I could present and explain retirement packages to their employees. I was making one of those trips to a client out in Connecticut, when on my way to the train station a freak blizzard hit – I’m telling you, half an hour before I left there were beautiful blue skies and there were only scatter flurries in the evening being forecasted on the weather report. By the time I reached the train station there was over four inches of snow on the ground. I slide into a spot in the parking deck, gather my luggage and make a beeline to the platform, because my train was due any second. I race though the terminal, up one set of stairs and down another, and manage to get onboard as the doors are about to close. I find a seat as the train pulls away from the station.

 

Winded, but please I made it in time, I settle in and watch the scenery through the window and asking myself when I had I moved from New Jersey to Siberia? We were traveling through near whiteout conditions, but I was safe and warm and heading north at a good clip, so we would probably outrun the storm.

 

About twenty minutes into the trip, the train makes a funny noise, starts to slow, the lights dim and then finally go out completely just as the train coast to a stop. Since it is afternoon, and even with the storm raging, there is still enough light that we can see. Everyone looks confused. Finally there is a crackle and a disembodied voice comes over the speaker. “We seem to be experiencing some technical problems which we hope to have fixed shortly. Please be patient and we apologize for any inconvenience.” A collective groan goes through the car.

 

I ran out of time – but since this is yet another true story, I think I will finish it for you:

 

Over the course of the next two hours, we would receive updates, but as we waited, the dim light had faded to complete darkness and no power also meant no heat and it was getting really cold, but at least we were dry and not in the elements. The snow was well over a foot deep by this time and there was no sign of it stopping.

 
 

Then another announcement, they couldn’t fix the train; we were being picked up by another train. We gathered our things and prepared to disembark. Please keep in mind, I am on my way to a client's, therefore I am dressed appropriately to go to a client – in a suit and heels. Also, there is a REALLY good reason trains pull up to a platform, the reason being the distance between the last step off a train car and the tracks is a good six feet. So there I am, one foot on the last step, the other dangling in space in a fruitless attempt to find the ground, my pencil skirt hiked up around my waist and a blizzard howling around me.

 

The story of the commute from Hell goes on, and believe it or not, it becomes even more comical, but I have wasted enough of your time. Hopefully you got a chuckle from my rather indelicate predicament.

 

 

Your Next Challenge is (something different):

 

 

Write a story using the following words: Turkey, Motorcycle & Kiss

 

 

You have 10 minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.