Leftover Turkey Lo Mein

One day, I wanted to cook with leftover chicken and I was tired of casseroles, soups, and pot pie.  And I was craving Chinese.  And I had a ton of Ramen noodles.  This spawned Leftover Lo Mein.  This is a catch-all recipe, just throw it in!

Leftover Turkey Lo Mein

4 servings

Ingredients:

1 T oil

2 packages Ramen noodles

2 c chicken, cooked and chopped

various vegetables

1 c chicken broth

1/2 c soy sauce

1 T mustard powder

1 T garlic powder

1 t ginger

2 T cornstarch

Directions:

1.  Place broth, soy sauce, spices, and cornstarch in a mason jar.  Shake to combine, and do so every so often while your lo mein is cooking to combine.

2. Stir fry vegetables until warm and slighly browned. 

3. Put ramen in a microwave safe bowl, fill with water, cook for 3 minutes

4. Add chicken, warm

5. Drain noodles, add to skillet.

6.  Add contents of Mason Jar to skillet, bring to simmer.  Simmer for 5 minutes to thicken sauce.  Serve

Notes:  Feel free to add whatever leftovers you have in the house, this is a very versitile recipe!

Cornbread

 If you're like me, you grew up on the Jiffy box.  Wonderful sweet, cakey Jiffy cornbread!  This tastes just like it, just from scratch!

Ingredients

1 1/3 c flour

3/4 c cornmeal
1/4 c sugar
2 T baking powder

1/2 t salt

1/4 c melted butter

2 eggs, beaten
1 c milk

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400*, spray 8x8 pyrex dish 

2.Combine dry ingredients well

3.  Add butter, mix until smooth

4.  Add eggs and milk, mix until just moist

5.  Pour into pyrex dish, bake 25-30 minutes

Variations:

1. Add a package of beenie weenies or cut up hotdogs.  Cook as directed.  Cut into 9 peices, wrap in saran wrap and freeze in a big bag.  You know what you just made?  Corndogs!  My 3 year old LOVES these.  Especially if I put cheese in the mix!  Not the most healthy thing, but, hey!  What 3 year old wants to eat healthy in the first place?!
2. Add 1 cup cheddar cheese, a can of creamed corn (gasp!), or 3 diced jalepenos for a different kind of cornbread.

Stuffin Muffins

I love Stove-Top, and I was looking for a "easy" replacement.  I love this recipe because it has the crunchy edges.  You can, however, end at step 6, removing the egg entirely from the recipe and have regular stuffing!

And guess what?  The spices makes 1 T poultry seasoning.

Stuffin Muffins

makes 12 muffins

*inspired by Rachael Ray*

Ingredients:

4T butter

1 bay leaf

1 t celery seed

1 large onion, diced
2 garlic cloves

salt and pepper to taste

2 t sage

1 1/2 t thyme
3/4 t ground rosemary
1 t oregano

1/2 t nutmeg

8 c breadcrumbs

2c chicken stock

2 eggs, beaten

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*

2.  Preheat a large skillet over med heat, add olive oit and 1/2 the butter. 

3.  When melted, add the bay leaf, vegetables

4.  Add seasonings, cook vegetables until softened, about 10-15 minutes

5.  Add bread cubes, toss to combine

6.  Add just enough stock to moisten bread cubes

7.  Stir in eggs

8.  Line muffin tin and spray with Pam

9.  Fill the muffin cups, removing bay leaf as coming across it

10.  Bake until set and crisp, 10-15 minutes

Variations:

Feel free to add your favorite stuffing ingredients, this is a very forgiving recipe.

Gnocchi with Cajun Andouille Sauce

I loved the Tobin tradition of potato dumplings.  I soon found out the Italians call them Gnocchi.  I did some research, and found this lovely recipe by Emeril and tailored it for our tastes.  Now potato dumplings arent' just for Thanksgiving, they can be any day!

Gnocchi with Cajun Cream Sauce

4 servings

Ingredients:

2 c potato dumplings

2 T butter

1 lb Andouille

1 med onion, diced

4 garlic cloves, sliced

2 T cajun seasoning

4 c heavy cream

1 T worcestershire sauce

2 T tabasco sauce

1 bunch green onions, chopped

1 c parmesan cheese

Directions:

1.  Fry sliced potato dumplings in butter in batches.  Dont overload your pan, they'll become soft.  The dumplings should be toasty.

2.  In a separate medium saucepan, brown andouille

3.  Drain fat from andouille

4.  Add onion, garlic, and cajun seasoning.  Saute until onions clear. 

5.  Add cream, worcestershire, tabasco, bring to a boil.  Simmer for about 20 minutes, until reduced by 1/3

6.  Add green onions, mix

7.  Add parmesan cheese, stir constantly, melting the cheese

Potato Dumplings (Gnocchi)

This is the only reason I keep instant potatoes in my house. Its the way 4 generations have done it, so why mess with a good (great!) thing? Yes, I know these are leftovers, but I dont waste in my house if I can help it!  These are garlic parmesan mashed potatoes. 

Grandma Bubenik's Potato Dumplings

(Gnocchi)

Makes 4 main dish/6 side servings

Ingredients:

1 c leftover mashed potatoes

1 c flour

1 egg

*NOTE* No matter how big of a batch you make, only use 1 egg.  Not really sure why, but thats what I was always told, so I dont mess with it! :)

*NOTE*  this is about a quadruple batch.  You wont get this many dumplings if you only do the 1 c ratio.  This are kinda time consuming to make, so when I make some, I make a lot and freeze!

Directions:

1. Put on a pot of boiling water

2. Put mashed potatoes into mixer, whip with dough handle

3.Add egg to mixer, mix to combine

4. Add flour carefully, fully mix until the mixture looks like bread dough

5. Roll dough into hot dogs, place dough in boiling water (you can do several at a time)

6. Cook dough until it floats

7. Pull out of water, place dough in a big bowl, put in the fridge to cool down

8.Cut dough in slices.  Can be frozen at this stage.  Fully defrost before even opening the bag, otherwise they'll just stick together and you wont have pretty potato coins.

9. Cook as desired

Variations:

1. To use with instant potatoes:  1 c Instant Potatoes, 1 c milk in replace of the leftover mashed potatoes.
2. The Tobin Tradition: Fry potato dumplings in butter, garlic, and onions.  Top with gravy.  Tobin Thanksgiving Staple!
3. Top with alfredo, spaghetti sauce, or pesto sauce.
4. Add 2 c of fresh basil to step 1, toss with a red sauce
5. Replace potatoes with sweet potatoes, toss with maple syrup and pecans
6. Replace potatoes with 1 1/2 lb ricotta cheese, serve with red sauce.

Biscuits

Who doesn't love a good biscuit?! Thanks to my wonderful Mother-In-Law, I can make a biscuit that is neither a hockey puck or just a mess of a clump of biscuit.  After making a successful batch of biscuits, I've decided they are similar in process as to pie crust, just with some additional ingredients and a different rolling process.   

TIP: You can use regular milk, or to make homemade faux buttermilk, add 1T lemon juice (my preference) OR 1 T white vinegar to 1 c milk and let set to room temperature for 10 minutes.

Ingredients:
8 oz ( 1 3/4 c) flour
1 T sugar
2 1/4 t baking powder
3/4 t salt
1/4 baking soda
4 oz (8 T) butter
3/4 c buttermilk





Directions:

1.  Mix your dry ingredients in one big bowl.

2.  Since I'm using my homemade butter, it was just easier for me to weigh it.  If you use store-bought, use 8 T, or one stick.

3.  Starting with a fork, start cutting your ICE COLD butter into the flour.  When in pea-sized clumps, rub between your finger until it forms a ball.  Again, just like your pie crust, this does not need to be uniform.  Big and little sized butter clumps are a good thing. 

4.  Add your butter milk all at once, mix until just moistened.

5  Flour your counter top and your hands thoroughly

6. Drop your biscuit dough onto your counter top
NOTE: At this point, the biscuits are DROP biscuits.  You can bake them like this, as well, see variations.

7.  Knead until no longer sticky

8 Roll out to 1" thickness.

9.  This is where I defer from most cooks.   The reason biscuits get tough is you work with them too much.  So people put a cup through their dough to make circle biscuits.They continue to roll out the dough to make circle biscuits until there isn't any dough left.  The more passes you make on a biscuit, the tougher they are.  Meaning your first batch of biscuits are the most tender, the second batch is the second most tender, and so on.  Who says your biscuits have to be round?!  Roll out the dough 1", cut it into portions, and mold it into a uniform shape. 

10 Bake at 450* for 18 minutes

11. Turn pan 180*, bake for additional 4-6 minutes

12.  Remove pan from oven, let biscuits rest on pan for 3 minutes

13.  Remove biscuits from pan, add a pat of butter and some jam.  ENJOY!

VARIATIONS:
1.  Cinnamon: Mix together 1/4 c sugar with 1 T cinnamon.  After step 9, roll in cinnamon sugar mixture, bake. MONKEY BREAD!
2.  Honey:  Add 1/2 c honey with milk.
3.  Garlic Cheddar: decrease sugar to 1 t, add 1 c cheddar and 1 t garlic powder.  Bake as DROP biscuit, step 6

TIP:

Guess what?  You can freeze these unbaked for your own Pillsbury Dough boy anytime you want!

1.  Flash freeze these on a wax paper lined pyrex glass. 

2.  Freeze AT LEAST overnight.  Remove from glass and put in a freezer bag

3.  When wanted to cook, decrease temp to 400*, add 6-8 minutes to cooking time.

Easy Speasy!