One of my favorite parts of any turkey dinner has been using up the leftovers. As a family we always enjoy a repeat of the dinner itself, with all of the trimmings the next day, but after that our interest wanes slightly in a further repeat.
That is when you need to get inventive. The sky is the limit. There is really no need to serve boring turkey leftovers!
One thing which my family always loved for me to make them after the holiday dinner was Turkey Enchiladas. You can find a recipe for my Green Chili Turkey Enchiladas here.
They are excellent although the ones I always made my children were red enchiladas and it was so simple to make them. I can't believe that I don't have a recipe on here for them.
It was an idea I got from an old Sunset Magazine many moons ago. They were pretty standard in our home after Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners!
The filling was really simple. You just sautéed a medium sized chopped onion and a clove of garlic in a tiny bit of oil and then added a can of chopped green chilis undrained and a large tin of chopped tomatoes, and about 3 to 4 cups of leftover chopped cooked turkey. Seasoned with some salt and pepper, that got simmered for about half an hour.
I used 8 inch round flour tortillas. I used to make my own and I would divide the sauce between about 10 of those, rolling them up. I always tried to leave a bit of sauce to spoon over top at the end.
The rolled tortillas got placed into a roasting/lasagna tin and I would spoon the remaining sauce over top and sprinkle lots of cheese over everything.
I covered the dish with tinfoil and baked them for about half an hour or so at about 350*F/180*C, uncovered and baked for about 15 minutes longer.
Oh boy but they were some good, served hot with some sour cream spooned over top and a sprinkle of chopped spring onion. My children loved them.
I never did make this recipe I am sharing with you today for them, but I am betting they would have loved this turkey chili recipe.
I used to make a vegetarian chili that they really liked, but I am sure they would have really enjoyed this rich and creamy white turkey chili even more! The appeal of it would have been heightened knowing it was only available twice a year!
This easy chili is creamy, rich, hearty and a tad bit spicy. You can adjust the spice according to how many green chilis you choose to add. I always like to add the whole can for 3 servings and if I double it well then, I add two!
If you can't get cans of roasted green chilis (and I couldn't in the UK) then you can roast a couple of green chilis in a hot oven and then peel and chop them. Alternately you can just trim and chop a couple of fresh green chilis and add them with the onion at the beginning!
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE RICH & CREAMY WHITE TURKEY CHILI
Its very simple really. I bet you most likely have everything you need in the kitchen right now!
- onions
- garlic
- chicken stock/broth
- chopped green chilis
- fresh coriander/cilantro
- dried cumin and oregano
- cooked turkey meat
- tinned cannellini beans
- evaporated milk (NOT to be confused with sweetened condensed milk)
- cornstarch (corn flour)
- salt and pepper
As you can see really simple ingredients altogether.
If you haven't got evaporated milk you can use half and half or cream, but it will be a lot richer. I always keep tins of evaporated milk in my larder and often use it to replace cream in recipes.
You get the same amount of creaminess with way less fat and calories. I try to cut those back when and as I can!
HOW TO MAKE RICH & CREAMY WHITE TURKEY CHILI
Nothing could be easier or quicker to make for a midweek supper than this delicious chili! You begin by heating a small amount of oil in a saucepan. To this you add the onions and saute them just until they are softened.
You do not want them to color, just soften. The goal is to keep this rich soup/stew as white as possible. Once they have softened you can add your garlic. Again, don't color it, just soften it. You will know it is right when you can really smell that garlic fragrance. It doesn't take long!
Once you have softened the onions and garlic it is time to add your stock or broth, all of your herbs and seasonings, along with your canned green chilis. Of course if you haven't been able to procure the canned ones and need to use the fresh, you should add them with the onions.
For the broth I always use the Knorr gel stock pots. You can get them in chicken, beef or vegetable . They taste really good and are very convenient to have on hand. A stock concentrate, you just mix them with boiling water and reconstitute them.
You cook all of this for about 10 minutes to meld all the flavors and then you add the turkey and the beans, heating them through.
The evaporated milk lends the rich creaminess to this chili. Some of that gets mixed with a bit of cornstarch to be used as a thickener, which you stir into the chili and then you just add the rest. I like to cook it for a further 5 to 10 minutes just to make sure you have cooked all the taste of the cornstarch out.
You can of course enjoy it just as it is with cornbread or crackers or both, but I like to serve it with some rice and grated cheese, which makes it just that tiny bit more substantial. I can promise you ain't nobody going to be complaining about these leftovers!!
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Rich & Creamy White Turkey Chili
Yield: 3-4
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 25 MinTotal time: 35 Min
Leftovers never tasted so good. Thick, creamy and delicious. If you don't have leftover cooked turkey, feel free to use cooked chicken.
Ingredients
- 1 TBS canola oil
- 1 medium onion, peeled and finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 1/2 cups (600ml) chicken broth
- 1 can of chopped green chilies, undrained
- 1 TBS fresh chopped coriander (cilantro)
- 1/2 TBS ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp dried oregano
- 1 pound (about 2 cups) chopped cooked turkey meat
- 1 1/2 cups (345g)cooked cannellini beans
- about 1/2 cup of frozen corn kernels
- 1/2 cup of evaporated milk
- 1 1/2 TBS cornstarch
- salt and black pepper to taste
Suggested accompaniments:
- Cooked rice
- grated cheddar or Jack cheese
- chopped spring onions/scallions
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a medium sized saucepan. Add the onion and sauté until softened without coloring over medium heat.
- Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds until fragrant and then add the stock, green chilies, cilantro, cumin and oregano. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for a further 10 minutes to allow the flavors to melt.
- Add the turkey, corn, and the beans. Simmer for a further 5 minutes.
- Whisk together 1/4 cup (60ml) of the evaporated milk and the cornstarch until smooth. Stir this mixture into the chili. Add the remaining milk and stir to blend in well. Cook for about 5 minutes bringing everything just to the boil.
- Remove from the heat. Taste and adjust seasoning as required. Serve not with your favorite accompaniments.
When I was a child, one of the favorite things that my mother would bake for us as a real treat would be a lovely homemade apple pie. I was looking on here for my mom's apple pie recipe at the weekend and I couldn't believe I had never shared it.
Being one not to let the grass grow under my feet, I decided to rectify that omission right away! You won't find a much better apple pie than this one.
It has always been a favorite pie with all of us, not only because it is delicious but for me also because it is a really easy apple pie recipe.
It is a recipe that she learned how to make at her own mother's knee so I guess you could also consider this to be just like Grandma's old fashioned apple pie. Apple pie really doesn't get much better than this.
For me this is the best apple pie because not only is it delicious, but it is also quick and easy to make and doesn't require any faffing about.
Pure and simple ingredients done well. That's always been my promise to you. I made my own crust for this, but you can also use a good store bought ready-rolled pastry if you wish, which makes it even easier.
When we were children my mother would make several of these in the autumn when the apples were ripe and ready to be picked. One would be eaten on the day and the other one would be frozen for us to enjoy later in the year.
You can't beat having something tasty like a baked apple pie in the freezer ready to haul out when you are in need of a dessert but can't be asked to cook! When you are ready to serve it, just take it out of the freezer and leave it on the counter to thaw out. You can reheat it gently in a moderate oven (350*F/180*C) to freshen it up a bit.
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE AN APPLE PIE FROM SCRATCH
Simple, simple, simple . . . .
- peeled and sliced apples
- granulated sugar
- brown sugar
- cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves
- flour
- lemon juice
- butter to dot
- pastry for a 9-inch two crust pie
Some people like to add ginger to their apple pies. I don't and mom never did. Just plain old cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves.
WHAT KIND OF APPLES TO USE FOR AN APPLE PIE
Ideally you will want to use a combination of apples. I like to mix a tart cooking apple with a semi tart crisp eating apple. You don't want to use a really sweet apple or an apple that falls apart when it bakes. That lets out anything like a red delicious apple. They simply do not cook well.
My favorite combination are Granny Smith and Gravenstein. But you can also use Jonagolds, McIntosh, Cortlands, Honey crisp, Fuji, Braeburns, and Golden Delicious. All hold their shape well.
Combining several different kinds is your best bet. This makes for the optimum flavor when it comes to an apple pie. Granny Smith's can often turn to mush however, although I love their sweet tartness.
So do use Granny Smith, but don't allow it to be any more than 1/3 of the apples in your pie. So 2/3 one other kind and 1/3 Granny Smith.
HOW TO MAKE THE FILLING FOR AN APPLE PIE
There is no extraordinary skill needed. If you can peel core and slice an apple, you can make this filling.
Some people have fancy apple peeler/corers. I don't. I favor a good old fashioned paring knife. Yes, I am one of those people who tries to pare off as much apple in one go as I can. Its an old childhood game I have never lost touch with.
Once you have the apples pared and cored you will need to slice them into wedges no larger than 1/2 inch thick. I vary from 1/3 to 1/2. Variety is the spice of life.
Place them into a large bowl and toss them together with some lemon juice. The acid in the lemon juice helps to prevent them from turning brown. It does not make the pie sour. There is enough sugar in an apple pie to prevent that from happening.
I like to use two kinds of sugar, a granulated white sugar and light brown sugar. The two together give a wonderful flavor to the apples. You need to mix that with some flour and then the spices.
Mom never used ginger as I said. I don't think I would like ginger in an apple pie. I think ginger is far too strong a flavor and would upset the balance of flavors. You could add a touch of ground cardamom if you want. Cardamom has a slight lemon flavor to it that goes very well with apples.
This mixture gets tossed together with your apples in the bowl. The apples will give off a fair amount of juice while they are baking and the flour helps to thicken the juices for a much better finish and to help prevent a soggy bottom on your pie.
Nobody wants a soggy bottom on their pie.
I also like to dot butter over the top of the filling once I get it all into the crust. It adds an element of richness to the filling.
You may think that it is an awful lot of apples for the filling, but trust me when I say it is just right. They will cook down to roughly half the size, so it is much better to start off with it looking quite generous.
I always use my butter and lard pastry for pies like this. It is such a lovely flakey pastry that works wonderfully here. You can find that recipe here. You will have to scroll down the page about halfway.
Some people like their apple pie served warm. Some people like it served ice cold. I am somewhere in the middle. Room temperature works for me.
In the UK they eat their apple pie warm with custard sauce. In North America it is usually a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream. I love apple pie with a thin wedge of a good cheddar cheese. Oh my but that is heavenly bliss.
This is a pie that keeps very well at room temperature for several days. Any longer than that and I would refrigerate it, and of course it freezes very well.
When I bake an apple pie, it always makes me think of mom. Her favorite pie was coconut cream, but she only ever very rarely made that. My father loved apple pies, and her wish was to please him. That and lemon meringue.
Those were the two pies we had most often. Sometimes she would make a pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving, but always with another kind because our father didn't really like pumpkin pie.
Me . . . I like pie, and would not turn down any kind! But then again, I am a bit of a glutton when it comes to pie!
Mom's Best Apple Pie
Yield: 8
Prep time: 20 MinCook time: 45 MinTotal time: 1 H & 4 M
Ingredients
- Pastry for a two crust pie (See my butter & lard pastry)
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) soft light brown sugar, packed
- 3 TBS all purpose plain flour
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 6 to 7 thinly sliced peeled tart medium to large cooking apples (Granny Smith, Gravensteins, etc.)
- 1 TBS lemon juice
- 1 TBS butter
- sugar for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375*F/ 195*C/ gas mark 5.
- Toss the apples together with the lemon juice in a large bowl. Mix the spices and flour together with both sugars. Toss the apples together with this mixture to coat. Set aside.
- Roll half of the pastry out on a lightly floured surface to a circle large enough to line a 9-inch pie plate. (about 12 inches round, 1/4 inch thick) Carefully transfer to the pie plate.
- Fill the pastry lined pie plate with the apple mixture. Dot with butter.
- Roll the remaining pastry out to a round large enough to cover the apples in the pie dish. Place over the filling. Trim any excess pastry from around the edges of the pie. Press the edges tightly closed with the tines of a fork. Cut some slits in top of the pie to vent.
- Sprinkle with additional granulated sugar. Cover the edges loosely with aluminum foil. Place onto a baking sheet.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and bake for an additional 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown and the filling is bubbling up through the pie vents.
- Cool on a wire rack before serving.
I wanted to bake a treat for my daughter and her husband to take home after our Friday Thanksgiving dinner and I wanted it to be something they both would enjoy. My son in law can be rather fussy when it comes to eating.
There is not a lot he will eat that is out of the ordinary. He is a simple meat and potatoes kind of a guy, and he doesn't even eat a lot of those. My daughter ends up cooking two separate meals most nights.
I thought he might like brownies. He always takes those Little Debbie's kind of cakes to work in his lunch every day. How much better is a homemade brownie than those!
And how much better than a homemade brownie are Mississippi Mud bars! Sinful and indulgent, I cannot think of too many people who would not enjoy Mississippi Mud bars. To do so would be indecent and not human!
Mississippi Mud Bars are decadent fudgy brownies, studded with plenty of toasted pecan nuts and topped with a sweet layer of melted marshmallow and a rich chocolate fudge icing! What's not to like about that!
I made a small batch of a recipe that I found for Mississippi Mud Bars in Southern Living, Comfort Food. This was another one of my cookbooks that I chose to replace here in Canada.
Its a brilliant cookbook, filled to overflowing with fabulously delicious Southern Comfort foods. How everyone down there isn't as wide as a house, I will never know!
Anyways, I thought a full recipe would be far more than my daughter and her husband could cope with, or should cope with so I cut the recipe in half with great success.
Yes I did taste them. A woman's got to do what a woman's got to do. Its a dirty job but somebody's got to do it. I was only too happy to step up to the plate.
After all I wouldn't expect anyone to eat anything I wouldn't eat, right? My only regret is sprinkling milk chocolate chips on top. They came off looking white in the photographs and I can promise you they were not white.
They weren't even actually needed. I was trying to dress them up a bit. Chocolate things can be notoriously difficult to photograph. I thought it would help.
I hope you will forgive me for making something that doesn't look nice in photographs anyways, look even worse! Don't let that deter you from making them. They are gorgeous!
WHAT DO YOU NEED TO MAKE MISSISSIPPI MUD BARS
Nothing too spectacular. Simple ingredients put together in the most delicious way! (That's my motto most of the time!)
For the brownie base and marshmallow topping:
- all purpose flour (plain flour in the UK)
- unsweetened cocoa powder (not chocolate drink mix, they are not the same thing)
- granulated sugar
- baking powder
- salt
- melted butter
- large free range eggs
- vanilla extract (I always use the pure stuff)
- miniature marshmallows (I like the all white ones)
For the frosting:
- melted butter
- unsweetened cocoa powder
- evaporated milk (not sweetened condensed milk, you could also use half and half or single cream)
- vanilla extract (again I use pure)
- icing sugar (also known as powdered or confectioner's sugar)
HOW DO YOU MAKE MISSISSIPPI MUD BARS
The hardest part of making these lush bars is keeping your hands off them until everything sets up!
The base for these is essentially a rich fudge brownie. If you can make a brownie then you can make these. The dry ingredients are whisked together and then you whisk in the melted butter, eggs and vanilla, whisking only until the mixture is smooth and homogenous.
You then stir in the toasted nuts. I always toast my nuts as you know. It just makes them taste nicer. Toasted nuts taste better. (8 to 10 minutes, spread on a baking sheet in a moderate oven. Let them cool before using.)
You then spread the batter into your prepared pan. I butter the pan and also partially line it with baking paper, so that there is an overhang on two opposite sides.
This just makes it so much easier to lift the finished bars out of the pan. I am all for ease when it comes to things like this. So just spread the batter in the buttered/lined pan and bake.
While they are baking put your frosting together as you will be needing it not too long after your brownie base is baked.
The brownie base is done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, with only a few crumbs clinging to it. They should not be gloopy in the least.
Once that happens you just scatter the marshmallows over top and return them to the oven for a minute or two.
You don't want the marshmallows to brown at all. You just want them to melt until they are ooey and gooey.
Once that has happened, take them out (they will be all puffy) and then spread the frosting over top of the warm marshmallow. It won't be easy, but it will be worth it.
I found the easiest way to do this was to dollop blobs of the frosting over top of the batter here and there, and then just spread it over with the back of a metal spoon. It worked really well.
The frosting is as easy to make as beating the ingredients together with an electric hand whisk until smooth and spreadable.
HINTS AND TIPS FOR SUCCESS
Use cocoa powder and not chocolate drink mix. Chocolate drink mix is considerably sweeter than cocoa powder and has a completely different consistency which just won't bake the same. The two are NOT interchangeable in my opinion.
Sift your cocoa powder. Cocoa powder can be really lumpy and doesn't mix in well, so sift, sift, sift. Nobody wants to bite down on a lump of cocoa powder. It won't taste nice and it will be unsightly.
Always toast your nuts when baking. They just taste better.
Don't overmix your brownie batter. You just want it smooth and homogenous. You don't want to overdevelop the gluten in the flour. This results in a tough brownie.
Sift your icing sugar to get out all of the lumps. Nobody wants to eat a lumpy frosting and it just doesn't look nice.
Don't sweat it if your icing doesn't completely cover the marshmallow. It is okay if a bit of mallow peeks through. That's just the nature of mud. Trust me, they will still be delicious!
Try (if you can) to leave them overnight before cutting into them. You will get much nicer cuts. Lift them out of the pan to cut. In an eight inch square pan, four cuts one way and 3 cups the other will give you 12 nice, decently sized squares.
Trust me, these are so sweet you won't want huge pieces. Break out the milk, because a nice tall glass of cold milk goes really well with these!
Enjoy, enjoy, enjoy! (And leave off the chocolate chips unless you like really sweet things!)
Mississippi Mud Bars (small batch)
Yield: 12 bars
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 32 MinTotal time: 42 Min
Deep dark, chocolatey and decadent delicious! Oh my goodness!
Ingredients
For the bars:
- 3/4 cup (110g) plain all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (4 TBS) cocoa powder (Not drinking chocolate)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (120g) butter, melted
- 2 large free range eggs, beaten lightly
- 1/2 TBS vanilla
- 1/2 cup (60g)chopped toasted pecan nuts
- 1 1/2 cups (75g) mini marsmallows
For the frosting: (makes 1 1/4 cups)
- 1/4 cup (60g) butter, melted
- 2 1/2 TBS cocoa powder, sifted
- 2 1/2 TBS evaporated milk (not sweetened condensed)
- 1 3/4 cup (225g) icing sugar, sifted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Butter an 8-inch square baking tin. Line it with baking paper, giving yourself an overhang to lift the cooled squares out with.
- Whisk the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. Add the butter, eggs, and vanilla. Stir everything together until smooth. Stir in the pecan nuts.
- Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the pan comes out clean with only a few moist crumbs attached. Remove from the oven and immediately scatter the marshmallows over top and return to the oven for one to two minutes to melt the marshmallows.
- Remove from the oven and carefully spread the frosting over top of the marshmallows. Cool completely and cut into squares.
- To make the frosting beat all of the ingredients together with an electric mixer at medium speed until the dry ingredients are moistened. Beat at high speed until the frosting reaches a spreadable consistency.
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