Turkey Day Primer and Fun with Leftovers!

My stepson is in town to visit. It's a treat to see him since he lives all the way in Florida. He's entering the service in a week so it is the last time we are going to see him for quite a while. Since he won't be home for the holidays I decided to get all the kids over on Sunday for a Thanksgiving dinner. I already had a turkey breast in the freezer so it seemed almost karmic. We had roast turkey, stuffing, glazed carrots, broccoli casserole, mashed potatoes, gravy, corn, and green bean casserole. I think that's everything. It was a lot of food and considering I only have 1 oven rack, I don't feel bad about tooting my own horn for pulling it all together in about three hours! My only criticism, the broccoli was a tad undercooked. Oh, well. Now I'll be sure to get it right for the actual Thanksgiving holiday, LOL!

The following Monday was Hubby's birthday so I used up the leftover corn and mashed potatoes for his birthday porterhouse steak dinner, which we enjoyed with my family despite him being sick. Tuesday he was REALLY sick. So sick that I felt compelled to work at home in case he decided he needed to go to the emergency room or something. My car is in the shop so I wanted to make sure there was a vehicle for him should he need it. Since I was home and he was all doped up on cold medicine I took it upon myself to use up those remaining Sunday leftovers and make something that also is good for a cold. Not being in a soup mood I decided on Turkey stew with dumplings. Here's what I did:

First I put the leftover turkey carcass in a crock pot with a bunch of chicken broth and got that simmering. Several hours later, when it was falling apart, I fished out all of the meat and bones and dumped them into a colander set inside a bowl to cool. While the meat was cooling I sauteed some chopped garlic, celery and onions with some butter in a large stock pot. Once the vegetables had softened I added the liquid from the crock pot. By this time the turkey meat was cool enough to handle so I picked through it and added the meat pieces to the stock pot and let everything simmer. I seasoned the pot with a few sprigs of fresh thyme, rosemary and sage. Then I added the vegetables I had leftover from Sunday. Basically all I had left at this point was green bean casserole and glazed carrots. Both of them went in along with the leftover turkey gravy. Once that heated up. I added a good amount of half and half, turned everything off and went for a jog. Hubby was still out cold and it was too early to go any further. When I got home from jogging Hubby was up and feeling a tad better - not 100% but not worse. A very good sign. I asked if wanted to eat and when I told him what was cooking he was very interested. So I went back into the kitchen and turned the heat back on and got things going again. Before the pot got really hot I spooned out some of the liquid and thickened it with flour. Once the pot started to bubble I poured it in to thicken the stock. I then made a quick dumpling dough using bisquick and milk, which I dropped on top of the stew by the spoonful. Then on went the lid and I let it all simmer for about 15 minutes until the dumplings were cooked through. I purposely used my stockpot with the glass lid so I could see what was going on inside without lifting the lid. As we all know, peeking is a big no-no when it comes to dumplings. The end result was delicious and hubby ate an entire bowl. Hopefully it will help cure his ills!