Week of Leftovers Day One: Turkey Pozole

Today is Friday- the day after you filled your tummies with everything from game day chips and dips to turkey, gravy and of course PIE! You're full, you're bloated, you're (quite possibly, especially if you had dinner at our place) hungover and you want something easy and relatively light to help you recuperate.

I grew up in a large Mexican family and my all time, go-to, comfort food meal is Pozole. I remember being not even tall enough to reach the stove, pulling up a chair to steal giant spoonfuls of my Grandmothers pozole. I was obsessed with those plump white kernels of hominy, tender pieces of pork and the rich, spicy red broth.

If you've never had pozole, it is a hominy stew which can be made with a  variety of different meats, sauce bases and stewed meat. In our house we always enjoyed the Pozole Roja variety with either pork or chicken and tons of garnishes like onions, cabbage, radishes, cilantro, chile flakes and Mexican oregano. I serve it along side some warm corn tortillas or a crispy tostada (fried corn tortilla) with refried beans and cheese. My Grandmother made everything from scratch, including her red sauce for this stew, and I pray one day she might even share her recipe with me! Until then I use a can of my favorite enchilada sauce and it tastes close enough and saves a ton of time as homemade red sauce can be very labor intensive. This is a post Thanksgiving meal you will want to make while family is still in town because it makes plenty- enough to serve about 6-8! Although rich and hearty, this stew is actually pretty low calorie (a cup of hominy weighs in at under 100 calories!) Using the white meat turkey, and low sodium chicken broth

Turkey Pozole Ingredients:

2 heaping cups of shredded turkey
1 28oz can red enchilada sauce
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic chopped
1 29oz can of white hominy**
2 cups chicken broth
2 bay leaves
1 tsp of Mexican oregano
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

Optional Garnish:

Shredded cabbage
Chopped onion
Cilantro
Sliced radish
Chile flake
Mexican oregano
Limes

In a large pot saute the onion and until translucent, add the garlic and cook until fragrant- do not brown. Add the remaining ingredients, except the turkey meat. Simmer on low heat for 20 minutes, stir in the turkey and simmer for about 5 minutes longer. Serve with warm corn tortillas, chips or tostada and refried beans.

**I've met them, but I will never understand them: People who hate hominy! If you are one of the misunderstood, feel free to replace the hominy with regular white corn, black beans or chickpeas!

Thanksgiving Leftovers!

Ah, it is here...the occasion we wait all year long for. No, it is not Christmas or Thanksgiving...it is the week following Thanksgiving. Sure we love all the delicious fixings that go along with the main course (Turkey, duh). We love visiting friends and family, watching the game and drinking too much. But what we really REALLY love is all the amazing things that get done with turkey leftovers AFTER Thanksgiving.

Here is a short list of ideas on how to use up those turkey scraps. This year I was fortunate enough to be able to take home the turkey...carcass...to make turkey stock. It was SO easy I couldn't believe I didn't try this before. From now on I will make a point of sneaking the carcass out and into my car before anyone realizes what I've done. It was that good. What sorts of things would you do with turkey stock you ask? Soups, gravies, sauces...what can't you do? Well...don't bath with it. Don't wash your car with it, or use it to lube your slip and slide. Don't. I'll slap you.

Turkey Left Over Ideas

Turkey and Sweet Pea "Risotto":

1 cup of left over cook white rice, frozen sweet peas, shredded white and dark turkey meat, 1/2 cup cream and 1/4 cup turkey broth all warmed up in a small sauce pan. That's right, just dump it all into a pan, it is so simple. Once the rice and turkey mixture is warm and at the end mix in some shredded Parmesan cheese, season with salt and pepper.

Turkey and Sweet Potato Hash:

1/2 cup chopped turkey, 1/2 cup cubed (cooked) sweet potatoes, 2 green onions, 1 yellow bell pepper all get sauteed in a greased heavy bottomed pan. Add the potatoes first, then the other vegetables and the turkey last. Season liberally with salt, pepper and garlic powder. The hash is best when all the ingredients take a little browning and get nice and crusty! Eat with some over easy eggs and toast!

Curried Turkey Salad:

In a medium sized bowl mix: 1 cup chopped/shredded turkey, 1/4 cup mayo, 1 tbsp low fat sour cream or plain nonfat yogurt, 1 celery rib chopped finely, 2 green onions, 1tbsp curry powder and 1 tsp garlic powder. Let this sit in the refrigerator for at least an hour (or dig in with a fork while standing over the kitchen counter...). Scoop onto a plate of leafy greens and some diced green apples and craisins. Obviously this makes one damn good sandwich as well!!

Turkey Mole:

You'll want to pour this over some steamed white rice so make sure you get that out of the way before you start. There are many authentic mole recipes available online, but a quick short cut is to pick up jarred mole paste from the grocery store and mix with chicken broth. Add 2 cups of the prepared mole sauce, 1 can of chopped tomatoes, and 3 cups of shredded turkey and warm through on the stove or in a crockpot (I'd go for the crock pot because it wont likely overcook the turkey). Serve over white rice, garnish with cilantro leaves and salsa.

That's what I got so far for you. My advice is get creative, but don't ignore the obvious choices either. Leftovers make GREAT turkey soup (replace egg noodles with orzo or stuffed pasta like tortellini). Have a great casserole you'd normally use chicken for? Use turkey! The possibilities are endless.