Monday, November 30, 2009

What the F I do with leftovers + PRIZE (not a leftover)

In case you didn't know, we smoked turkeys for Thanksgiving this year. And in case you didn't know, smoked turkey is delicious.

Like two pounds a person delicious.

Yeah, I know, no one ever eats two pounds of turkey on Thanksgiving. Two pounds of pie, fine - all the time, but not turkey. Because, let's face it, turkey only gets top billing because its famous dad paid off someone at the theater to put his name at the top of the playbill or something.

And I don't know why I just made a theater analogy since I never go to the theater, but sometimes you have to just go with what comes out. And wow. That sounds grody.

ANYWAY.

Even with this unprecedented turkey eating, there were still leftovers. Half a big foil pan's worth - including a couple of the pterodactyl legs. Feeling a bit rotund and also because my mom told us to, we left all the leftovers with her to feed the holiday guests (and props to those animals - it was gone in 24 hours) and went home to our demure little zippie bag of turkey shrapnel left from my maniacal carving.

Feeling a little stupid for dating the bag now, but whatever.

To be honest, I didn't think we'd even want the little zippie bag of Who Gives a Crap, but because I don't do waste, and this was all just sitting on the cutting board after I got done deconstructing those big boobs, I put it in a bag bound for the freezer with the thought that maybe one day I'd thaw it out and make the dog's day or something.

Certainly WE were not going to eat it. Pffft. Ew.

See, there's something about reheated turkey makes me...uh...gag. Sorry, I was gagging just thinking about it.

It's the grayness of turkey meat after a day in the fridge. And the weird gamey grody taste. And the smell. And the squishy gooshy sound of people tearing at the sandy rubbery leftover meat with their teeth. GAG. It's all those things and then something wiggly makes it into my sandwich and I have to contemplate suicide.

Anyway, if you haven't barfed yet, I'm here to tell you that when you smoke turkey rather than roast it - the reheated flavor, texture and smells are still heavenly. Because, duh, it's smoked. Which we all know is the best way to treat any meat of any kind.

So, it's now accepted in our house as a feasible leftover food item. As long as it's smoked.

But, it's not like I'm just going to slam it between a couple slices of bread with some mashed potatoes and stuffing or something (though, now that I think about it...) because that is too predictable and, well, we ate all the potatoes.

And, to be honest, I wasn't thinking about doing much with it at all, until I found myself with a dinner to make and very little inspiration coming from my Master Cookbook, which is my binder of mismatched recipes from the Internets and beyond.

Thankfully, Bubba suggested we use our tried and true what the F do we have for dinner method of dinner-deciding: What Do We Have That Needs To Go.

As in - do we have any vegetables on their last legs, a pile of frozen something, bread going stale, what have you.

This process has served us well, once again, and The Leftover Dinner That Will Live in Infamy was born. From smoked turkey shrapnel, the rest of a bag of frozen peas, a stray kohlrabi going bouncy, three small frozen pie crust remnants, an odd onion, some thyme from the diminishing herb garden, a couple carrots from the bottomless bag in the crisper and a can of chicken broth.

Can you guess what I made?

Hint: It would fit nicely in our Dinner from 1984 nights.

Turkey Pot Pie, y'all!

We are securing our place in WT America with this one.

Best part was - it was fucking awesome. Seriously! I've never made or eaten a turkey (or chicken for that matter) pot pie before because it always sounded nasty, but this was really fucking good.

For the record, I used Pioneer Woman's recipe, but left out the cream altogether, subbed kohlrabi for celery and used my own pie crust.

So - it was good for a lot of reasons but especially so since I got to make a crazy mirepoix with kohlrabi instead of celery and then patchwork blend three leftover pie crust remnants from pies of yore into a crust for an all new pie.

OK, so my mirepoix isn't perfect, but I haven't been through the Cordon Bleu yet.

The consistency was perfect. And so I took this photo.
Even though this is a stupid looking photo.

You can see the patchworking in that it didn't all bake up the same. Good thing it tasted amazing.
And since we were already well into WT territory with this dinner, I hardly flinched when Bubba went back for seconds and *gasp* covered his second serving with shredded cheddar cheese.

We are SO trailer.

And while Jada was an enthusiastic cheerleader for the reanimation of the turkey, her experience with leftovers was more of the fabric persuasion.

She is so optimistic, our dog.

And in case I just lost you there, we've changed subjects and are now talking about a craft project.

A very important craft project.

From a very important craft book.

Which is the subject of today's previously mentioned prize.

You with me now? Thought you might be.

See, friends, I was a contributor to the recently released to rave reviews and much fanfare crafting book, One Yard Wonders.

Which you know because I shamelessly self-promote.

BUT - what you didn't know was that I'd had my eye on a project in that book from the time that some of the patterns were released to the press (ie. they were posted on Facebook by the publisher) and when I got my contributor's copy in the mail, I totally knew I was going to make that project On The Double.

And I did.

That project was the Cozy Dog Bed by Mary Richmond and, while I altered it to fit the size of my pooch so may have used a skoshe more fabric than a yard (Ms. Jada doesn't fit on one yard of fabric), it still came out excellent and my enjoyment of this book continues to grow.

And Jada's enjoyment of not lying on a squooshed out dog bed also continues to grow.

Even though I already loved it with all my heart because I'm in it. On, like page 113 where my project poses with a dog that's not Jada, but cute all the same. Even though a dog that looks just like that one totally wants to fight Jada at the park, but I don't think it's the breed, I think it's the owner, but YOU DON'T CARE, you just want a copy of this book, right?

Right.

I knew you were all whores. Fabulous, fabulous whores.

SO - when I said PRIZE way back at the beginning of this post, what I meant was a copy of One Yard Wonders. For someone randomly selected by the random name chooser thingee for leaving a comment.

That's all. Just a comment. Though you can feel free to swear, share leftover turkey recipes or list the top 3 movies you'd choose to miraculously have show up on your DVR for a day long crafting session. So, you know, you could listen to their familiar sounds in the background as you broke two needles in a row.

Not that this would happen while you use your One Yard Wonders book, though. Those patterns are super safe and tested.

Those other things can happen, though, when you're testing out new patterns with a too-small needle before realizing you should just use the fucking leather needles because why are you going to buy them and not use them? Good thing Sixteen Candles, Breakfast at Tiffany's and Earth Girls are Easy were all on the DVR to save you from scooping your eyes out with a soup ladle.

Anyway. Leave a comment by Thursday, 12/4. I'll choose a winner at random. I'll post the winner on Friday, 12/5. And then the super nice and awesome gal from Storey Publishing will send the winner a copy of this very awesome (and not only because I'm in it on page 113) new crafting book for your one yard using pleasures.

Good. Go.

43 comments:

  1. Scary. I was looking at the PW turkey pot pie recipe and was thinking of leaving out the cream. Love the dog bed--though I think Rocket definitely feels less love.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I saw that you won NaNoWriMo! Congrats!

    I really like your dog bed.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Funny, I never thought pot pie was WT - probably that means that we are WT, loving pot pie and all. Sometimes a little bit TPT too. Anyhow, would love me a copy of that super cool sounding book with the Finny pattern. I of course would gift it to my super crafty sister. Even though she doesn't even know how to turn her sewing machine on yet. Maybe I'll win this time, since your pattern is on page 113, and 13 is my lucky number and all.

    ReplyDelete
  4. How could you have made it this far in life without eating pot pie?? It's muy tasty!

    ReplyDelete
  5. WHEE, POT PIE! I love that shit.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Cool pot pie. My BF has been prodding me to try something like that out, and it looks pretty tasty and not too complicated.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Way to use up all sorts of leftovers! Actually liking your creation at that point seems too good to be true.

    Your book looks pretty sweet. I keep meaning to get to the old bookstore to see it in real life.

    ReplyDelete
  8. This moves you to the head of the leftover class Finny -- it looks delicious!!! Jada looks extremely happy on her dog bed -- even though she doesn't want you to take her picture. Congrats again on the book part -- you can't enter me though 'cause I'm on a winning diet until the end of the year, at least. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  9. pick me! pick me! oh please random org gods pick me!! cause holy crap on wheels I NEED this book:)

    ReplyDelete
  10. I saw the title to this post and immediately my mind said "pot pie...duh". I mean, especially since you have your own garden and can put in all your homegrown goodness in there and everything. And that's what you did.
    I've been wanting to check out that book, but knowing you're in it just elevated it from wanna look to wanna buy. Unless I win of course. Which I really wanna.
    (kinda funny that my word verification is Cruser)

    ReplyDelete
  11. I totally need to steal the pot pie idea for all our various and sundry leftovers from Thanksgiving. Yours looks yummy!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I bought TWO fucking dog beds from my work cause they were on sale over the After Thanksgiving Sale weekend. Both big dogs hate them...HATE them! That's $9.99 X two WASTED! Now, normally, I'd give up, but I like that bed that you made for Jada and I'm thinking maybe, just maybe the two big dogs would like that bed as well. Especially if I show them the picture you posted of Jada on her loverly bed. And maybe too, my little dog would not think about grabbing the handmade beds and try to kill them by shaking them all over the place even though they are so much bigger than she is.
    So, as you see, I really need that One Yard Wonders Book, desparately!
    We aren't doing pot pie for the leftovers this year...we are doing something called Turkey Ole...it's in my really, really old crock pot cookbook. It's muy bien!

    ReplyDelete
  13. I forgot about WT pot pie! (which is often like my WT leftover soup or WT casserole) Perfect cold weather food!

    Oh, and congrats on the SUB-30 5K PR! You rock!!! I just got a sub-40 5K PR...I run beside the short bus ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  14. High Fidelity, Mallrats (or any of the first five Kevin Smith flicks), Role Models.

    Oh, and 10 Things I Hate About You. (Yeah, that's four, so what? It takes me a long time to sew things. Even one-yard things on page 113.)

    Of course all that is assuming that I have a DVR, which I don't.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oh! And Empire Records. The original version not the stupid fan remix. My blog reminded me.

    ReplyDelete
  16. I'm 8months prego and 'look' like I ate an entire turkey and still want to eat your yummy pot pie. I do love a good pot pie! Happy holidays girl:)

    ReplyDelete
  17. I too made a pie of sorts with my left over turkey...but it was topped with mashed potatoes. ;)

    Love your posts...make me laugh out loud.

    Would like to win your little prize.

    shinz3 at cox dot net
    http://k3tog at blogspot dot com

    ReplyDelete
  18. Dear random picker thingie- pick me.

    Anyhoodle- pot pie is delicious. So is being trailer. I was most excited when I was pregnant, because I could totally keep saying I was "barefoot and pregnant" and now I can let me kids run around shoeless with kool aid moustaches. That right there? Is the American Dream. :)

    ReplyDelete
  19. Boy does that turkey pot pie look good! I want to make one right. now! I'd also love to win that book. I should just buy a copy so I can stop entering these give aways for it.

    ReplyDelete
  20. I'm so excited that you got into a book!

    Also, mmmm, pot pie.

    Mmmmm.

    *drool*

    ReplyDelete
  21. So I read "with a too-small needle before realizing you should just use the fucking leather needles because why are you going to buy them and not use them" and went 'gee, leather needles? Never heard of that. I wonder if they hold stiffness if they get wet? I wonder what kind of leather they're made from? I better get myself over to google and check this shit out!' Yes, I got to the end of that thought before... well...

    Anyhoo, pick me!

    => Liz from Tempe

    ReplyDelete
  22. Thanks for the contest! I love contests even though I never win. But maybe this time will be different.... Hahaha.

    ReplyDelete
  23. "What Do We Have That Needs To Go." I love when that method works out to mean yummy food. It resulted in chili at our house on Sunday night.

    And you've totally bribed me into commenting which I rarely do.

    ReplyDelete
  24. The best thing to do with smoked turkey leftovers (in fact I actually have some bubbling on my stove right now) is to make stock out of the carcass and then use that stock, plus any bits of extra meat, to make bean soup.

    I actually meant to post this before Thanksgiving (because if you don't have plans to do this, you probably already threw out the carcass, because carcass... gross), but I never got around to it.

    I'm sorry that I'm lame.

    ReplyDelete
  25. I'm such a fabulous whore that I already bought the book. AND told a friend about it. So you don't have to prize me.

    Is "prize" a legitimate verb?

    ReplyDelete
  26. Love the Dog Bed, and the pie. I want to eat the pie. I love pie. Any pie.

    ReplyDelete
  27. Love your blog.

    Have to comment, as I, too, thought that I hated left-over dark meat, until I married into a family of only dark meat eaters.

    Our fave dark meat recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/turkey-bolognese-recipe/index.html. Enjoy.

    ReplyDelete
  28. Pie looks good! Going to have to try it. Does it matter if I use chicken that's not smoked?? Difficult to find smoked turkey here, and don't have a smokey thing.
    Thanks for the giveaway!

    ReplyDelete
  29. super crafty sister? that's me!! what a sweet sister i have!

    i'd love me a copy of that book. i'm telling ya, i think it is the inspiration i need to get my machine a hummin...

    ReplyDelete
  30. I hate left overs! But they don't go to waste - Hubby eats them all.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Wow-so much information! The book is wonderful and would love a copy to gift to my niece. Your pot pie looks left over beautiful! And congrats on your November writing-keeping up was beyond me.

    Take care

    ReplyDelete
  32. I was totally going to suggest your leftover turkey gets made into some kind of pie. But that's because I "know" you. Ha.

    And maybe if I win the book I will get over my sewingmachineaphobia. Please help.

    ReplyDelete
  33. Okay, you think your pot pie is WT?? In college, my roommate and I used to make a pot pie and add a layer of cheesy mashed potatoes to the bottom of it. It was awesome but one piece could/ would make you ill.

    Also I'd love to be entered in the drawing.

    ReplyDelete
  34. Ooooh! I just saw this book at Beverly's. The "fabric-cutting-ladies" were looking at it, while they cut fabric for me. I would love to win a copy, since I spent all my money on fabric!

    ReplyDelete
  35. oooh - I saw the book at my local fabric store yesterday - very cool! Now if I can win it, that would be even better! Now I just need to go cause christmas gifts to miraculously appear out of all the fabric I bought...argh...

    ReplyDelete
  36. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  37. I would love a copy of this book. I think I may also purchase one for my super-crafty best friend. I am not super-crafty (I can barely sew), but maybe this book will inspire my creative juices.

    Which makes me wonder - what does creative juice taste like? I mean is potable? Or is it some kinda nasty personal thing that should not be mentioned?

    Anyhoo, I'd love a copy of the book.

    And I really enjoy your blog. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  38. Melissa Oldham12/02/2009 1:39 PM

    Girrrrl, I have had my eye on that book! And with a new puppy in the house, the dog tutorial is going to rock!!

    ReplyDelete
  39. me wantie book!!! gimme book! you can call me a whore anytime, though I do enjoy "fabulous whore" best. : )

    ReplyDelete
  40. If we lived closer, I'd swap you fresh eggs for leftover SMOKED turkey. Oh, darn! That's right. You're not a fan of eggs. Drats!

    (Congrats on being a contributor. That's pretty cool stuff.)

    ReplyDelete
  41. So I want this book (and so does my sister so I might share) and I didn't even know you were in it!
    Also pot pie is delicious, WT or not. ;)

    ReplyDelete
  42. Yay! I love the Cozy Dog Bed! It came out great! :)

    -Mary Richmond

    ReplyDelete

[2013 update: You can't comment as an anonymous person anymore. Too many douchebags were leaving bullshit SPAM comments and my inbox was getting flooded, but if you're here to comment in a real way like a real person, go to it.]

Look at you commenting, that's fun.

So, here's the thing with commenting, unless you have an email address associated with your own profile, your comment will still post, but I won't have an email address with which to reply to you personally.

Sucks, right?

Anyway, to remedy this, I usually come back to my posts and post replies in the comment field with you.

But, if you ever want to email me directly to talk about pumpkins or shoes or what it's like to spend a good part of your day Swiffering - shoot me an email to finnyknitsATgmailDOTcom.

Cheers.