Leftover Turkey Ideas

My apologies for the lack of snazzy photos to accompany this post. What can I say? When you get cooking in the kitchen a lot of time the camera is the last thing on your mind. And, besides that, my kitchen is often such a clutter that I am not really sure I would WANT a photo of it up! hahaha

Every year we order our turkeys from Bright Farm in Floyd, Va. They're pasture-raised, we pick them fresh out of the cold water, and there just is NOT any going back to the store for some wanna-be sad turkey. Last year we had a good 25lb bird, this year we managed to pick out a smaller bird ~ 17lbs. For five adults and two kids! Everyone took home leftovers and still we were left with a LOT of leftover turkey to eat.

Obviously, we are not the only people with this "dilemma" as websites abound with ideas on ways to serve leftover turkey. But, something leaves me very disappointed with most of these sites and the things I've seen. I STILL feel like I'm eating turkey!

I know "DUH!! You ARE eating turkey!" But, who wants to feel like they're still eating turkey? BBQ'd turkey, turkey sandwiches, turkey with cheese, turkey casserole, turkey with mayonnaise ... I'm beginning to feel like Bubba talking about shrimp.


~You know you love this scene!~

Anyway, so here are a couple new ideas. Pardon me for only having two, but seriously, you gotta meet some serious criteria to make this worthy albeit tiny little list: pretty much, you gotta make me feel HAPPY to be eating this and NOT feel like I am trying to finish off something in the fridge before it goes bad!

Idea #1: White Turkey Chili ~ here is the link for the recipe we use: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/White-Chicken-Chili-11452 ~ substitute turkey for chicken (duh!) and before you know it you're actually hoping you have leftovers!! This is a really rocking dish for football season too, so bring on the game!

Idea #2: Jambalaya ~ this was a first for us this year. Seriously, I've never made jambalaya before today, but I gotta say this was a kickin' dish! Here is the link for the recipe we used: http://www.recipezaar.com/Chicken-Shrimp-and-Andouille-Jambalaya-28165 ~ Again, switch out turkey for chicken. In this dish I gotta tell you, it REALLY isn't noticeable! Another recipe that makes me look forward to eating more turkey the week after Thanksgiving.

And, of course, the really big reminder of things to do with leftover turkey .... MAKE STOCK!!! Turkey stock is awesome and works magic just like chicken stock does! If you are tossing out those bones from the carcass without making stock you are tossing out some liquid gold folks.

So ... what do you do with your leftover turkey?? Got any worthy recipes? I wanna hear them!