NO MORE TURKEY!!

Phew! I have finished the last of the Thanksgiving turkey for this year. Every year, my mom and dad host me and my husband Dana and my brother and sister and their families for Thanksgiving, and my parents tackle the turkey. It is always wonderful, complete with my mom's great bread stuffing, squash, turnips, potatoes, peas and cranberry sauce. Of course, let's not forget PIE too! This year, there was pumpkin pie, mini pumpkin cheesecakes (my sister made) and a chocolate cream pie that I made! We always enjoy the marathon day of eating so much, and we all want some leftovers to take home. Usually, we barely have enough turkey for each of us to have a turkey sandwich. This year, my mom decided to buy an even bigger turkey than she ever purchased before, so we could all have plenty of leftovers. She got it home and almost had a tragedy when it looked like the turkey wasn't going to fit in the refrigerator! After some careful maneuvering, the bird was squeezed into the fridge! Excellent!

Come Thanksgiving Day, we attacked the bird with our usual excitement, and when looking at the mangled turkey after dinner, we realized there would definitely be good sized containers for us all to take leftovers home.

I went out the next day to purchase fresh ciabatta rolls so Dana and I could have two days worth of turkey sandwiches, complete with stuffing and cranberry sauce, and they were great!!

But, let's face it! Turkey doesn't age very well. Just yesterday, I realized I still had leftovers and wanted to do away with them once and for all. I searched on-line for some inspiration (something beyond soup or a casserole or hash of some sort.) I found my answer in a recipe for turkey nachos...simple enough and perfect enough to disguise the less-than-fresh taste of the turkey.

I hit the grocery store to pick up a few items I would need and tackled the recipe for dinner last night, plus added a side dish of Mexican rice. It was great, and it couldn't have been further away from having a Thanksgiving feel to the meal. And, with that, the leftover turkey is gone!! We can put her to bed for another year.

It is time to start getting ready for Christmas parties and more family gatherings. Bring on the finger rolls and cocktail weenies!!