Monday, December 01, 2008

Comforting Leftovers

The trouble with eating Italian food is that five or six days later you're hungry again. --George Miller


I’m a very lucky woman because I have a husband who likes leftovers. He’d be just as happy to put all the Thanksgiving leftovers on a plate and reheat them or make turkey sandwiches, but his wife isn’t really that wild about them. So, I try to think of different ways to use those leftovers in new dinners. That way we still get the comfort of that Thanksgiving meal, but it’s remade into something new.

This year instead of the usual turkey soup or turkey white chili, I made a pasta dish. Here’s what I did:

I cooked a pot of fettuccini. While that cooked, I sauted ½ of a diced onion and 2 cloves of minced garlic. I chopped the leftover green beans into bit size pieces and added them to the pan. Then I sliced a carton of button mushrooms, and added them in. I sprinkled in a little salt and pepper, then cooked until the mushrooms were cooked through. Meanwhile, I chopped up some leftover turkey then added that. About this time, I remembered that there was a baguette in the freezer, so I preheated the oven and got the bread ready to put in. Once the turkey was heated through, I added some of the turkey gravy that was left over, it was less than a cup. I let it heat through, then poured in a half pint of heavy whipping cream. I grated some nutmeg into it, then heated through until there were big bubbles and the sauce had thickened. By this time, the fettuccini was cooked, so I added it to the pan of sauce. Lastly, I chopped up some leftover sage and sprinkled it over the pasta and sauce. I turned it down to low, put the lid on, and waited for the bread to finish baking. When I took off the lid, the wonderful aroma of sage filled the room and all of a sudden I realized I was hungrier than I thought.

It was pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.

And we finished just in time for Shrek the Halls and How the Grinch Stole Christmas. What a good night it was.

Cute picture of Cosette for today. This is one of her favorite places to hang out.

6 comments:

Newt said...

One of these days you'll find me snuggling with her in that spot.

KathyA said...

Cosette is so sweet! Did you name her after the character in LES MIS?

Kell said...

Newt--You're welcome anytime! Cosette loves to snuggle on the couch.

Kathy--The people we got her from named her, and yes, they did name her after Le Mis. It's great considering she's one of the few characters that lived LOL

Betty said...

The pasta dish sounds delicious. Cosette is cute, as always.

Karen said...

Sounds delish. I never understood people who won't eat leftovers. How wasteful. My grandpa was like that. He also wouldn't eat any meat or veggies that had been previously frozen. Strange.

(Sorry for that tangent. My brain is not working yet)

Peggy said...

Yum for the pasta - Aww for the photo of your pretty dog!