Archive for the 'Home and Garden' Category
Beyond the Sandwich: Making Use of Holiday Left-overs (part two)
In this installment of Beyond the Sandwich, we’re looking at turkey. There always seem to be leftovers when you make a turkey, and after a while, turkey sandwiches can get a little boring. Here are two easy recipes to breathe new life into those turkey leftovers: turkey tortellini soup and warm turkey burritos/wraps.
First, set aside some turkey breast for the burritos/wraps.
Turkey Tortellini Soup
Ingredients
Turkey (still on the bone)
Stewed tomatoes
While the turkey is boiling, wash spinach and remove the spines from the leaves. Set aside.
Carefully remove bones from the liquid and discard them. You may need to use the slotted spoon to help gather the smaller bones. Use a pair of tongs to return any meat collected in the spoon back to the soup.
Add the tomato sauce and stewed tomatoes to the mixture.
Add a handful of basil (Note: other spices are not necessary as the soup will have the flavoring of whatever spices were used to season the turkey initially before cooking.)
Bring mixture to a low boil, stirring intermittently. If the mixture is too thick, gradually add cupfuls of water until it is at your desired consistency.
Simmer for 20 minutes
Bring mixture back up to a boil and add the tortellini. Cook according to manufacturer’s directions.
When tortellini is al dente (or near it) gently add the spinach to the soup by the handful and stir it into the soup. As each handful of spinach wilts down, add another of fresh spinach.
Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until all spinach is wilted.
Serve and enjoy.
Warm Savory Turkey Burritos/Wraps
(Note: these can be served cold as well, just omit the melting directions)
Ingredients
Large, round flat bread/tortillas (either wheat or corn)
Field greens/lettuce (optional)
1 T olive oil
1 medium Red onions (chopped)
Chopped tomatoes
Scallion /green onion (chopped)
Block of sharp cheddar cheese (shredded)
Optional Sauce:
Mayonnaise
Chipotle powder
Black pepper
Utensils/Gear
Knives
Cutting board
Small whisk (or fork)
Small bowl (for the sauce)
Spatula
Cheese grater
Oven
Directions
Prepare sauce and refrigerate
In a small bowl, add about ¼ tsp of chipotle powder to mayonnaise and whisk, blending well. (Add more or less of each to taste.) Dash with a sprinkle of ground black pepper to taste.
Prepare wrap
Preheat oven to 350° F.
Shred the cheddar cheese and set aside
Wash the lettuce/field greens and set aside (if using for the cold wrap)
Cut the turkey breast into long, thin strips (about ¼ to ½ inch wide)
Chop the scallions, red onion and tomatoes and mix together. Set aside.
Gently warm the tortillas/flatbread in the oven. (You can also steam them if you have a large steamer.)
When warmed, remove from oven and layer the turkey and cheese, lengthwise in the center.
Return to oven to melt cheese/heat turkey. Watch carefully as cheese melts. When cheese starts to melt, remove from oven and layer on the onion/tomato mixture.
Top with the sauce and roll up or fold into thirds. (This last part has to be done fairly quickly.)
For a cold wrap, still warm the bread but skip heating the turkey and cheese. Instead layer on the lettuce/greens, turkey, cheese, onion/tomato mixture and sauce. Roll up and enjoy.
Next up…Left-over Lamb
Posted in Cooking, Home and Garden, Healthy Eating, Guest Blogger | No Comments »
House Thinking : A Room-by-Room Look at How We Live
Salon.com has an interesting interview with Winifred Gallagher about her new book “House Thinking. Winifred is an environmental psychologist who explores how we interact within the environment of our home. Here’s an excerpt of the interview:
What got you thinking about “House Thinking”?
When I was working on “The Power of Place” there was an enormous concentration — which there still is — on how our internal neurochemistry can affect our behavior. And that seemed to me to be very lopsided. I believe that the environment, and not just the social environment but also the physical environment, has a big impact on behavior. And science up until the turn of the 20th century thought that too — it was so-called geographical medicine. Doctors would tell patients afflicted with melancholy (which we call depression) to go to a sunny place to feel better. It actually works.
Our culture doesn’t look at the effects of the environment on behavior. We talk about social relationships and neurochemistry. But it’s not just my opinion that environment affects behavior. There’s real solid research from environmental psychology, from psychiatry, from design, architecture, cultural history. A Roman doctor in the second century said, “Melancholics are to be laid in the sunshine, for their disease is gloom.” The American Psychiatric Association didn’t recognize seasonal affective disorder until the ’80s, but the ancients recognized it and knew how to treat it. We can actually do much more to improve the quality of our lives for little or no money.
Posted in Lifestyles, Home and Garden, Mental Environment | No Comments »
