Tackle It Tuesday: Happy "People-are-starving-use-up-your-leftovers" Day

Looks yummy, doesn't it?

Do you have Thanksgiving leftovers that need to be used up? Can't stand the thought of throwing out ALL of that turkey? My answers were yes...and yes. That is why I just HAVE to share this recipe with you.

The "People-are-starving-use-up-your-leftovers" Turkey Pot Pie

*Just to let you know, I always tweak recipes. So, this is my version of another recipe. Of COURSE it's better than the original. :)

• 1 recipe pastry for a 10" double pie crust - I use the Pillsbury roll out type - you can find a coupon for them here. In my opinion, they are the best flaky crust next to homemade.
• 4 TB butter (or a little more)
• 1 small onion, diced
• 3 (leftover) green onions, sliced
• 2 (leftover) stalks celery, chopped
• 1 c. frozen mixed vegetables (maybe a little more, I didn't really measure)
• 3 TB dried parsley
• 1 t. dried oregano
• salt & pepper to taste (if it matters to you, I use fresh ground sea salt and fresh ground pepper)
• 2 cubes chicken bouillon
• 2 c. water
• 1 med-large (leftover) sweet potato, peeled and diced (the original calls for 3 white potatoes)
• 2 1/2 - 3 cups cubed (leftover) cooked turkey (you can even add more if you like)
• 3 TB flour
• 1/2 c. milk

Preheat oven to 425. Spray 10" pie dish with non-stick spray. Roll out first pie crust in pan. Set aside.

Melt 2 TB butter in a large skillet over medium heat; add the onions, celery, mixed veggies, parsley, oregano and salt & pepper. Cook and stir until the vegetables are soft. Dissolve the bouillon in the [hot] water and add to the vegetable mixture. Bring mixture to a boil. Stir in the potatoes and cook until tender but still firm.

In a medium saucepan (or skillet), melt the remaining 2 TB butter. Stir in the turkey and flour. Add the milk and heat through. Stir the turkey mixture into the vegetable mixture, and cook until thickened (doesn't take long.) Cool slightly, then pour mixture into the unbaked pie shell. Roll out the top crust and place on top of filling. Flute the edges and make a few slits in the top crust to let out the steam.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temp to 350 and continue baking for 20 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.

What a tasty dinner! Such a comfort to sit by the light of the Christmas tree, watching the cold snow blowing outside and filling our stomachs with such a warm, slice of home.


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Witch Fingers and Ghosts

"Oh, the rats and bats and witches
keep the skeletons in stitches
as they sip their spider cider
in the haunt-ed house!"

About seven or eight years ago, right around Halloween, my husband brought home a recipe clipped from a newspaper at his work. He thought it was really cool and wondered if I would make it. So, I took a look. Who would've thought these cookies would become a Halloween tradition in our little family? We just HAVE to make them every year! Everyone is thrilled with them; kids adore them. I now think they have come to be EXPECTED. I'll share the recipe with you and maybe, just maybe you'll have a Halloween tradition on your "hands" as well.

Witch Finger Cookies
(if you are wondering, they are like almond shortbread)

1 c. butter, softened
1 c. powdered sugar
1 egg
1 t. almond extract
1 t. vanilla
2 3/4 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
a few drops green food coloring
slivered almonds (you can use whole or pistachios too, but I like the "claw" look)
1 tube red decorator gel (or you can color a little corn syrup red)

In bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg, almond extract, vanilla and green food coloring. Beat in flour, baking powder and salt. Cover (or wrap) and refrigerate 30 minutes.
Roll heaping teaspoons of dough one at a time into finger shape for each cookie. Press almond firmly into one end for nail. Squeeze fingers in center to create knuckle shape (I find that when you roll these between your hands, the knuckle sort of creates itself.)
Using a paring knife, make slashes in several places to form knuckle. Place on lightly greased cookie sheet in 325 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until pale or lightly golden. (you don't want to brown these so watch carefully)
Let cool for 3 minutes, lift up almond; squeeze red gel onto nail bed and press almond back in place so gel oozes out from underneath. Remove from cookie sheet and let cool. Repeat with remaining dough. Makes a few dozen, depending oh now big you make them.

BOO!! Adding a few of these Nutter Butter Ghosts to your cookie tray really gets everyone in the "spirit." Simple, quick, even the kids can do them!

Nutter Butter Ghosts

Nutter Butter Cookies
Almond Bark, melted
Chocolate chips/mini chocolate chips/sprinkles/mini M&M's
(whatever you have on hand to make a face)

Melt the bark, dip the cookie 3/4 of the way in, place on wax paper. Add face design while bark is still wet. Let dry and eat!

"When the night is dark and scary
when the moon is full
and the creatures are a flying
and the wind goes WOOOOOO,
you better mind your parents and your teachers fond and dear,
and cherish them that loves ya and dry the orphans tears
and help the poor and needy ones that cluster all about
or the goblins will get ya if ya don't watch out!"
- James Whitcomb Riley

Tackle It Tuesday: Where's That Recipe?

Okay. So I'm an OVER organizer.

This has been driving me nuts for a LONG time (not the over organizing, but the project.)

For a few years now, I have developed this "pile/card box/mess" of recipes that people have given me or I've printed out. I kept telling myself that someday...just someday, I'll have them all nice and neat and organized so that I can find what I need, when I want it. In going through them, I have found that I have printed several of them MORE than once, because I thought they were "lost." Well...they were...sort of. Anyway, today is someday. I've decided to type in and print out all of these orphan recipes and put them in that nice little binder.

This is the pile before...

And here is after. It's still a work in progress, but it's really going faster than I had originally thought. It's nothing fancy like all of you scrapbookers might do - but it's organized and will look much nicer on the shelf than a pile of a zillion papers.

Sometimes I take pictures of the finished recipes, so I plan to put the photos in there as well. There's even a tab for my son and husband's recipes! You know, it looks real nice and neat and all - but it really has no character. In talking with my aunt today - we decided that it's nice to have some sort of central location for all of the recipes, but you just lose something in the whole process. You no longer have the recipe reference of "the one on the yellow paper" or "the recipe with cake batter on it." Some of these little cards I've had for a LONG time and have been well enjoyed many, many times.

I think I'm having card attachment issues.

So, in the end, I'll be pleased when this project is done...

but I think on the back of each page, I'll attach the original little handwritten cards...you know...the ones with the grease stains?

What else are people tackling today at 5 Minutes For Mom?

Tackle It Tuesday: What To Do With All Of These Apples?!?

Apple Butter. Gotta love the stuff. For me, the taste on a piece of light toast slathered first in real butter, then in apple butter, brings back a ton of childhood memories. As a child (and probably as an adult too, but I know better now), I could've eaten an entire loaf of bread, stick of butter and jar of apple butter...in one sitting. What a treat - one of my favorites. I didn't get it much, but when I did, it was like a little taste of heaven.

This past week, we took a trip to a local orchard for some raspberry and apple picking. After coming home with a half of a bushel of Stayman apples, I decided that we needed to enjoy them all winter long. What better way than this!

If you have some apples that need to be used up, go ahead and give it a try! It's really easy with barely any effort - especially with the crock pot method. I'll share my recipe with you!

Crock Pot Apple Butter

• 10 large apples - peeled, cored and sliced (chipped) - or enough sliced up apples to fill and mound a crock pot while still fitting the lid on top
• 4 c. sugar
• 1 1/2 c. apple juice (I used cider)
• 2 t. cinnamon
• 1 t. ground clove
• 1 t. ground allspice
• pinch of salt if you want

Mix everything but the apples in the crock pot. Add apples and mix to coat. Cook on low for 8-10 hours. Good to prepare before bed and let cook overnight. (I started mine on high to get going and then turned it down to low- it cooked for more like 12 hours - 6pm to 6am.) Remove crock pot lid and stir (apples will start falling apart - give a stir every now and then to help break them up.) Continue cooking, uncovered, for 4-5 more hours (depending on how much liquid is left) until most of the liquid is gone and butter has cooked down quite a bit. It will be very dark, thick and goopy. (mmmm) Pour into jars and refrigerate unless canning properly. My first batch made about 6 8oz. jars. My second batch made 7.

If canning, sterilize jars and seals. Pour hot apple butter into hot jars. Place on the seal & ring. Boil in a hot water bath for 20 minutes. (I put a metal steamer in the bottom of a large dutch kettle and set the jars on that - works fine.) Make sure the jars are covered with at least 1" of water over their tops. Remove. Let cool until seal pops in.

Hope you enjoy your little taste of fall.

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If You Like Pina Coladas...

Do you ever just get that craving? You know, the one where you can think of nothing else until you satisfy that craving? Well, I had that this week. The craving was Coconut Shrimp. Now, I don't know where this craving came from because as a general rule, I don't eat seafood. I have eaten shrimp in the past, but it's not something I order or usually even buy. So, this week at the grocery store, I found myself ringing the doorbell at the seafood counter. Once again, let me say that I am not *that* seafood savvy. Laying there amongst the ice were three sizes of raw shrimp - [what I consider to be] regular size, bigger than regular and oh-my-gosh-it's-shrimp-on-steroids size. The steroidal price was just as unappealing. Ok...um...what do I get? The regular size WAS kinda small, not salad shrimp mind you, but kinda small - THOUGH, they were already de-veined. Certainly the bigger size had more meat on them, but did I want to go through the trouble of de-veining each one AND pay $2.00 more per pound? Well, my alter ego, Cheapo McFrugalpants took over and ordered a pound of the regular sized headless swimmers. Jacob was thoroughly creeped out by the lobster tank by the time I got my little white package of shrimp, so we checked out and took the treasure home. Oh, my husband was MORE than thrilled to hear we were having coconut shrimp for dinner. Though, he did mention, "I think you are supposed to have the bigger shrimp for this." Me - "These are regular size, they should be fine." (do you hear myself reassuring myself?) In preparation for this endeavor, I started rinsing and peeling the shrimp. My thoughts sort of went like this: "Boy, I'm sure glad I didn't get the ones with the veins." "Wow, the shell comes off of these pretty easy." "(about half way through) "Hmm...there are quite a few shrimp in one pound." "Maybe I SHOULD have gotten the bigger ones - there wouldn't be as many." "No, these will be perfect." "Gosh, I'm sick of peeling these things." At this point, I've already prepared the 3 dipping bowls and had the oil ready to fry. "OOhh, these are going to be great! I'm so hungry!" Wait, something was missing. Kurt decided to turn on my favorite Mexican cha cha music and since there was so much Pina Colada mix leftover from the recipe - hey, why not? So we drank our pinas and felt the groove while making the dipping sauce (because it needed to cool while we fried the shrimp). On to frying! I did the dipping while Kurt did the frying - it seemed to work out very well with 2 people. Dip, dip, coat, dip, coat, fry. Dip, dip, coat, dip, coat, fry. About half way through, Kurt asked how much was left. Wide eyed, I just stepped back so he could see the "bigger-than-he-had-hoped" pile of shrimp. I asked if maybe we should stop. He said no, fry them up! So away we went. Dip, dip, coat, dip, coat, fry. As my fingers were well coated and starting to prune up (I think), I was realizing that I wasn't so hungry anymore. The drink had half filled me up and the coconut shrimp craving just didn't seem as strong as it once was. Matter of fact, I think I had had enough of shrimp for a LONG time - and I hadn't even eaten one yet. Anyway, we finished the shrimp and it was DELICIOUS! Kurt tasted one first so I asked him if the taste was worth the effort. He said, "Do you mean we should we have used bigger shrimp?" (still trying to defend my choice) "NO - I meant does the taste equal the work involved?!" I'm laughing at myself right now; why am I always so stubborn? I have to work on this. Oh, to finish off, the shrimp was great - I recommend it. Although, next time I would use bigger shrimp and would even consider the Schwarzenegger shrimp along side of steak for a dinner party. The dipping sauce alone would even be tasty over ice cream or used as a fruit dip. And if you don't like shrimp or don't have time to deal with the prep - use chicken - I'm sure it would be delish!


For your enjoyment, here is the recipe I used.

Parrot Bay Coconut Shrimp
1 c. plain bread crumbs (I used seasoned)
1/2 c. cornstarch
1 c. sweetened coconut flakes
1/2 c pina colada mix
1 TB powdered sugar
3 TB Captain Morgan's spiced rum
1/2 c. cornstarch
vegetable oil for frying
1/2 lb. large shrimp (butterfly the shrimp - oops, I didn't do that which is why mine curled) I used a whole pound of shrimp and used up the coating fine.

Dipping Sauce: (we doubled this recipe)
1 c. pina colada mix
1/2 c. water
2 TB crushed pineapple, drained (used a bit more)
1 TB sweetened coconut flakes
PLUS: 1 t. sweetened coconut flakes
3 TB powdered sugar PLUS
1 t. powdered sugar
1 1/2 t. cornstarch
3 t. cold water

Directions:
Mix bread crumbs, 1/4 c. cornstarch, & coconut in deep bowl and set aside. Combine pina colada mix, powdered sugar & rum in a small mixing bowl and set aside. Place 1/2 c. cornstarch in a separate bowl. Heat oil for deep frying. Oil is ready for frying shrimp when it reaches 375 degrees. Coat shrimp first in corn starch, then into pina colada mix, athen dush shrimp in crumb/coconut mixture. Second coating, place back into pina colada mix then again into the crumb/coconut mixture. Hence - dip, dip, coat, dip, coat, fry. Place prepared shrimp carefully into hot oil. Fry until golden brown, remove from fryer and drain. At this time, we salted the shrimp as it needed that salty/sweet contrast. I think it would've been too sweet without it.

For the dipping sauce: (do this first as it needs to cool) Mix pina colada mix, water, crushed pineapple, coconut and powdered sugar in a sauce pan. Heat on medium low temp until sauce begins to simmer, stirring frequently. Let mixture simmer slowly 10-12 minutes. Mix cornstarch and water together, add to sauce and blend well. Let mixture simmer for 3-5 minutes longer while stirring during and after adding cornstarch. Remove from heat and bring to room temperature. Sauce is served at room temperature with Parrot Bay Rum Shrimp.

If you try this, leave me a comment and let me know how you like it!

So...sing it with me..."If you like Pina Coladas...getting caught in the rain..."