What do I DO With All Of The Turkey Leftovers?? Roger's Turkey Shepherds Pie

Just a short note on leftover Roger's turkey dinner shepherds pie.  Make a bed of dressing in the bottom of one of the baking pans.  Put your carcass pickings (small pieces of turkey meat) over the top until about 2/3 full.  Pour gravy over the top.  Make mashed potato patties and arrange over the top to cover.  Put this in the oven at 350F for about an hour or until it bubbles.  This is always a crowd pleaser.  BTW, you can freeze this, and bake it later if you don't want turkey several days in a row.

Roger's RV Oven Size Roasted Turkey Dinner Completed!

I wanted to actually try the idea I had for an RV oven size, roasted turkey.  I looked for the "assemble it yourself turkey parts", and found this "boneless turkey" at WalMart.  They were on sale so I thought this should work.  The stuffing was prepared with the one box that you see here plus 2 cans chicken broth and one can of cream of mushroom soup.  I mixed the stuffing all together in the baking pan to minimize dish washing.  The stuffing ingredient variations are endless.

Boneless Turkey In A Bag

 

Stuffing Ingredients

BTW, I did not put in the "one stick" of butter called for in the stuffing mix recipe to keep the fat content down. I had a nice crust on the bottom of the stuffing. The mushroom soup and the extra broth keep it moist. 

 

Ready For The Oven

This came out even better than I thought. Roughly 2 1/2 hours bake time @350F. ALWAYS use a meat thermometer. I sprayed a little olive oil on the roast at the 1/2 point as there is nothing to baste with.

Out of the oven.  Internal temp. 170F

 

 

White AND dark, your choice.

I made a great "turkey" gravy out of these ingredients.  Just mix together and bring to a boil while stirring.  You get about 2 cups.  Just double it if you want more.

Quick Turkey Gravy Ingredients

 

 Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

BTW if you like my blog, please spread the word!
 

 Rogersramblings41.blogspot.com

You can email me: Roger@rogernickey.com



Roger's Idea For Roasted Turkey Dinner In An RV Size Oven

I wanted to get this posted before Thanksgiving so it is pretty much a draft.

I have not prepared this yet but it has been on my mind for some time.  It would be impossible to roast a turkey of any size in most class "C" RVs (like LazyDaze) as the oven is only 5 1/2" high.  Most markets have turkey breast and thigh individually packaged.  Make a bed of stuffing mix prepared as you like it.  I like lots of stuffing so I use the 12 oz box size.  I also like moister stuffing so I usually double the liquid and add a can of either, cream of mushroom, or cream of celery.  Put the turkey parts on the bed of stuffing in the usual disposable baking pan and roast.  Turkey breast is done at 165F internal temp.  The thigh needs to be 175F internal temp.  Take the breast out when it reaches 165F and keep roasting the thigh until it reaches the 175F. 

I have made "turkey gravy" using one can chicken broth, one can cream of mushroom or chicken or celery soup and one envelope of turkey gravy mix.  Double it for more.  I might also try adding some milk if you like lighter gravy. 

Mashed potatoes of your choice, but if you haven't tried steaming the potatoes instead of boiling, (dishwasher)  This method uses less water and potatoes don't get the flavor washed out of them by the water.  I like to add an 8oz brick of cream cheese to a regular3-5 lb batch.

The Toas-Tite And Some History..Or..Fun With Velveeta. PS.. Egg McMuffin Clone

Do any of you remember the Toas-Tite?  We had one of these in the '50s and had great fun making "hockey puck" toasted sandwiches.  Here is a history of the Toas-Tite.  Mine disappeared years ago but I was thinking about it one day and looked on EBay.  Got an authentic model with the patent number and black handles mentioned in the history site.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The fun was to make a sandwich, seal it in the Toas-Tite, toast, and enjoy!  Number one filling was Velveeta, (with a little mayo)  Mayo on the outsides for browning and keep from sticking.  Great tuna melts also.  I was thinking of my Toas-Tite the other day and I suddenly thought of these new "thin bun" sandwich buns.  They are the PERFECT size.  One of the problems of using regular sliced bread was the thickness didn't leave much room for filling and when you closed the Toas-Tite up to trim and seal the bread, it left a little around the outside edges which burned and had to be brushed off.  The thin buns fit EXACTLY inside and are not too much bread. I leave out the mayo today and spray the inside of the iron with olive oil. (MUCH healthier?)

 

Prepared For The Stovetop

Once you have your Toas-Tite filled, use on the stove top, medium heat for four minutes on the first side and then turn it over to finish for three minutes.  YMMV  (Your mileage may vary)  I know the temptation is to try one of these over the campfire.  Don't, you will have a briquette.  Only downside of the whole operation is that it is about ten minutes, start to finish, to produce one sandwich, but it does slow you down. 

Done!  Note Sealed Edges

 

PS.  You can also make a cup with the bread by pressing it down in to the iron.  You can then carefully break an egg in it and maybe add a piece of ham or cheese and make your own copy of an Egg McMuffin!

Pot Roast With No Cleanup! ................. Quartzsite. ........ Amazon CamperForce



Pot Roast

I noted that WalMart had Bottom Round Rump Roast on sale for $3.49 lb.  I haven't made a pot roast in a while so I got a nice 2 lb specimen.  Into a roasting pan, covered with onion soup mix and one can of cream of mushroom soup, surrounded by baby cut carrots and four halved potatoes.  Then in to the oven, covered, at 300F for three hours.  Should be at least four servings here.  Nothing to wash!

Ready For The Oven

 

Done!

Amazon

Tuesday will be the one month mark for me here at Amazon.  I am pretty tired at the end of a 10 hour day.  This Tuesday, (and Friday) Amazon is providing a full Thanksgiving dinner for employees here at the warehouse.  Very nice of them as most of us CamperForce types are away from family.  Thinking over the workcamper experience, I will probably be back next year for the "season" to make some additional money for touring.  If you have an interest in seasonal work at Amazon, here is the phone number for Amazon HR:  (775) 575-8006.  The last I heard, there are still hiring as of November 9, '13.

Quartzsite

Just a reminder for you LazyDaze types, the January Quartzsite Campout is fast approaching.  Check out the "Q" board:   http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/LazyDazeQuartzsite/  for details.

BTW, if you like my blog, please spread the word!

Rogersramblings41.blogspot.com

                    You can email me: Roger@rogernickey.com

RV Wine Glasses AND Dinner

When 4:30 PM (or so) rolls around, some of us start thinking about happy hour and perhaps a nice glass of wine.  I have stemmed, acrylic wine glasses, but as anyone, who, in an RV environment  has used them knows, they are prone to being knocked over and they don't fit the cup holders inside the rig, or on various chairs.  I had been looking for replacements, but plain plastic glasses or red plastic cups just don't do justice to WalMart' finest box wine.  I have seen others I like, but hadn't done anything about it.  Today, I was in WalMart, and ran in to these.  They caught my eye as they are flared and just call out to be filled with wine.  Of all places, they were in the bathroom department PLUS, they are $3.88 each.  However, I will spare no expense to enhance the experience of fine wine, (even though it comes in cardboard) 

 

Ahhhhh, the RV lifestyle!

(If you look closely, you can see Boots on the couch in back)

 

 

BTW, Lemon Pepper  Pappardelle with prawns and sauted' fresh spinach tonight!

 

 

BTW, if you like my blog, please spread the word!

Rogersramblings41.blogspot.com

You can email me: Roger@rogernickey.com



 

 

Roger's Easy Chicken And Rice (with pasta and carrots)

I really like chicken and rice.  It is easy to fix, tastes great and makes good leftovers.  You will probably recognize some old standards here.  First, I like roasted carrots so I use about ¼ cup olive oil in an aluminum pan.  I sprinkle enough baby-cut carrots.  (notice the hyphen, they are not “baby carrots”)  Place in the oven at 400F for 30-40 minutes.  Meanwhile, one cup CalRose Rice and one cup elbow macaroni into the rice cooker with one can, (14.5 oz) chicken broth along with one cup water.  I experimented some to get the proportions correct.  Normal rice is 1 ½ cup rice and one can chicken broth.  I like to add the pasta for variety but it needs more liquid to cook properly.  In case you don’t know it, rice cookers depend on the amount of liquid to cook the rice correctly.  If your rice, and in this case pasta, is too mushy or not done, you vary the amount of liquid to get it right.  More liquid and it cooks longer, less liquid and it cooks less.  The rice cooker senses the temp rise when all of the liquid is absorbed and this signals it to shut off.  When the rice/mac mixture is done, I spread it over the carrots in the baking pan.  Using skinless, boneless chicken breast “tenderloins” cut them in chunks and place them on top of the rice.  Spoon one can cream of chicken soup over the top.  Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.  I often wonder if anyone ever uses cream of mushroom, chicken or celery soup for soup.  I have only used it for cooking.  Great instant sauce or base for gravy. 

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As you can see, I took a serving out before taking this picture. 

 

PS.  I found the rice/pasta mix a little dry after baking.  Maybe another cup of broth added to the cooked mixture before baking.