Turkey and Ham and leftovers, yay!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone.

I know it's Christmas morning and hopefully everyone has survived so far.  And if you're lucky enough to have children and grandchildren to watch unwrap their presents, you're dealing with bits and pieces of wrapping paper all over the place.
I know it, you'll be picking up those pieces of paper for days, and days.
It's worth it in the end.
Really.

Whether you  had your big meal last night or are having it today, you will probably be dealing with leftovers.

I love leftovers.

You can make so many wonderful dishes from them.

Let me show you a few of my ideas.

I brined a turkey last weekend and cooked it for Tapas.   There wasn't much meat left, but I had the bones and the veggies I'd put in the cavity of the bird to cook.  
So...

I broke down the turkey a bit, and placed the bones and veggies on a baking sheet and threw them, OK, I then put them in the oven at 400 degrees for about a half hour or so, just until the bones started getting browned.   I wanted to get a head start on making some stock.   I didn't have time or fridge space to finish making the stock, but by breaking down the bones, deglazing the pan that I baked the bones on, I had the start of a good stock.  I ended up freezing it in a container and sometime in the next week or so, I'll cook it up into a stock.



 Browning the bones adds so much more flavour to the finished stock.  

And then there is the ham I made last night for dinner.   We had a few people over, and I made a ham,

another friend brought a turkey (which was amazing by the way).

   My guests all brought side dishes and we had a fantastic meal.

  Everything from a wonderful Baked Brie, to Sherried Potatoes to mushrooms, to a green bean casserole, a green bean salad, potato salad, bread, Apple Crisp and Mango Pudding with fried bananas for dessert.

I'm still full.

I do need to pat my self and Publix grocery store on the back though.   I finally (yes, finally), made a moist, tender, delicious ham.
Finally...
After all these years, I made a totally edible ham.     And now we can eat ham for the next week or two, but that's OK, we like ham.

I see a nice split pea soup in my future, maybe some Brunede Kartoffler med Skinke (sugar browned potatoes with ham), or some collard greens and ham.

I have a world of possibilities opening up here.  

But for starters, I think some Ham and Eggs for breakfast is in order. 

I'll let you know.

In the meantime...

Merry Christmas from my house to yours.