My favorite holiday is over.  My parents returned to Texas only a couple of days after Thanksgiving and left us with a bunch of leftovers, including turkey, cranberry sauce, half of two uneaten pies, more than half a container of jello salad, and more.  The first day, I decided to make a soup, because my husband is obsessed with soup, so I know it’ll get eaten.  I poured the rest of the veggie broth that we used on the turkey in a pot and added some water.  Then, I put it on medium heat and threw some rotini noodles and chopped up celery.  I decided to use the leftover turkey thigh versus the breast because it still had bones and skin on it.  I thought that would provide more flavor.  I boiled it until the meat started coming off the bone and, then, took the skin out.  After I turned off the stove, I put in a little of the leftover heavy whipping cream we had used for the jello salad to make it a cream of turkey soup.  My husband and my daughter enjoyed it so much, I made some a few days later with the turkey breast.

The morning after my soup, Mimi sent me pictures of her cinnamon rolls she had made for the post here.  I wasn’t sure if I’d get to see Mimi soon enough for her to share them with me, so I decided I would make my own.  Of course I was too lazy to make dough from scratch, so I asked her if I could use the same dough that I used for my dinner rolls for Thanksgiving.  Not to sound hyperbolic, but it was the best news of my life when she said it was fine!  You know besides finding out I was pregnant both times.  Or how about this?  It was the same excitement that my son gets when he sees that I am ready to nurse him.  Anyways, I was ready to bake.  Then, I thought, “Do I really need cinnamon buns when I have two pies in the fridge that neither my husband nor my daughter were going to help me eat.  They don’t really have my sweet tooth.  Then it hit me.  I could make stuffed pastries.  I grabbed the two pies and my cran-cherry sauce and got to work.

First, I flattened the dough and rubbed melted butter and sugar on it.  Then, I started filling and wrapping.

I put them in a muffin tin, because I thought it would be less mess if they blew up.  I used my usual setting on the oven and just waited for the smell.  You know the smell when something delicious is cooking.  As soon as I smell something in the oven, it’s usually ready or, at the very least, needs to be checked.

The rolls came out with a nice tan.  I followed Mimi’s recipe to make the glaze, though I was a little generous with the vanilla.  It usually pours out too fast.  It still tasted good, though, and the consistency was just right for me.

My husband actually ate some.  He preferred the pecan, which was fine with me, because I liked my cran-cherry and coconut.  My daughter was upset to find that I had eaten most of the coconut ones that she liked.  Well you snooze, you lose…

Since I get tired of soup easily, I decided to make a pot pie with some of the breast meat and leftover pie crust my mother didn’t use when she made her pies.  She, also, had made gravy with the giblets and turkey juice, so I used the rest of it to start my filling.  I added some white wine to the pot (and my drinking glass).  I dissolved flour in it as well to thicken it up.  After the gravy thickened up, I added peas, carrots, and turkey.  While that was simmering, I cooked the bottom crust.  Last time I made a pot pie I didn’t do that, and it didn’t come out well.  When the crust was, well, crusty, I poured the contents of the pot into it and laid the other pie dough on top.

 

Apparently I need to practice my technique, because it drooped, and I ended up with a mess at the bottom of my stove.

That didn’t affect the taste, though, because my turkey was still juicy, and the pie was eaten for dinner that night and the next day without complaints.

I tried figuring out what to make with my green jello salad, but it has been working well as my late night snack. So why mess with perfection.