Food Nerd: The "Other" Thanksgiving Leftovers
It's Black Friday. Â It's the day to ponder the worst of humanity when we see riots in a Walmart parking lot. Â It's also the day that we ponder our leftovers. Â No, I don't mean pondering how to make the ultimate day-after turkey sandwich. Â I mean the "what on this planet do I do with the five cans of pumpkin that I have left" pondering. I started writing this article well before Thanksgiving but it seems appropriate to post today since many of us will have leftover ingredients we need to make use of. Â We had five cans of pumpkin. Â FIVE. Â Who needs five cans of pumpkin on a normal basis? Â I can't even remember what we were doing that required pumpkin at this point, but for some reason we bought a lot of pumpkin. Â What on Earth did I need all this for? Â I definitely didn't want five pumpkin pies and we already had pumpkin pie pancakes two weeks in a row. Bee Tee Dubs >>> Quick & Easy Pumpkin Pancakes - Absolutely amazing. Â The only thing I did differently was put in some pumpkin pie spice. Â Yeah, I'm one of those believers that uses the turning of the leaves to signal "pumpkin EVERYTHING" in my life. Any who, as I was pondering my pumpkin sanity, Food Network came to the rescue with appropriate timing of their magazine. A few months back while we were trolling Kohls, T-Rex picked up a Food Network magazine and started thumbing through it as I was probably looking at some household item I didn't really need but my 30% off coupon was telling me I needed. Â Looking at me with her big doe eyes, she asked me to buy her the magazine. Â I didn't really want to buy another thing but I almost never say no to reading material (and they know it). Â I also fully encourage her wanting to learn about food. T-Rex fell asleep reading the magazine a few nights and kept talking about all of the articles as much as she talked about the last "Magic Tree House" book. Â It really wasn't a hard decision to get her a subscription. And that subscription came in handy this month giving us something to do with all that pumpkin! Creamy pumpkin soup! Â Pumpkin chili! Â What? Â Pumpkin chili? Â In my mind, this combination cannot possibly work. Â My mind was wrong and my tastebuds were so super happy. This takes less than fifteen minutes of prep time and 40 minutes to cook. Â So use your leftover can of pumpkin in this, ladies and gents!
(Based on the Food Network's recipe) Ingredients:
1lb ground turkey or chicken
1 menium red onion (diced)
1 15oz can fire roasted tomatoes (diced)
1 15oz can pinto beans (drained)
1 15oz can cannelini beans (drained)
2 tbs chili powder (Also add in a small can of green chilis for more kick)
salt, pepper, all spice, and fennel to taste
Put the onion & turkey in the pot. Â Season the meat with salt and pepper. Â Cook until turkey is browned.
Add the tomatoes, water, and pumpkin. Â Stir until pumpkin has smoothed. Â (You know, when it no longer looks like you dumped a can of pumpkin in there.)
Heat until the chili is boiling and then turn the heat to low. Â Simmer for 30 minutes.
We served this over rice and everybody had a second helping. Â The pumpkin adds a new texture and a subtle flavor. You know you'll have a left over can of pumpkin sometime this autumn. Â So go ahead and try it. PS: Â We also made pumpkin vinaigrette, pumpkin muffins, and pumpkin bread. PPS: Â If you have a can of leftover cranberry sauce, mix it with rosemary and then pour it over some chicken. Â Bake it and yum! Â
