THEY CLOSELY RESEMBLE THE THANKSGIVING BIRD: Kitchen adventures: leftover edition.

First, my own contribution to the family Thanksgiving, because it is the easiest thing ever: Chocolate-Covered Strawberries.

Step 1: Buy some fair-trade chocolate. Buy the same amount of strawberries.

Step 2: Microwave the chocolate, stir, micro, until the stuff is a thick sludgy liquid. Seriously–everyone thinks you need a bain-marie for this, and you really really don’t.

Step 3: Dip the strawberries in the chocolate.

Step 4: Refrigerate, or let sit, for a while. Sure, you can eat this stuff while the chocolate is still melty, but it will be much better if you wait until the strawberries have begun to give up their liquor.

result: So nom nom nom I can’t even convey it to you. This is a delicious crowd-pleaser which takes literally five minutes.

Next Christmas I plan to branch out a bit: stirring espresso into the chocolate for some strawberries, and maybe trying out a habanero-chocolate bar for some of them.

The leftover melted chocolate, in its plastic dish, was easily re-melted and spread across buttered bread. Yum.

Turkey sandwich: Bread (I used Pepperidge Farm Light Style Oatmeal, because I like it, but you should use whatever you like) buttered, and then cooked in a pan with a slice of munster cheese, sliced Granny Smith apple, leftover turkey, and sliced onion, then some more munster and buttered bread. Basically, a grilled-cheese sandwich with turkey, apple, and onion.

verdict: amazing. This was totally delicious and satisfying. I really loved eating sandwiches of just dark meat turkey, oatmeal bread, and freshly-ground black pepper–the bread pushed into the turkey and it all became a delectable mix–but sometimes you need something more complex. The apples and cheese made this work. Bosc pear slices might also have worked in place of the apple.

Soup: So this was cheap central. I got a can of creamed Del Monte corn for sixty-nine cents, which is great. So I threw into a pan the rest of the apple from the previous recipe, most of the rest of the onion, and then the turkey. I spiced it all up with whatever I had–you guys will know what you like, but I chose cayenne, oregano, thyme, rosemary, and cinnamon, in about that order–and then threw in the creamed corn. Cook cook cook. Schlup it in a bowl, and cover with whatever yummy cheese you have on hand.

verdict: Hm, well, it is filling and tasty. But it really tastes like a thing you’d cook with leftovers. For the price, it was fantastic!–homey food for very little money. But it’s not like you’d eat this if you had money.

The apple really worked, though. That’s something you should keep in mind. Turkey and apple worked deliciously in every combination, and I think you could even do cold salads, cold sandwiches, and other things where those two ingredients could combine.