Time to eat the Turkey! A Paleo recipe

                                       WHAT TO DO WITH ALL THE TURKEY LEFT OVERS?

Arrgg!   Well, since we have a small farm, we have decided over the past couple of years to raise our own pasture fed turkeys for Thanksgiving day festivities.  There is nothing like a fresh, pasture, fed and humanly raised turkey!   We have sold a few to family and friends but this year we have 16  5 (due to a tragic mishap)  that we will be putting in our freezer.  After our thanksgiving feast and feeding 13 people, we had a lot of turkey leftovers.  Turkey is nice, but I don't think I want to eat it every day for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next week.  So I need to treat my taste buds and add a bit to the turkey.


                                                        Creamy Garlic Turkey over zoodles.    
(yes you read that correctly, zoodles) http://nomnompaleo.com/post/5695132949/zucchini-spaghetti-zoodles-meatballs  Here is where I first learned about them.

Since we eat mainly a paleo and gluten free diet, ( I'll touch more on that in a later post, about gluten), spaghetti noodles from wheat or even rice for that matter is really not an option for our family.  So on a search, I discovered zoodles.  It is a fun and easy way to get veggies into the kids.  The first time I cooked these for the kids, I held my breath in great anticipation as to what might come out of their little mouths (hoping that it wouldn't be the zoodles).  The first thing I heard was,  "this was good, can I have more noodles?"  Exit sigh of relief, enter more zoodles on the plate of happiness!

                                             Creamy (well, its not really creamy) Garlic Turkey with Zoodles

Take your left over turkey out of the ice box and get ready to give it a new identity!
I usually shred up the turkey in smaller bites for this.  I had for my dinner about 3 cups of chopped/cubed turkey.

chop/dice one full red onion, and if you gotem',  dice a couple of leeks.
dice up 2-4 cloves of fresh garlic.  We use a lot of garlic, so I use 4 cloves (Here is a tip that I learned.  Dice up garlic and let it stand for 10-15 minutes before you saute.  By letting garlic sit it allows all the beneficial properties of the garlic to set.  If you chop garlic and saute it directly, you will destroy all the beneficial health properties of garlic! )

Saute the onions, garlic, leeks in grass fed butter or coconut oil.

Once sauteed, add the turkey, salt and pepper to taste. Mix ingredients well together.  I also add 2 tsp. of Turmeric (turmeric is well known to have anti inflammatory properties to it, I add health when and where I can ;0 ).  Add 4 TBS of grass fed butter.  If I can't get my hands on raw organic grass fed butter, I do use Kerry Gold Grass Fed Butter.  You can purchase at most stores.  Add 3/4 cup of original coconut milk to the mixture, stir and allow to simmer on low to medium heat, stirring occasionally.   

                                                            Now for the ZOODLES
Well, you can access the link above for preparation and check out her website, she is one of my favorite go to sites!

For our family of 6 I grated 3 nice sized zucchini with a grater to make shaped "noodles".

Here is the grater I use, its super fast!

Now, the suggestion was you can microwave them; however, I am not a big fan of the microwave and really limit my use to almost NEVER, when preparing food!  

finished product

So here is how I prepared them to optimize and keep the nutritional value of the "zoodles."  I filled a small sauce pot with water and brought it to a simmer/boil.  Once water started to gently boil, I quickly placed my shredded zucchini in the pot and allowed it to boil for 1-2 minutes, don't go past 2 minutes, take off heat immediately and drain water off.  You are ready to serve the zoodles.  If you over cook them you will have mushy zoodles and no one wants that.

Place zoodles on plate and top with creamy garlic turkey mixture, salt to taste, add a little feta cheese and serve up a healthy, left over meal, with a side of roasted brussels sprouts.  

Even our sweet dog, begs for turkey and zoodles :)

Let me know if you tried this and how you liked it, what modifications you used, I always look forward to hearing from you!
Happy eating.