LEFTOVER TURKEY 'not chicken' SALAD (a 1 banana difficulty level)

Ah yes...it's that time of year again...Thanksgiving! Let the gluttony begin!

We did a pre-Thanksgiving meal this past weekend and now have a fair bit of leftover turkey. If you are still in the market for how to cook that Thanksgiving bird, may I suggest:

http://www.anymonkeycan.com/2011/11/braised-turkey-3-banana-level.html

It's made 3 straight Thanksgivings for me! Did I mention the Leftover Turkey soup that you can make?

http://www.anymonkeycan.com/2011/11/turkey-lentil-rice-soup-2-banana.html

Ok, enough with the self promotion. I recently saw a presentation about The Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine (http://tmedweb.tulane.edu/mu/teachingkitchen/). Pretty cool stuff! The med school at Tulane offers this as an elective to med students. The med students end up teaching healthier cooking to the community. The concept is to see if making some minor modifications will improve health & decrease the impact of chronic diseases. Basically using food as medicine as opposed to lots of pills for medicine. Like I said, pretty cool stuff.

This "Leftover Turkey Salad" is based off of the Chicken Salad Recipe from the Goldring Center.

Today, 'this monkey' will show you what you can do with some of your leftover turkey & celery!

WHAT YOU NEED:
3 c. COOKED Leftover Turkey - diced
1 T Mayo (optional)
1/2 c Plain Yogurt (I used Greek)
1 T Dijon Mustard
2 T Apple Cider Vinegar
2 Celery Stalks - diced
1/2 c Pecans - chopped
1 Gala Apple - finely diced
4 T Craisins
Kosher Salt to Taste
Freshly Ground Black Pepper to Taste

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED:
Chef's Knife
Cutting Board
Medium Bowl
Mixing Spoon

WHAT YOU DO:
1. Mix the Mayo, Yogurt, Mustard, Apple Cider Vinegar, Salt & Pepper in the bowl until well blended.

2. Add the Diced Celery, Chopped Pecans, Diced Apple, & Craisins to #1 & stir until well incorporated.

3. Add the Diced Turkey to the above & stir well.

4. Make a sandwich & enjoy!

This was a breeze to make & is pretty good! Not quite as good as using mayo, but pretty close. I optioned out of the mayo, but will probably add just a bit next go 'round.

Here's hoping to a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Until next time...your favorite neighborweb monkey!

WALNUT ZUCCHINI BREAD (a 2 banana difficulty level)

This monkey likes his breakfast. 3 Egg Omelet (Spinach, Avocado, Chives, Cheese), 1 slice Walnut Zucchini Bread with Butter & 1 Black Plum with 1 cup of French Press Coffee

I was given this recipe over a year ago, maybe closer to 2 years. I've wanted to make it for quite awhile now. 3 times I've purchased Zucchinis & 3 times those Zucchinis have languished in my vegetable crisper until they were only fit for my compost bin.

Finally the stars aligned just enough that I had Zucchinis and the time to make Walnut Zucchini Bread and boy have I been missing out because it was delicious! Anymonkey likes more than just Banana Bread for his dessert breakfast breads!

My friend's recipe is from her grandmother. A good rule of thumb: recipes from grandmas = goodness!

Today, this Monkey will teach you how to make Walnut Zucchini Bread...let's get started!

Fun with Grated Zucchini!

WHAT YOU NEED:
GROUP 1:
3 Eggs
1 c Oil (I chose Olive Oil)
2 t Vanilla
2 c Sugar
2 c Grated, Peeled Zucchini (2 medium Zucchinis)


GROUP 2:
2 1/2 c Flour
1 1/2 t Baking Powder
2 t Cinnamon (I substituted Nutmeg)
1/2 t Salt
1 t Baking Soda
1 c Chopped Pecans (I substituted Walnuts)

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED:
Whisk
Large Spoon
Large Bowl
2 Loaf Pans

1. Pre-Heat oven to 350 deg.
2. In the Large Bowl, Beat together items in Group 1.

Pre mixing

Post mixing

3. In the Large Bowl, Add the dry ingredients of Group 2 into Group 1 ingredients. Combine thoroughly.

4. Pour Mixture into your loaf pans (or grandma's cast iron skillet...)

5. Bake at 350 deg for 50 minutes, rotate at 25 minute mark.

6. Serve Warm with a pat of Butter

Super easy to make & super delicious! Special thanks to Lacy & her grandma for their contribution...

Until next time (hopefully it will be sooner than later) your favorite neighborweb monkey!

KALE SALAD (a 1 banana difficulty level)

This is blog post 100 (triple digits!) & I'm going to have to dedicate this post to Rudy.

Recently I met some neighbors who are into gardening. I mean, REALLY into gardening. In fact, one is a Texas Master Gardener. They decided to give me some of their extra kale not too long ago.

Other than throwing a small bit of Kale into a smoothie, I really had never used Kale for anything. I decided to embrace the monkey mantra of 'easily making great tasting food' and start with a simple Kale salad. Basically I made my standard Spinach Salad, but with Kale instead of Spinach. It turned out quite tasty!

The hardest part of this recipe is cutting the stems out of the leaves, but that is pretty simple.

Here's the 'anymonkeycan' version of a Kale salad:

WHAT YOU NEED:
Kale (cut to bite size pieces)
Purple Onion (sliced thinly)
Avocado (sliced)
Cheese (shredded - Stella Fontinella)
Trail Mix or Mixed Nuts
Kosher Salt & Ground Black Pepper to taste
Balsamic Vinegar

WHAT YOU DO:
1. Prep the Kale leaves by cutting away the stem & then chopping the leaves into bite size pieces.

The progression is from Left to Right:
1. Place Kale leaf on cutting board with stem away from you
2. Fold leaf in half along the stem                                          
3. Draw your knife along the leafy part & stem                      
4. Discard the stem & chop up the remaingin leaf                  

2. Massage the Kale leaves for about 3 minutes to soften them. They'll turn a deeper green.

Pre Massage

Post massage (deeper green)

Pre                                      Post

3. Build your salad

4. Drizzle with Balsamic Vinegar & Enjoy!

And there you have a Kale Salad that 'anymonkeycan' do!

Until next time...
Your favorite neighborweb monkey!