Turkey - It's What's For Dinner

http://www.printactivities.com/Mazes/Shape_Mazes/Turkey-Maze.html

I really wanted a photo of a turkey that hasn't been cooked... but this is probably more acceptable. We aren't having turkey in the traditional sense- like Thanksgiving dinner. Nope. We are having turkey, bean (and rice) and cheese burritos.

Last month, Tristan @ Our Busy Homeschool posted a recipe for crockpot refried beans which I just thought was totally awesome. (That does have something to do with this post, I promise) At the time I had only a 3 quart crockpot, which work fine for the recipe, with a little tweaking. But for Christmas my hubby gave me a 7 quart crockpot! I was itching to use it for something. I'm going to admit that I did not use it for Tristan's crockpot refried beans (I had forgotten about it- yea, my mind goes in and out). I did make beans however. The original plan was to make bean soup. I added the beans and let them cook, then I added some spices and .... some rice. Well, the beans hadn't cooked enough for me to add the rice but I wasn't paying attention. By the time the beans were finally done, the rice was not visible. But it was a very thick soup!

I thought it was a little funny actually. I ate some of the beans with some cheese sprinkled on top and thought it was good. Well, I scooped the remainder (no one else ate any- grrr) into containers to put in the fridge. It was about this time that I realized because of the consistency, this could be used as beans for burritos, in place of refried beans. So I grated up some cheese and made some bean and cheese burritos. 

We had that for dinner one night and then I got the bright idea (oh, yes, I'm so smart hehe) that I would make freezer burritos. I put a sheet of aluminum foil on the counter, with a piece of saran wrap on top of that. The burritos went together nicely and first rolled in the saran wrap then the aluminum foil (and finally all put into a freezer bag) keeps them 'fresh'. 

Well, at Thanksgiving we were given 4 turkeys. God smiles on us :) We ate the first for Thanksgiving. The second I thawed after the first of the year to cook but silly me I forgot that I don't have a pan for it. So instead it got cut to pieces. What didn't get used (the edible meat) was put in the crockpot with some water, garlic, carrots and onions to make turkey stock. All the meat I cut up and put in freezer bags. But honestly I wasn't sure what to do with it.

I almost forgot about it! Good thing I didn't though- that would have been quite a bit of meat wasted! So today with my awesome food processor, I made ground turkey. I was doing this when Lee asked what would be for dinner and I really had no ideas. But a little later I was dealing with the remainder of the beans and making burritos for the freezer. It dawned on me that we usually use ground turkey for our meals that use meat. Why not make burritos with the ground turkey and the beans? Great idea! :) 

Simple turkey, bean and cheese burritos:
4 tortillas
.71 lbs ground turkey (cooked)
16 oz salsa
about 8-10 oz bean stuff
olives
and a lot of cheese :) 


The only thing really missing was a salad or some type of veggie. Kids are drinking juice so I feel better about that omission. 

Since we still have 2 whole 16 lb turkeys and 3 lbs of ground turkey, I figured it would be good to see what I can make with it. I like new ideas. Here is a blog with 25 Ground Turkey Recipes- some look really good.