With my Thanksgiving turkey leftovers, I made this warm open faced turkey sandwich with arugula and avocado on top of ciabatta bread with a swab of honey mustard and Brianna's Poppyseed dressing.
For the meat, I sauteed in a pan some onion, diced portobello mushroom, and diced turkey in some Earth Balance soy-free buttery spread until the turkey was just a little crispy around the edges. I love tender meat with some crispiness.
For Thanksgiving, I went to my friend Eniko's house aka @AZToothFairy. This was Eniko's first time to ever make a Thanksgiving meal, and in her new house to boot which by the way has this newly remodeled kitchen that made me drool.
Eniko did an incredible job for her first dinner! In fact, had she not told me that fact, no one would have ever known. For recipes, Eniko used several from the November issue of Real Simple magazine, so as I show you the pictures, I will link to the recipes, and try them you should because, um, YUMMY!
And to add, I took all these photos in dim lighting with my iPhone, and I was happy that I could fix them up a bit to show off Eniko's cooking.
First up is the bird which I never knew that you can buy turkey breast only. I always thought you had to buy all bird or nothing. You can take the breast, put whatever stuffing and spices you want on it and cook it at home. There are rosemary leaves stuffed in there with onions. And yes, there is a whole lot of breast meat...enough to eat for days!
Here's Eniko with her boyfriend Cedric, a very sweet and funny guy, standing with the feast she prepared. Cedric who is from Louisiana also made some Jambalaya using all kinds of sausage including deer which I had never eaten before. The deer was a little spicy but was tasty, not gamey at all.
Besides the turkey, Eniko made mashed potatoes with a white wine gravy, and this Bourbon Cranberry Compote.
My favorite two sides of the evening were these Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Grapes...
...and these Sweet Potatoes with Pecans and Parmesan. Eniko is lactose intolerant and I got dairy allergy so it was great that in her cooking she used substitutes or hints of dairy because well it's only once a year for Thanksgiving. Not saying it's right just saying we're human. In her sweet potato dish, she went very light on the cheese. In fact, so light, you could almost miss it.
For dessert, we had the spiced pumpkin pie with candied pecans which forgive me I cannot find the recipe...
...and various International flavored espresso with foam in it. Now see how foamy my cup is? That is actually almond milk. Yeah! I never knew almond milk could froth up like regular milk. I've seen frothy cashew milk, so again, it's cool that even us with the dairy issues can have frothy coffee drinks.
Here is the to-go container Eniko made for me. Now, the only reason I mention this picture is because I have now met someone who makes a bigger to-go package than my Filipino mom who let me tell you can pack some whopper of to-go plates. I put the espresso cup next to the container so you can get an idea of size. That container I swear weighed like 3lbs lol!
I'm not complaining though because Round #2 today was just as delicious! Hope all of you had a fabulous day of enjoying food, family, and friends.
