These enchiladas have a great creamy spinach sauce but sadly are not very photogenic.  Starting with the initial recipe, I made several modifications to create my own Creamy Spinach, Turkey and Mushroom Enchiladas.  I added about a pound of Cremini mushrooms to both balance the turkey flavor and to add some more substance to the enchiladas.  I also used Anaheim peppers rather than poblano because I couldn't find any poblano peppers.  Anaheim are smaller than poblano so I used four but I could have used even more since I like a hefty dose of veggies.  In hindsight, I should have also thrown in a few jalapeños for added heat but since I didn't our version was a bit less spicy than we'd have liked.  When I assemble the enchiladas I’ve found it is nice to add a dallop of the sauce into the middle of each enchilada before I roll it up; otherwise you end-up with lots of sauce on the outside but a rather dry inside.  The turkey worked great here and although I knew I was eating leftover turkey it didn't seem that way -  making this a great way to conceal leftover turkey.

I think I'm ready to start thinking about food again -  now that we've put a sizable dent in the Thanksgiving leftovers that is!  This was an interesting Thanksgiving because after years of pressure from the fancy new Thanksgiving menus in every cooking magazine's November issue I finally took the plunge and tried all new recipes for Thanksgiving.  It was also interesting because Husband convinced me to run a 10K Turkey Trot Thanksgiving morning.  The trot was fun and a tradition from our years in Houston but a full day of cooking after my first 10K in a couple of years made for a pretty tired foodie.... Still, it is a great Thanksgiving tradition. 

Thankfully, we'd prepped a bunch of things on Wednesday so we only had about a few hours of cooking on Thanksgiving day itself.  Earlier in the week, we reviewed our menu choices and made a few modifications to our original menu such as removing the onion side dish (we had plenty without it) and choosing a slightly more straightforward/traditional cranberry dish.    As happens with most new things, some of the dishes we tried where hits and some were duds....

Porcini Mushroom Turkey with Mushroom Gravy:  This turkey has a mushroom butter that is spread between the turkey meat and skin.  We've used butters on poultry before and had great results but in this case the butter didn't seem to change the flavor of the turkey much.  I wouldn't make the turkey again.  The mushroom gravy that went with this turkey was a bit labor intensive with lots of mushrooms and more preparing than I'm used to for a gravy.  But the result was amazing.  I'd definitely have the gravy again.

Three-Mushroom Dressing with Prosciutto:  I'm a big fan of stuffing and really love when it is cooked inside the turkey.  As a result, I was a bit skeptical of this dressing but I was pleasantly surprised.  It really tasted like a stuffing and it wasn't a whole lot of work.  I'd make this again.

Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls:  I really want to like whole grain breads and Bon Appetit made these sound delicious. But I was really really disappointed in the result.  I knew these rolls wouldn't be as good as the all butter rolls I normally make but these really didn't have any good flavor.  I only ate one and while Husband made an attempt at eating a second he gave up.  I froze the rest and we'll use them for stuffing when we make our traditional turkey next month...

Smashed Rutabagas with Ginger-Roasted Pears: We served this in place of mashed potatoes.  I'd never had rutabagas before so this was a big gamble.  The result tasted ok but was not stellar.  Between the ginger-roasted pears and the cream in this preparation, however, I'm still not sure I know what rutabagas taste like though.  I probably wouldn't make this again. 

Cranberry, Pear and Ginger Chutney:  This was a pretty easy dish to prepare although it did have a large assortment of ingredients.  The result was good but a bit strong on the cloves.  I'd make this again but with less cloves.

Apple and Quince Crisp with Rum Raisins: This was, by far, the best part of the meal.  I absolutely loved this crisp.  The raisins, which were flambéed, were not only fun to make but delicious even on their own.  I'd never had quince before but it really complemented the apple.  Initially, we intended to serve this with whipped cream but we were too tired after a full day of cooking (and trotting) so we skipped the whipped cream.  In the end that was a good choice since this dessert is so great on its own that the whipped cream was not necessary.

Overall, the meal was fine but this menu required more work than the one we normally make and for most of the dishes the extra effort did not yield better results.  Would I try an all new menu again?  We'll have to see just how energetic I am next year... 

It all started with Kale, I picked up some to go in a pot of slow cooked white beans I was preparing but then forgot to add it in.  So here I was sort of stuck with something that normally all I would do is sauté with a little olive oil and eat.  I dug out one of my trusty vegetarian cookbooks and found a great recipe for Kale and Potato hash.  The end result was a tasty side dish that will definitely get repeat performance in my house.  The next day I found myself with about two cups of leftover hash took one look at it and instantly thought “Frittata”.  The Frittata has tons of flavors coming from the Potato Hash, garlic, red pepper, and cheese. And it's a great creation for this month's Leftover Tuesdays.

Potato, Kale, & Tomato Frittata

Serves 2

• 2 cups of leftover Potato, Kale, & Tomato Hash
• 1 T olive oil
• 2 eggs, beaten
• Salt & pepper to taste
• Pecorino Romano cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat the olive oil over med-high heat in an 8 inch omelette pan. 

Add the potato hash to the pan and warm through, about 2-3 minutes.  Add in the beaten eggs

Place in a 350 degree oven for about 10-15 minutes until the egg is cooked through and firm.

Remove Frittata from the oven, season with salt, pepper, and grated romano cheese.

Got leftovers and not sure what to do with them?  That's why Leftover Tuesdays is all about.  This month we have a couple of stir fry's, some pizza, a Shepherd's pie, a pot pie variation, quesadillas, and more uses for leftovers ranging from chicken to duck to turkey to cornbread stuffing.  Check out the great dishes everyone has made from their leftovers…

	Windy from Windy's Food Corner created Quick Chicken Stir-fry from leftover chicken.  While Windy doesn't have leftovers very often this dish doesn't show it!  This simple and quick stir-fry is a great use for leftover chicken or other fowl…
	When Foodhunter from Food Hunter's Guide to Cuisine couldn't figure out what to cook, a pantry raid did the trick.  The pantry yielded leftover spinach and tomato pasta, which combined with some leftover mozzarella, was easily converted into Pasta Caprese.
	Tigerfish from Teczcape prepared an absolutely beautiful creation from leftover Duck.  This "colorful as the rainbow" dish called Stir Fry Shredded Duck comes with a detailed discussion of the ways to eat Peking Duck.
	Foodie Heather from here at Project Foodie had an early craving for turkey that produced some extra cornbread stuffing.  Her goal was to create some "autumnal, comfort food, reminiscent of my childhood meals".  The resulting Shepard's Pie is definitely some good comfort food.
	From "The kitchen scientist with a white rat hubby!" who writes  "The discovery of a new dish does more for human happiness than the discovery of a new star" (and who also likes really long names) we have Pizzas.  Using a wide range of leftover ingredients and hamburger bun bases she created 4 unique pizza variations.
	Zlamuska from Zlamushka's Spicy Kitchen transformed not only a leftover but something many people simply throw away into Granola.  The leftover ingredient?  Okara which is a leftover you get from making Soy Milk!  This Granola is not only a great leftover use but also a healthy one at that…
	Joel from Food Monkeys converted leftover turkey, carrots, onions and sweet potato into an awesome pot pie variation called Turkey Herder's Pie. While he had me at the wonderful name, the inclusion of the sweet potatoes really pulled me in and I can't wait to make this one!
	Last, is my leftover creation Shrimp Quesadillas from leftover frozen shrimp, corn, and jalapeños.

As always a great set of leftover creations from foodies all over the world.  See you again next month where in the US we have our biggest leftover generating event of the year - Thanksgiving…

Interested in seeing more leftover creations?  Check out the previous Leftover Tuesdays round-ups: Round #1 was at Cooking Chat, Roundup #2  is over at Rachel's Bite, Round #3 is at What's Cooking, Round #4 is at ceres & bacchus, Round #5 is here on Project Foodie, Round #6 is at Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity, Round #7 (the Pantry Raid) is here and Round #8 is at Dispensing Happiness.