Leftovers. A blessing and a curse at times. I went all out for Christmas and roasted a turkey and baked a ham. Our turkey gets used up pretty quickly between sandwiches and a great turkey soup I made. I made the broth from the carcass on Christmas evening after dinner. Refrigerated it in a big pickle jar that night. Skimmed the fat off it and divided it in half. Half went in the freezer for another day’s soup. Half became one of my best turkey soups.

The soup was one of those recipe-less ones, but I followed the general guidelines in the book to the left, which consists more of “formulas” than recipes. I sauteed chopped onion, carrots and celery in a bit of olive oil for a few minutes, until the onions were soft. Added in some frozen green beans and cooked another minute. Then I added in the leftover scalloped potatoes (cut them up a bit first), a few cups of shredded turkey, a can of diced tomatoes, about 32 ounces of broth, some dried parsley, salt and pepper. Simmered partially covered about 30 minutes. The scalloped potatoes were a complete gamble but I think they added a lot.

The ham I wanted to do something a bit different with. I browsed through the “How to Cook Without a Book” (recommended by someone who found my CheapCooking.com site–thanks!) and saw Lo Mein, like fried rice but with spaghetti instead of rice. So I diced about 4 cups of ham and froze 2 cups for another night. Took the remaining 2 cups and sprinkled with a spoonful of soy sauce. Mixed up her lo mein sauce:

* 1/4 cup soy sauce

* 1/4 cup chicken broth (would have used the turkey if I hadn’t frozen the extra already!)

* 2 tsp rice wine vinegar

* 2 tsp sesame oil

* 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes (Could have used more, this wasn’t too spicy)

* 1 tsp sugar

Cooked up some spaghetti to make about 4 cups worth (8 ounces dry) and drained it while dicing up the carrots and celery and cutting up an onion. Heated a tablespoon of olive oil on high; cooked the onion a few minutes; added the carrots and cooked a minute; added the ham and cooked a minute; added the celery and cooked a minute; added the minced garlic and ginger and stirred briefly, then removed everything from the pan.

Put another tablespoon of olive oil in the pan and cooked the spaghetti a few minutes, then added in all the meat and vegetables plus the sauce I’d mixed up before. Stirred around for a few minutes and served.