Recipe for Napa Cabbage and Red Cabbage Salad with Fresh Herbs and Peanuts

A wonderful Phase One Salad with lots of crunch!

For anyone who may have over-indulged at Thanksgiving, this healthful salad with two kinds of cabbage is a perfect choice to get you back to healthy eating. If you did over-indulge a little, I think the thing to do is get back on track, and don't waste energy feeling guilty! In fact, for special occasions like Thanksgiving or holiday parties I give myself permission to have a few treats I'd normally avoid eating, and then to balance out those splurges, I try to make sure my other meals are nutritious and filled with low-glycemic foods.

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Kalyn's Top Ten List of Turkey Leftover Recipes (and Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!)

One of my top ten ideas for Turkey Leftovers is Turkey and
Cannellini Bean Soup with Sweet Potatoes and Rosemary.

(Updated Thanksgiving 2009) It's Thanksgiving Day and all over America people have spent weeks thinking about the menu. I've tried to help those who aren't completely abandoning their diets with Thanksgiving Recipes that are tasty and South Beach Diet friendly as well. Today I'll be spending the day at my sister's house enjoying a nice holiday meal, and reflecting on all the things I've had to be thankful for this past year. I hope my readers are having a wonderful holiday too, spending time with people you love. I'll be (gasp!) taking a few days off from blogging after Thanksgiving but before I sign off I want to share my favorite ideas for using leftover turkey.

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Brown Rice Casserole Recipe with Leftover Turkey (or chicken), Mushrooms, Sour Cream, Cheese, and Thyme

Tomorrow is Thanksgiving day, and some of you may even be cooking one of my Thanksgiving Recipes in honor of the big feast day. This week I've been giving suggestions for using up leftover turkey, such as Turkey and Guacamole Quesadillas or Turkey and Pinto Bean White Chili. This flavorful casserole with healthy brown rice, turkey, mushrooms, sour cream, cheese, and thyme is another option for something to make with your leftover turkey, or make it with chicken if you're not cooking a turkey this year. It's been months now since I vowed to make more casseroles for the blog, and if you grew up on casseroles like I did, you'll probably like this idea to use your leftover turkey. My casserole is missing the canned soup like the ones mom used to make, and I'm using low-fat sour cream and low-fat cheese, so it's really not as decadent as it looks in the photo.

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Recipe for Leftover Turkey (or Ground Turkey) and Pinto Bean White Chili with Lime and Cilantro

Thanksgiving is only two days away, and I'm through sharing Thanksgiving Recipes and have moved on to testing recipes for leftover turkey. I started yesterday with a tasty Turkey and Guacamole Quesadilla, and today I'm sharing this white chili recipe made with leftover turkey and pinto beans. This can also be made with leftover chicken, or use ground turkey if you don't have any leftovers. I used both dried and fresh cilantro for one of the seasonings, but if you're not a cilantro fan, there are plenty of other flavors even without the cilantro.

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Recipe for Turkey and Guacamole Quesadilla (to make from leftover Thanksgiving turkey or chicken)

Yes, I realize Thanksgiving is still three days away! But in the crazy world of food blogging, if you're suggesting recipes people might cook for a special occasion, you need to let them know before that day arrives. I've finished posting Thanksgiving Recipes, and now I've been working on recipes for turkey leftovers. For the next three days I'll share a new recipe using turkey, and then on Thanksgiving I'll post my top ten recipes for leftover turkey. Of course, if you're not cooking a turkey this year, any of these recipes could be made with rotisserie chicken. Let's get this Thanksgiving leftovers week going, starting with my favorite way to make quesadillas, with leftover turkey, cheese, and just the right amount of slightly spicy guacamole.

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Five Fun Things on Friday (11-20-09)

On Friday nights I sometimes share fun things from the week, and if you've kept up on the blog, you already know about what's in the box in the photo above. Keep reading to hear more about the other fun things, and if you've been having any fun this week, do share about it in the comments!

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Whole Wheat Couscous Salad Recipe with Persimmon, Grapes, Green Onion, Mint, and Pine Nuts

Have you ever cooked with Fuyu persimmons? I'd never even tasted them until a few days ago when a huge box of persimmons arrived in the mail! They were from Andrea of Rookie Cookery, who had offered to send me some when I confessed on Twitter that I hadn't ever eaten them. Thanks Andrea! I really like the subtle, not too sweet flavor of Fuyu persimmons. When a friend asked me to describe the flavor I said it was something like a cross between mango and apple. If you've cooked with Fuyus or eaten them, please chime in with a comment about how to describe the flavor and how you've used them in recipes.

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Recipe for Roasted Butternut Squash with Rosemary, Pecans, and Gorgonzola Cheese

It's time for me to stop thinking about whole wheat bread and get back to spotlighting Thanksgiving Recipes you might want to add to your menu. This amazing dish of butternut squash roasted with fresh rosemary and pecans and then gently tossed with Gorgonzola cheese just before serving sounds like it was inspired by the Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Pecans and Gorgonzola I was swooning over last Sunday. The truth is, last year at Thanksgiving time I bookmarked a recipe for Butternut Squash with Pecans and Blue Cheese from a blog called Eat Make Read. I save so many recipes that I forgot about it until this week when I saw it in my huge folder of recipes to try. Kelly from Eat Make Read found the recipe in Nigella Express, so apparently the combination of pecans, blue cheese, and roasted vegetables is one that a lot of good cooks are giving the stamp of approval.

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