Rob's Turkey Leftover Creations and a Spirit Visit!!

After Thanksgiving the issue of what to do creatively with leftover turkey is always a challenge. This year, I (Rob) did a couple of things that my mom would've done. Although she passed in Dec. 2013,  she made an appearance in spirit over the Holiday weekend!
1) Gave leftovers to our guests 

Turkey Soup slow cooking in a crock pot

2) Turkey Pizza!  Whenever I make homemade spaghetti sauce (it always includes turkey meatballs) I freeze the extra. So, used the sauce and meatballs on a (store bought) pizza bread, and shredded leftover turkey on it (We don't use cheese because I'm lactose intolerant, and it's just fat we don't need). It was delicious!  (There are no pictures of it because when it was ready, we ate it! :) 
3) Made homemade turkey soup with the leftover drippings. After Thanksgiving dinner I put the drippings in a container and put them in the refrigerator. My mom taught me to do that, so I could scrape the fat off the top (fat rises to the top). On Sunday I put the rest of the drippings in a crock pot, shredded leftover turkey, added corn, carrots, and seasonings and let it simmer for about  5 hours. After refrigerating it, the next day I added noodles to complete the soup. 

My mom and me in 2009

MOM'S SPIRIT VISIT! - It's interesting how spirits work. When I was in the kitchen and waiting for the soup to cool, I suddenly thought of my mom and dad's house. A moment later, the cable music channel I was listening to started playing Dolly Parton's "Here you come again," which was my mom's favorite song by Dolly.  - It always brought back a memory to my mom and I - of the time we heard the song in 1978 and were sitting down and started slapping each other's knees and clapping hands to the song. So, mom was indeed in the kitchen tonight when I was making turkey soup!