Turkey Overload: Meal Planning and a Call for Ideas

I have been trying to do some better meal planning.  When I started thawing a turkey last week, I thought that I would be ready to tackle turkey dishes around Thursday of  last week.  It took significantly longer than that for the turkey to thaw in the fridge, so I moved on to other dishes.  Unfortunately, those dishes lasted me longer than I anticipated.  When I finally got around to cooking the turkey on Monday, I was still working through other leftovers.  Now, I'm faced with an entire 13-pound deboned, skinless turkey sitting in some premium turkey broth  that HAS to be processed this weekend or thrown away!

Gasp!

So, meal planning for this week is heavy on the turkey.

Turkey and wild rice soup.  A more traditional interpretation of the Chicken and Wild Rice soup recipe a la Schmale's Favorites.  I think the sage will pair perfectly with turkey.  Plus, I get to use mushrooms again.

Turkey tacos, lactose-intolerance style.  Corn tortillas, refried pinto beans, salsa, tomatoes, lettuce, and lime juice.  Honestly, at this point, I don't even miss the cheese anymore.  I never thought cheese added much to tacos and probably masks a lot of those great flavors.  I adore lime juice sprinkled over the lettuce.  It is the extra touch that takes blah tacos to fab tacos.  Of course, in my non-diet days, I would add a generous slice of avocado here, but, alas, the muffin-top prevents me from doing so now.  I usually serve tacos with a generous amount of black beans (by generous I mean about a half cup), baked tortilla chips, and New Mexico chili-based salsa.  Quite yummy.  Very filling.  And, for me, rather decadent.

Turkey white chili.  I found this recipe over at Mel's Kitchen Cafe and hope that it is as good as it looks.  Of course, I'll have to substitute fat-free lactaid milk for the heavy cream, but I'm used to such substitutions.  Expect a review on this dish soon.

Something with turkey and broccoli.  Something simple, I'm thinking a rather simple turkey dish with angel hair pasta, steamed broccoli, cracked black pepper and shaved Parmesan cheese.  Simple, light, and delicious.  Ok, I'll probably drizzle some olive oil in there somewhere.  Has anyone else had the problem that the only broccoli available in the 'dale is always rubbery on the shelf at the store?  Geez, who wants to pay top dollar for broccoli with no snap?

BBQ turkey sandwiches.  Side dishes to be determined.

By no means is this going to use up all that turkey.  If anyone has an favorite leftover turkey ideas, I'm game.

Have a great week everyone!