If there’s one thing I hate, it’s throwing food away.  After Thanksgiving, I was determined to not throw a single thing away.  Not even the meat.  I bought a twenty pound turkey, you better believe I was using every last bit of it.

While I usually don’t eat meat, I would rather eat it than throw it away.   So I make turkey noodle soup, using a sad looking turkey carcass (I’ll spare you the photo), some whole wheat pasta that’s been in the cupboard since August 2009 and a rather boring assortment of vegetables. The result:

Not too exciting… Turkey noodle soup.  But don’t you worry.  I brown-ified it and made it a million times better.

The magic additions?  Lime, sour cream and Goya Adobo seasoning.  Tastes like home.

In addition to a turkey, I also had half a large can of pumpkin puree sitting in the fridge.  No way that’s going in the trash.  2 solutions: Pumpkin Pizza and Pumpkin Biscuits

Pumpkin Pizza was inspired by a Well’s Vegetarian Thanksgiving recipe that someone brought for Thanksgiving.  I made a few changes.

Pumpkin Pizza

inspired by Winter Squash, Onion and Pine Nut Pizza

1 recipe pizza dough (I used Eating Well’s whole wheat pizza dough recipe)
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp dried sage
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter or olive oil
1 onion, sliced
about 1/2 cup grated parmesan or asiago cheese
1-2 tbsp pepitas

In a skillet, heat butter or oil (or both), add onions and cook on low heat for about 20 minutes until caramelized and sweet.

Preheat oven to 400F.  Make the pizza dough, shape into whatever pizza dough shape you would like.

In a bowl, mix together pumpkin, sage, nutmeg and salt.  Spread onto pizza dough.  Next layer on caramelized onions and pepitas.  Top with cheese and bake for about 15 minutes or until dough is golden.

Pretty delicious.  Definitely would make it again.

As for the pumpkin biscuits… who doesn’t love a biscuit.

Pumpkin Biscuits

inspired by Eggs on Sunday

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter, chopped
1/2 cup pumpkin, sage, nutmeg, salt mixture (same as pizza above)
1 tbsp yogurt (or more as needed)

Preheat oven to 450F.  Combine dry ingredients.  Cut butter into the flour mixture, then add the pumpkin mixture.  Using your hands combine to form a ball.  If you need extra moisture, add some yogurt (I used about a tbsp).  Once the dough is sticky but well combined, roll it out.  Using a cup or biscuit cutter, cut into 5 pieces.  Bake for about 9 minutes.

Goes great with turkey noodle soup!

Now that I used up all my canned pumpkin, I just need to find something to do with these sugar pumpkins…

What should I do with these??