Transforming Thanksgiving leftovers into something new

I consider myself a “foodie.” I love trying new recipes and different cuisines. I used to eat whatever I wanted when I was healthy. I never was a person who dieted. I pretty much just ate healthy for the most part, but definitely enjoyed my wine, bread, cheese and chocolate.  I have tried out a variety of diets since I’ve had CFS—no gluten, no dairy, no sugar, Candida diets, raw diets, etc. I’m not sure if any particular diet really helped. I do know for sure that there are certain things I should avoid, such as caffeine, alcohol, gluten, and sugar. Sigh!

Cooking can be very exhausting especially on a day when I have to do errands. So I love, love, love leftovers.  I especially love to recreate my leftovers into something new and exciting. Today I took some leftover turkey from Thanksgiving and transformed it into a tasty salad. I found a recipe on realsimple.com  for a Turkey Waldorf Salad. I changed it up a bit to fit my diet. I do this often with recipes. I’m still trying to avoid things with many ingredients and things that contain sugar. So instead of using mayonnaise, vinegar and sour cream, I used 0% fat greek yogurt with a splash of lemon juice. I was very pleased with how it turned out! Also, I added dried cranberries for a little extra color and flavor. The dried cranberries I get are from Whole Foods and they are sweetened with apple juice which has less sugar than Craisins! This will also be a great salad to make with leftover rotisserie chicken!

Turkey Waldorf Salad (Serves 4)

Ingredients:

·         Few tablespoons of Greek Yogurt (I prefer Fage Total 0%)

·          Splash of lemon juice

·         Celtic sea salt and black pepper

·         1 cup shredded roasted turkey (or chicken)

·         1 celery stalk, sliced

·         1 green apple, cut into ½ inch pieces

·         2 tablespoons chopped toasted walnuts

·         1 tablespoon dried cranberries

·         1 small head of red leaf lettuce, torn in pieces  (or I just used Earthbound Farms mixed baby greens)

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Directions:

In a medium bowl, mix the turkey, celery, apple, walnuts, and cranberries. Add the greek yogurt, lemon juice, Celtic sea salt, and pepper to the bowl. Mix it together and taste it to see if you need more or less of anything. Then place some lettuce on a plate and place some of the turkey mixture on top. Enjoy!       (Also, I used the leftover turkey salad mixture for my husband's lunch the next day..  I toasted two slices of bread, put a little mayo on,  and then a scoop of the turkey salad. I hope he likes it as much as I did!)