Turkey Pasta Salad

As, I mentioned in my last post, I have a lot of leftovers from this last weekends dinner party.  One of the reasons that I have this abundance of food is due to the fact that our neighbor caught a wild turkey and gave it to me to cook up.  One thing led to another and before I knew it I had invited 16 people over to share in the deliciousness of wild turkey.  This led to a panicked state in which I was worried that there would not be enough food to feed everyone, which in turn led to me making too much food.  So, in keeping with the tradition of Thanksgiving leftovers I made turkey pasta salad with what was left of the wild turkey. 

Leftover turkey (or chicken) chopped

1 lb cooked pasta (like campanelle or farfalle) 

1 Cup Mayonaise

1/2 Cup Sour cream

1 Cup grapes (red or green) cut lengthwise

1 Cup nuts (like slivered almonds or pecans)

2 Tbsp Lemon juice

1/3 Cup chopped green onions

Salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything together, chill and serve.  You may need to double the ingredients depending on how much leftover turkey there is, also you can add chopped apples and/or celery for some extra flavor.  I usually add way more grapes than 1 cup, because they are delicious; and sometimes I leave the pasta out and make yummy sandwiches with croissants or some other tasty bread.

Enjoy! 

BBQ Pulled Pork Sandwiches with Broccoli Slaw

On Sunday I made a huge meal and, as I usually do, cooked too much food.  So, in an attempt to be creative with the leftovers I made some BBQ pulled pork sandwiches and broccoli slaw.  Basically, I put the leftover pork roast in a pan with some BBQ sauce and a can of soda pop -sounds weird I know, but the acid helps to make the pork extra tender and juicy.  I usually use diet coke or any other cola product that is in the house.  For the broccoli slaw I used the following ingredients: 1/4 cup vinegar, 1 cup mayonnaise, 1/3 cup sugar, some chopped up bacon, chopped onion, sunflower seeds,  raisins (or craisins or any other kind of dried fruit) and of course shredded broccoli.  Mix it all together and eat it because it is delicious!  I should mention that these measurements may not be that accurate, because I kind of made this recipe up and have never actually measured anything, but taste as you go and you'll be just fine!

Enjoy!

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble Pie

Yum, yum, yum -have I ever mentioned that I love strawberry rhubarb pie? Probably not, because until recently I had never had this wicked little combination.  It was love at first bite, so I decided to try to make one for myself.  I added hazelnuts to the crumb topping and some lemon zest to the filling and the pie turned out wonderful -a great way to celebrate mothers day!

Enjoy!

Black Bean Burgers

First thing is first, make some black beans and make lots of them.  Then freeze some of the black beans because you'll have a lot of them.  Next, make all kinds of things with the delicious homemade black beans, like burritos or black bean burgers.  I made some black bean burgers smothered in guacamole for dinner and they were yummy! I tweaked the recipe a bit by adding cumin and diced green chilies.  Give them a try next time you fire up the grill.  By the way, you can also make refried beans using the same recipe, just use pinto beans instead of black.

Enjoy!

Fish and Chips

Tonight I made fish and chips and it was tasty.  I followed this recipe and made some homemade tartar sauce.  The fish had a crispy fluffy golden crust and it was a perfect dinner to eat outside in the sun.

Enjoy!

Zinc Finger Nuclease

This week I had to write up a mock research proposal.  I decided to write about zinc finger nucleases.  I thought the topic was pretty interesting, so I've included a little blurb from my proposal:  Through coupling zinc fingers with a DNA nuclease (zinc finger nuclease), a site-specific genomic sequence can be permanently disrupted by the insertion of a double-stranded break.  Engineered zinc finger nucleases are beginning to make significant contributions to functional genomics, synthetic biology, and clinical medicine. Zinc finger nucleases have been shown to successfully manipulate genomes of higher organisms, such as zebra fish, sea urchin, and various types of mammalian cells. Recently, Perez et al. mutated the human gene CCR5, which serves as a co-receptor for entry of HIV-1 into CD4+ T Cells. The mutation successfully produced an HIV-resistant cell population. The ability to modify the genome of a living cell facilitates study of gene function and allows targeted therapeutic interventions in genomes. It is clear that zinc finger nucleases have the potential to play a significant role in biomedical applications; and a new way to investigate fundamental principles of protein-DNA recognition and gene-regulation. 

Lamb Tikka Masala

This weekend I felt like grilling up so lamb, so I made this recipe and grilled the lamb instead of baking it to add some extra flavor.  It was delicious -serve it with some grilled naan and sprinkle it with some fresh lemon juice for some extra tang.

Enjoy!