redemption

with a title like that, i imagine the subject of this post could be all over the place.
however, as i sit here doped up on two days worth of fried turkey, there just arent many deep thoughts left in this tryptophan saturated brain of mine.

what i DO have to say, though, is still extremely important:

GO.MAKE.THIS.

we never really search for recipes for leftover turkey, simply because we fry our turkeys and there is never a problem getting "rid" of the leftovers.  we eat it three meals a day until it is gone.  its that good. {so go fry a turkey}

BUT tonight i saw that left over turkey and leftover brie from my antipasto appetizer and just knew i had to have a panini. {i might be pregnant...}

a trip BY MYSELF {when does that happen?} to fresh market later and this is what was produced:

Turkey, Brie, and Avocado Panini

leftover turkey
brie cheese
avocado
foccacia or other hearty bakery bread
red pepper and ancho chili jam {honestly, im sure there are a million jams/preserves/jellies you could use...even left over cranberry sauce...BUT this is what caught my eye and it was PHENOMENAL.  just the right amount of sweet and smokey savory all smushed into one little jar. delish}

butter
rosemary

slice four pieces of foccacia bread, in the middle of the loaf like so

place them out on a cutting board.  spread the jam on two pieces of bread.  layer the avocado, turkey, and then brie on each slice.  sprinkle with rosemary.  place remaining pieces of bread on top.{makes two sandwiches}
if you have a panini press, use it.
i dont.
so take a grill pan, spray it with cooking spray, melt some butter, and keep it on medium heat. {just like when making a grilled cheese, you dont want to burn the bread before the cheese has a chance to melt}

place sandwiches on the grill pan and cook until grill marks form.  press on top of each sandwich to smush all the goodies inside.  either spray the top of the uncooked side or spread some butter on it before flipping.  flip sandwich and continue smushing.

slice each sandwich in half and serve with sliced honeycrisp apples {just a suggestion :) }.

HEAVEN.


now, you ask, why is this post titled redeption?
well its because i craved and therefore made a chocolate pecan pie for turkey day and it turned out really gross.  i dont know why...it was a combination of pioneer womans and paula deans...i mean HOW could i go wrong?? all pecan pie recipes only differ in the teeniest amounts of the exact same ingredients.  maybe it was the pecans.  i dont know.  it was NOT good.  luckily my mom made a carrot cake and there were only two of us who tasted the pecan pie.  i sourly left it at my inlaws for them to...enjoy...eh

so, turkey panini, thank you. 
i am redeemed.
until my next mammoth cooking blunder.
being one of those non-measure-ers of ingredients or not-really-following-a-recipe-ers leads to equal parts sweet success and miserable failure.  with a dash of "eh?" thrown in there.

alright! gotta go play on pinterest or something else lazy and friday-night-ish.
i leave you with some pics of our wonderful but extremely fast feeling thanksgiving:

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand SCENE

*******************************************************

and i really dont know what kind of shot {if any} we have tomorrow, 

but you never really know with this game.

so,

W A R  E A G L E