Thanksgiving was great!  I spent the morning cooking then I ate myself silly at most impressive and expansive lunch feast that included everything from Mom’s brined turkey to my now famous seafood stuffing.  After lunch I watched the “boys” showed off their athletic abilities during a game of touch football in the front yard which is always entertaining. (Happy to report that no one injured anything this year!)  The best part of the day though, was just catching up and spending time with family and friends. It was all good!

Friday was my recovery day after all that cooking and socializing on Thursday.  We enjoyed a laid back day at home and dined on tasty leftovers for lunch and dinner – another great day! 

Then it was Saturday and there was still 6 lbs of turkey left in my fridge.  Oh my!  As lovely as it was for the first 4 meals, I don’t think I can do a 5^th straight meal of roasted turkey.  I need a plan to deal with all this turkey!  That is why I came up with this new recipe – Savory Shrimp and Turkey Skillet Meal. 

This quick and easy recipe uses seafood to dress up that left over turkey.  It is kind of like a pot pie without the pie shell or all that baking time.   If you aren’t lucky enough to have leftover turkey, you could use cooked chicken or turkey from the deli section of your grocery store instead.  Give it a try and let me know if you think it is a good use of that left over Thanksgiving turkey.

Savory Shrimp and Turkey Skillet Meal

Prep time: 2 minutes  Cook time: 16 minutes  Makes: 4 servings

• 1 (12 oz) packages SeaPak® Shrimp Scampi, frozen
• 2 cups uncooked whole grain elbow pasta
• 8 oz cooked turkey, cut into bite size pieces
• 1 (10 oz) can cream of low sodium mushroom soup
• 1/4 cup shredded parmesan
• 1 1/2 cup frozen peas, thawed

COOK pasta according package directions.  Drain and reserve 1/4 cup pasta water.  Return pasta to pot and set aside.  (Do not return to heat.)

PREHEAT large skillet on medium high for 1 minute.  Add shrimp scampi. 

SAUTE for 5 minutes stirring occasionally. Add turkey, mushroom soup, shredded parmesan, peas and 1/4 cup reserved pasta water.  Bring mixture up to a simmer stirring vigorously until scampi sauce and soup are well mixed.

POUR shrimp and turkey mixture over pasta and toss.  Serve hot.

Looking outside my office windows today, you’d never know it was chilly outside!  The sun is so bright and there’s not a cloud in the sky.  It got me thinking about all of the news lately about how we aren’t getting enough vitamin D.  (Remember your elementary school teacher calling vitamin D the “sunshine vitamin”, because you get it from the sun?) 

If you’re like me, you spend most of your time inside at work or doing things around the house.  Even our children spend more time indoors than they ever have before.  Then, when we are outside, we slather on sunscreen. Also, in many parts of the country, the winter sun is not strong enough to make vitamin D.  All of this means that as a society, we are quickly becoming vitamin D deficient.  But do you know why that is important?

Vitamin D is often touted as the answer to everything from cancer to the sniffles, but can one vitamin really do so much??  The answer may be yes! Most people know that vitamin D is essential for healthy bones and helps protect against osteoporosis, but research hints that it may also help prevent, cancer, arthritis, diabetes, the flu and more!   More vitamin D can benefit your youngsters, too. In a recent analysis of 3,500 American teenagers, low blood levels of vitamin D were linked to  increased blood pressure, higher blood sugar, and obesity—all factors that could lead to cardiovascular disease later in life.  Vitamin D is quite a multi-tasker! Boosting your family’s intake of this essential nutrient is a smart move. 

So, what can you do to increase your family’s vitamin D levels?  You can spend more time in the sunshine playing games, taking family walks or even having picnics outside. Just remember- too much unprotected sun exposure can increase risk of skin cancer.  Like everything, keep a balance.

You can also make sure you eat more foods rich in vitamin D, which can be a little bit of a challenge since vitamin D occurs naturally in just a handful of foods.   There are also fortified foods like milk, but getting the recommended Daily Value of D from milk means drinking 4 glasses (a whole quart!) of milk every day.

Thankfully, there’s another delicious option – seafood!  Few people realize that a 5 oz serving of shrimp packs more vitamin D than two 8-oz glasses of milk.  Fatty fish like salmon are also a great source of vitamin D. 

So, now that winter is upon us and the days are shorter and cooler, try adding some seafood to your family’s diet to boost everyone’s intake of vitamin D.  Below is a great shrimp recipe to get you started.

And, if it’s a day like today on St. Simons Island, take 10 minutes and eat the shrimp outside (or at least sit in front of a sunny window) and soak up even more of the sunshine vitamin!

Sweet and Spicy Key Lime Coconut Shrimp

Prep time: 10 minutes Cook time: 15 minutes Makes 2 meal servings or 4 appetizer servings

• 1 (10 oz) package SeaPak® Coconut Shrimp
• 1 packet orange marmalade sauce (included with Shrimp)
• 1/2 cup key lime juice
• 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• salt

Optional Garnish

• 4 leaves red leaf lettuce
• 1 lime, sliced in quarters
• 2 Tablespoons toasted coconut

BAKE shrimp according to package directions.

WHISK together orange marmalade, lime juice, coconut milk, corn starch, brown sugar and crushed red pepper in a medium saucepan and bring to a low simmer. Cook sauce until slightly thickened, stirring occasionally. Season the sauce with a dash or two of salt to taste and remove from heat and set aside.

PLACE lettuce leaves onto serving plates. Divide cooked shrimp onto plates and drizzle with the warm sauce. Serve any remaining sauce in ramekins. Garnish with a sprinkling of toasted coconut and slices of lime if desired.

When you think about Thanksgiving you probably immediately think of turkey, and with good reason.  According to the National Turkey Federation 88% of us will choose turkey for our holiday meal.  And a few variations in seasonings not withstanding, most of us will cook it in about the same way – baked in the oven until golden brown.  It is all very traditional and all very much the same house to house, table to table, year to year.

That is why I get much more excited about making the stuffing (or dressing if you are from the south) for the Thanksgiving table. With stuffing the variations are endless.  It is a much better place for a cook to express herself and add distinction to the meal.

Stuffing can be made with white bread, corn bread, potatoes or rice. Then you can add an endless variety of things mixed in like sausage, dried fruit, nuts, fresh herbs, eggs, mushrooms, vegetables, seafood and more.

As the name “stuffing” implies, traditionally the mixture was stuffed inside the cavity of an animal, like a turkey, then cooked.  However since stuffing a bird greatly increases the cooking time (and can pose food safety issues if not done correctly) most people prepare the stuffing separately from the meat these days.

I personally love a good seafood stuffing to compliment my turkey on thanksgiving.  It is a great wow dish for the meal.  Now if you are a die hard traditionalist you might be thinking oyster stuffing, but really that is old school and a little dated.  I prefer to modernize on that idea and use shrimp.

Since I am always looking for a way to create a delicious dish in the least amount of time I have used SeaPak Shrimp Scampi as a short cut way to make a delicious Garlic Herb Shrimp Stuffing.  Of course you can make it your own by mixing it up with the type of bread that you use as a base or adding other ingredients like mushrooms or dried fruit.  Stuffing is a great place to express your individuality as a cook.  So what will you do to dress up the stuffing this year?

Garlic Herb Shrimp Stuffing

Cook time: 18 minutes    Servings: 9 1/2-cup servings

• 1 (12 oz) carton SeaPak® Shrimp Scampi, frozen
• Non stick cooking spray
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 1 medium carrot, shredded
• 3/4 cup hot water
• 1 (6 oz) carton stuffing mix (like Stove Top – Savory Herbs)

SPRAY non-stick cooking spray (3-4 seconds) into large non-stick skillet.  Preheat skillet on medium high for 1-2 minutes.

ADD diced onion and celery.  Sauté for 3 minutes. Add shredded carrots. Stir to incorporate and continue sautéing for 1 minute.

ADD frozen shrimp scampi.  Stir to incorporate breaking up any shrimp that are frozen together.  Sauté for 6-7 minutes or until shrimp are fully cooked. Add 3/4 cup hot water.  Bring mixture up to a simmer.

REMOVE from heat.  Add stuffing mix.  Stir to incorporate.  Cover with a tight fitting lid and set aside for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork and serve.

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