RECIPE UTILIZES LEFTOVER TURKEY

If you are still wondering what to do with leftover turkey, I have a recipe for you to try. Get a package out of the freezer and try a turkey divan recipe shared by Joan Weeks of Cape Girardeau. When she found herself with more turkey than she knew what to do with, Weeks looked up several recipes and then "did her own thing." The recipe for the week is turkey divan "her way."

Turkey divan "my way"

Place buttered toast, one slice per person, in a greased or sprayed casserole dish. Making sure the toast is rather dark. Top with turkey slices. Add a layer of partially cooked broccoli over the turkey. Make a medium white sauce using flour, margarine and milk. Add an equal amount of mayonnaise, and season to taste with curry powder, lemon juice and sherry, if desired. Pour the sauce over the broccoli. Sprinkle with freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Bake 10 to 15 minutes at 400 degrees until sauce is bubbly and starting to brown.

Lois Cook of Cape Girardeau has a recipe for oven-fried chicken that uses boneless skinless chicken breasts to reduce fat. If you prefer bone-in pieces can be used. The dry bread crumb mixture can be made in larger quantities and kept on hand. When ready to make the recipe, take out only what you will need and then discard any left after the raw chicken has been in the mixture.

Best oven-fried chicken

1-cup bread crumbs

1/4 cup Parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

1 teaspoon minced fresh thyme

1/2 teaspoon minced fresh oregano

1 teaspoon minced fresh basil

Fresh ground pepper and salt to taste

2 teaspoons paprika

2 eggs

2 egg whites

1 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

Boneless skinless chicken breast halves

3 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine first nine ingredients in a plastic bag. In a shallow bowl beat eggs and egg whites.

Add hot pepper sauce. Dip each chicken breast into beaten eggs. Roll in breadcrumb mixture. Spread chicken breasts out on a cookie pan. Drizzle olive oil on each. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes until no traces of pink remain.

As the weather begins to freeze, so might our drinks. A frozen mocha drink using fat-free milk and sugar-free chocolate mix makes a nice treat for those who need to watch their sugar intake.

Sugar-free mocha freeze

4 cups fat-free skim milk

2 1/4 ounce envelops unflavored gelatin

6 ounces dry sugar-free hot chocolate mix

1 cup cold coffee

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In small saucepan combine 2 cups milk with gelatin and place over medium heat. Heat until gelatin is dissolved while stirring constantly. Add hot chocolate mix. Continue cooking and stirring until dissolved. Add rest of milk, coffee and vanilla extract, stir well. Pour into a 9x13-inch pan and freeze for 3 hours or until firm. Remove from freezer and thaw slightly. Break into chunks with knife and place in large mixing bowl. Beat with electric mixer in high until smooth. Scoop mixture into bowls, serve immediately.

We have a recipe from an Altenburg, Mo., cook today for no-bake cookies using the colored mini-marshmallows making the cookies look like church windows.

Church window cookies

1 stick margarine

1 (12 ounce) package chocolate chips

1 (10-ounce) package colored mini-marshmallows

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Melt margarine in a saucepan. Stir in chocolate chips until melted. Allow to slightly cool. Spread a layer of coconut onto waxed paper and them spread mixture into two rolls. Roll up and put in the refrigerator. When cool, slice into slices frequently dipping knife into powdered sugar.

I recently had a request for recipes used to make Christmas tree decorations. I have two that I have used and both works well. It just depends on what shapes you plan to make and if they are to be painted or not.

Christmas tree cookie decorations

1 cup flour

1 tablespoon salt

1/2 cup cold water

Mix the ingredients into firm dough. Roll out on a floured surface and cut into shapes as required. Make a hole through each before baking. This is for the hanging ribbon. Bake in oven for 40 minutes at 250 degrees until dry and firm. Paint with paint or felt-tipped markers when cool. When dry, varnish with a commercially purchased varnish. String colored ribbons through the hole and hang on tree.

These are not edible and make great gifts for teachers, friends or shut-ins.

Cinnamon christmas ornaments

1 (4 ounce) container cinnamon, about 1 cup

1 tablespoon cloves

1 tablespoon nutmeg

3/4 cup applesauce

2 tablespoons white glue

1 drinking straw

Ribbon

In medium bowl, combine cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Add applesauce and glue; stir to combine. Work mixture with hands for two to three minutes, or until dough is smooth and ingredients are thoroughly mixed. Divide dough into four portions. Roll out each portion to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut dough with 2-inch cookie cutters of desired shapes. Using a drinking straw, make a small hole in top of each ornament. Place cutouts on wire racks; allow drying at room temperature for several days, turning over once each day for more even drying. Insert ribbon through hole in each ornament; tie with knot or bow. Do not eat. For decoration only.

We have several great requests this week. So readers get out those cookbooks and paper and send in your reply.

Betty Emerson of Morley, Mo., would like a good recipe for Italian Beef. There are some good recipes floating around, so be sure to share your favorite.

A Cape Girardeau reader would like a recipe for a "pat-in-pan" oil pie crust. Surely some of the areas pie bakers have one to share.

Marie Reeves of Jackson, Mo., would very much like a recipe for kettle cooked beef. Now here is where we get a variety. Some make kettle beef in the crock pot, some on the stove in a kettle, and some in the oven. This should be very interesting to see what comes in.

Faye Spencer of Cape Girardeau recalls a wonderful pork dish served at the former La Bamba restaurant in downtown Cape. Does anyone have a contact of the former owners or know of the dish so we can research further?

And last, but certainly not least, a desperate sounding request from Joyce Brown of Vulcan, Mo., for a raisin cookie recipe. It ran in the Southeast Missourian last year, but does not have a name for the recipe. She recalls she boiled the raisins rolled them into balls and then in sugar before baking them. Any more information about the recipe would sure help us in looking for it.

This has been a great week for Recipe Swap mail. Good job, readers.

Have a great week and happy cooking.

Susan McClanahan, an administrator at Cape Senior Center, can be reached at Box 699, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63702-0699. Recipes published are not kitchen-tested by the Southeast Missourian staff.