Turkey Sofas, Cranberry Compote and Harry Potter

Harry Potter, you say?  Well, yes, movie three or four is on FULL BLAST in the living room while I'm in the family room attempting to put sentences together in some sort of coherent fashion.  When a new movie in the series comes out, Connie disappears to the living room to watch the series to date.  I repair to the family room with a pair of earplugs.  Not to sound like a party pooper but I'm on the phone or in meetings a huge part of my day and enjoy nothing so much as quiet in the evening.  Until Harry Potter is done, quiet won't exist in the evenings.  Since Connie loves Harry Potter so much and I love Connie so much, I tolerate the noise.  Isn't that a good part of life, tolerating that which we really don't care for because someone we care for loves it?  Or, growing to love something we never thought we would because someone we love loves it?  I actually watched and enjoyed part of The Chamber of Secrets.  Heck, I actually read that book!

Well, fine, that resolves the third portion of the title.  What the heck about Turkey Sofas?  When I made out our grocery list this weekend, I added Turkey Divan to the menu for tonight (I'm writing this on November 23rd.)  Totally ignoring the fact we'd have a rather large quantity of gravy left from our feast last night.  So, tonight when we got home we talked about what needed to be brought up from the basement refrigerator, the great decision was made - Turkey Sofas instead of Turkey Divan.  I took some of the leftover dressing, nuked it, then topped it with turkey slices, cooked broccoli florets and some reheated gravy.  No pics, no fuss.  Just Turkey Sofas for dinner.  Plate-licking good.  

And, cranberry compote.  Connie's favorite treat.  I actually bought four extra bags of cranberries at Trader Joe's last year.  Tucked them in the freezer to make Connie his compote for a couple of special occasions during the year.  Then, failed miserably at making my sweetie his favorite treat.  I'll not fail as miserably this coming year - I promise!  We each had a little bowl of compote last night.  Today for lunch we had turkey sandwiches - turkey, mayo, cranberry compote and a huge handful of lettuce on whole wheat.  It was fantastic.  I remember the first time I had a turkey sandwich with cranberry jelly.  Connie and I'd gone to Durham to David and Kara's.  David is Connie's oldest son.  Kara is his wonderful wife.  She's a scientist.  She had the whole cooking extravaganza organized to the minute.  Now, this was the first time she'd cooked Thanksgiving dinner.  And, she did it to perfection.  What an amazing meal.  And, what an amazing young lady!  The next day before we left to drive north, Connie fixed us sandwiches.  Turkey sandwiches with cranberry sauce.  It was the best turkey sandwich I'd ever had.  Wow. 

One of my friends stopped by the office today.  She's having a really fun date for Thanksgiving.  She left with half of our leftover compote.  The better to entertain with, my dear :-)

As for the compote, I clipped the recipe from a magazine.  It was long before I started blogging so I didn't note a magazine of origin and can't give proper credit.  Here's a pic of the recipe... I know I should recognize it from the publishing style but I get so daggone many cooking magazines that they're a blur.  Wouldn't it be wonderful if they'd put a little logo at the end of each recipe!

Cranberry Compote 

Ingredients:
2 - 12 oz bags fresh cranberries
1 3/4 c sugar
1 T grated orange rind
1/4 c orange juice (I just use 1/4 c of OJ concentrate)
2 T orange liqueur
1 cinnamon stick
1 t grated lemon rind
1 t vanilla
1/2 t grated fresh nutmeg

Directions:

Mix all ingredients in a large saucepan. 

This will bubble vigorously so larger is better than smaller.  Cook the mixture on medium high heat about 5 minutes until the mixture is bubbling and the cranberry skins begin to split. 

Turn the heat down and cook another 7-8 minutes.  This will keep in the fridge up to a week - if it lasts that long!