Holiday Turkey (© Photographer: Paul Cowan | Agency: Dreamstime.com)

Does everyone enjoy having leftover Thanksgiving turkey as much as we do? There are the sandwiches in the days that follow, but we thought we’d pass on a more imaginative and very healthy use of your cooked bird from Roger Corder’s book, “The Red Wine Diet, Drink wine everyday and live a long and healthy life" (Penguin Group USA).

In the book Professor Corder writes, “This main course salad is a lovely mixture of colors, flavors and textures…The combination of beans, cranberries, and walnuts puts some protective polyphenols on your plate. Bell pepper, cucumber, and red onion give you a generous serving of vegetables. The salad is a good source of vitamin C, folate, and B-group vitamins, along with selenium, zinc and iron.” All that, and a single serving delivers plenty of protein and only about 500 calories.

Ingredients for 4 Servings

• 1 Cup adzuki beans or black beans, soaked overnight
• ½ Cup brown rice
• 2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 Teaspoons white wine vinegar
• ½ Teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 1 Large green bell pepper, chopped
• ½ Cucumber, chopped
• 1 Red onion, finely chopped
• ½ Cup dried cranberries
• ½ Cup roughly chopped walnuts
• 7 Ounces cooked turkey
• Salt & freshly ground pepper

Preparation

1. Drain the soaked beans, place in saucepan, cover with cold water-do not add salt-and bring to boil for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat and simmer for 30 to 50 minutes, until tender. Drain well.

2. Cook the rice in a saucepan of lightly salted boiling water for 25 to 35 minutes, or until tender. Drain and rinse under cold water.

3. Whisk together the oil, vinegar, mustard, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir the dressing into the beans while they are still warm.

4. When the mixture has cooled, stir in remaining ingredients. Serve on a bed of lettuce leaves.

Reprinted with the kind permission of Penguin Group USA ©.

If you’d like to purchase Roger Corder’s groundbreaking book go to: The Red Wine Diet, Drink wine everyday and live a long and healthy life

To order a world class olive oil and our favorite go to: L'Autunno Blend Extra Virgin Olive Oil

To purchase a truly unique white wine vinegar go to: Pear Chardonnay Vinegar