4 ounces penne or other thick, tubular noodle
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 small onion, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
4 tablespoons flour
1 cup whole milk
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 cup peas
3/4 cup broccoli flowerets, cooked
3/4 pound cooked turkey, shredded
3 tablespoons fresh sage, chopped
2 sprigs thyme, chopped
6 ounces mozzarella, shredded

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the noodles, cooking until just tender.
3. Meanwhile, heat a large saucepan over medium heat and melt the butter. Sauté the onion, celery and carrot until tender.
4. Whisk in the flour and cook for a minute. Gradually add the milk and chicken broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook until sauce has thickened.
5. Stir the peas, broccoli and turkey into the sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper and add the sage and thyme.
6. Fold noodles into the saucepan and pour into a greased casserole dish. Top with cheese and bake until browned, about half an hour.

Makes 6 servings

Okay, it's day five of the leftover Turkey challenge. I was trying to avoid the inevitable, but there's a reason that they call it that; it's inevitable. You're probably thinking I'm talking about some form of turkey soup, but my stock was not particularly delicious, so I passed on that idea. No, I'm talking about Turkey Noodle Casserole.

Insert meat here casserole is one of the definitive American classics in my mind. When you have leftover turkey, it just happens to be a turkey noodle casserole. I'm not going to lie, this is basically Pot Pie filling baked with noodles and cheese, but that's really great. Shannon repelled the idea because I put little green monsters in it (peas) and she's totally sick of turkey at this point, having it for breakfast, lunch and dinner for almost a week. Thankfully, there's maybe one more day of this madness.

I like how tube pasta has the ability to fill up with sauce, but of course you can use any sort of noodle that you like. You could omit the noodles entirely, but then I suggest not calling it turkey noodle casserole. I mean, use your noodle, that doesn't make a whole lot of sense.