Thanksgiving Leftovers

Thanksgiving Leftover Ideas

Do you still have some left-overs from Thanksgiving? Here are a few ideas of what to do with them!

Turkey:

Instead of a standard sandwich, try using a layer of stuffing between two slices of bread, sliced turkey, gravy instead of mayo, and cranberry sauce!

Turkey casseroles are also delicious- just add veggies, thick noodles, canned mushroom soup or leftover gravy.

Turkey Pot Pie- If you like chicken pot pies, you’re really going to enjoy these!

Turkey Caesar Salad- If you like chicken Caesar salads, this is sure to please… it’s also a good choice of you’re trying to cut come calories.

Turkey Noodles Soup- Easy to make, especially if you have some turkey stock; just add turkey, veggies and noodles.

Turkey Burrito- Get a big flour tortilla and stuff it with turkey, beans, cheese, sour cream, guacamole and salsa.

Potatoes:

Potato Cakes- Add a few eggs, bread crumbs and seasoning to your left over mashed potatoes. Form them into patties and fry them in a little oil.
Serve with sour cream and apple sauce.

Potato Casserole- Use the potatoes as your base and add ground meat, chicken or turkey. Mix in some veggies, cheddar or jack cheese and bake in a casserole dish.

Potato Soup -one of my favorites. Start with some chicken base, add roasted garlic, parsley, cheddar cheese, bacon and heavy cream- perfect for a cold day.

Potato Bread- this may take some time, but the end product is worth the wait.

Shepard’s Pie- Brown some ground meat, add cream soup, peas, carrots celery and onions- top with leftover mashed potatoes and bake until the top become brown.

Pierogies- Mashed potatoes are the perfect filling for these traditional potato-filled pastas.

Gravy:

Gravy is a great soup base. Simply add a little water, vegetables, pasta, rice, dumplings, and salt and pepper.

Leftover gravy may also be frozen in a Ziploc bag and used for future meals.

Stuffing:

Leftover stuffing lends itself perfectly for turkey bread pudding. Simply mix together turkey, stuffing and gravy. Place in a greased casserole dish and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes- delicious!

Cranberry Sauce:

Homemade cranberry sauce should never be thrown away. Try making cranberry bread, (it’s a great gift for the holidays), cranberry pancakes, or cranberry French toast.

I’ve also seen some interesting cranberry-pumpkin bread and cranberry muffin recipes floating around.

Try cranberry sauce on top of yogurt instead of fruit in the morning!

Cranberry butter- add equal parts of cranberry sauce and butter, refrigerate until set, then spread on your toast, pancakes, or muffins.

If you have any tips let me know- I will add them to the list!

Chef Chuck Kerber

chuck@cooksandeats.com

cooksandeats.com