How to Use Thanksgiving Leftovers
Thanksgiving has come and gone, which means you are probably stuck with lots of leftovers! If you’re like me - one Thanksgiving meal is enough. I know there’s so much hype around the dishes served at this holiday and leading up to the big day, but I only want to enjoy it all once and that’s enough for me! That said, I also don’t believe in wasting good food, but I do believe in revamping it! I rounded up some simple, different ways you can use your Thanksgiving leftovers so that you don’t get bored reheating the same plate over and over again. Of course, I don’t know exactly what leftovers you have, and I didn’t do any measuring for these recipes - this is more just to give you ideas! Hope you enjoy.
Add Turkey to Soup - If turkey was served at your Thanksgiving meal, I’m willing to bet there are leftovers. Chop it up and add it to soup! Right before our Thanksgiving I had made this potato + vegetable soup and some pieces of turkey were the perfect addition.
Make Thanksgiving Pinwheels - These are far from your traditional pinwheels that you usually see with some type of meat and cheese, but like I said - we’re getting creative here! Puff pastries usually come in packs of two, so if you made a baked brie this year you might have one left over like I did! Thaw it, roll it out, and add some toppings! I did a layer of mashed potatoes, fresh spinach, turkey, and goat cheese. Roll it up and chop into wheels. Lay on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake according to instructions on puff pastry box. These were such a fun treat!
Breakfast Casserole with Leftover Stuffing - The stuffing my friend made for us this year had ground sausage in it, which I must say was a game changer (she also made it with her homemade focaccia bread!!!!). Anyways, it made for the perfect addition to a breakfast casserole! Even if your stuffing doesn’t have sausage I still think this would be delicious. Basically just spread a layer of the dressing in a dish (I used a 9” round pie dish), in a separate bowl whisk together a few eggs (I used 6), some heavy cream or milk (I used ½ cup), and then pour on top of the dressing. Bake until eggs are cooked through (for reference I did 375 for 25 minutes).
Use Leftovers from Charcuterie as Pizza Toppings - We are very into homemade pizzas in our home! I like to buy the dough from Whole Foods and load it up. If you had a charcuterie board this year you might be left with a random array of leftover cheese and meats. These are great pizza toppings! We added olive oil with red pepper flakes, fresh spinach, chopped up turkey, cheddar cheese, and gouda cheese. Turned out delicious! Another great option is to use mashed potatoes as the base - if you’ve never had mashed potatoes on pizza, just trust me on this - it’s so good.
Okay, after enjoying each of these leftovers I was totally burnt out! Each dish was delicious though. Hope this gives you some inspiration to get creative in the kitchen over the next few days!
