Thanksgiving Leftovers by Ashley Tarrolly

Everyone knows that feeling four plates, two pieces of pie, and one unbuttoned pair of pants later. Thanksgiving dinner is the biggest, greatest dinner of the year. There is never not enough food. In fact, there seems to always be too much.

The leftovers will haunt you for the next week. When you come home on December 2nd and your mom still has leftover turkey waiting for you, you will know something must be done. If you or your family never know what to do with all of the leftover delicious food, but you do not want to waste it, the following information may be very useful.

Let’s begin with mashed potatoes. They taste so good the first or even the second time, but by the third night of eating them, the texture becomes a little rough. To fix that, try making a mashed potato pizza. A mashed potato pizza consists of a regular dough covered in mashed potatoes and topped with cheese and other toppings of your choice. It may sound gross at first, and it very well could taste just as gross when you make it, but why not give it a try! Anything not to eat those regular mashed potatoes again!

Now, for the green beans. Leftover green beans can be used to make a fried rice dish that also includes brown rice, vegetables, a cooked egg, and leftover turkey or ham. By making this fried rice dish, you can combine using two leftover foods into one dish!

Stuffing! Who doesn’t love stuffing? Well, a great way to use leftover stuffing from your thanksgiving feast is to make a brunch frittata. This dish includes cooked egg, cheese, and stuffing in a skillet and is cooked and cut into pizza-like slices.

Last but not least, the turkey. There are so many different ways to use leftover turkey from thanksgiving. Some ideas include a simple turkey sandwich, turkey pot-pie, pan-fried turkey dumplings, turkey-stuffing casserole, turkey tetrazzini, and southwestern turkey soup. All of these ideas are great ways to uniquely use your turkey leftovers with a little different taste.

Leftovers can be the best and the worst thing in the world. They are so tasty, especially if the food is good, but after a while they get old. To prevent having this problem, try some of these techniques to create new dishes while using the leftovers! Happy Leftovering!

Turkey tetrazzini made from Thanksgiving leftovers.