What You Can Make with Leftovers from Thanksgiving?
What you can make with leftovers from Thanksgiving?
I can’t even believe that Thanksgiving was this past weekend and we are less than a month away from Christmas.
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When I was preparing my grocery list for Thanksgiving and I also include the things I need to make some great leftover meals from Thanksgiving dinner.
Last year it was just the three of us and the smallest fresh turkey we could get is almost 19 pounds consequently we have lots of leftovers.
This year we went to “Handy’s” brother’s house and we don’t have any leftovers.
But I’m planning to make a small Turkey dinner soon, so I’m arming myself with some recipes for leftovers.
Here are just some of the things that I’ll be whipping up. Since we won’t want to eat turkey every day, I’ve come up with recipes that can all get put into the freezer for a quick meal in the next month.
Leftover Ideas for Turkey
- Turkey Noodle Soup – I just use my Chicken Noodle Soup Recipe and add Turkey and use the Turkey broth recipe below.
- Turkey Noddle Casserole – This recipe from Simply Joy sounds amazing!
- Green Bean & Turkey Casserole
Turkey Green-Bean Casserole
Ingredients
- 1 pre-made pie crust
- 3 cups leftover green bean casserole
- 2 cups leftover turkey, cut into cubes
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp thyme
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350°
- Mix turkey, green bean casserole, and milk together with spices.
- When mixed well, put into pie crust and cover with foil
- Bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes until heated through
- Let sit for 5 minutes before cutting to serve
- Turkey Pot Pie
Turkey Pot Pie
Ingredients
- 2 cups leftover stuffing If I don't have enough stuffing I add in some leftover mashed potatoes
- 2 cups leftover turkey meat cut into chunks
- 4 tbsp butter
- 1/4 cup diced onions
- 1/4 cup diced celery
- 1/4 cup flour
- 2 cups low sodium turkey broth (see recipe above) Can use chicken broth
- 1/2 cup frozen peas thawed
- 1/2 cup diced carrots microwaved for 1 minute
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper
- 1/2 tsp thyme
- 1/2 tsp celery salt
- 1/4 tsp ground sage
- Fried Onion Rings
Instructions
Prepare Pie Crust
- Grease pie pan with butter or spray with cooking spray
- Press left-over stuffing into pie pan on bottom and up sides to form a crust
- Put chopped up turkey in the prepared pie pan
Make Sauce
- Saute onions & celery in the butter, in medium saucepan until translucent
- Whisk in flour until a paste has formed and completely combined
- Slowly add broth and stir or whisk until becomes thick and bubbly
- Add the peas, carrots and spices to the sauce and stir until mixed
- Pour sauce over turkey in pie pan
- Put fried onions on top (Optional)
Cooking
- Bake in pre-heated 350° oven for 30 minutes with foil on top
- Remove foil and bake until brown and bubbly, about 10 more minutes
- Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes before cutting to serve
Notes
- Turkey Bone Broth
Turkey Broth
Ingredients
- Bones, skin, and drippings from Turkey Make sure you've taken off as much meat as you can
- Water
- 1 Onion, peeled and quartered
- 1 tblsp crushed garlic
- 1/2 cup white wine
- fresh herbs
Instructions
- Place turkey bones, leftover skin, and any drippings, the onion, garlic, and wine into a large stockpot
- Cover with water so that it's just 1-2 inches over the bones
- Bring to boil over medium-high heat. Once it starts to boil turn it down to a very gentle simmer and let cook for 4 – 6 hours.
- I always have fresh herbs around for cooking so I add those to the pot for the last 1/2 hour of cooking.
- Let cool enough to handle, then strain the broth into glass jars. I use quart but you can use whatever works for you.
- Place in refrigerator. Skim off any fat or gel the next day.
- I use this broth to make my turkey noodle soup.
- You can also process the broth with a pressure canner to keep in the pantry. I'm definitely going to do that this year.
5 Other Turkey Recipes
- Turkey Sandwiches
- Mix cranberry sauce to your morning yogurt – add fresh fruit and granola
- Potato Pancakes with leftover mashed potatoes
- Cobb Salad
- Turkey Salad Sandwich
Turkey is such a versatile protein that can be used anywhere that you would use chicken. The recipes I shared with you for leftovers from Thanksgiving are great comfort foods. Perfect for this time of year.
If you just take one day to put all this together, you can have meals in the freezer for an easy dinner several times over the next few weeks. I have even made these recipes in individual-sized portions so that someone can easily grab a meal for themselves.
With the busyness of the holidays, these freezer meals can be a game-changer on a busy night!
Peace and Love,
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