Thanksgiving is a magical holiday: from precious time with family to the delicious sit-down feast, it’s hard to find a true Thanksgiving Scrooge out there.
But for a day dedicated to all of the best things in life, it’s far too fleeting. That’s where a new kind of gastronomic magic comes in: leftovers. In heritage diets around the world, our ancestors were experts at reinventing odds and ends left over from meals and harvests into delicious culinary creations. Today, leftovers are the perfect excuse for experimentation in the kitchen, breathing new life into turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and the scraps of ingredients left behind in the cooking process.
So, post-Thanksgiving this year, why not use these ideas to prolong the magic a bit longer?
Make a frittata or quiche. Egg-based dishes are a wonderful way to bind together a mishmash of ingredients. Feel free to use the general instructions from your favorite quiche or frittata recipes and incorporate turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, various greens, and any other delicious leftovers you have on hand.
Drink your extra pumpkin. Pumpkin spice lattes and autumnal holidays go hand-in-hand – and they taste even better from scratch. If you have any leftover pumpkin at the bottom of the can, try whisking it into hot milk of your choice with a pumpkin spice blend and a little bit of sweetener – we love date caramel. Top with espresso or chai to make a delicious latte…
Get creative with soups. Plus, if you have enough pumpkin, it makes for a fabulous soup! This is also a great time to whip out a family recipe for chicken noodle soup, as turkey can easily be subbed in. Even turkey bones can be boiled in the broth to add delicious, savory depth to your dish. If you prefer something more substantial, try adding shredded turkey to a hearty bean- and tomato-based chili or in place of chicken in tortilla soup.
Soups are also an excellent way to utilize leftover produce – and it provides a great chance to play around with flavor combinations you may not otherwise try, like this Spiced Parsnip and Apple Soup.
Use cranberry sauce in oats. From slow cooker pumpkin steel cut oats to easy microwave oatmeal, there isn’t a bowl out there that can’t be improved by a dollop of homemade cranberry sauce on top.
Experiment with turkey sandwiches. One of our favorites is a grilled cheese on whole grain bread with turkey, brie, cranberry sauce and leftover gravy – or something with pears, like this Sweet Brie Pear Sandwich. You could also go the cold route and make a turkey version of a chicken salad sandwich.
Make pancakes (or waffles) with mashed potatoes. In a similar strain to latkes, try combining mashed potatoes with some flour, an egg, and fillings of your choice like cheese and green onion, and pan-fry them in olive oil until golden brown. Or, if you want to get fancy, you can use a waffle iron to achieve similar results – you can also “waffle-fy” leftover stuffing!
Use leftover turkey to add protein to a healthy pasta meal. At Oldways, we are big believers in recipes that are delicious, healthy and quick to make…enter, the healthy pasta meal! One of the easiest ways to incorporate leftover turkey into a healthy pasta dish is to toss shredded turkey into a Bolognese or simple marinara sauce. Turkey would also be delicious in a cold pasta salad with whatever vegetables you have on hand!
Try heritage diet recipes with leftover sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes are a staple in the Latin American, African and Asian Heritage Diets. From this Chickpea Sweet Potato Shawarma Salad to West African Sweet Potato Stew (or Mafe), this classic Thanksgiving ingredient is the perfect avenue to an expanded heritage palate.
Make baked potato pizza by using mashed potatoes in place of tomato sauce. It may sound strange, but this is a fun way to introduce kids to the wonderful world of leftovers! We love using pizza as a way to incorporate vegetables, protein, and other delicious ingredients into one meal. For this one, top a whole wheat pizza crust, flatbread, or tortilla with a layer of mashed potatoes, a sprinkle of mozzarella, and any topping you have on hand: shredded turkey, stuffing, corn, arugula, and chopped green or white onions would all be delicious.
Combine charcuterie into a salad. Those stragglers from the vegetable plate? Chop them up! Leftover cheese? Grate it on top! Even roasted veggies – like brussels sprouts or carrots – from your Thanksgiving feast can take a spot in a salad; that’s the beauty of this versatile dish option. We recommend adding your various toppings to a bed of hearty whole grains, tossing in a handful of greens, and topping with a simple vinaigrette for a delicious and healthy meal.
Really, there’s nothing stopping you from prolonging Thanksgiving through the magic of leftovers. Whether you plan for leftovers as intensely as you do the main feast or you treat them more as happy accidents, we hope you’ll let these ideas serve as a starting point for endless creative endeavors in your kitchen!
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