It is almost that time… Thanksgiving! And that means tons of food! When Thanksgiving has come and gone but your refrigerator is still crammed with leftovers, check out these simple and easy ideas for those holiday leftovers.
Thanksgiving is one of the most popular food holidays in the world. Tons of turkey, stuffing, and amazing desserts cooked for days on end to be devoured in a matter of minutes with friends and family and then savored as the crowd lazily catch a game or a nap, depending on the individual. So what is to be done with the pounds of leftovers taking over the refrigerator after this momentous holiday?
I figured I could share some simple Thanksgiving Leftover Recipes & Ideas with you so that you can still enjoy some of the food but in different ways.
Thanksgiving Leftover Ideas
Idea #1: Leftover Turkey Pot Pie
One of my favorite recipes for leftover turkey is to make a Pot Pie. A great easy choice to use some of the potatoes, vegetables, gravy, and of course turkey. I always just use a store bought pie crust and load it up with the turkey, some cubed potatoes, carrots, and celery. Pour over some gravy on top and layer with the other pie crust. Bake and boom done! Check out my easy recipe below!
Idea #2: Wrap it up!
A great idea for handling all of those delicious leftovers is to wrap them up. Using simple pie dough purchased in the dairy aisle at the grocery store or using crescent roll dough, leftovers can easily be transformed into a pocket full of flavor kind of like a pastie. Using the favorite leftovers such as turkey, stuffing, and potatoes, layer them into one half of the pie shell and top with gravy.
Fold over the dough very carefully and seal the edge with water or egg whites. Poke a few holes for ventilation in the top of the wrapped up leftovers and a Thanksgiving calzone is born. These wonderful packages bake up in a 350-degree oven in about 30 minutes, or until golden brown and can be served with a bit of extra heated gravy on the side.
Or of course could wrap up the turkey in a tortilla or pita with some lettuce and mayo for a quick sandwich for lunch, too!
Thanksgiving Left Over Idea #3: One-Stop Casserole
Who doesn’t love all of the great flavors that come with Thanksgiving? There is such substance about the food that it has a comforting feeling like no other. Transform this feeling into a mid-week casserole with just a few short steps.
Using some of the crowd-pleasers like the potatoes both white and sweet, stuffing, turkey, and green beans create a lasagna-like layer system in a large baking pan. On the top of this ladle on enough gravy to cover the top. Try The Best Thanksgiving Leftover Casserole from Food Wine Sunshine below!
Open Faced Sandwich
Of course, there is always the ever-popular Thanksgiving open-faced sandwich. Complete with thick toasted bread on the bottom and layers of amazing Thanksgiving Day favorites like stuffing, turkey, and cranberry sauce.
This is a favorite for many and extremely easy to pull together in minutes thanks to the invention of the microwave oven. My dad actually always made this for us when I was young. He would heat everything up in a pan and then serve over toast.
Pull this together and put it on the table with a great dessert and family and friends will flock to the table.
What are some of your favorite ways to use up your leftovers from Thanksgiving?
Make Sure to PIN IT!
