Thanksgiving Leftover Recipes
Thanksgiving is over, and people everywhere are staring blankly into their refrigerators. As the rest of the family is still recovering from their serotonin-induced turkey stupor, hosts across the country are taking inventory of all the Tupperware containers full of turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and yams – wondering to themselves if their guests will mind having Thanksgiving dinner again! No matter how much we all love Thanksgiving dinner, the fact remains – you can only repeat it so many days in a row… After that, you have to get creative!
Here are a two recipe ideas Rachel Ray suggests that will make sure none of your Thanksgiving leftovers go to waste!
Turkey & Stuffing Soup
Ingredients
- 4 to 6 cups prepared stuffing
- 1 tablespoon (1 turn around the pan) extra-virgin olive oil
- 2 medium carrots, chopped, up to 2 cups of leftover baby carrots, chopped
- 2 ribs celery, chopped
- 1 onion, chopped
- Salt and pepper
- 1 bay leaf, fresh or dried
- 2 quarts chicken stock
- 1 1/2 pounds light and dark cooked turkey meat, diced
- A handful of flat leaf parsley leaves, chopped
- 1 cup frozen peas or leftover prepared peas, optional
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and transfer stuffing into a small baking dish. Place dish in oven and reheat 12 to 15 minutes, until warmed through.
Heat a pot over moderate heat and add extra-virgin olive oil. Work close to the stove and add vegetables as you chop. If you are using fresh carrots, cut them into a small dice or slice thin. If you are using leftover baby carrots, cut carrots into bite-size pieces. Add celery and onion and lightly season vegetables with salt and pepper. Add bay leaf and stock and bring liquid to a boil by raising heat. Add turkey and reduce heat to simmer. Simmer until any raw vegetables are cooked until tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in the parsley, and peas, if using.
Remove stuffing from oven. Using an ice cream scoop, place a healthy scoop of stuffing in the center of a soup bowl. Ladle soup around stuffing ball. Your soup will look like a chunky matzo ball soup. Pull spoonfuls of stuffing away as you eat through your bowl of soup.
Smashed Potato-Cheddar Cakes with Warm Cran-Apple Sauce
Ingredients
- 3 Golden or Red Delicious apples, peeled and chopped
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1 cup apple cider
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 cup prepared whole berry cranberry sauce, store bought or homemade
- 3 cups smashed or leftover mashed potatoes*
- Water or milk, as needed to thin potatoes
- 2 cups grated Cheddar
- 2 scallions, finely chopped
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg, eyeball it
- Coarse salt and pepper
- Drizzle vegetable oil
- Butter pats
- Paprika, to garnish, optional
Directions
Place apples, lemon juice, cider, sugar and cinnamon in a medium pot over medium high heat and cook down into a thick sauce, stirring occasionally, 15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in cranberry sauce to warm through and combine.
Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium heat.
Place potatoes and water or milk in a bowl and cover with plastic. Microwave 2 minutes on high to slightly reheat and loosen potatoes. Stir them up with the liquid to make them workable again. Combine cheese, scallions and nutmeg with potatoes and adjust salt and pepper.
Add a drizzle of vegetable oil and a pat of butter to your preheated skillet then score the potatoes and cheese mixture in half. Using the first half of the potatoes, make 6 (3-inch across and 1/2-inch thick) potato cakes and space them evenly around the pan. Cook the cakes until golden all over, 3 minutes per side, then remove and garnish with paprika, if using, and repeat with remaining ingredients.
Serve potato-cheddar cakes with warm cran-apple sauce for topping.
* To make fresh smashed potatoes, cook off 2 1/2 pounds of small new skin potatoes until tender and smash them up with some milk or stock and butter, salt and pepper to taste.
For more Thanksgiving recipes visit http://www.foodnetwork.com/menus/thanksgiving-leftovers-casual-next-day-meal/index.html.
Comment below and tell us your creative leftover recipes!