I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas yesterday! Ours was filled with lots of fun and only one meltdown!
Well, I thought I would start off the posts after Christmas by posting a guide to re-using your Christmas day feast leftovers. I did a similar post at Thanksgiving, but I have expanded this to include other ideas in case your main dish was not Turkey! Enjoy!
1. Sandwiches - I like to use the cranberries as the condiment of choice for my left over Christmas sandwiches, my husband prefers mayo. But let's face it, you can pile anything on a yummy left over roll or slice of bread and it will be delicious! From turkey, ham or roast beef, to stuffing to even mashed potatoes, some even like to soak a piece of bread in gravy and put that in the middle of their sandwiches too! (Hey! I've heard of stranger things!) Yum yum yum!
2. Turkey Noodle Soup - Think chicken noodle soup with leftover turkey instead. Nice and warm on a cold winter day!
3. Ham and Bean Soup - Some people like making a split pea soup with ham, I prefer using a white bean with my ham leftovers. Yum!
4. Pot Pie - Layer plenty of cubed turkey, ham or beef, left over chopped veggies and gravy in a pan. Even put a layer of mashed potatoes on there! Top with a left over, unused, premade pie crust and cook until the crust is browned.
5. Enchiladas - Cube or shred turkey or beef. Place turkey, cheese and enchilada sauce on a tortilla. Roll and place in a pan. Cover all enchiladas with enchilada sauce and cheese. Bake until cheese is melted and enchiladas are warm throughout.
6. Turkey and Stuffing Casserole - Cube several cups of turkey and lay in the bottom of a 9x13 pan. Sprinkle with seasoned salt. Mix 1 pint sour cream and 1 can cream of chicken soup and spread over turkey. Next, put a layer of stuffing on top. Cover with foil and bake at 375 for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes until bubbly around edges.
7. Turkey Pizza - Why not? Either make or buy a premade pizza crust. Layer with sauce, cubed turkey pieces, maybe some chopped veggies or bacon and lots of cheese. Cook in the oven according to pizza crust directions.
8. Turkey Pineapple Curry - This recipe I found on About.com. I have not tried it but it looks yummy! Check it out here.
9. Salad - Lettuce, turkey, ham or beef cubes, cheese, nuts, cranberries, etc., throw caution to the wind and mix up a salad using all sorts of Christmas leftovers.
10. Turkey Egg Rolls - Let's face it. You still have tons of leftovers but you don't want to feel like you are eating Christmas every day! This will give your turkey an entirely new flavor! Buy egg roll wrappers. Chop up some turkey, green beans (from that green bean casserole I know you made but haven't touched since!) and maybe some mashed potatoes or stuffing. Throw it all in a food processor until the consistency is coarse; perfect egg roll filling consistency. Place in egg roll wrappers and fry (or bake) according to the wrapper directions. For dipping sauce, try mixing a little soy sauce in with left over cranberry sauce. (I will post more on this soon, stay tuned!)
11. Cranberries - Still have more cranberries? Warm it up and serve it over vanilla ice cream. Or mix cranberries with cream cheese and use as a spread on bagels!
12. Ham Quiche - What a great way to use left over ham, eggs and cheese. You can even do a crustless kind to keep this recipe even more simple. This is the recipe I like to use:
3 eggs
½ c. Bisquick mix
½ c. melted Margarine
1 c. shredded cheese
1 ½ c. milk
¼ tsp. salt
Dash pepper
½ - 1 c. chopped ham
1 pkg. (9 oz.) frozen chopped spinach (thaw and squeeze out the juice so it’s pretty dry) or chopped broccoli (must be thawed or cooked lightly)
⅓ c. chopped onion (1 sm. onion)
Place drained vegetable in greased 9 inch pie plate.
Sprinkle with onion and cheese.
Add ham
Beat Bisquick, milk , eggs, salt & pepper for 10 – 20 seconds in blender.
Pour into pie pan. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees, or until inserted knife comes out clean.
Let stand for 5 minutes.
13. Tacos / Fajitas / Burritos - Shred left over beef or turkey, cook on the stove with a bit of taco seasoning, fajita seasoning or (we like) Tabasco Chipotle style sauce. Add the appropriate sides/condiments and place on tacos, burritos, fajitas or taco salad! This will taste like a completely different meal then what you started with!
14. Quesadillas - Cube beef and add with lots of cheese on a tortilla. Place butter in a pan, and cook the tortilla with the beef and cheese inside of it, in the pan, on both sides, until the cheese is melted and the tortilla is lightly brown. Serve with sour cream, guacamole, or anything you can dream of!
15. Stir Fry - I like to use beef for this but I am sure turkey would work also. Cut the meat up, add to frozen (or fresh) stir fry veggies and make or buy your favorite sauce (teriyaki, soy sauce, or any stir fry type sauce works well), heat over the stove. Serve over rice!
Happy Christmas Leftovers!
Leave a Reply