What do you do with Thanksgiving Dinner Leftovers?

With all the meal planning and stuff to get ready have you given this any thought.
I myself don't worry to much about leftovers from Thanksgiving dinners......thats what I have a freezer for..I always make more than needed or we won't have much left after everyone takes home a little of this or that. A few days later Turkey and dressing looks really good again. Specially when it only took a minute to heat and eat. I have done Homemade TV dinners with leftovers.


I carve up whats left and freeze it for later. I would get so sick of turkey even though I love it if I had to look at it the next day and the next.

Potatoes and such go for breakfast patties with onions and bell peppers maybe some added bacon or sausage for flavor.
Green beans and corn go into stew, maybe turkey, or beef what ever I am making.

We usually will have Turkey leftovers every couple of weeks until its gone. I try and fix it diffrent ways, from turkey stew to fettichini and alfrado. Ever tried turkey spaghitti? Not bad.

We send out for Pizza or go out and eat the next day. This is wonderful since I spent the day before or the week before prepairing the dinner and menu. And this is the day we start to decorate for Christmas.

So what do you do with your leftovers?
Dee

my aunt makes Turkey loaf by adding the turkey, some stuffing and a touch of Cranberry sauce into a mould and compressing it. It's mixed first.

I chop up the leftover turkey; add some sour cream;
can even sautee onions, celery, garlic and even some mushrooms; add other herbs to your liking. Can also add chopped water chestnuts.

Pepperidge Farm puff paste; roll out thin; cut round circles 5 or 6 inches across;filling inside; wet edge of cirlce by dipping finger in water; fold over; crimp with fork. Bake in oven 350 to 375 til puffed up and golden.

Nice little hand held things to eat.

TLC, your turkey in puff paster sounds yummy.

I think we are having SHRIMP for Thanksgiving so I don't plan on having any left overs! But I love left over Turkey (or Chicken) Casserol. Jo

We do pretty much the same as Willowasp. I try to keep enough gravy to cover what I freeze (or make some chicken gravy if I don't have enough.) It limits how the turkey can be used, but it doesn't get dried out as fast.

I have a small electric meat slicer DH bought for me many years ago (Just like the ones at the deli, only smaller and portable.) It's great for slicing leftover turkey breast (or beef/pork roasts) into thin slices for sandwiches. I refrigerate the biggest pieces (especially if there's a good-size chunk of breast meat left) and then slice that for sandwiches. Everything else is shredded, covered with gravy and frozen.

Turkey pot pie, turkey hash, turkey enchiledas, turkey-noodle casserole, turkey chowder, turkey tetrazzini - all sound pretty good if they aren't served back-to-back!

Wow Terry I like your list of left overs better than mine.....cool now I can add to my list of more to make....
thanks.......yall all have such great ideas.......
Dee....

After our big dinner with all the kids and their families' We sit around, visit,play games, later eat some more about 5 in the afternoon. If there is any food left everyone gets an assortment of food to take with them.Zippo! no more food! THEN I FALL IN A CHAIR!

I hate it when I go away to visit for Thanksfgiving because then I NEVER have any leftovers.

Conversely, if I do Thanksgiving at home and I overcook, there can be too many leftovers. Usually I do okay with quantities I prepare of everything but the turkey. I take all the leftover meat off the bird and some of the broth or gravy and freeze it in small packages as treats for my cat. She loves it and I hate leftover turkey that has been frozen.

There are usually three of us for Thanksgiving and I get one of those premade meals from the grocery store. It is supposed to feed 6 to 8, and thus we aren't overwhelmed with leftover mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, and stuffing, but they don't make a turkey that serves 6 to 8, so we have turkey leftovers forever. Sometimes I make turkey soup. Sometimes I freeze some of the turkey but freezer burn is always a problem. (How are those premade meals? They aren't bad. The mashed potatoes are so-so but the rest is o.k. I'd say that they aren't for the connoisseur and traditionalist, but my husband and MIL are not picky.)

Why can't someone breed a Cornish game turkey?

Don't forget the carcass after you carve all the meat off.
Make some turkey stock with it, add some vegtables and noodles. Wall-A.... turkey vegtable soup, delish.

Paul

Leftover Turkey? NOT

That photo speaks volumes.....no left overs there...LOL... :o)
Dee

Because we both love leftover turkey, I always cook 2 birds. One for the big meal and one just to slice, cube, and shred. I also make enough gravy for at least 8 meals.

I freeze the meat for cassaroles and hot sandwiches in single serving bags Gravy is also frozen in ziplock freezer bags. The carcass makes the best soup base and we always have tarragon turkey noodle soup for Christmas using the frozen soup base from Thanksgiving.

I just wish we could get decently priced turkeys year round!

I save up TV dinner plates from my Mom's house and freeze portions of our turkey dinner complete in them for frozen but good and tasty TV dinners later in the year. It is really nice to come home from a long day and just reheat your dinner and know it is going to be homemade.

frankray, nice dog, he's probably thinking Wow! turkey, I'm on full alert.

Frankay, love that picture. It should be entitled Anticipation! :) Kathy

Zany, my wife's stepmother makes something outta the carcass also. (She also takes all the bones off people's plates and throws them in!)

I think she basically put all the bones, in water and cooks it down, adding something or other along the way. Maybe something to thicken it? And some seasonings?

Whatever it was it was delicious.

I take the turkey carcass and boil and simmer it in water. The gelatin in the bones thickens the broth automatically. Then I spoon out all the bones and gristle and junk and add turkey meat, carrots, celery, onions, garlic, chile pepper flakes, and barley or brown rice and that makes turkey soup. A person might want to add salt but I don't need it.

Hmmm...that must be it, Kelli. I'll have to give that a go!
Thanks.

Omigosh, my cats LOVE turkey. The also love eggnog and for some odd reason, Slimfast. And Yes, the holidays tend to drift in just that way.

That soup recipe sounds good. I should try it this year.
We make turkey sandwiches with mashed potatoes, stuffing, and cranberry sauce. One will fill us up for the rest of the day. Then there is turkey enchiladas. This is of course presuming that there will be leftovers, you've never seen my DH eat. I get embarrased sometimes when we go out. When he is really hungry, I feel like ppl are staring at me with accusing eyes saying "dang woman, don't you ever feed that man?!"

ZenZ, that is an old pic of Sapphy and me around 1985. Sapphy has gone to Rainbow Bridge. Sweetest girl to grace the planet.

I know this will sound sappy and that I am tooting my own horn, but I only say this to maybe put ideas into others heads.
Many years ago one of my children noticed a girl in her class never ate lunch at school, she would always say she just " wasnt hungry". The truth was her family could not afford to pack her a lunch or to buy her a meal ticket. My daughter decided she would start taking a sack lunch, which she HATED to do, and take an extra sandwhich for this girl.

She did this for 2 years and they became the best of friends. I work with many young people, mostly out on their own for the first time, many away from home and always broke. Several times a week I take leftovers, chili, stews, etc. to work . I tell them, please, you are doing me a favor, I hate to throw away good food and my husband wont eat leftovers! One girl, after several months of this, confessed that the only time she had a real meal was when she took home my leftovers.

Hopefully, that is what will happen with my Thanksgiving leftovers!

Nice story Bamasharon. You have reminded me of when I was a youngster and we would invite young men from the local Job Corps for our Thanksgiving dinner. All but one told us that this was the first time they had EVER had a real Thanksgiving dinner. Nice memory helping out these young men realize that there is a life beyond poverty.

Bamasharon and ponditis thanks for sharing. thats what its all about!

frankay, I just went back and looked at sapphy's picture, she looks like a sweet dog. I'm sure you have lots of memories. Hum- Rainbow bridge, to be sure.

We eat the bird and the carcass goes to the cats, it is their traditional Thanksgiving treat!

I've always boiled the carcass for soup too...I do that with a whole chicken too. The bones make great broth. I usually wrap enough in the refer for a few days of sandwiches and freeze the rest. We love turkey...

Just wrap up all your leftovers and send them to me this year......
No Turkeys to be had here at this time of year, these morons only eat turkey on New Years eve, I have found one butcher who said he might be able to find me one, but with their holiday coinciding with ours, he said fat chance, then I found one that could get me one, at the tune of a hundred bucks, I almost went for it, but then decided that I couldnt do it, too spendy and I wouldnt be able to have a complete meal anyway/ No cranberries for cranberry sauce, no sweet potatoes or yams and no pumpkin for pumpkin pie. so what's the point? I'll just have roasted chicken with mashed potatoe and gravy, broccoli (Finally found some = and not only green but purple too) and some turkish type dessert - you know Baklava = so traditionally thanksgiving.
I'm having my son pack some cranberry sauce and a can of pumpkin pie stuffing and seems like there was something else I asked him to bring me for our Christmas dinner.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE

bamasharon, that is an excellent recommendation - no freezer-burned turkey to throw away in February, and someone gets to enjoy a good meal out of the excess while it's still fresh and yummy.

Pebble, I'm soooo sorry about the lack of turkeys in Turkey!!! (The things we take for granted here!)

Twas the Night of Thanksgiving, I just couldn't sleep,
I tried counting backwards, I tried counting sheep.

The leftovers beckoned --- The dark meat and white,
But I fought the temptation with all of my might.

Tossing and turning with anticipation,
The thought of a snack became infatuation.

So I raced to the kitchen, Flung open the door,
And gazed at the fridge full of goodies galore.

I gobbled up turkey and buttered potatoes,
Pickles and carrots, beans and tomatoes.

I felt myself swelling so plump and so round,
Till all of a sudden, I rose off the ground !!

I crashed through the ceiling. Floating into the sky....
With a mouthful of pudding and a handful of pie,

But I managed to yell as I soared past the trees ...
HAPPY EATING TO ALL !! PASS THE CRANBERRIES PLEASE !!

© Copyright 1999 The Rising Stars Team  

Darius, I am falling off my chair laughing! That is priceless!

That's great Darius.

Now for leftovers nothing beats a turkey sandwich with mayo. My mom always makes turkey salad with some of the leftovers. I love that and since she lives with us now I will get all I want.

Kimberley boils the carcus for stock and we make gumbo with it later. YUM!

Darius.......that is toooo much.....You'll make us hurt ourselves........haaa haaa haaaheeee heeeee.........
Dee

Dad used to do all the cooking in our house and the day after Thanksgiving he would take every leftover and throw them all into one pot on the stove with some water and call the dish Turkey Chuck because it was chucked in. We kids would work frantically to eat any leftovers ON Thanksgiving that Dad might use like cranberry sauce or candied yams. The soup didn't taste very good with some of those items in it. LOL

I thought this was a cute poem. It was published in our company newsletter.
Deb

"May your stuffing be tasty,
May your turkey plump,
May your potatoes and gravy
have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious
and your pies take the prize,
and may your Thanksgiving dinner
stay off your thighs!"

~ Unknown ~

We zap platefulls of leftovers until they are gone, then I make turkey soup from the bones and scraps of meat with homemade noodles. The leftovers are just as good as the dinner and a lot less work.

Oh, I love to have lots of left overs as it means I get to stay out of the kitchen for a few days.

Well it's all over now......Ham and Turkey are in freezer bags, dressing and gravy too. I won't have to cook much for a few days so now I can rest. I'll fry potato cakes in the morning for breakfest along with sausage patties and we will just heat stuff up this weekend and spend more time with family and friends.......
Turkey carcass is also in the freezer to make soup maybe later next month before the next Turkey is baked.....

For all of you that haven't seen this thread, check it out it is the best turkey you will put in your mouth....... http://davesgarden.com/t/160548/ we did this and it was so flavorful and juicy......
Dee

This message was edited Nov 28, 2003 12:50 PM

I love to take the turkey, cube it, and mix it with the gravy or make more gravy and then pour it over mashed potatoes. I also like to make a turkey casserole.

I like to make a soup, but sometimes get to tired or lazy to even think about doing that after cooking such a big meal.

Whatever you do with your leftovers, they are always best the second time around :) Happy Day, Kathy