I will be making a full thanksgiving feast, complete with 12 lb. turkey, but it is only the 3 of us (and my son eats like a bird). I know we will be having tons of leftovers, and was looking for some fun and creative ways to redo dinner. My husband hates to eat leftovers if it is plated the same as the night before! We are planning on turkey sandwiches on Friday, but I am not sure what else I want to make. Also, anything that I could freeze would be great! Thanks for your ideas!
Turkey Chili is one that we do after every Thanksgiving.
I also cut up the left over turkey and freeze in usable sizes for fajitas or soup.
I will sometimes, if we have any left, mash up the sweet potatoes and have them as a side, like mashed potatoes but sweet potatoes.
I have even taken all the leftover veggies and gravy and some of the turkey and made a yummy soup!
Shred the turkey from the bone and marinate it in taco seasonings and make tacos or enchiladas.
POT PIE/ Shephard's pie
In a buttered casserole dish or deep dish pie pan, pat your leftover stuffing to make a bottom crust, toast in the oven at 350 until browned.
For the filling use leftover gravy (or cream of something soup if you don't have enough gravy) your left over turkey (chopped) and whatever leftover or frozen veggies sound good (I HAVE to have peas, mushrooms and onions) Top with your leftover mashed potatoes. Bake at 350 until heated through and brown on top!
Heh heh, a 12 lb turkey sounds so small to me!
Right off the bat while you're carving, portion out enough to make the other meals. Figure you'll need 1.5 - 2 lbs per meal, right? So portion out what you're sure your family will eat for the meal immediately. Let your husband claim his turkey leg or whatever, and you plate what you want, etc.
Then put aside enough for seconds or for supper later on.
But keep on carving and have some freezer bags ready. Next, portion out about 1.5 lbs of meat into each freezer bag. Let it cool, and then freeze right away. If you plan to use some the next day then keep one bag in the fridge. You should be able to get maybe 3 bags of turkey out of it. You'll have to wait for the bird to cool while you're eating and then flip that bad boy over to get into the underneath parts too. You don't want to miss the dark meat that likes to hide up under the thighs.
This way you have ready portions for future use that you don't HAVE to use immediately. Feel like making fajitas? Pull out a bag of turkey and after it thaws, cut it into small chunks or rip it up, warm it up with some water and add the seasonings. It's already cooked so it won't take longer than it takes to make the sides.
Feel like having chef salad? Dice it up and toss it onto a green salad with all of your favorite veggies, olives, some cheese, and your favorite dressing. Pair it with crusty bread and you're set.
Buy a blob of dough from the grocery store bakery and stuff it with turkey that's been tossed around with some tomato sauce, cheese, some green peppers, mushrooms, or whatever veggies you like in sauce (I'm thinking ratatouille style) and then bake it until it's golden.
There are so many things you can do with it.
My mom usually will make King Ranch "Turkey" Instead of chicken. It's really good. That way it is in a total different form.
Hot turkey salad! Two cups of cooked, diced turkey (white or dark - it doesn't matter), 2 c. thinly sliced celery, 1 c. croutons, 1 c. mayonnaise, 1/2 c. toasted slivered almonds (optional), 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1/2 t. salt. Mix these together and pile it into a greased casserole dish. Top it with a minimum of 1 c. croutons and 1/2 c. shredded cheddar cheese (I go overboard on this part). Put it in the oven at 450 degrees for 10-15 minutes, just for the cheese to melt. I think this is one of the top five favorite recipes I have in my recipe box, as far as my family is concerned. You can use the recipe with chicken when it isn't Thanksgiving.
I make a turkey and dumpling soup the next day and also a dressing fritata. Very yummy!
I love making this out of chicken, or turkey!!
http://www.deepsouthdish.com/2009/02/chicken-and-dumpling...
We do traditional Thanksgiving dinner and then once as leftovers. Beyond that we do turkey sandwich, open-faced hot turkey and gravy, turkey salad, turkey noodle soup and/or turkey and dumplings.
Anything that you could use chicken for, you can easily substitute with turkey. My husband loves Chicken Ala King so I make that when we have leftover chicken or turkey. Turkey fajitas could work too.
You can also put some in a freezer bag and freeze until you need chicken or turkey for a recipe.
Well we have turkey, peppered bacon and blue cheese sandwiches the next day. My sister turned me on to a couple of websites: onceamonthmom.com & frugalmom.net Both have a lot of freezer meal you can put together tomorrow and save for another time. Good luck!
Turkey-a-la-King served in puff pastry shells. Turkey tortilla soup.
After we've feasted on the turkey, I go ahead and remove all the meat, dicing it as I go.... then I package it in 2-3 c portions in freezer bags and freeze for future meals...
We make turkey and noodles, King Ranch Chicken (turkey), enchiladas with turkey instead of chicken, chicken spaghetti, jambalaya....
and the nice thing is... it makes meal prep so quick... just pull out the package of chopped turkey and finish cooking the meal!
