Transforming Thanksgiving Leftovers

 

Article By: Leslie Fink, MS, RD   Print   Email

 

Check out these creative ways to use up your Thanksgiving Day leftovers. Don't limit yourself to an endless parade of turkey sandwiches when Thanksgiving is over! Try these expert tips from Robin Vitetta-Miller, MS, nutritionist and food writer, on how to make all your T-Day leftovers taste just as good as—or even better than—your Thanksgiving meal. Read the article below

Attention Hosts: Plan in Advance
"You already know what you're going to make," says Vitetta-Miller, adding that most people serve the same menu year after year.

Plan for leftovers ahead of time by thinking about how you want to "recycle" your meal (see Vitetta-Miller's ideas below), then make sure you've got the necessary ingredients for those dishes on hand. Keep in mind that any leftovers you plan to reuse should not be left sitting out for more than two hours.

What to Do With:

Sweet Potatoes (Mashed or Whole)

• Sweet Potato Ravioli: Place a spoonful of mashed sweet potatoes on a wonton wrapper, fold and simmer in chicken broth until cooked through.
  
  
• Curried Sweet Potato Soup: Puree sweet potatoes with chicken broth, onions, leeks and curry powder; season to taste.
  
  
• Asian Potato Salad: Combine cubed sweet potatoes with shredded red cabbage, sesame oil and a touch of cilantro; top with chopped peanuts.

Stuffing (Homemade or Boxed)

• Dumplings: Make golf-ball size rounds of stuffing with a small ice cream or melon ball scooper. Simmer, covered, in turkey or chicken soup for 10 minutes.
  
  
• Croutons: Cut stuffing into squares and bake for 8 minutes at 400ºF. Toss into a salad or use as a garnish for stews.

Cranberry Sauce (Canned or Fresh)

• Cranberry-Citrus Sauce: Combine diced cranberry sauce (if using canned) with frozen and thawed or canned corn, diced red onion, and mandarin oranges or seedless clementine segments.
  
  
• Cranberry Salsa: Mix together cranberry sauce, freshly minced cilantro, salt and pepper.
  
  
• Chutney: Simmer cranberry sauce, diced onion, a pinch of ground ginger and about 1 tablespoon each of vinegar and brown sugar, uncovered, for 10 minutes or until thick. Consider adding a jalapeno for a kick!

Pumpkin Pie (Store-Bought or Homemade)

• Pumpkin Smoothie: Scrape the filling out of one piece of pie and blend it with low-fat vanilla yogurt. Put in a parfait glass and top with a small amount of crumbled piecrust and a dash of cinnamon.
  
  
• Crisp Crusted Pie: If your crust gets soggy, place the pie in a 350ºF oven for 10 minutes to crisp it up.

Advice from Our Users
"One year I made a 'pot pie' with my leftovers. I layered all the leftovers, putting the juiciest on top (I think I actually put gravy in it as well, but I'm sure you could substitute something for that). Top with a low-fat pie crust and bake."

"Turkey Taco Salad. I cook the leftover shredded turkey (instead of ground beef) in taco seasoning. Then I serve it over mixed greens with some fat-free sour cream, low-fat shredded cheddar and salsa. I put the salad in a taco salad shell."

"Sweet potato dip. Puree potatoes with low-fat sour cream, bell pepper, jalapeno, cilantro, lime juice and salt."

"I always thought it would be nice to make a Thanksgiving Pizza, but I never actually tried it."

"Wraps of all kind — with fat-free tortillas. I like the turkey wrap with roasted red peppers and mozzarella cheese, the Mexican wrap with turkey, Mexican chili seasoning, low-fat cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato and salsa (I heat this one). There are so many options with this, and it breaks the grind up a bit!"