3 Healthy Ways to Use Thanksgiving Leftovers
Now that you’ve visited with lots of the family and finished cleaning up that massive mess left by
children and fun-loving pets, you peer into your refrigerator and what do you see? Tubs,
and tubs of Thanksgiving leftovers.
Every year, many people simply have no idea what to do with large amounts of food leftover from holiday functions. Did you know that your leftovers can soon become the best part of Thanksgiving? Here’s three healthy ways to use up those leftovers with the following healthy meal ideas
Hot Turkey Melt
This one might seem obvious, but turkey can go a long way in a variety of meals. The easiest of which is to just make a sandwich. Here are a couple of ways to make hot sandwiches with leftover turkey.
Take 2 slices of bread, if you want to get fancy you can use a marbled bread, and slice turkey as thinly as you can. In a bowl, mix a tablespoon of mayonnaise with a tablespoon of mustard. Spread the mustard and mayonnaise mixture on the bread, and the turkey. You could place your favourite sliced cheese on both sides of the bread and place the turkey between the slices and fry in a pan with moderate heat until the cheese melts.
Or instead of using cheese, you could use up some of that leftover cranberry sauce. I like to make an open-faced warm turkey melt with a slice of bread lightly buttered. Add the buttered bread on to a warmed cast-iron skillet and top with slices of leftover turkey. Then you add some warmed up leftover gravy and when the bread is toasty and brown on the bottom and then rest is warmed through, I add a hefty dollop of leftover cranberry sauce on top and a sprinkle of salt and fresh ground pepper (For an even healthier sandwich, you can omit the gravy).
Spicy Leftover Sweet Potato Soup
Do you have leftover sweet potatoes? Try this to give them a new exciting life. Put a small
amount of water and oil in a shallow pan and bring to a boil. Place the leftover pieces of
sweet potato into the water and oil mixture and cook until warm, then add chili powder,
and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Blend for 1 -2 minutes on a high setting and pour the
contents into a bowl. You can garnish with parsley. If you want to add a bit of creamy
texture to it, you can add plain Greek yogurt. To turn up the heat, add some diced,
sauteed jalapenos!
Turkey Stuffing Chili
Stuffing can be tough Thanksgiving leftovers to do new things with, but here’s one that is guaranteed to make you want to remember it for next year!
You can make a chili by boiling whatever beans you have on hand (kidney or navy are best!) until they are halfway cooked and adding celery, onions and green or red peppers. Once the mixture is soft to where the beans mash between your fingers, add bits of turkey and stuffing stirring it the entire time for complete mixing. Stir in chili powder, ground cumin, salt, pepper, and paprika. Turn off the heat and you’re done! Bon Appetit!
I would love to hear what your favourite go-to leftover recipes are, make sure to share with us all in the comments below!
Cheers!
Sam
