What do you do with Thanksgiving leftovers?

[Angelhalo]

I don't make a specific dish with my leftovers but I just keep eating it as a meal.

I will usually have turkey sandwiches the next day. The next evening I take everything out and reheat and we have Thanksgiving all over again. After that one meal, there really isn't much left. Maybe enough for another sandwich.

My dad usually takes the turkey carcass and makes turkey soup from it.

We do the same thing. We just keep eating it as meals.

My favorite part of the Thanksgiving meal is the turkey, but ironically I rarely eat any at the sit down meal. I am a turkey sandwich fiend! I could eat nothing but turkey sandwiches for two weeks after Thanksgiving if the turkey would last that long! LOL! Just white bread untoasted with turkey, mayo, SWEET pickles, salt, and pepper! YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUMMMMMMMMMMMM!

 

[LuvOrlando]

I love to play around with Turkey leftovers.

*I save the neck and innards in the freezer in a ziplock to use for added flavor when I make chicken soup.

*I freeze 2 baggies of the good size leftovers for turkey dinners in the next few weeks.

*I strip the bones by hand and use the shredded leftovers for both turkey salad and turkey croquettes/rice balls.

*Usually, I can get about 6 meals out of one good size turkey for my family of 4

 

[Music City Mama]

Either turkey salad (made like tuna or chicken salad) sandwiches, or cold turkey and cranberry sandwiches. Boring.

 

[T*Bird]

Gumbo, of course! Usually a couple of gallons of it. We put the carcasses on to boil while we're still eating Thanksgiving dinner, and the gumbo is good the next day with the turkey sandwiches. The rest of the gumbo gets put in quart buckets in the deep-freeze, without rice in it, and we eat it all winter. (You cook the rice separately and add it in the bottom of the bowl before you add the gumbo.) Turkey-Andouille gumbo is excellent.

I'll also tend to make Turkey Tetrazzini with some of it. I make it up the day after Thanksgiving and freeze it for consumption sometime during the Christmas shopping season; just bake and eat.

This!


Gumbo with leftover turkey is almost as good as Thanksgiving dinner! You can do it very simply, too, with roux from a jar and some sausage/andouille. Especially good when the weather is cold! (And I see you live in the north) Look online for a recipe and let us know how you liked it!

Oh, and that pizza recipe? Do not, I repeat, do not try that!

 

[Mimi1965]

Dh had an interesting "Thanksgiving" sandwich recently at a bistro
The "Hamburger" was groung turkey patty
Then there was a patty of stuffing on the bun also
The mayo had cranberries in it
He said it was very good


I bet you could make patties of leftover chopped turkey-binding it with a beaten egg.

 

[Gigi22]

As other posters have mentioned, turkey shepherd's pie. Then there is turkey pot pie; cream of turkey soup with herbs; curried turkey on rice; and turkey stock--which I freeze in 2 c. batches.

 

[NotUrsula]

This recipe of Emeril's is pretty typical for Turkey gumbo, though the amounts are kind of small; we would multiply this a few times because we always cook at least two turkeys (we fry them): http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/turkey-andouille-gumbo-recipe/index.html (As T*bird mentioned, you can save a lot of effort by just using jarred roux if you want to.)

 

[MiniGirl]

Gumbo, of course! Usually a couple of gallons of it. We put the carcasses on to boil while we're still eating Thanksgiving dinner, and the gumbo is good the next day with the turkey sandwiches. The rest of the gumbo gets put in quart buckets in the deep-freeze, without rice in it, and we eat it all winter. (You cook the rice separately and add it in the bottom of the bowl before you add the gumbo.) Turkey-Andouille gumbo is excellent.

GET OUT!!!! Our family has always made gumbo with the leftover turkey, too, and people look at me funny when I tell them. We don't make it right away though. We actually have a very low key Christmas dinner. We freeze our leftover fried Thanksgiving turkey and then use that for our Christmas gumbo. It is so good.

We take the easy way though and just use the Zatarain's gumbo mix (has to be the one w/o the rice). Seaux good.

 

[luvsJack]

Thanksgiving night is reserved for special turkey sandwich that my mom always made on Thankgsiving night for me and my dad.

Cut up turkey and mix with some mayo and a little poultry seasoning, spread on bread and cover with another slice. Soak the whole sandwichs in egg, milk and poultry seasoning mixture. Bake at 350 degrees until browned.

It doesn't sound like a big winner but its really good. And something we have always looked forward to after a day of visiting with family.

On Friday, its just heat and eat all the leftovers as I am shopping. And then Saturday we will usually have turkey potpie or shepherds pie, Sunday hot turkey sandwichs. After that, unless we use it for sandwichs for brown bag lunches we are usually through with the turkey.

 

[NotUrsula]

GET OUT!!!! Our family has always made gumbo with the leftover turkey, too, and people look at me funny when I tell them. We don't make it right away though. We actually have a very low key Christmas dinner. We freeze our leftover fried Thanksgiving turkey and then use that for our Christmas gumbo. It is so good.

We take the easy way though and just use the Zatarain's gumbo mix (has to be the one w/o the rice). Seaux good.

We don't use ours for Xmas because our Xmas gumbo is always seafood. That's what we eat at the Xmas Eve open house and tree decorating party; a HUGE pot of shrimp and crab gumbo.

 

[Diznygrl]

Heat 'em and eat 'em! We have Thanksgiving for about 3 days!

After that, we just grab the remaining turkey out of the fridge and snack on it. Or I'll just make a simple turkey sandwich.

 

[pigletgirl]

We pretty much heat and eat the leftovers. Sometimes mom will freeze part of the turkey leftovers for a recipe later on.

For leftover mashed potatoes she makes excellent potato cakes. Its a tradition we have after coming home from black friday shopping.

 

[aprilgail2]

I hate hate hate leftovers---especially chicken or turkey....I will tolerate the stuffing, mashed potatos, corn...but yuk to leftover chicken/turkey....I buy the smallest one if I am cooking it because it just gets tossed after we eat it once. I really prefer just going out to dinner on Thanksgiving at a restaurant.

 

[Ppufi]

What leftovers?


My grandma makes potato rolls, so normally we make turkey sandwiches. So good.

 

[maslex]

What are these potato cakes that some people are talking about using their leftover mashed potatoes?

I usually have quite a bit left over even after a regular meal during the week and would like to know how to make these!!!

 

[luvsJack]

OT: those that have gumbo at Christmas. My sister (it was a tradition of her dh's grandmother and she continued it after her death) makes gumbo for Christmas eve and my mil started the same thing a few years ago (she makes gumbo and the traditional ham dinner). I didn't realize that so many people make gumbo for Christmas eve. Is there a story behind this tradition? Does the gumobo or the seafood have some kind of special meaning? Just curious.

 

[Steamboat Girlie]

Don't forget the Moistmaker!

Love that episode of Friends!

 

[disneyquestions]

If you wait a little while, FoodNetwork will have plenty of shows on this topic! I think the recipies are mostly soups and pot pies though....

 

[barkley]

What are these potato cakes that some people are talking about using their leftover mashed potatoes?

I usually have quite a bit left over even after a regular meal during the week and would like to know how to make these!!!

when i make them i mix the mashed potatos with grated onion, add some salt and pepper with egg to bind (and some bread crumbs if i need some more binding). i cover in salt and peppered flour and then fry.

we like to top them with applesauce (although ds likes to eat them with catsup like he would hashbrowns). we've also had them for breakfast topped with country gravy and sausage.

 

[T*Bird]

OT: those that have gumbo at Christmas. My sister (it was a tradition of her dh's grandmother and she continued it after her death) makes gumbo for Christmas eve and my mil started the same thing a few years ago (she makes gumbo and the traditional ham dinner). I didn't realize that so many people make gumbo for Christmas eve. Is there a story behind this tradition? Does the gumobo or the seafood have some kind of special meaning? Just curious.

I think that it has just become tradition in many families (like your sister's) to have gumbo on Christmas Eve. I'm not aware of any special meaning, but maybe someone else knows more about it! We've had it several times on Christmas Eve or at my DH's family Christmas party. I think it is a convenient thing to serve, with so many people dropping in at different times, after church or whatever. When you have a pot of gumbo on the stove, you can eat whenever you're ready.

I love the shortcuts like roux from a jar, but I can't stand most gumbo mixes like Zatairan's. There's something about the spices they contain that I don't like.