What To Do With Leftovers?

My family never, ever threw away leftovers from the Christmas meal.  My mother had it planned out to the day as to what we'd eat.  Her meals were based on a traditional turkey based Christmas meal.

My mother often took the gravy, potatoes, and left over vegetables mixed them together to make a Shepards Pie.  The gravy and veggies made the main part and the potatoes formed the top crust.

There was also the hot turkey sandwiches made with buttered toasted bread, sliced turkey, gravy, and a dab of cranberry sauce on top.

Sometimes, my mother took all the left over veggies with the gravy to create a thick veggie soup we'd eat with left over rolls for a nice warming meal.  Stuffing was the hardest thing for my mother to use so she'd sometimes try to make a savory bread pudding out of it.  I'm not saying it was great but it was edible.

The final stage for leftovers was taking the bones from the turkey, add any remaining veggies, and cooking it until it turned into a great broth my mother used in a turkey noodle soup.  She'd add fresh onions, garlic, veggies, and noodles, to make a real nice hot soup.

My mother has been a traditional cook who never thinks past the usual.  If you talked to my father, he'd be more into making a turkey stir fry using leftover turkey, carrots, celery, and other crispy vegetables from the green salad and served it on rice.

He is the one who might have used the left over stuffing to create a bread soup because the stuffing was already cooked and spiced but he never got around to it because my mother ran the kitchen.  There are ways to use leftovers to create new and wonderful dishes.

One possibility is to take the left over turkey, chop it up, add it to a cream sauce with mushrooms, leeks, and spices.  Put it in a baking pan, cover with puff pastry, or a pie crust, bake at 350 till nicely browned and serve.

You could take the turkey, mix it with yoghurt and curry powder before letting it rest about 15 minutes.  Grill the turkey till nicely browned and place on a piece of warmed naan bread.  Top with mango chutney, tomatoes, and a bit of mint chutney.  Enjoy.

Like your fried chicken?  Why not take left over pieces of turkey and fry them up in the same way.  If you don't like fried chicken, you could always make barbecued turkey or turkey sloppy Joes.  it is all a matter of using your imagination.

Do you like muffins for breakfast or a quick snack?  Take your left over ham, chop it up into small pieces and throw in the muffin mix or add a few peas with the ham to add something extra.  This uses those few peas you have left over but don't want to throw out.

If you have left over pumpkin from making pies, make a nice creamed soup out of it for a wonderful winter meal.  You could take the left over corn, add it to your cornbread recipe with chopped Chile's and some cheddar cheese, you have a great side dish to go with a chili made with left over turkey or roast beef.

I hope you had a great Christmas with few leftovers.  Let me know what you think, I'd love to hear.  Have a great day.