Leftover ideas… aaandd go

Saturday is always turkey soup day in the Suddard household, and of course we've been having pie for breakfast, but I'd also like to make a big family meal that isn't just Thanksgiving leftovers reheated separately and served--everyone's been eating that already anyway.

I know the internet is full of ideas, and I've tried many, but knowing the love of food and ingenuity on this board, thought I'd plumb your minds for your best-loved ways to finish off the holiday leftovers. Extra points if it freezes well.

And a bonus-round challenge: I love casseroles, but Tim hates them because he was taught growing up that that's food for the poors. (My parents, who grew up in the Great Depression, taught me that casseroles, like slow-braised off-cuts of meat, are food for the happys.) Help me change his mind.

Margie

Turkey enchiladas

Hot browns for turkey: https://styleblueprint.com/everyday/original-hot-brown-sandwich-recipe/

For the freezer: https://kitchendivas.com/leftover-turkey-dinner-muffins/

Tamales

Katya4me said:

Hot browns for turkey: https://styleblueprint.com/everyday/original-hot-brown-sandwich-recipe/

For the freezer: https://kitchendivas.com/leftover-turkey-dinner-muffins/

I grew up with hot browns--so good. This muffin recipe, though--exactly the kind of Frankenstein eats I'm looking for.

Tamales are a solid suggestion.  Always wanted to try my hand at those.

Since we did a prime rib roast instead of turkey, I made tacos last night using the ends (slice n dice, heat in a bit of oil with taco seasoning boom steak tacos)

The rest of the leftovers I cut into steak sized chunks since its essentially a ribeye steak and froze, so we got some nice steaks.  Just heat them slow to 130 internal and sear them off when warmed up.  

Im gonna make a mashed potato and gravy sandwich for lunch, those are always solid.

Otherwise I try to give all my leftovers away as its just me and the wife at home and we love to cook so leftovers accumulate quickly.

Here in the Philly area we have a convenience store chain called Wawa (I understand they've expanded into parts of Florida as well). Leading up to Thanksgiving, they have a seasonal lunch/dinner offering called the "Gobbler" which are either sandwiches or bowls with T-day dinner turkey and sides in either a roll or in a bowl.  It's very popular and is usually sold out by the time Thanksgiving arrives.

I was just given a number of containers of leftovers, so I am going to try making my own "Turkey Bowl" out of them. We'll see how that goes. 

I like a good turkey pasty, and no I'm not talking about the things that go on your nipples.

Imagine if a grown up made a Hot Pocket and you're pretty much there.

I like to take advantage of the grocery stores' leftovers.  Turkeys are now at $0.49 a pound - I prefer a real fresh turkey (not the new USDA term that means only mostly frozen) but at $5 for a bird, I can work with that.

We also picked up some standing rib roasts at $6.99/lb which is better than half-off. 

Anyone who doesn't like casseroles needs to get off their high horse and come down to the deliciousness.
 

Unfortunately I'm not much help on the Frankenstein creations, unless you make potatoe pancakes out of the mashed potatoes. . 

Turkey Curry. Tried it one year to great acclaim. Bonus: Curry is the official hangover food of the UK.

Turkey pie.  Turkey chunks, carrots, potatoes, other things you might have sitting around, gravy, topped with pastry.  Bake.

My mom was big on Turkey a la King.  

Toasted bread, turkey pieces, some weird brown gravy, carrot pieces, and peas.   Hated it as a child.  

I'd order a pizza instead.  
 

In reply to Streetwiseguy :

I came to suggest turkey pot pie. 

Thanks, everyone. Just took another chunk out of the leftover hoard by serving turkey sliders to the half-dozen guys who are tinkering in the shop today: Take leftover dinner rolls (Katie and I made Parker House this year), open them up on a big sheet of foil, fill with turkey chunks, top with provolone, grind lots of pepper over and seal the foil into a big pouch. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes, then take out of oven, open the pouch and pour reheated gravy over them.

Now I'm down to a more manageable army-sized pile of leftovers. It's a good problem to have.

Turkey tetrazzini is amazing. Some turkey, some cream of mushroom soup, a bit of onion and cheese and some pasta. Excellent stuff.

A big pot of turkey stock the day after, and a corresponding big pot of turkey noodle soup the day after that plus half of the stock in the freezer for later use.

I just use the leftover roll, some turkey, and some Sweet baby Ray's to make a decent turkey sandwich.  

Note to self: I bet leftover turkey would go very nicely in a curry

JoeyM said:

I just use the leftover roll, some turkey, and some Sweet baby Ray's to make a decent turkey sandwich.  

That was my dads go to for any leftover meat.   Cut up meat, put in sauce pan with BBQ sauce, warm up and make a sandwich out of it.  Steak was my favorite.

Pie for breakfast, Turkey sandwiches on rolls, Breakfast casserole made with leftover stuffing, Turkey tetrazzini... all staples growing up. Those leftover muffins also look fantastic.

I like Thanksgiving leftovers more that the actual turkey dinner. How can I just skip to this part?

Discussing this thread with my wife, I pointed out that I had recently read a survey where the majority of the respondents preferred the leftovers over the original Thanksgiving meal. Her reply was that was the case because the leftovers don't come with the family.

On to the topic at hand, I have been known to say that leftovers are my favorite ingredient. We eat what we call, "serial leftovers." Use leftovers to create a whole additional meal, etc., etc., etc.

I'd love to share more details on this topic, but I just finished a long work day and I'm tired. Carry on.

BBQ turkey sandwiches are amazing. I heat the turkey in a ban and mix with BBQ sauce right before it's done. Grill some bread (sourdough is great) with melted cheddar cheeses add the BBQ turkey and a couple strips of bacon. 
 

I made a leftover pot pie last year and it was amazing. I put mashed potatoes on the bottom of the casserole dish, covered with broccoli, hollandaise sauce  next, then turkey, then stuffing. I covered The top with filo dough and baked. The whole family loved it. 
 

This year we found the trick to leftovers. Have Thanksgiving at someone else's house. This year was hosted by our daughter and future SIL. Went to their place in the morning, less than a 2 hour drive and Thanksgiving at their place and drove home in the late afternoon/early evening. Will admit the drive home was kinda tough on a full stomach and no nap. No leftovers to contend with though. And nap when we got home. Was planing on Christmas at our other daughters place about a mile away but she doesn't have a dining room table yet. They moved into a new bigger house earlier this year and just can't swing a dining room table yet so Christmas dinner will be at my place again. As usual. So will have some leftovers then. We've been getting small turkeys (10-12 lb) and making smaller sides for a few years now which reduces the leftovers. Just enough to feed 10. Sending home some leftovers with the kids help reduce the leftovers too.

Once I made the turkey soup and served the garage crew their turkey sliders, then sent a care package back to SoFla with Rennie, I realized I had just enough for an exact rerun meal. Served it in front of Tampa Bay game, and yeah, it was perfect.

Tried something new this year since I now have an outdoor wood-fired pizza oven. Took the leftover turkey, stuffing, sweet potato soufflé and cranberry sauce, wrapped it in some proofed pizza dough and made some sort of stromboli or calzone "thing". I figured why not, it's all the same stuff just in an easy-to-eat wrapper. Think of it as a BIG Thanksgiving hot pocket. Nice and crispy out of the oven, dipped in gravy and quite delicious!