What Are You Doing with Your Leftovers?

I was thinking of making a shephard pie too. I have enough green beans so I'll probably cook some carrots and see what else I have. I made some chicken broth the other day so I'll use that with the gravy and put the potatoes on top.

We take all the turkey off the carcass, and bag it in 2-3 c freezer bags.. I have a lot of recipes that I can use leftover chicken or turkey in... King Ranch Chicken casserole (a bit of a mexican zip.. it has rotel in it), jambalaya with chicken, chicken and rice casserole (several variations), chicken spaghetti, Turkey and noodles, things like that. Any recipe that calls for cooked/leftover chicken can be converted to turkey.

We then take the carcass and cook it down for broth.. I put the carcass back in the countertop roaster, added carrots, celery, onions, seasonings, and filled it with water. It simmered all night, and I put about 38 C turkey broth in the freezer (10 2 C bags, 10 1 C bags, and 2 4 C bags... both 4 C bags were used today for a turkey and rice casserole.)

Frankly, I'm at the point in cooking that I can throw stuff together and it comes out tasting pretty tasty... it helps that my family isn't real particular about casseroles and soups... they love just about whatever I cook!

One of my best friends make this it is so good, but it makes a ton, so you can cut it into half or fourths, Or freeze it.

Turkey/Chicken Tetrazini
Feeds a crowd but can be cut in half.
1 ½ broken spaghetti, cooked, drained and rinsed in hot water
1 grated onion
1 clove garlic minced
2 Tblsp butter
4 cans cream of mushroom soup
4 can cream of chicken soup
2 tsp. A-1 steak sauce
4 cups of milk
1½ lb/ sharp cheddar cheese
2½ quarts of diced Turkey or chicken
1- 4oz jar chopped pimento drained (optional)
1/3 cup parsley
Paprika

Saute onion and garlic in butter for 5 minutes. Add soup, A-1 sauce, milk, ½ of cheese. Cook stirring until smooth. Add chicken, pimento, and parsley. Mix well
Put spaghetti in casseroles and pour mixture over spagehetti, mix well. Cover with cheese. Sprinkle with paprika.
Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.
Freezes great

Next Day Turkey Primavera

Prep/Total Time: 30 minutes

1 cup uncooked penne pasta
8 fresh asparagus spears, trimmed and cut into 1 inch pieces
2/3 cup julienned carrot
3 T butter
4 large fresh mushrooms, sliced
½ cup chopped summer squash
½ cup chopped zucchini
1-1/2 cups shredded cooked turkey
1 medium tomato, chopped
1 envelope Italian salad dressing mix
1 cup heavy whipping cream
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, sauté asparagus and carrot in butter for 3 minutes. Add the mushrooms, yellow squash and zucchini; sauté until crisp tender.

Stir in the turkey, tomato, dressing mix and cream. Bring to a boil cook and stir for 2 minutes.

Drain pasta; add to vegetable mixture and toss to combine. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and toss again. Yield: 4 servings.

****This would be equally as tasty with chicken or ham.****

((Confession: I often answer just the Q titles in my head before clicking on them. Yours = Eating Them. Like 4 times already. After the movie last night, snitching when was wrapping them up, again when I woke up to pee, just now for breakfast...))

Here are about 50 ideas :)

http://www.foodnetwork.com/thanksgiving-leftovers/package...

I cook a turkey for lunch meat 6-12 times a year (once a month or every other month. I buy a little flock of frozen turkeys for 11 cents to 38 cents a pound over the holidays when they're on sale ... beats $12 a pound for the store brand in the deli counter, or $14 a pound for Oscar Mayer...and a $8 dollar turkey beats a $35 dollar turkey any day of the week as well... even if it's still a fraction of what lunch meat costs).

These are a few 'rest of the bird' favorite soups

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/...

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/black-e...

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/ancho-chip... ((I always add chocolate to my chili, though))

or this one

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/emeril-lagasse/emerils...

((BTW... For anything requiring "smoked" turkey, I just add some liquid smoke))

For leftover potatoes I REALLY like making Samosas (some indian spices, some peas, &/or other veggies, maybe some spiced meat, & wrapper them up into pyramids))

For sammies... melty toasty turkey and brie and roasted red pepper is a fav

We live for the left overs. I like Turkey noodles a lot, which is just cut up turkey, chicken broth and noodles....I know sounds boring but I love it. Also we just enjoy sandwiches = ) and also my boys especially like turkey pot pie ( I prefer chicken pot pie so we don't always get this treat!)

Turkey sandwiches for 5 days. And lots of cranberry sauce. Yum. Other than that, nothing special. Except I might make soup from the stock.

But no one comes to me for recipes.

I save the carcass and make Turkey Noodle soup. It's really good and makes alot which you can freeze half of if you don't need alot. My fave recipe is on Food Network and it's a Paula Deene recipe for Chicken Noodle soup, I just change it accordingly.

for just leftover turkey, shred, add BBQ sauce and make home made BBQ pizza!

For the whole shebang of leftovers-- grease deep dish pie pan or casserole dish. Pat leftover stuffing in bottom to form bottom crust. Brown in oven for a little bit. Fill with a mix of leftover turkey, leftover gravy (or cream of something soup if there's no gravy left) and whatever veggies are left/sound good-- I like peas, corn, onions and mushrooms. Top with leftover mashed potatoes. Cook at 350 until it's heated through! (it also freezes well, you can assemble and put it in the freezer until turkeey sounds good again!)

Turkey Barley Soup... The turkey carcass is simmering in a pot of hot water right now. This afternoon, the broth will go into another pot with barley, tomatoes, onions, carrots, celery. Later, I'll throw in all the small pieces of leftover turkey meat, some zucchini, and cooked black beans.

I'm also tempted to make a turkey pot pie with one of the new piecrust recipes I received from the mamas on this site.

I only made a turkey breast this year (5lbs) and my MIL made a small ham. I gave some turkey and ham to my stepson and his girlfriend to make sandwiches with. I don't usually make casseroles since no one will eat them here.

Shepherd's pie, turkey enchiladas and turkey wraps.

The whole turkey went out in the woods behind my house...eaten to the bone this morning.

I usually end up making gravy with some of the leftover turkey to use with the potatoes. I just chunk up the meat and then add chicken broth and thicken.

Then I'll make a soup with turkey, rice, spinach, and a white sauce mixed with chicken broth.

Beyond that, sandwiches of course.

I can't wait until the leftovers are gone. I love it on day one, like it on day 2, am sick of the mess by day 3.

Troy makes a mean Turkey salad. Mostly we eat them in the same form as we served on Thanksgiving.

I haven't done the Shepard's pie, but have made turkey pot pie (one big one), quiche, soup, and maybe this year turkey jerky (hubby's project). Of course this are sandwiches and the left over meal next week.

Hubby isn't into a lot of left overs and one being turkey so I break in down into meals packages and freeze and bring out about two or three months from now. He isn't a big turkery lover.

The other S.

Shepherds Pie!! My husband actually said yesterday he can't wait for it today!! I just take my turkey and gravy and throw in a bag of mixed veggies and top it with potatoes, in a pre made deep dish pie shell. Sometimes I hide some cheese under the mixture so it melts in, it's yummy.

Last year I made turkey shepard's pie. I chopped the turkey and added some veggies (corn, I think) and mixed it with some of the leftover gravy. THen topped it with left over stuffing. The family seemed to like it.

I make turkey soup!
Boil the remaining turkey for 30 minutes, strain turkey in colunder, and catch boiled water in pot.
Sift through meat and remove all bones (this can be tedious)
Put turkey meat back into water
Add 2 cubed potatoes
Add 1 can corn
Add 1cup white rice
Salt/pepper to taste.
Simmer for 20 minutes for rice to cook.

Like some others, we do love the old standard chicken recipes, converted to turkey (casseroles, pot pies).
But I also ALWAYS make a gumbo with mine! It's just part of the tradition. I buy a bigger bird than needed for Thanksgiving, just so I can have a pot pie with delicious veggies (broccoli, carrots, potatoes, onions, yum!), but ALWAYS a gumbo too. Saute the veggies (garlic, onion, green pepper) and make a roux (the darker the more bitter....some like it dark, I prefer to make it just a little bit darker than peanut butter), throw in sliced sausage and shredded or torn up turkey leftovers, then slowly add chicken or saved turkey broth stirring as you add it, then put in the rotels, okra, mushrooms, if you have any other leftovers like corn that is not enough for a meal and just taking up space, you can add it without harming anyone (typically, it's just okra, tomatoes but I really like mushrooms too). Add louisiana hot sauce, thyme, a bay leaf, salt/pepper to taste, then stir it good and cook a couple hours on low. If you put the lid on, it's going to be a little bit thinner, if the lid is off, a little bit thicker. Serve over rice and if you have some good french bread (the awesome flaky stuff), it's awesome.

All of our leftovers worked out pretty perfectly this year.
Everyone took enough home for a dinner for the next day so no huge amount of leftovers to worry about!

stuffed shells with turkey and cheese and a spicy sauce
turkey empanadas
turkey enchiladas

I buy a small bird so not too many leftovers.