For many Americans, Thanksgiving is a day characterized by good-natured excess. We pile all of our favorite seasonal foods onto a plate and then dig in—often going back for seconds, even thirds!
For as much as we eat, though, it’s seldom as much as we prepare—which means that, when the dust settles and Thanksgiving Day is over, there are a bunch of leftovers laying around, waiting to either be eaten or discarded.
You don’t want to throw all that good food away, of course, but you may get sick of eating turkey and dressing every day for the next week. That’s why it’s smart to look for some good, creative ways to use those Thanksgiving leftovers.
Alternative Ways to Enjoy Your Thanksgiving Extras – We’ll give you some examples:
Work your turkey meat into some wraps. You may get sick of straight turkey, and a turkey sandwich can seem a little boring—but how about using some thinly sliced meat in a nice, slim turkey wrap? Throw in some vegetables and you’ve got yourself a great, lean lunch item, perfect for days when you’re working out and trying to burn off a few of those Turkey Day calories!
Bake your sweet potatoes all over again. Have some extra yams lying around? Why not make some twice-baked sweet potatoes, a perfect seasonal treat? If you’ve got some extra pecans to use as seasoning, that’s all the better!
Don’t guzzle down your leftover white wine. Instead, take a healthier approach by stirring it into a nice, creamy Italian meal—using it as a cooking ingredient in a chicken dish, perhaps. Similarly, you can use extra port as sauce for a hearty sirloin steak.
Serve some vegetables for breakfast. If you cooked some vegetables but didn’t eat them all, you can reuse them in omelets. Spinach and asparagus are especially good options here.
Turn your bread into bread pudding. Leftover bread might make for some good sandwiches, of course, but a more creative (and tasty) option is to serve it as part of a bread pudding—either for dessert or even for breakfast!
Repurpose your stuffing. Most of us end up with a decent amount of leftover stuffing—but again: You probably don’t have much interest in eating turkey and stuffing every day for the rest of the month. You can always eat your stuffing on a sandwich (inspired by the holiday bird at Umami Burger) however—maybe enjoying a nice stuffed chicken as a break from the Thanksgiving turkey.
Of course, there are plenty of ways to put your Turkey Day leftovers to good use—and if you want to keep making old-fashioned Thanksgiving plates, more power to you! For those seeking some new flavors and tastes, though, hopefully these suggestions will help.
