One of my favorite things about the holidays is all the leftovers to get creative with. And every year, I try to come up with something new, in addition to some tried and true recipes like turkey croquettes and turkey pot pie.
Growing up, we often had the same meal for Christmas as we did for Thanksgiving, so these leftovers apply to either holiday. If you do something different for Christmas, pin these for next Thanksgiving – you’ll be glad to have them on hand when your leftovers are filling the fridge. They’re also great comfort foods to enjoy any time this winter season.
Here are four of our family’s favorite recipes for leftovers this time of year.
Turkey Croque Madames with Cranberry & Dijon
Ingredients: Butter 1 Egg ½ cup milk or cream Dash nutmeg, optional 2 slices bread per sandwich Dijon Leftover roasted turkey Leftover cranberry relish or sauce Sliced sharp cheddar
Instructions:
1. Heat 1 pat of butter per sandwich in a skillet.
2. In a shallow bowl, whisk together egg and milk, adding nutmeg
3. Dip bread in one side then place into hot skillet.
4. Spread Dijon on bread side facing up, pile with turkey and cheese.
5. Spread cranberry sauce or relish on one side of the other piece of bread and dip opposite side into egg mixture, topping sandwich, cranberry sauce side down.
6. When first side is browned, flip sandwich, brown other side, then serve.
Holiday Bites
1. Using store bought or homemade pie crust, fill a mini muffin tin with rounds (punched out by small biscuit cutter).
2. Fill mini “pies” with any leftover roasted root veggies, stuffing, turkey, ham.
3. Freeze for a NYE party or later use an easy freezer-to-oven appetizer.
Curry Turkey Salad Lettuce Wraps
Ingredients: 1 cup leftover turkey ½ cup plain yogurt 1 tablespoon curry Handful raisins and pumpkin seeds or almonds Head of Bibb lettuce Instructions: 1.Mix salad ingredients 2.Serve in Bibb lettuce cups
Fried Eggs & Stuffing
This is a new fave for brunch at the Heany house. So easy, I can’t believe we never thought of this before but we’ll be doing it for years to come.
1. Heat skillet with oil. 2. Using a biscuit cutter, cut out a round of stuffing from leftovers. 3. Heat through and then flip. 4. Top with over easy egg and serve.