Beyond Turkey Salad: Creative Thanksgiving Leftover Ideas

Leftovers are one of the greatest parts of Thanksgiving. However, turkey salad and leftover mashed potatoes can get pretty boring, especially if you have a lot of leftovers. Here are five creative ways to use your Thanksgiving leftovers to make new and interesting meals!

1. Turkey empanadas:

This is a new spin on leftover turkey. These are very easy to make -- you take a refrigerated pie crust that can be unrolled flat. Then, cut circles out using a biscuit cutter (a tin can works well too) -- place turkey and spices of your choice, along with cheese on one side of the dough. Then, fold over and seal the edges with a fork. Use an egg white wash to get a good sheen, then sprinkle cheese on top. Bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes. Serve with dipping sauce.

2. Sweet potato bars:

This is so simple and tasty. Make a crust in the bottom of a glass dish using a half stick of melted butter pressed down with crushed graham crackers. In a food processor blend leftover sweet potatoes, half cup of sugar, two eggs, a teaspoon both of ginger and cinnamon, and 1/2 cup milk until creamy. Pour on top of the graham cracker mixture. Then, take leftover party nuts and chop in the food processor to sprinkle over the top. Bake at 400 for about 25-30 minutes.

3. Turkey pot pie:

In a bowl, mix together some leftover turkey, a bit of gravy, some mashed potatoes, leftover green bean casserole, and a bit of fresh veggies. Using the same roll out refrigerated pie crust dough, roll one into a pie pan, pour in mixture, and seal another pie crust on top. Seal the edges with a fork and bake at 375 for 40 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Don't forget to make some steam holes in the top of the crust!

4. Potato pancakes:

Simply add half a cup of flour, a teaspoon of baking powder, and one egg to about 2 cups of leftover Thanksgiving mashed potatoes. Form into patties, adding a tad more flour if needed. Fry in a hot griddle like pancakes and serve with sour cream or plain yogurt garnished with chives as a tasty brunch the day after Thanksgiving.

5. Barbecue turkey:

In a slow cooker or pot, shred or cut turkey as desired. Add barbecue sauce, water, barbecue spice, liquid smoke, garlic, onion, a can of tomato puree and a squeeze of honey. Cook on low for a couple of hours and you will have tasty, tender barbecue turkey. Serve on leftover rolls or over mashed potatoes.

I hope I have given you some useful, practical, easy and delicious ideas for a leftover Thanksgiving feast that will be good as the day you prepared it. Happy eating!