Tips and Recipes for Leftover Turkey

After Thanksgiving, Christmas or any other major holiday involving the serving of turkey, there are usually leftovers. Most people pull together sandwiches for a full week until they can't stomach turkey anymore.

However, instead of making sandwiches until you're absolutely sick of them, there are so many recipe options for turkey leftovers that just made your meal-planning for the week a little bit easier.

Here are a few suggestions for what to do with your leftovers.

Grilled Cheese: Yes, the whole point of this was to get people away from the idea of turkey sandwiches, but let's say it's the day after and you want a turkey sandwich. Take that idea to the next level and make it a heartier meal with cheese and thick bread. There are some great, thick breads that can be found at Japanese bakeries. If you don't have one near you, just go to the bread aisle of a grocery store. Look for the Sara Lee French toast bread, which is perfect for this. Also buy some pepper jack cheese or spicy cheddar cheese (for lots of flavor).

Butter both sides of two slices of bread and place your cheese and a layer of turkey on the first slice. Place this stack on an already heated frying pan. When the cheese has melted and adhered to the bread and turkey, place the second piece of bread on top and flip the whole stack over. When the cheese is melted, it's ready to eat.

Turkey Caesar Salad: Substitute turkey for chicken and serve with some fresh romaine lettuce hearts. To make your own Caesar dressing - the kind that's served on restaurant Caesar salads - instead of that thick, creamy dressing they sell in grocery stores, a simple dressing recipe takes a matter of minutes.

Just combine about half a cup of parmesan cheese with a quarter cup of olive oil. Mix this with half a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, a little bit of salt and pepper and a clove of garlic. Drizzle and toss the dressing with your salad.

Raspberry Turkey Salad: All you need for this are a pack of spinach leaves, raspberry dressing (I like Ken's Steakhouse), walnuts and your turkey. Basically, toss all your ingredients with about two tablespoons of the dressing. It makes for a great lunch to pack to work for the next day.

Turkey Enchiladas: This is a great, healthier take on classic bean, cheese and beef enchiladas. At the store, buy one can of corn, green squash, one package of corn tortillas, one can of green enchilada sauce and Monterey jack cheese.

At home, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a pan or dish with cooking spray so that your enchiladas won't stick. Combine your corn, finely cubed squash and shredded turkey along with approximately one-quarter of the green sauce. This is your filling.

Take a tortilla and brush it with the leftover sauce, fill it and then roll it placing the backside down against the platter (so it doesn't unfold and spill out). Repeat this with the rest of your tortillas. With the remaining green sauce, pour over the enchiladas, sprinkle with you cheese, and then put it in the oven until the cheese is melted. It should not take more than 20 minutes to melt - you're basically just warming the inside and melting the cheese.

Turkey Omelet: Start you day off with a hearty breakfast. Mix your turkey with your scrambled eggs, diced red onions, cilantro and tomatoes. Pour the mixture in a heated frying pan and cook. Serve with a dollop of sour cream.

Turkey Chili: This is another really simple to assemble meal despite the multiple ingredients in this one. At the store, buy a white onion, large can of kidney beans, one can of chili, two tomatoes and one can of corn.

At home combine dice the onion and tomatoes and shred the turkey. Combine all of these ingredients for a really quick dinner served with sourdough bread.

Turkey Casserole: If you have leftover stuffing, this is a good recipe incorporating that into it. You just fill a casserole with a layer of stuffing. Drizzle a little bit of gravy. Then put a layer of turkey with a little bit of gravy. Repeat these two steps once more each. Then put it in the oven for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees or until thoroughly warmed. The dish is simple, but incorporates the best flavors of the holidays.

Stuffed Bell Peppers: The presentation on this one is fun. You just need bell peppers (amount is dependent upon how many people you need to feed). For the filling, you need your shredded turkey, a can of regular beans, one tomato diced and a can of sweet corn. Combine all of these ingredients and then fill the bell peppers with it.

Drizzle with olive oil and then place in the oven at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes.

Turkey Quesadillas: What you need is spicy jack cheese, or you can get plain jack and dice jalapenos (it's up to you). You also need some corn tortillas. At home, place one of the tortillas on a frying pan. Place the shredded cheese and turkey on the tortilla. On top of the turkey layer, add an additional layer of cheese. When the cheese has melted enough to keep the turkey shreds from falling away from the tortilla, place a second tortilla on top of the pile and flip the whole pile over. Serve with salsa or sour cream.

Freeze It: Sick of turkey and you can't force yourself to try another recipe with turkey in it? Then just freeze it! This makes sense if you want to use it for soups or other recipes later. Plus, you're not wasting it. Generally, you should not keep it in the freezer for more than about three months.