Leftover Magic
By Kathy Hester
I love the holidays and all the dinners I host around them. The only problem is the leftovers. I know my family complains far in advance about not wanting too many leftovers. Me, I love leftovers. It’s like an artists palate of food that you get to make other things out of.
As I clean up, I go ahead and start a soup for dinner. It always consists of leftovers and changes each time. Typically I will dice or shred some turkey, and add some turkey stock or filtered water. If I have any leftover rice I add it too. Of course, you could use any protein that you served up instead.
Last year I diced up a sweet potato, added some roasted chili peppers, a few tablespoons of leftover gravy, and a can of black beans to make a southwestern turkey soup. I topped it with a few leftover cheese cubes from the appetizer tray, fresh cilantro, and a dollop of fat free Greek yogurt. I assure you no one complained that night!
You can do the same thing with leftover vegetables. Just make sure to limit the combos to only one casserole unless you’re sure they go well together. Green bean casserole and corn surprise just seem like an accident waiting to happen. However green bean casserole can be turned into a creamy Italian vegetable soup with low fat milk, oregano, and a sprig of rosemary. You may need to add a little flour to thicken it up, depending on how you made your casserole to begin with.
Mashed potatoes are the most versatile leftover. Mashed potato soup, Shepard’s pie, or even add to other soups as a thickener. Don’t forget about the croquette possibilities! Mashed potato mixed with shredded turkey and a little cranberry sauce is great dredged in some bread crumbs and fried. It’s great with leftover gravy poured all over it. If you have any beans and grains mix them together for even more crunchy patties of possibility. I make black bean sweet potato patties all year long.
The most overlooked redo is dessert. Sweet potatoes can be recycled in a pie, muffins, cookies or cake. Try adding sweet potato for part of the oil in your muffin recipes. It will add vitamins and taste great too. You can do this with other veggies like winter squash, carrots, even zucchini.
I like to make a few different dishes out of the leftovers and freeze them. This way my family forgets that they are eating leftovers. I make sure to serve up my leftover creations on my best Noritake dishes. The beautiful plates will dress up my leftovers so they look fresh every time.
And, of course, you can always freeze your original leftovers in clearly labeled containers if you are too tired to bother with them the day of. You’ll find that using them over the next couple of weeks will help your grocery budget too.
