3 Creative Ways To Use Thanksgiving Leftovers

creativethanksgivingleftovers

Yesterday you were cherishing the company of family, enjoying a turkey dinner with all the fixings and delighting in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. You gave thanks. You feasted. You football-ed. Now it’s less than 24 hours later and your children are complaining that they never want to see another turkey sandwich ever again. Don’t fret when faced with Tupperwares of turkey and mounds of mashed potatoes. Ditch the sandwiches and try some of these easy, unique ways to use your Thanksgiving leftovers.

Turkey & Cranberry Quesadillas

Ingredients:

Tortillas
Cranberry Sauce
Cream Cheese
Turkey Breast

Lay your tortilla flat and spread a layer of cream cheese over it. Next spread a layer of cranberry sauce over the tortilla. Place the turkey in layers over the cranberry sauce. Fold the tortilla in half. Heat the quesadilla in a skillet for a few minutes on each side, then enjoy!

Thanksgiving Pizza

Ingredients:

Pre-made pizza crust
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 oz sweet potato puree
Roasted turkey, shredded
2 oz stuffing
1/2 cup cranberries
Cheddar cheese

Spread olive oil onto the crust and then spread the sweet potato puree next. Add turkey and stuffing evenly onto the crust. Sprinkle shredded cheese and cranberries on top and bake at 450 degrees for about 10 minutes. The fun thing about Thanksgiving pizza is that you can be as creative as you’d like. Want to use gravy as the sauce instead of the sweet potato puree? Go for it! Toss any of your favorite leftovers on for toppings. The possibilities are endless.

Mashed Potato Pancakes 

Ingredients:

2 cups mashed potatoes
1-2 eggs
1/4 cup flour
Salt
Pepper
Garlic

Optional Ingredients:

Cheese, Chives, Onion

Garnishes:

Cranberry Sauce, Apple Sauce, Sour Cream

Mix mashed potatoes, eggs, flour, salt, pepper and garlic. Add any of your optional ingredients into mashed potatoes and continue mixing. Preheat your skillet (you may want to add a few tablespoons of oil to your skillet). Pour your batter into the skillet and brown on both sides. You could serve these with leftover cranberry sauce or apple sauce. Or try sour cream as a garnish. These can be served for breakfast, lunch or dinner!

What are your favorite ways to use Thanksgiving leftovers? 

Lauren Davis
Lauren and her husband Dan live in El Dorado with their two boys (born 2011 and 2014). They have added a goldendoodle, a hedgehog and two cats to their family in recent years and are expecting a daughter to join their crew at the end of 2020! She is an elementary school secretary, a member of the Junior League of Wichita and the Tri-County CASA Board of Directors. Lauren spent much of her childhood in Lawrence, Kansas and moved to El Dorado about ten years ago after her husband graduated from pharmacy school. She gets by on a lot of coffee and loves all the messy, fun, wild and wonderful parts of being a mom.