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In Advance of Thanksgiving: What To Do With Those Leftovers

For those who still celebrate the holiday with a too-big feast, here's an idea or two for those leftovers:

What Became a Shepherd's Pie
Leftover stuffing/dressing, vegetables, turkey, gravy, and mashed potatoes

What I did one year (actually, it was my first year cooking Thanksgiving dinner by myself): I sprayed a casserole dish (with lid). Then I pressed stuffing on the bottom and up the sides of the casserole dish to form a crust. Inside the crust, I smeared some mashed potatoes to coat the bottom and seal it, then layered veggies, turkey, and gravy alternately. For the final layer (the top), I smeared more mashed potatoes to seal the top, and poured gravy and tossed some shredded cheese on top of the potatoes.

I put the lid on the casserole and baked at 350 for 10 mins., then removed the lid and continued baking for another 10 mins.

At the time, I had never heard of Shepherd's Pie, and had no idea that's basically what I was making. It didn't matter--it tasted wonderful, and I haven't made it since. Nowadays, I'm allergic to too many of the foods we used back then, so re-creating it isn't going to happen around here anytime soon.

What-Ya-Got Casserole
Substitute the stuffing for the grains, use your leftover veggies, and chop up some turkey to include in the mix. Use leftover gravy as your liquid, and combine with the eggs and cheese.

What to do with cranberry sauce: add it to cakes, cookies, muffins, pies, pastries, or smoothies.

Leftover rolls, biscuits: turn into bread crumbs and use for topping casseroles, the Shepherd's Pie, or adding into the casserole along with the stuffing.

Posted by Cute at 7:20 PM

Labels: food preparation and use