Admit it - you look forward to Thanksgiving not only for the great meal you'll be sharing with friends and family, but also for the promise of leftover turkey! Turkey sandwiches for lunch and maybe some turkey tetrazzini for dinner. Leftover dressing and/or stuffing for a mid night snack (or dressing waffles! Yeah...it's a thing!). Maybe some leftover mashed potatoes for potato pancakes the next morning. But what about the other 364 days of the year? What about those leftovers?
Leftovers are not always a bad thing. The trick to embracing leftovers is to get creative with them, not just reheating them a few days later. In my travels through life, I've realized that not everyone feels as I do about leftovers. Someone once told me that her husband won't even eat anything that's leftover, except maybe pizza. Really?
I know I am not the only person out there who gets excited about not only the roast chicken we're having for dinner, but the chicken enchiladas we'll be having a couple of nights later, or the chicken salad sandwiches I'll be enjoying for lunch. Or, best of all, the breakfast of chicken and gravy over a waffle with a fried egg on top for breakfast. Oh. Yum.
I've been known, on many occasions, to be half way through dinner, eyeing what's potentially leftover, and declaring how it will be, with a fried egg, perfect for breakfast the next day. I actually tell people, if it can't be served for breakfast the next day, with an egg, it may not be worth keeping. There are exceptions, of course - salad comes to mind. Just save that for lunch or a mid-day snack.
The trick to using leftovers is to create a whole new dish with the leftovers. Many times, the protein and veggies can be combined. It doesn't take a lot of effort either. Some creativity, sure, but it shouldn't be any more complicated than the original meal. Chicken, pork chops, pot roast, rice...most everything can be reimagined into another meal. Want to hear some of my tried and true uses for leftovers?
Chicken. Leftover chicken, besides being used for the aforementioned enchiladas and sandwiches, can be added to rice dishes (Chicken fried rice or Chicken and veg risotto) and pasta dishes (Chicken Alfredo, Chicken and cheese rigatoni, or in a Carbonara) very easily. Make a chicken stir-fry. Chicken tacos! And don't just use the meat - take the seasoned skin off the chicken and fry it up! Hello chicken 'bacon'!
Nearly all those ways to use leftover chicken can be done with leftover pork chops or pork roast. I've never turned leftover pork into a sandwich filling, a la pork salad (chopped with onions, mayo, and relish, for example), but that doesn't mean it can't be done.
Beef really depends on how it's ben cooked for me. As long as it's been cooked to a rare or medium rare, it's easy enough to repurpose. If it's ben cooked well-done, I usually just end up using it sliced in sandwiches. If it's rarer, it's fabulous in a stir fry. Cut up the meat into strips, add it to a plastic produce bag (again, reusing what's already I the kitchen) of seasoned flour, give a good toss and fry it in a pan of hot oil for a tasty coating which also help thicken the sauce. Add the other ingredients - onions, broccoli, carrots, whatever you feel like using, and some water or beef broth or red wine or beer and some soy sauce, and serve it over rice or chow mein noodles or eggs noodles. Voila!
I'm full of ideas on how to repurpose your leftovers! Got something you can't figure out how to use? Go 'head! Try me!
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