After the day of giving thanks and spending time with family, you always go home with way more leftovers than you wanted. Whether its leftover turkey or extra stuffing, many people tend to throw out most of the food anyway.
But Melissa d’Arabian, winner of season 5 of “The Next Food Network Star” and host of “Ten Dollar Dinners,” shares a few tips for your Thanksgiving leftovers.
1.) Turn your leftover turkey into an interesting recipe
d’Arabian gives a creative recipe for leftover turkey, and wants people to “think tai.” She gives ideas for turkey taquitos, turkey pad Thai, and a pulled-turkey sandwich. “A whole different flavor profile will break the mold on Thanksgiving flavors, and you’ll fool your palate into thinking your dish is a fresh new idea, not a recycled leftover,” d’Arabian said.
2.) Turkey is taken care of. But what about the sides?
The chef gives a few ideas for what you can make with you leftover cranberry sauces. For one thing, she says that her own recipe for her cranberry sauce can be used in a fruit or yogurt parfait, or it can be used in an ice cream sundae.
The leftover cranberry sauce can also be used for her cranberry salsa recipe, which could be used for her turkey taquitos.
3.) Freeze the food while it is fresh
“Label and freeze, and now you’ll have the freshest leftover possible that becomes an easy ingredient in the freezer just waiting to have a second life a month or two down the road in another recipe: pasta, soup, savory pies, omelets, etc.” said d’Arabian.
d’Arabian stresses that if you want your leftovers to taste as fresh as they did on that Thanksgiving day, freeze the food as quickly as possible. She said to divide the food into portions, depending on the size of your family.
“But this year, it will make us grateful for having leftovers at all, even if we don’t turn them all into a taquito,” said d’Arabian.