So, how did the great Thanksgiving leftover repurposing go?

[Denninmi]

You know, I made a lot of food (duh!), and we ate enough of it, I guess, but it still seemed like a lot left over as of yesterday afternoon. Not wanting it to go to waste, I repurposed all sorts of it into new, fresh, albeit still turkey based items for today and tomorrow, plus froze a bit.

So, I made a turkey pot pie with a bottom crust, then piped the leftover mashed potatoes on top for a topping -- this used up not only the mashed potatoes, but also the rest of the gravy and the vegetables I had cooked inside the cavity to flavor it... just added some peas to those.

I also ground up a bunch of the turkey and made 24 turkey croquette patties -- made a white sauce to bind it, and had dried out some of the leftover rolls and ground those to make a crumb crust. Those all went into the freezer.

I also had a fair amount of leftover sweet corn, so I made a turkey corn chowder using some of the white meat plus a little ham, and added celery, carrots, leeks to it.

Finally, I also made a turkey salad and some turkey barbecue (along the lines of "pulled pork barbecue") with the rest of it.

I'm actually looking forward to dinner tonight, even though it is still turkey.

[grasswire]

1. you must have had a mega bird!

Congratulations on your energy and imagination!

My "go-to" was always individual turkey turnovers (gravy, turkey, carrots, peas inside pie crust like a hand pie), turkey chow mein, turkey easy divan (curry sauce, broccoli, cheddar baked en casserole -- family favorite), and many sandwiches of turkey, mayo and sourdough bread.

This year we only had a 6 pound turkey breast, though. Tonight is the last of it, for hot dinner sandwiches.

I'll miss it. So will the cats.

[Denninmi]

4. It was about 22 lbs.

Not the biggest one I've ever cooked, but pretty big. Surprisingly, it had hardly any fat around the cavity or the neck, and very little grease came off the stock. Usually a turkey is swimming in grease, so I was pleased with that.

[Phentex]

2. We had a potato disaster and very little turkey left...

15 pounds of potatoes peeled and shall we say "mashed". At some point, the two experienced cooks have to let go but the waste of such food is not to be taken lightly. *sigh*

22 pounds of turkey and after what got eaten and what was divided up for leftovers, there wasn't much left. My sister did make a stock with the carcass.

I plan to make another much smaller turkey as soon as the stores restock.

Plenty of pie to go around! :)

[grasswire]

3. I'll be getting another turkey too

The breast we had was very very good, and I was surprised by that. It was a fresh breast from a local grower, but not anything exotic. I'll try for another one of those soon.

[beac]

6. LOL. We had a "potato disaster" too!

Coming out of the oven from their warming with lovely slightly browned edges and SPLAT! About 75% of the potatoes spread out over the inside of the oven, the oven door and the floor next to it. :(

Luckily, it was just mr. beac and me for dinner, so we there was enough left in the pot for our T-giving feast, but my dreams of a week's worth of mashed potatoes and gravy.... :(

[NRaleighLiberal]

5. Perfect! Repeat turkey dinner, then turkey tortilla soup...

Nothing at all went to waste, and we have two servings of soup in the freezer.

4 people, 14 lb turkey, it was all good.

[EFerrari]

7. That turned out to be the perfect size bird.

It's like finding the right bowling ball, lol. Two dinners, a bag in the freezer for enchiladas and two gallons of stock. I feel like I made out well. :)

[Lugnut]

8. We didn't have a lot of leftovers.

We had a small 10 lb. bird for 6 of us plus all of the fixings. Other than having extra stuffing and mashed potatoes there wasn't a lot left. We had a TG encore dinner on Saturday for supper and pretty much wrapped it all up.

[tigereye]

9. there was a lot leftover (well, not mashed potatoes since

teen devoured most of em), since fewer folks were able to come to dinner than expected.

I still have to make stock from the carcass, but we did have the same set of leftovers the next day, and then used the broccoli and carrots, plus some turkey leftover, on pesto pasta the second day. Then some used on sandwiches and in the turkey tacos last night. So nothing very fancy or imaginative.

17 pound bird from the CSA, you would have thought there would be more left... :D

[Arkansas Granny]

10. Went pretty good. First of all, we sent leftovers home with everyone who

came to dinner which took care of most of the side dishes and desserts.

My daughter dealt with the leftover bird. First, she took all the meat off the turkey carcass and put it in the freezer in bags containing 2-3 portions. The bones were simmered and veggies added to make soup and put in the freezer in meal sized containers. The rice or noodles can be added when it's served. She even made muffins with the leftover cranberry orange relish. The dogs got the remains from the simmered turkey carcass (except for the hollow bones), so nothing really went to waste.