Turkey leftovers!
Replies
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snickerscharlie wrote: »That, too!
Now I want meatballs, but turkey pot pie is already on the menu. Perhaps I should have whined more
Come over to my house. I made my Dad's infamous spaghetti sauce and meatballs for Christmas dinner and have plenty of leftovers. Already sent leftovers home with family and still have a bunch left.1 -
It's that time of year... and I can't be the only one who has way too much turkey after cooking a whole bird for my family of three...!
What are your favourite recipes/ideas to use up cooked turkey? I'll have to freeze some because my husband already said he doesn't want to be eating turkey for the next two weeks, but there must be some ways I can sneak it into other recipes.
(Gluten free options are particularly welcome!
)
[Edit: I know I could look online for ideas - but I'd like to hear what you guys have found to be tasty and low-calorie options for leftovers.]
I pretty much do sandwiches for a day or two, then a pot pie and freeze whatever is leftover after that.1 -
It's that time of year... and I can't be the only one who has way too much turkey after cooking a whole bird for my family of three...!
What are your favourite recipes/ideas to use up cooked turkey? I'll have to freeze some because my husband already said he doesn't want to be eating turkey for the next two weeks, but there must be some ways I can sneak it into other recipes.
(Gluten free options are particularly welcome! )
[Edit: I know I could look online for ideas - but I'd like to hear what you guys have found to be tasty and low-calorie options for leftovers.]
So you had your Christmas meal without inviting any other people over?? Why so much leftovers.
My position is definitely no turkey, but if that was ham I wouldn't complain about eating leftovers everyday.
Not everyone is fortunate enough to live close to extended family (or have a good enough relationship to want to invite them over if they do), and friends often have their own family commitments for holidays.
NOT that I think for one moment she needs to justify why they had a small Christmas gathering. It's completely irrelevant.
For us, it was a combination of these, plus having elderly parents and other family members passing on. They are greatly missed and fondly remembered. 2 -
snickerscharlie wrote: »That, too!
Now I want meatballs, but turkey pot pie is already on the menu. Perhaps I should have whined more
Come over to my house. I made my Dad's infamous spaghetti sauce and meatballs for Christmas dinner and have plenty of leftovers. Already sent leftovers home with family and still have a bunch left.
I might need to know why they're infamous instead of famous first
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snickerscharlie wrote: »It's that time of year... and I can't be the only one who has way too much turkey after cooking a whole bird for my family of three...!
What are your favourite recipes/ideas to use up cooked turkey? I'll have to freeze some because my husband already said he doesn't want to be eating turkey for the next two weeks, but there must be some ways I can sneak it into other recipes.
(Gluten free options are particularly welcome! )
[Edit: I know I could look online for ideas - but I'd like to hear what you guys have found to be tasty and low-calorie options for leftovers.]
So you had your Christmas meal without inviting any other people over?? Why so much leftovers.
My position is definitely no turkey, but if that was ham I wouldn't complain about eating leftovers everyday.
Not everyone is fortunate enough to live close to extended family (or have a good enough relationship to want to invite them over if they do), and friends often have their own family commitments for holidays.
NOT that I think for one moment she needs to justify why they had a small Christmas gathering. It's completely irrelevant.
For us, it was a combination of these, plus having elderly parents and other family members passing on. They are greatly missed and fondly remembered.
This too
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We don't do turkey for Christmas because we are turkeyed out after Thanksgiving and leftovers. After Thanksgiving I usually make a stock with the carcass and a green chile turkey stew which uses up quite a bit...sandwiches after that.
We usually do a ham for Christmas and use some of the leftovers for split pea soup and freeze the rest for sandwiches for the boys for school lunches.1 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »We don't do turkey for Christmas because we are turkeyed out after Thanksgiving and leftovers. After Thanksgiving I usually make a stock with the carcass and a green chile turkey stew which uses up quite a bit...sandwiches after that.
We usually do a ham for Christmas and use some of the leftovers for split pea soup and freeze the rest for sandwiches for the boys for school lunches.
This is why I save the turkey for Christmas. On Thanksgiving I do prime rib and then a ham for Easter. I'm in Canada, so our Thanksgiving is a bit earlier than when it's celebrated in the States, but I still make turkey a Christmas exclusive. 1 -
snickerscharlie wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »We don't do turkey for Christmas because we are turkeyed out after Thanksgiving and leftovers. After Thanksgiving I usually make a stock with the carcass and a green chile turkey stew which uses up quite a bit...sandwiches after that.
We usually do a ham for Christmas and use some of the leftovers for split pea soup and freeze the rest for sandwiches for the boys for school lunches.
This is why I save the turkey for Christmas. On Thanksgiving I do prime rib and then a ham for Easter. I'm in Canada, so our Thanksgiving is a bit earlier than when it's celebrated in the States, but I still make turkey a Christmas exclusive.
I always think turkey at Christmas is weird. I think I've had it maybe once or twice when we've had Christmas at my wife's parent's house...they are British so always turkey at Christmas, but they don't really host anymore and haven't in years. In the U.S. turkey at Thanksgiving is traditional. I'd do a rib roast for Christmas, but my kids won't eat it so we stick with the ham which is what I grew up with.1 -
cwolfman13 wrote: »snickerscharlie wrote: »cwolfman13 wrote: »We don't do turkey for Christmas because we are turkeyed out after Thanksgiving and leftovers. After Thanksgiving I usually make a stock with the carcass and a green chile turkey stew which uses up quite a bit...sandwiches after that.
We usually do a ham for Christmas and use some of the leftovers for split pea soup and freeze the rest for sandwiches for the boys for school lunches.
This is why I save the turkey for Christmas. On Thanksgiving I do prime rib and then a ham for Easter. I'm in Canada, so our Thanksgiving is a bit earlier than when it's celebrated in the States, but I still make turkey a Christmas exclusive.
I always think turkey at Christmas is weird. I think I've had it maybe once or twice when we've had Christmas at my wife's parent's house...they are British so always turkey at Christmas, but they don't really host anymore and haven't in years. In the U.S. turkey at Thanksgiving is traditional. I'd do a rib roast for Christmas, but my kids won't eat it so we stick with the ham which is what I grew up with.
We always have turkey at Thanksgiving. This year we had turkey and ham for Christmas Eve dinner. It varies though. We don't have a set Christmas menu. Last year it was braised lamb shanks.0 -
For Thanksgiving we rotate between traditional turkey and sides and North Carolina barbeque with baked beans, potato salad and typical "pig pickin" sides.
Christmas is a crapshoot as to what we have. No set tradition.0 -
snickerscharlie wrote: »That, too!
Now I want meatballs, but turkey pot pie is already on the menu. Perhaps I should have whined more
Come over to my house. I made my Dad's infamous spaghetti sauce and meatballs for Christmas dinner and have plenty of leftovers. Already sent leftovers home with family and still have a bunch left.
I might need to know why they're infamous instead of famous first
They are infamous because of how Dad got the recipe and whenever he made them it was a big production. The recipe came from a Mom and Pop Italian restaurant. One of the sons was "connected" and was doing life at the state prison. Dad was an accountant and the son worked in the office as his prison job. Dad talked him into giving him his mother's red sauce and meatballs recipes.
To get back to the OP, one of my favorite leftover turkey recipes:
Mu Shu Turkey
1 jar plum sauce
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup finely chopped onion.
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger.
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon.
1 pound turkey breast meat, cut into thin strips.
6 (7-inch) flour tortillas.
1 bag broccoli slaw.
Directions
1) Combine plum sauce, orange juice, onion, ginger, and cinnamon; mix well.
2) Place turkey in slow cooker. Cover with sauce. Heat on low 3-4 hours. Add broccoli slaw, mix, and heat another 30 minutes.
3) Spoon onto tortillas.
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It's that time of year... and I can't be the only one who has way too much turkey after cooking a whole bird for my family of three...!
What are your favourite recipes/ideas to use up cooked turkey? I'll have to freeze some because my husband already said he doesn't want to be eating turkey for the next two weeks, but there must be some ways I can sneak it into other recipes.
(Gluten free options are particularly welcome! )
[Edit: I know I could look online for ideas - but I'd like to hear what you guys have found to be tasty and low-calorie options for leftovers.]
@SueSueDio
My suggestion for effectively "sneaking" the turkey into something would be subbing it for ground meat (mince) in a bolognese sauce. Tomato sauce does a pretty good job of hiding the underlying flavor of the meat, and turkey is a mild flavor to begin with. I guess I would dice it -- maybe if you included diced veggies like peppers or eggplant, he might not notice the turkey dice as an odd texture. Or you could try running the cooked turkey through a meat grinder to get a texture more like ground meat -- I've never done this, and have no idea whether or how well it would work -- just an idea to experiment with if you're up to it.
Maybe I'm misinterpreting and maybe other people's experience is different, but people I've known who don't want to eat turkey leftovers after a holiday meal aren't fooled by turkey salad, turkey sandwiches, turkey pot pie, turkey soup, and turkey a la king. I don't see that as very effective "sneaking." It's like "sneaking" into a room by knocking on the door and calling out, "Hi, it's me, Turkey!" All those dishes, in fact, are, in my experience, exactly what people mean when they say they don't want to be eating turkey for days (because, seriously, we're running into food safety issues at "weeks") after a holiday. I think most people are able to suss out the turkey despite a little mayo or cream sauce.snickerscharlie wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »Personally, I'd tell him he can eat the perfectly good and nutritious turkey that's already been paid for and cooked, or he can find money from his own discretionary spending budget (beer? cable?) to buy something else and prepare it himself. I'd also tell him you won't be cooking turkey for any future holidays, or ham, or any other large cuts of meat if he's going to be a whiny self-entitled jerk about eating leftovers. But that's just me.
Yikes.
My hubby doesn't want to be eating turkey everyday for weeks, but that's okay because neither do I! Don't think that makes either of us self-entitled jerks, though.
Same goes for the big ham I prepare for Easter dinner. I thinly slice and freeze a lot of the leftover ham for sandwiches, and just pull a pack out every once in a while. Same thing with thicker cut ham steaks.
I love having prepared 'leftover' foods in the freezer to utilize whenever.
@snickerscharlie I think your suggestion of freezing some of the leftovers is a good one, in case OP has overlooked that option (the request was for ways to "hide" the turkey). In my experience, turkey saved that way would be better used in a future soup, pot pie, or casserole than in sandwiches -- unlike ham, which seems to be unscathed by the freezer when properly wrapped up.
As for your "yikes" and defensiveness, if you're the one doing the buying and preparing of the food, you're entitled to arrange your budget and leftover usage as you see fit (and, heck, it's your house and you didn't start a thread looking for a solution to a problem, so I don't know why you would feel like my comment was meant to encompass you).
Another issue I didn't mention, which probably contributed to my reaction, is that in my experience, the shopping, prepping, and cooking of a major holiday meal is a multi-day event requiring more time on each of those days than one normally devotes to shopping, prepping, and cooking meals, not to mention the clean-up, and all that extra work typically falls nearly exclusively on the person that other members of the household feel free to give directives like "I don't want to be eating turkey for the next two weeks." To turn around and expect the person who has done all that work to whip up something totally different the next day when there is perfectly good food on hand available as a time-saving ingredient for another meal (whether it's sandwiches, salads, casseroles, or soup) seems pretty selfish. If you don't like leftovers and you're the one doing the work or sharing the work, deciding not to eat leftovers is fine, but OP didn't say she (or he, if OP is also a husband in this relationship) objected to leftovers. In fact, OP wants a way to have leftovers, but wants to hide that fact from the person objecting to the leftovers by "sneaking" the turkey into something.
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lynn_glenmont wrote: »It's that time of year... and I can't be the only one who has way too much turkey after cooking a whole bird for my family of three...!
What are your favourite recipes/ideas to use up cooked turkey? I'll have to freeze some because my husband already said he doesn't want to be eating turkey for the next two weeks, but there must be some ways I can sneak it into other recipes.
(Gluten free options are particularly welcome! )
[Edit: I know I could look online for ideas - but I'd like to hear what you guys have found to be tasty and low-calorie options for leftovers.]
@SueSueDio
My suggestion for effectively "sneaking" the turkey into something would be subbing it for ground meat (mince) in a bolognese sauce. Tomato sauce does a pretty good job of hiding the underlying flavor of the meat, and turkey is a mild flavor to begin with. I guess I would dice it -- maybe if you included diced veggies like peppers or eggplant, he might not notice the turkey dice as an odd texture. Or you could try running the cooked turkey through a meat grinder to get a texture more like ground meat -- I've never done this, and have no idea whether or how well it would work -- just an idea to experiment with if you're up to it.
Maybe I'm misinterpreting and maybe other people's experience is different, but people I've known who don't want to eat turkey leftovers after a holiday meal aren't fooled by turkey salad, turkey sandwiches, turkey pot pie, turkey soup, and turkey a la king. I don't see that as very effective "sneaking." It's like "sneaking" into a room by knocking on the door and calling out, "Hi, it's me, Turkey!" All those dishes, in fact, are, in my experience, exactly what people mean when they say they don't want to be eating turkey for days (because, seriously, we're running into food safety issues at "weeks") after a holiday. I think most people are able to suss out the turkey despite a little mayo or cream sauce.snickerscharlie wrote: »lynn_glenmont wrote: »Personally, I'd tell him he can eat the perfectly good and nutritious turkey that's already been paid for and cooked, or he can find money from his own discretionary spending budget (beer? cable?) to buy something else and prepare it himself. I'd also tell him you won't be cooking turkey for any future holidays, or ham, or any other large cuts of meat if he's going to be a whiny self-entitled jerk about eating leftovers. But that's just me.
Yikes.
My hubby doesn't want to be eating turkey everyday for weeks, but that's okay because neither do I! Don't think that makes either of us self-entitled jerks, though.
Same goes for the big ham I prepare for Easter dinner. I thinly slice and freeze a lot of the leftover ham for sandwiches, and just pull a pack out every once in a while. Same thing with thicker cut ham steaks.
I love having prepared 'leftover' foods in the freezer to utilize whenever.
@snickerscharlie I think your suggestion of freezing some of the leftovers is a good one, in case OP has overlooked that option (the request was for ways to "hide" the turkey). In my experience, turkey saved that way would be better used in a future soup, pot pie, or casserole than in sandwiches -- unlike ham, which seems to be unscathed by the freezer when properly wrapped up.
As for your "yikes" and defensiveness, if you're the one doing the buying and preparing of the food, you're entitled to arrange your budget and leftover usage as you see fit (and, heck, it's your house and you didn't start a thread looking for a solution to a problem, so I don't know why you would feel like my comment was meant to encompass you).
Another issue I didn't mention, which probably contributed to my reaction, is that in my experience, the shopping, prepping, and cooking of a major holiday meal is a multi-day event requiring more time on each of those days than one normally devotes to shopping, prepping, and cooking meals, not to mention the clean-up, and all that extra work typically falls nearly exclusively on the person that other members of the household feel free to give directives like "I don't want to be eating turkey for the next two weeks." To turn around and expect the person who has done all that work to whip up something totally different the next day when there is perfectly good food on hand available as a time-saving ingredient for another meal (whether it's sandwiches, salads, casseroles, or soup) seems pretty selfish. If you don't like leftovers and you're the one doing the work or sharing the work, deciding not to eat leftovers is fine, but OP didn't say she (or he, if OP is also a husband in this relationship) objected to leftovers. In fact, OP wants a way to have leftovers, but wants to hide that fact from the person objecting to the leftovers by "sneaking" the turkey into something.
Despite the usage of the word 'sneaking,' I didn't perceive it as the OP literally wanting to fool her husband into eating turkey without him knowing it was turkey. Just looking for different ways to serve it up that weren't the traditional holiday meal leftovers, reheated. 🤷 I'd never try to trick my grown *kitten*, competent, equal partner in life into eating something as if he was a toddler refusing his vegetables. If I serve up turkey-reimagined for dinner and he doesn't like it, he knows where the peanut butter and bread are. But we are obviously all speaking from our own experiences here.1 -
Despite the usage of the word 'sneaking,' I didn't perceive it as the OP literally wanting to fool her husband into eating turkey without him knowing it was turkey. Just looking for different ways to serve it up that weren't the traditional holiday meal leftovers, reheated. 🤷 I'd never try to trick my grown *kitten*, competent, equal partner in life into eating something as if he was a toddler refusing his vegetables. If I serve up turkey-reimagined for dinner and he doesn't like it, he knows where the peanut butter and bread are. But we are obviously all speaking from our own experiences here.
Thanks for all the suggestions so far, and yes - "sneak it in" was perhaps the wrong term to use! I didn't mean literally trying to fool anyone with it.
My husband doesn't object to leftovers entirely, he was just concerned about the prospect of eating nothing but turkey in one form or another for the next week or two in order to use it up. I wanted ways to make it more interesting other than just sandwiches or a reheated version of the turkey dinner.
As for why we have so much left over - my friends here know why I had such a large bird for a small family, and I don't feel like getting into that here. Under normal circumstances this wouldn't be an issue. 4 -
We always have ham for Christmas dinner. Leftovers, ham sandwiches, homemade bean soup.
Turkey for Thanksgiving. Leftovers favorite is turkey sandwiches and turkey wild rice soup.
Make big pots of soup and freeze in individual portions.
We love soups and chili and I make a pot almost every weekend.0 -
Great suggestions!!!1
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We do hot gravy sandwiches: a slice of bread, turkey, hot gravy, another slice of bread (repeat until it is as tall as you want it.)
Or we shred the turkey and mix it with taco seasoning and have turkey tacos.0
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