Winter Holidays: Part III- Using the Leftovers

So now that the holidays are coming to an end there’s the big problem of all of the leftovers. Hopefully your party was a hit and there is not much leftover but let’s be honest you probably have way more than you know what to do with.  Luckily for you there are actually quite a few things that can be done with leftovers. I’m just going to throw some ideas out there and if you know one that I don’t please share it.

First up is all of the leftover meats; for my family we serve everything including ham, turkey, and beef brisket. Now we have a ton of leftovers from all of it but we don’t let anything go to waste. With the leftover ham and hambone we make split pea soup. For those of you who love Grandma Maud’s bean meals you could add ham to any of them for a quick and delicious meal. It seems pretty easy, at least in my family, to get rid of the extra ham.

The turkey on the other hand is not so easy; we do turkey salad, pot pies & casseroles and we use the leftover bones to make stock. While all of these are great ways to use the leftover turkey most of us are done with that bird after Christmas. We also usually do some sort of beef roast or brisket. The cut of meat used dictates how you can use the leftovers. If it’s a basic roast without any special sauce or odd flavorings you could easily use it in pot pies and casseroles.

Now mashed potatoes are another huge leftover item on my family’s menu. We always seem to make way too much. A good way to use the extra mashed potatoes, veggies, and any leftover beef is to make a shepherd’s pie which calls for all of those leftovers. Infamous for being boring, they are actually quiet good with the right amount of seasoning.  You could also loosen the potatoes up with cream and/or stock; add in some chives, cheese, and bacon to make a loaded potato soup.

Now if you’re not a fan of any of these ideas then I recommend that you buy a bunch of quart sized bags and freeze everything in small portions. Once frozen those leftover can last a long time and if you store them in small portions they will be easy to reheat. Let me know if you’ve got anymore ideas or if you need more for foods that I didn’t list.

~Lindsay Sebion