I REALLY love to cook, which makes Thanksgiving one of my absolute most favorite days of the year, but we usually do a "Friendsgiving" which keeps the gathering a bit smaller and more manageable. The problem is, I'm Puerto Rican, and when we cook, we cook a lot, so there are always a lot of Thanksgiving leftovers in our house through the long weekend and even into the next week. Over the years, it's been a challenge figuring out how not to let them go to waste. I mean you can only eat the same thing the same way so many times before you never want to see let alone taste it again. Instead, try some of my ideas for turning your Thanksgiving leftovers into Thanksgiving bestovers.
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Turkey Empanadas. Shred up that turkey meat and use it in place of chicken in your empanada/pastelillo recipe. If you want to Americanize it a bit, instead of spicing it up with Latino seasonings, leave the turkey as is, add some mashed potatoes and cranberry sauce in with it and call it a turkey turnover.
Turkey Tacos. This one is pretty self explanatory. Anything you can do with chicken, you can do with turkey and who doesn't love a chicken taco?
Shephard's Pie. Shephard's pie is basically saucy seasoned meat and vegetables topped with mashed potatoes and baked until browned and toasty. You can chop or shred leftover turkey, or use any ground meat you have in the freezer. It's delicious and can be made a ton of different ways. I would suggest a creamy white wine sauce for your turkey and whatever veg you have on hand–leftovers or frozen works great.
Relleno de Papa. If you still have some mashed potatoes lingering around use them to make these Puerto Rican fritters. You basically mold cold mashed potatoes around a spoonful of picadillo (seasoned ground meat) and deep fry them.
Stuffing and Eggs. You can actually do this one without even dirtying another dish! Spread your leftover stuffing out in the baking pan and crack as many eggs as you like directly on top, season the eggs with a bit of salt and pepper and pop in the oven until the whites of the eggs are cooked through, for a super-easy morning after breakfast.
Stuffed Peppers. Slice the tops off of several bell peppers, remove seeds and fill with leftover stuffing. Bake until heated through and peppers are fork tender. You can add additional vegetables or maybe even mix in some browned ground meat, or you can just use the stuffing–either way it'll be yummy.
Cranberry Yogurt Parfaits. This is especially tasty if you've made homemade whole berry cranberry sauce (it's really easy!). You can just layer the yogurt and cranberry sauce into a dish and add in some chopped nuts or granola for crunch.
Pancakes with Cranberry Syrup. Basically dump your leftover cranberry sauce into a saucepan, add some water or orange juice to loosen it up until it's a syrupy consistency, heat until warn and serve over pancakes…or waffles, french toast.
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