Thanksgiving Leftovers

Everyone is doing their prep for Thursday, with all of the traditional and non-traditional items. I'm very conventional when it comes to Thanksgiving, which makes things pretty easy from a planning perspective.

(Not my table, stock photo)

For me, after one leftover meal of the feast, I'm pretty good until next year. But we still usually have a lot of leftovers of turkey, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce. What to do with it? These are some of the recipes that I have used over the past few years to break up the monotony and use all of the leftovers to maximum potential without being bored. Just call me frugal.

Chicken Pot Pie - David Lebovitz is one of the few people on Earth that I trust implicitly with restaurant recommendations. If he says a place is good, it will blow you away. His blog is incredible, as are his recipes. To make this leftover friendly, simply replace the chicken and stock with turkey and turkey stock.
Speaking of stock, don't throw out that carcass! Use this recipe for making easy stock from other leftovers, and you will have stock for the next few months squirreled away in your freezer for the best soups and sauces ever.
Yakisoba will definitely change the flavor profile. This recipe is easy, easy, easy, and so yummy that you'll ask yourself why you've been forking over for take-out noodles all these years. Again, simply swap turkey for the chicken.
Tortilla soup is a good, healthy way to use up that turkey, and you can use some of your turkey stock while you're at it! This soup is pretty spicy, perfect to warm up during this time of year, and it freezes great, so it's a good option for a freezer meal.
Indian chicken curry is delicious, and so nice for using up and changing the flavor of somewhat bland turkey breast. Make up some rice and homemade naan, and you'll forget that you're eating leftovers.
Pineapple fried rice is pretty much the epitome of leftover redux. Use rice leftover (drier rice really works best), and follow this simple recipe to clean out your fridge! There's really no wrong way to do it.
Pulled turkey really needs no recipe, but just in case, I'll post a recipe for my favorite sauce. Pulled turkey can be used to make a barbecued turkey pizza with cheddar (and red onions, if you like them), or delicious sandwiches.
Potato scones. Yes, it's easy to just want to throw out those old mashed potatoes, but don't! Potato scones are a Scottish staple, and really easy if you already have the mashed potatoes on hand.
Homemade gnocchi will impress your loved ones, and it's really quite easy. Just add some egg and flour to your mashed potatoes, roll it out and cut, and fresh gnocchi! This recipe is great to use in chicken gnocchi soup, and you can use more turkey!
Last of all, what to do with those cranberries? Cranberry black pepper buns are magical, especially if you twist them into candy cane shapes; they're downright festive!