Leftovers | Pad Patter 11.19

My mother is famous for her turkey soup with dumplings. But, vegetarians don't eat a lot of turkey leftovers. I make a double portion of cranberry sauce, half for me, half for Naomi. (Jesse and Ruth only eat it on Thanksgiving). but Naomi and I spread it on toast and crackers, dip apples in it, eat it with cheese, just on it's own... for a solid week after Thanksgiving and Christmas. It makes a pretty decent open-faced sandwich, if you have a good sturdy bread, like a rye, and some smoked cheddar or gouda.

 

It's the same in our house usually- I'm the only 'leftover' eater! However, on Thanksgiving, the hubs will usually eat leftover Turkey & mashed potatoes and of course leftover pie!

 

Hubs and I both enjoy the leftovers from Thanksgiving. We usually turn it into sandwiches, soup or a casserole (leftover potato for the base and whatever turkey and veggies added in).

 

We eat ALL the leftovers. With 9 people we don't waste anything. I usually make extra and we'll have it for lunch. Quite often we have a buffet of leftovers for lunch.

And a turkey sandwich with a little bit of homemade cranberry sauce on it is THE BEST.

 

I came from a family who used to fight over the leftovers (I have two brothers) ... but my immediate crew are not really leftover people. (I usually plan one leftover meal per week during regular weekly meals ... so they have come to accept it though.) I personally love Thanksgiving leftovers and always plan to make more than I will need just so I can make the Thanksgiving holiday last longer!

 

I'm the only person who will willingly eat leftovers. That is almost always what I have for lunch. My daughter & my husband will eat them if I serve them again for dinner later in the week but they never purposely choose leftovers if there's an option to eat something fresh.

My son subsists on air & bullheadedness so he's not part of the equation.

 

I fortunately have a husband who will eat leftovers. What amazes me is that he will eat the same thing over and over until it's gone. e.g. I make a meatloaf mainly for him and he'll eat that all week long. I also have a friend who makes her lunches every sunday and packages them for the rest of the week. All the same meal. I'd get bored with that.

 

We had an 18lb turkey and also a Honey Baked Ham. Our Turkey we had just enough leftovers to have Turkey Mash (as my hubby calls it.) for our lunch. That is where you take the turkey, gravy and stuffing throw it all in a dish, heat in the oven and eat. LOL We have just enough Ham leftover for our dinner tonight. Love Love that I don't have to 'cook' today!

 

Lately I hate to cook, so when I do I make a huge amount of food that my family will consume over the next few days. That will free me to make food that I can eat - if I feel like it!

I also haven't cooked a turkey in over 17 years, so no turkey leftovers here. We always eat dinner with my in-laws, sometimes at their house, sometimes out at a restaurant. Now they live in a retirement community and we eat in the dining room - with amazing food! No reservations to make, no messing with parking, no cleaning up, and we just wander up to their apartment afterwards. Easy Peasy!