Thanksgiving dinner is always a favorite family meal. We gather with family and friends to give
By LISA LOSASSO BELL
Thanksgiving dinner is always a favorite family meal. We gather with family and friends to give thanks and share our good fortune. But when the meal is over, if we have planned ahead, we have plenty of leftovers for quick weekday dinners.
Gloria Brittain Wilkin of Struthers, working mother of twin teenage boys Ben and Aiden Wilkin, has always made it a practice to prepare Thanksgiving dinner for her family and to welcome those who have nowhere else to go.
In planning, it has always been important to make sure there was enough food to send a little extra home with her guests and still have enough leftovers to carry herself and her family through when she needed a quick and simple meal.
Of course, certain dishes never make it back to the freezer or refrigerator. One of those favorites at the Wilkin household is mashed potatoes. “I don’t have a recipe for leftover mashed potatoes, because we never have any,” she said.
Brittain explained that any Thanksgiving leftovers that remain in the refrigerator through the following day go directly into the freezer. “The trick is not to eat it three days in a row until everyone is sick of it,” she said.
Her favorite way to prepare the leftovers is to heat the leftover turkey in some of the remaining gravy along with some stuffing and a fresh batch of mashed potatoes. “It’s a great instant meal,” she said.
According to Wilkin, her boys enjoy making turkey and stuffing sandwiches.
It is also easy to prepare hot open-faced turkey sandwiches smothered in gravy. Or chop turkey up and mix it with mayonnaise and add chopped celery for turkey salad sandwiches.
Leftover turkey can also be used in place of chicken for a delicious stir-fry with broccoli, water chestnuts, carrots and red peppers. And for a light next day meal, turkey can be added to a large green salad and mixed with tomatoes, red onions, radishes, green peppers, chopped hardboiled eggs and a light vinaigrette.
“I use turkey for enchiladas or in place of chicken in any recipe,” said Wilkin. “It just wasn’t good for chicken soup.”
Wilkin explained that one year she boiled the entire carcass, boiling the meat from the bones and adding vegetables just like she would for chicken soup. “I don’t know what happened,” she said. “It just wasn’t good. No one liked it. I didn’t even like it.”
A Wilkin family favorite is Turkey Enchiladas Verde. Leftover shredded or chopped turkey, cheese and a little bit of green enchilada sauce is rolled up in flour tortillas covered with the remaining sauce and baked. “Just pop it in the oven for about 30 minutes to heat everything through,” she said.
“One year I had about 20 people over,” said Wilkin. “Everyone kept asking for cranberry sauce, and I had to keep telling them there wasn’t any because I don’t like it.”
To solve the problem, Wilkin found a recipe for cranberry Jell-O and altered it to her own liking.
Instead of using cranberry Jell-O, Wilkin substitutes black raspberry and adds the leftover cranberry sauce. Once that sets half way, she folds in yogurt and mandarin orange slices or chopped celery and walnuts. “It’s good for people who like cranberries as well as people who don’t,” said Wilkin.
Gloria’s Cranberry Jell-o Mold
2 cups whole berry cranberry sauce
2 (3-ounce) packages of raspberry or black cherry Jell-O
2 cups boiling water
1 small carton yogurt (any flavor)
1 small can mandarin oranges, drained or 1‚Ñ2 cup chopped apples or 1‚Ñ2 cup chopped celery or 1‚Ñ2 cup chopped peach slices or 1‚Ñ2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
In a large bowl dissolve Jell-O in boiling water. Add cranberry sauce and blend well. Chill until almost set. With hand mixer on high, beat in yogurt. Stir in oranges, apples celery, peaches or walnuts. Spray 3 cup mold with vegetable oil. Pour mixture into mold and let set up until firm. Invert on plate to serve.
Cranberry Salad
1 cup cranberry sauce
1 (3-ounce) package cherry Jell-O
1 (8-ounce) carton cottage cheese
1‚Ñ2 cup chopped walnuts
1 small can chunk pineapple
1‚Ñ4 cup lemon juice
Mix pineapple juice with water to equal 1 cup, bring to a boil; add Jell-O to dissolve. Add cranberry juice and lemon juice; mix well to melt cranberry sauce. Refrigerate for 45 minutes. Fold in pineapple, nuts and cottage cheese. Let stand in refrigerator for six to eight hours.
Recipe contributed by Violet Donahue to “Favorite Recipes from our Best Cooks,” compiled by The Trumbull Baptist Neighborhood Ministries Board and Christian Friends, published in 1981.
My Leftover Turkey Potpie
1 package of two rolled refrigerated pie crusts
2 cups leftover turkey, diced or shredded
1 cup chicken broth
1 egg white, beaten
1 teaspoon low-sodium soy sauce
1 cup nonfat half-and-half
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup frozen baby peas, thawed, or leftover vegetables
1 (10-ounce) package frozen mixed vegetables
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and coat deep dish pie plate with nonstick cooking spray and place one unrolled pie crust in bottom of pie plate.
In large saucepan, bring chicken broth to a boil over medium-high heat.
Combine the half-and-half and flour in a bowl until smooth and whisk into the broth. Cook, stirring until the sauce comes to a boil and simmer, constantly stirring, for approximately three minutes, or until sauce thickens. Add leftover turkey, vegetables and dill and heat through. Pour into arranged pie shell and cover with the second unrolled sheet of pie crust. Cut decorative slits in top crust. Mix egg white and soy sauce in small bowl and brush on top crust with pastry brush.
Place on foil covered baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Allow to cool 10-15 minutes. Slice and serve.
Turkey Enchiladas
6 to 8 flour tortillas
3 to 4 cups shredded leftover cooked turkey
1 package shredded Monterey Jack or Mexican blend cheese
Coriander seed, to taste
1 jar or can of green enchilada sauce
1 (8-ounce) carton sour cream
Place coriander seeds in food processor and crush (this can be omitted if you don’t like coriander or you don’t have a food processor). Add green sauce and carton of sour cream and blend.
Put thin layer of green cream sauce in 9x12 baking dish. Heat tortillas in microwave for ten seconds each to soften before filling.
Fill each tortilla with one-half cup turkey, shredded cheese and 2 tablespoons of green sauce. Roll and place seam side down in baking pan.
Fill pan with rolled tortillas and top with remaining green cream sauce. Bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.
Contributed By Gloria Brittain Wilkin.
Turkey Souffl
2 to 4 cups chopped or shredded turkey, cooked
8 slices bread, crusts removed
1 cup celery, diced
1 green pepper, diced
3 cups milk
4 eggs
1‚Ñ2 cup mayonnaise
1 cup cream of mushroom or chicken soup
1‚Ñ2 cup grated cheese
1 teaspoon salt
Paprika
Break half of bread into small pieces and place in greased 9x13 inch pan. Combine turkey, celery, green pepper, mayo, and salt; put on top of bread. Cover with the rest of bread in half slices. Beat eggs and milk together; pour over mixture. Cover and put in refrigerator overnight. Take dish out of refrigerator about an hour before baking. Bake 15 minutes in oven at 325 degrees. Remove. Spread mushroom soup over top. Sprinkle with grated cheese and paprika. Bake 1 hour or longer. Serves 10.
Recipe contributed by Gary Fiest to “Cooking for a Cure,” by Relay for Life and Trumbull County Children Services, published in 2002.
Grandma LoSasso’s Potato Fingers
Leftover mashed potatoes
1 egg
Bread crumbs as needed
Canola oil for frying
Mix mashed potatoes with one egg and add bread crumbs a little at a time until mixture is firm enough to roll into 2 inch long fingers (about the width of a cheese stick). Fry in oil in shallow frying pan until browned and crispy on outside. Place on paper towel to absorb excess oil.