If you’re like me, you cook enough food to feed an army at the holidays. Sometimes, you actually HAVE a crowd to feed, and sometimes you don’t, but it seems just as easy to make a lot as it is to make a little.
But then it’s a day or two after Thanksgiving or Christmas and you’re envisioning a week of turkey sandwiches and slogging through tons of leftovers.
Sure, you could pack up a bunch of the leftovers and freeze them for later. OR, you can combine whatever you have into a yummy Shepherd’s pie that helps clear the fridge and makes you actually want to eat them again!
The beauty of this is that you can use almost anything in it. I usually leave out the sweet potato casserole and cranberry sauce and serve those on the side, but you can do anything you want.
For instance, Shepherd’s pie usually has ground lamb or ground beef in it. Since I’m allergic to both, this is a nice alternative.
Start by spraying a 13×9 pan or large casserole dish with cooking spray and preheating the oven to 350 degrees.
Spread a layer of stuffing on the bottom of the pan.
Chop or shred some turkey (or Tofurkey, or that awesome vegetarian holiday roast thing that Trader Joe’s only sells at Thanksgiving) and mix it with gravy. Spread that over the stuffing.
If you have leftover vegetables or green bean casserole, spread that in a layer over the turkey.
Finally, add a thick layer of mashed potatoes over all of it and dot it with a few pieces of butter.
Bake it for approximately 20 minutes, or until everything is warmed through.
This would be great with Brussels sprouts, corn, creamed spinach–pretty much anything.
Vegetarian? Use that Tofurkey, some mushroom gravy or even cream gravy, all your veggies, and proceed as above.
Don’t have any leftover veggies? You can make the casserole without them, or you can saute some spinach, onions, mushrooms, or whatever you like and add them to the layers.
Ham instead of turkey? Same concept applies.
As with most of our recipes, you can add or subtract or substitute as you choose. It’s your food–make it the way you like it!
What’s your favorite way to use up leftovers? Tell us in the comments!
