What's For Dinner: Thanksgiving Leftovers

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday! D and I had a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner shared with my parents. Instead of the traditional Thanksgiving turkey, we had roast chicken -- a chicken raised on our own land over the summer. It doesn't get much more local than that!

This year we raised 36 chickens, all of which were heirloom breeds. These breeds included Jersey Giants, Barred Rocks, and Buckeyes. In September, D was in charge of dispatching the majority of the birds, though we kept 12 laying hens and 1 rooster (affectionately named Dirty Randy, a name that fans of The League will recognize). A few weeks ago our hens started laying eggs, and we're getting about 3-4 eggs per day, which is pretty fantastic considering the cold temperatures and low-light conditions as we barrel ever closer to the shortest day of the year as the Winter Solstice approaches.

The roasted chicken was a delicious centerpiece for our Thanksgiving meal, which also included my favorite stuffing, mashed potatoes, whole-berry cranberry sauce, and homemade rolls. Dessert was an apple pie made from scratch by D, which featured a super-flaky crust courtesy of a small jar of lard gifted to us from our friends who had a hog share from a local farm this year.

Long story short, we had plenty of food and now we have plenty of leftovers. Thus far I've enjoyed several roast chicken, cranberry sauce, and brie sandwiches (see below for the simple recipe), but I think it's about time I upped my leftover game. I do believe there may be a chicken pot pie or two in our future!

What is your favorite way to use up Thanksgiving leftovers?

Leftover Thanksgiving Dinner Sandwich (printer-friendly version)
makes one sandwich

1-2 tablespoons cranberry sauce
3 small (or 1 large) slice(s) of brie
leftover roasted turkey (or chicken) breast, warmed
2 slices bread

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Layer one slice of bread with the brie slice(s), warmed chicken, and cranberry sauce. Top with the remaining slice of bread.
3. Bake in the oven for 5 minutes, or until the cheese is melted. Turn the oven to broil, and broil the sandwich until the bread has browned. Serve immediately.

And here are a few more ideas for what to do with your Thanksgiving leftovers:

Clockwise from right: Savory hand pies // Turkey pot pie // Thanksgiving shepherd's pie

Turkey enchiladas // Chicken and wild rice soup

What's For Dinner: Turkey Soup

Ah, the day after Thanksgiving -- where the fridge is filled with leftovers galore! Along with the requisite turkey sandwiches, tonight's dinner also included a turkey soup that was made as a group effort by my Dad, Mom, and D. Currently we are waiting for the oven to burn off the residual butter and fat that made its way to the bottom of the oven during yesterday's turkey-cookin' so that I can put in my freshly-prepared apple pie to bake.

What's For Lunch: Taco Leftovers on an English Muffin (Seriously.)

Apparently I'm on an English muffin kick this week. It started with the use of an English muffin as a bun for a veggie burger I had for dinner on Sunday, and hasn't stopped since. Today's English muffin sandwich is an interesting concoction of leftovers from last night's taco bar. Between the two halves of English muffin is about a tablespoon of mashed avocado (I was hoping to use avocado slices, but let's just say the avocado we had on hand had seen much better days, and about a tablespoon was all I could salvage), torn romaine leaves, two heirloom tomato slices, salsa, and about two tablespoons of refried beans. Kind of (extremely) random, I know, but it actually tasted pretty good! Along with the English muffin sandwich, I also had some roasted sweet and red potatoes on the side. I tossed the sliced potatoes with olive oil, salt, pepper, and about a 1/2 teaspoon of taco seasoning, then roasted them in the oven for 40 minutes at 400 degrees, tossing the potatoes at the half-way point to make sure they roasted evenly on both sides.