Many of you who host holiday dinners this time of year will end up with a rather large amount of food leftover. Most will just slop it on a plate, and eat their meats and sides as they are. What many do not realize, is that you can make new meals with your leftovers. You will be able to enjoy your little meals without going through the same flavors.
1. Ham is always good on a sandwich.
Nothing is better than a good old fashioned ham sandwich. A couple of ingredients you can use for this little munchy would be the leftover ham and a roll. You are more than welcome to use just regular sliced bread or any other form of bread that you have on hand.
One thing you can possibly do for the sandwich is fry up the ham in a skillet with a little bit of butter/margarine. This will allow you to have some nice, crispy brown bits, that I'm sure everyone loves from fried up meat. Once your meat is nice and cooked, you just introduce it to your rolls and bon appétite. You have yourself a fried ham sandwich.
Other potential things to do would be to add swiss cheese, which is commonly put with ham. If you would like to make some finger sandwiches for some guests or friends, you could purchase a pack of the Hawaiian rolls that can be found in most grocery stores, slice the whole square of rolls in half, and distribute the ham all over the bread, add some slices of swiss cheese, place the top half of the rolls on top, and put the whole thing in the oven until the cheese is nice and melty and the bread is a bit more golden brown. And voilà, you have baked ham sandwiches that everyone will love.
2. Good old fried cheese things.
A lot of times, people will agree that when something is fried, it is better. Whoever came up with the idea of frying one of the best foods created by man, was a genius. With this devilishly delicious nibble, all you will really need is some sturdy mac and cheese, a beaten egg or two, and some corn meal or something like panko bread crumbs (normal bread crumbs are fine as well). Now you will just have to whip out a pot or large pan and fill it with some oil. Once your oil reaches roughly 350 degrees or so fahrenheit, you plop the breaded up morsels of cheesy noodle goodness into the hot oil, and fry them until they are nice, golden brown and crispy. When these bad boys are done, all you have to do is pop them on a plate. But be careful, they are hot. You can dip them in whatever sauces you like, from marinara, to even more cheese. Even just plain and straight into your mouth will work as well.
3. Some turkey soup to warm up your mid-winter days.
Soup is one dish that is able to warm the soul. During this time of year, there are many people who are fighting off many different illnesses that might come their way around the holidays. One of the common remedies used for illnesses that do leave you a bit bedridden, is soup. Many of us will have plenty of leftover turkey lying around in our fridge. This soup is very easy to make, and with it being a one pot meal, this will make for a few less dishes in your sink.
To start off, you will need to chop up, pull apart, or whatever suits your fancy, in order to get the turkey into bite sized chunks. Once that is done, you will have to do some chopping. You will need about one onion diced, celery chopped into about a half to 1-inch pieces, some carrots chopped into about 1 inch pieces, and maybe even some potatoes if you want some. This soup is very customizable in regards to what vegetables you want to use. Once you are done with all of your chopping, you will need some chicken broth, whichever kind you prefer. When everything is all prepped and ready to go, you just have to add everything into the stock pot, and let it boil for a few, and then drop it down to a simmer until the carrots are fork tender. Now, you just have dish it into bowls and enjoy a holiday soup.
4. Simple sandwich #2.
This is something any and everyone can do. Not only is it simple, but it is something that you can make even outside of the holidays. All you will need to make this basic sandwich is some sliced leftover turkey and some bread. You are able to customize this sandwich with whatever toppings your heart desires. You could be as simple as only using lettuce and tomato, or you could step up on flavor and add different meats and cheeses.
5. The ultimate Holiday Sandwich
This will be the sandwich of all sandwiches this holiday season. You are able to use any, if not all, of your holiday leftovers in order to make this sandwich. You can even add a few things to the sandwich that you may already have in your fridge to mix and match different flavors. Bacon and turkey is always a good combination. One kind of combination would be to have sliced turkey, dressing/stuffing, cranberry sauce and some of the gravy all stacked up on some thick slices of bread. It would be like having the holidays all over again, but in the form of a sandwich.
During this time of the year, there will be a lot of food involved in everyone's life. Some will most likely get a bit tired of the same old holiday meal on their plate every day, until the leftovers are either gone or have spoiled. With these recipe ideas to help reinvent your leftovers, maybe even you can come up with your own delicious creations.
