The fridge is filled with leftovers, the weather is getting colder, the turkeys that yet remain are still gobbling around: it must be the day after Thanksgiving at the Shemeth house. Black Friday, or leftovers day for us bold enough for seconds, marks the day of remembrance. Not for any social justice movement, or even for the thousands of turkeys consumed the day prior. No, this is a day to remember all of the amazing food we just ate. In our house, we had 21 people to feed. Of course there’s going to be leftovers of nearly everything. Here’s my top 5 favorite leftover foods from Thanksgiving:

Pie

Pie is good, pie is life. We had 6 different kinds of pies with 10 pies in total. My favorite is apple (clearly the best choice) because even the next day it is best served cold. As some people know, I could eat apple pie any time of the day and even for a midnight snack. I probably could live off of the stuff. There’s something about warm and cold apples in the middle of a flaky crust that just sounds and tastes so good!

Turkey

This was a must on my list. The turkey this year was cooked with bacon on it. A bit overkill if you ask me, but it makes a difference in deciding what to eat first the next day. Surprisingly, both drum sticks survived the first feast, and as tempting as it was, the best thing to do with turkey leftovers is to make them into a sandwich. Take the turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and slap it on a roll and there you go. Thanksgiving sandwich for the win.

Stuffing

My dad’s stuffing is out of this world. Honestly, I haven’t enjoyed stuffing up until a few years ago, now it’s awesome. It’s a bread stuffing which makes it a bit drier than most but pile that on with all of your potatoes and green bean casserole and you’ve got yourself a pretty hardy set of leftovers. Like I previously mentioned, stuffing is best served cold and on a sandwich with its other leftover counterparts.

Rolls

Before this year, we used to have plain-store-bought rolls that were flaky and something I looked forward to, but never craved outside of the holiday. Now my dad has been baking his own rolls for the past year and they are something I can’t get enough of. Perfect for making sandwiches or for consuming at all hours of the night. They are hardy enough to hold the sloppiest of leftovers yet soft and flaky enough to be pulled apart and delicious.

Apple Crisp

Now this is the real stuff. Apple crisp is hands down my favorite part of Thanksgiving. I used to make it every year with my great grandmother for the holiday, but since her passing I don’t remember making it. This was the first year in a long time where I made everything by hand and it was worth it. A crispy golden crust that crumbled on top of gooey apples that had caramelized in their own sugars creating a warm, heavenly dish that was amazing in every single bite. Now that it was nearly destroyed the first day, I need to hide the leftovers in fear of them disappearing forever.

"There is no sincerer love than the love of food." -- George Bernard Shaw