Thanksgiving Leftovers

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and a nice, long weekend. Today, I would like to share tips for what I do with all that leftover Thanksgiving food.

Some people carve their turkeys and hams in the kitchen, and just lay out a platter of meat, and some do their carving at the table. Either way, make sure to save those ham bones and turkey carcasses. Put the turkey in your biggest stockpot, fill it up with water, and toss in a roughly chopped onion, a couple of chopped up carrots and some celery. Add some garlic, (fresh, dried, whatever) snap a lid on it, and bring to a boil. After it boils, skim the top, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Check it periodically and add water if you need to. Simmer this for as long as you can, 24 hours is what I do, and it makes the best stock, but 8 or 12 hours is fine if that's all you have. Let it cool once it's done, then pour the stock through a strainer in to a large container with a lid. Place in the refrigerator overnight, to allow fat to rise. In the morning, skim off the fat, then you can divide your beautiful turkey stock in to smaller containers for the freezer. This keeps wonderfully for a year, and is great for making Chicken or Turkey Noodle Soup, other soups, making gravy, or even adding to mashed potatoes or anything that needs a flavor boost. Also, chicken or turkey stock has incredible health benefits, and is wonderful to have on hand for cold and flu season.

As for the leftover turkey meat, so far we have made a Bbq Turkey Pizza. Just buy or make a simple pizza dough, then slather with bbq sauce, turkey, and cheese. Bake until melty. I will probably make Turkey Noodle Soup this week, and I may make a Turkey Pot Pie at my eldest daughter's request. You can use the turkey basically any way you would use cooked chicken: Turkey Salad Sandwiches, Turkey Ceasar Salad, etc.

For the ham: take the ham bone, with whatever meat is left on it, and toss it into the crock-pot, or whatever pot you use for long, slow cooking. Add one finely chopped onion, some garlic, salt and pepper, and a pound of dried navy or great northern beans. Cook for 6-8 hours until the ham is falling off the bone, and the beans are soft and creamy. I usually serve this with a large green salad and some sort of bread, either a crusty bread or a pone of cornbread, and sweet tea with lemon. This is a post-holiday Southern classic.

Uses for the larger slices of ham can be ham sandwiches, warm the ham up in a skillet and serve it with scrambled eggs and toast, dice it into a dinner salad, or you can make one of my family's all-time favorites, Scalloped Ham and Potatoes.

If your family is the type that doesn't like leftovers, or you just get tired of eating a holiday-type meal three days in a row, take that leftover meat and disguise it as something else. You'll get a week off from heavy cooking, and your family will think you're a genius.