Scary thought — you cooked a huge turkey and all the trimmings but the extended family didn’t make it over for the holiday. Now what are you going to do with all the food?
As most are getting ready to set the table for Thanksgiving with the family this week, it’s a given — turkey for the next few days, right?
If looking for a new recipe for those traditional leftovers, try turkey tacos with cranberry salsa. Fill eight corn tortillas evenly with the following ingredients: about a pound of warmed leftover turkey, a cup of shredded cheese (Monterey Jack is preferred), two cups of thinly sliced lettuce, and a bit of cilantro for garnish. Top with cranberry salsa. To make the cranberry salsa, put the following ingredients into a food processor and blend well: a 15 ounce can of whole berry cranberry sauce, a half of an apple without seeds, one seeded jalapeno pepper, a teaspoon of sugar, two tablespoons of chopped and peeled ginger, two tablespoons of cilantro, and a tablespoon of lemon juice.
Of course, it is okay to stick to the Thanksgiving weekend casserole if you’d prefer. There is a lot to be said for tradition.
The weekend casserole takes nearly all the leftovers and packs them into a baking dish, and makes lots of space in the fridge. Consider building the casserole as you put the leftovers away. This would help reduce the number of containers in the refrigerator. The easiest way to build the weekend casserole is to choose a deep baking dish and layer all the fixings from the feast into it.
After preheating the oven to 400 degrees, combine turkey and cranberry sauce and spread over the bottom of the baking dish first. The next layer should be mashed potatoes (or rice) and corn or any vegetable, followed by gravy that has been thinned slightly with a little bit of milk. The next layer is usually the stuffing, or crouton-like breadcrumbs if there isn’t any leftover stuffing, with some broth splashed over the top to lightly moisten it. Cover with foil and bake for approximately 45 minutes. Measurements of ingredients for the casserole vary depending on what is leftover and how big the baking dish is.
Either of these are sure to be crowd pleasers and more filling than a turkey sandwich.
Keep in mind that it is only safe to keep leftovers for three to four days, and that’s if they are refrigerated properly. This means that the fam can officially be finished picking the turkey by Monday. Well, then again, if you put the leftovers in the freezer, you get to enjoy them for two to six months.
There is also a thing called the Danger Zone. As food is taken from the fridge and oven, you have only two hours to consume it, according to experts. Then perishables need to go into storage to prevent food-borne illnesses.
