When preparing for Thanksgiving, there is really no such thing as getting too much food. Everybody tries their best to stuff their faces with as much food as possible trying to clear everything from the table, but this is often a hard task to complete. There are so many different dishes that can be made for Thanksgiving dinner and while many will be completely gobbled down, it is inevitable that there will be some leftovers. But what college student doesn’t love leftovers?
Reheating the same old plate of turkey, potatoes, and stuffing can get boring after a few meals, but there are many meals you can create using different Thanksgiving dishes.
Let’s start the leftover extravaganza by transforming the remaining turkey. Turkey is a pretty versatile food when it comes to leftovers and it also freezes extremely well. Turkey can easily be used in soup with vegetables such as green beans and corn, as well as in sandwiches with some lettuce and mustard. Turkey can also be substituted with chicken in pretty much any dish; turkey quesadillas and turkey potpies are two of my favorites.
Personal Chef Becky McConnell has been cooking Thanksgiving meals for families in Eugene for the last 13 years. “I like that the focus of Thanksgiving is about family and cooking,” McConnell said. “There is no need for gifts, but it is just about family time and being together.”
Having a daughter of her own, McConnell knows all about fixing up Thanksgiving leftovers to make them seem like completely different meals. “One idea I like is to chop up the left over turkey breast and make nachos,” she said. “Mix the turkey with a little taco seasoning, add a can of drained black beans and a can of olives, then serve over chips.”
Although Turkey is the main staple food of Thanksgiving, there are many other great dishes that can be used over and over again in different ways. Babble.com has 10 ideas for using left over mashed potatoes including mashed potato pie and crispy-ridged rosemary mashed potato mounds.
Cranberry sauce is a simple dish that can be used in many different recipes, both for main courses and desserts. Cranberry sauce can also be added to many basic foods with little preparation. It can be spread on toast like jam, added to barbeque sauce for a little extra kick or heated up and poured on top of almost any dessert.
Junior Conor Hinds loves having Thanksgiving leftovers to share with his roommates. With just a quick trip to his family in Tualitan, Oregon, it is easy for Hinds to bring back as much left over food as he wants.
“My friends and I always try to bring back some Thanksgiving food from home so we can have something to eat in the house before winter break,” Hinds said. “Usually I just reheat the same old Thanksgiving dinner, but I also love making breakfast burritos in the morning. First I scramble up a couple of eggs and then add some leftover turkey, potatoes, stuffing and gravy.”
These are just a few ways you can transform your Thanksgiving food, but there are countless recipes easy enough for any college student. What is really important about Thanksgiving is that all the food gets eaten. It is easy to buy too much food, and if you’re watching your weight around the holidays, you may not want multiple days worth of heavy meals, but that does not mean you should let it go to waste.
If you aren’t going to eat your leftovers, then please don’t just throw them away. Fill up some Ziploc bags, walk down Broadway and I am sure you will find somebody who is gladly willing to take your leftovers. Think about how many people are out there who do not get the same kind of Thanksgiving meal as you do.
Follow Tanner Owens on Twitter @T_Owens21