Thanks for Leftovers Casserole

Thanksgiving leftovers are the best. By now, most of our blogger friends in the U.S. might be through with turkey day leftovers. Not at The Frog & PenguINN where we belatedly celebrated the holiday this past Sunday.

Monday night, we enjoyed one of Grenville’s classic day-after Thanksgiving sandwiches, turkey on white bread with mayo, salt and pepper with a side of butternut squash soup. The turkey carcass was frozen for use in turkey soup this weekend.

What to do with some assorted containers of mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, green beans and sweet potatoes ? Make turkey casserole.

Taking leftovers out of the fridge ahead of time to bring them to room temperature is best; failing that, just heat longer. Layer everything into a baking dish, any order is OK and stuffing makes a good bottom. Put in the oven — 350 degrees for just under 40 minutes worked for me. No need to measure amounts; there isn’t any wrong way to use the leftovers.

• stuffing
• turkey gravy
• cooked turkey in pieces or slices
• prepared cranberry sauce
• mashed potatoes
• sweet potatoes
• green beans
• 1 TBSP butter

Spread stuffing in bottom of 2 quart casserole or baking dish. Top stuffing with gravy, turkey, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes. Dot potatoes with butter or use gravy. Bake for 30-40 minutes until everything is heated through.

Serve by scooping all the way to the bottom.

Leftover pumpkin pie didn’t go in the casserole; we enjoyed that after dinner. And, this week we are into our holiday movie marathon with one film each night.

Chicken, Peppers & Onions + Pasta Florentine

When we’re at home, we cook a lot cause home-cooked is much better than when we’re traveling and always eating out. Our little garden is still producing and we have more peppers than needed just for salad fixings, so it was time to find a new recipe.

This recipe is really easy and used items readily available in the freezer and pantry.

And, not only was it so easy, but prepared in a single pot that could go from the stovetop to the oven with leftovers for a second dinner.

Baked Chicken with Peppers & Onions

• 5-6 chicken legs & thighs, skin removed (used only thighs)
• 1C low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 2-3 large green, red or yellow peppers, sliced
• ¼ C white wine (used cooking wine)
• Salt and pepper
• ½ tsp oregano
• ½ tsp basil
• 5-6 medium potatoes, quartered (left these out)

Heat oven to 350 F.

1. Brown chicken in olive oil and then remove.
2. Add chicken broth and simmer. Place pepper, onion and potatoes (if using) in large baking pan, then add chicken.
3. Pour liquid over chicken and vegetables. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, oregano and basil.
4. Bake for 1 hour at 350 degrees uncovered.

Serve with your choice of rice. Ours was served with a side of wild rice and a salad.

 

Here’s the second night’s dinner which used leftover peppers and onions and cut-up chicken. This recipe can also be made without leftovers.

Pasta Florentine

Or how to use leftovers in a second meal . . .

Preheated oven to 350 degrees. Cooked some colorful spinach bowtie pasta. While pasta was cooking, heated tomato sauce and defrosted a package of frozen spinach (could also sauté package of fresh spinach, if available).

Drained pasta, added peppers, onions, chicken, spinach and tomato sauce. Sprinkled with grated cheese; covered with grated mozzarella. Baked for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

Another easy meal with leftovers for another dinner.

Red Beans & Rice - Wed Soup

Monday's red beans & rice dish left a large container of leftovers, including rice. And, we were not looking forward to the same meal twice in one week. It was OK on Monday, but today was Wednesday. Somewhere in a recipe book or in the vast file of online recipes, there's probably a recipe for red beans & rice leftovers soup and maybe it's even called that - how catchy! But instead of looking anywhere, this F&P recipe is entirely from Beatrice's mind and, as such, all measurements are approximate and spices are too, so taste, taste, taste and season away.

Part 1 (see below) is for newly added ingredients, which are similar to what was used for the original red beans & rice meal.Leftovers were added in Part 2.

1 large onion - roughly chopped
2-3 slices of bacon, cut up
1-2 pieces of Andouille sausage or other sausage, cut up (optional)
3/4 C celery, cut up
3/4 C chopped peppers (if available)
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp garlic powder
2 cans low-sodium chicken broth
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes
Seasonings to taste - salt & pepper, Cajun or chili powder

Cook bacon in large pot until you have enough released grease to cook the onion, celery and peppers, and sausage, add olive oil as needed. Add canned tomatoes, spices and chicken broth. Bring to a boil and then simmer.

Part 2 is really easy: Add leftover red beans & rice and simmer for additional hour. If needed, cook a 1/2 C of rice and add to the mix.

Serve with salad and cornbread. Luckily, there was homemade cornbread in the F&P freezer - perfect with the soup.