Happy Thanksgiving!

I got to enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving with my family…our first one here in Texas!  It was a little strange for me to not be having guests.  We’ve always had friends from church, friends with missing spouses, and stray relatives who happened to be in town without other family come and join us in years past.  We never like to see anyone spend the holiday alone.  But we really don’t know anyone here yet, so it was just my husband and children sitting down with me this year. 

It was actually kind of nice, but I made the same amount of food as usual, if not more, minus an extra dessert.  Needless to say, we have tons of leftovers, but I”m creatively putting them to good use! 

I made more mashed potatoes than I’ve ever made before…more than would fit at once in my 8-qt. pressure cooker…just so I could make lots of my mom’s famous fry-up for breakfast/brunch through the weekend.  Yum!  It’s such comfort food.  You basically warm up the leftover mashed potatoes with some butter in an electric skillet and throw in whatever you have left over…in this case, turkey, ham, corn, green beans, stuffing…and lots of cheese with some spices like salt, pepper, and Nature’s Seasonings and/or garlic powder.  You brown the potatoes on the bottom a bit and keep turning it over until it’s ooey gooey with melted cheese.  Then you serve it in bowls with some ketchup for dipping.  YUM, YUM, YUMMY FOR MY TUMMY!!!  We always looked forward to it on the weekends growing up, because my mom made mashed potatoes most nights of the week, so there were always leftovers.  It was her favorite way of using up the odds and ends in the fridge.  I’ve gotten my own family totally hooked on it so that they, too, look forward to it’s yummy goodness!

Tonight, I cut up about a pound of the turkey breast meat to put in some Turkey Fettuccini Skillet.  That’s always really good, too.  And tomorrow, I’ll likely add a thick layer of cut-up turkey to some Banquet Homestyle Chicken and Biscuit kits.  My kids really like that when I add a bunch of meat to it.  It’s another great way to use up all that leftover turkey!  Also, in the morning, I plan to bake up a batch of Ham Potato Puffs for breakfast.  That will use up a little of the mashed potatoes and some ham, and it makes a lot that are great to keep in the fridge for the fellas in my house to grab before work on weekday mornings.

I hope that gives you some ideas of what to do with your leftovers!  And I hope you and your family had a wonderful, joyful Thanksgiving together!  We truly have so much for which to be thankful.  Remember to count your blessings!