Holiday Leftovers Recipe: Cranberry Orange Butter

Happy New Year!  Cranberries are often the only remaining leftover in the fridge by now, and sadly, they often end up getting tossed. Instead of throwing them out, try this super-simple recipe, and you can enjoy your cranberries for at least another week in a different form! Enjoy on hot cranberry bread or muffins, or warm biscuits.

This calls for cranberry orange relish, but you can also use plain cranberry sauce - just make sure to drain it well in step 1.

Using up leftovers doesn't get any easier than this!

Cranberry Orange Butter

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter or margarine, room temperature
1/4 cup cranberry orange relish

Directions:

• Put cranberry orange relish in sieve over a bowl and let drain; discarding the liquid or keep it for another use.
• Put butter in shallow bowl, and when it reaches room temperature, add the cranberry orange relish.
• Using a fork or pastry cutter, mix the relish into the butter until well blended, then put in pretty serving dish and put in refrigerator to get cool and solid.
• Serve cold on hot cranberry bread or muffins.

Creative Ideas for Using Up Traditional Holiday Leftovers

Holidays always leave us with a ton of leftovers. I guess when you feed a house full of guests, you just get left with a heap of food.  It's not entirely a bad thing, but sometimes it's hard to feel all creative about food that you just spent twelve hours cooking. Well, it is time to regroup and recharge, and rethink the typical leftover redoes. How do you turn holiday leftovers into something fun and exciting to eat? Here are a few ideas to help you get started on the path to cleaning out your refrigerator without boring your family.

Shift Cultures

Turkey enchilada casserole ingredients. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If your holiday dinner was the classic American feast, your table was filled with turkey or ham or lamb or beef, green bean casserole, stuffing, bread, cranberry sauce, sweet potato casserole, corn, cauliflower, and just about everything else imaginable. Instead of just reheating the same dinner over and over again in exactly the same ways, with exactly the same flavors, why not shift your culture a bit and try something a little bit outside of what you're familiar with.

Chop up your ham or turkey and mix it with some mashed potatoes, wrap it in a little wonton and make your very own Polish perogies. Spice up your leftovers with classic Italian seasonings and recreate them into soups, salads, casseroles or salads with a Mediterranean flavor.  Get out your soy sauce, sesame oil, and turn your leftovers into Asian inspired dishes. Squeeze some lime, chop cilantro, and grab the tequila to marinate your leftover turkey to use in a simple Mexican inspired wrap. Use leftover bread and make a wonderful bread pudding using English inspired recipes.

Shift States

In order to get really creative with your leftovers, all you have to do is shift states.  No, not continental states, but science states. Remember learning about solids, liquids, and gasses when you were in science class? Yes, those states. For instance, you can transform a solid ham bone into a delicious stock for a bean and zucchini soup. You can also use that stock to cook rice or steam some vegetables. Your once-solid ham bone has now been changed into a liquid and a gas...and it never tasted better. Don't forget the frozen state. Puree your cranberry orange relish in some orange juice and turn it into frozen treats or ice cubes for drinks.

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Or, if you want to get super creative, and you have some small children at home, you can combine flour and your leftover mashed potatoes to make a mashed potato play-dough. Not only is it fun to mold, it is absolutely non-toxic, and, yes, edible.  It's one of those things that, although it doesn't really get eaten, the leftovers are put to a good use: keeping the kids busy. So, once again you have shifted the state of your leftovers; this time from a food to a toy!

Shift Your Beliefs

When you have a bunch of leftover food, the only way to really enjoy it during the constant reappearances is to totally rethink what the food is.  You have to forget that the potatoes are potatoes, for instance, and think instead that they are a thickening agent, or play-dough!  Turkey can be pureed, too, and turned into a pate if you like, and even used to stuff deviled eggs.

Even desserts can be rethought.  If you are fortunate enough to have leftover pecan pie, think about scooping out the filling into a sauce pan and melting it down.  Then whisk in a good balsamic vinaigrette and pour it hot over a spinach and bacon salad.  All the ingredients are there; they just needed to be re-imagined.

If you want to use up your leftovers quickly and creatively, all you need to do is think about where your food is and where it can go. Your leftovers may need some creative seasoning. They may need to be transformed into different physical states.  Get creative, get cooking, and help your leftovers reinvent themselves this week!

Creative Breakfast Ideas for Holiday Leftovers

Well, Christmas is behind us for another year, but we've still got to deal with the leftovers.... After a full day of cooking for friends and family, the last thing you want to do the next morning is to figure out what to make for breakfast. Not to mention, your refrigerator is already crammed full with leftovers, so there is no room to put anything else. Why not use what you already have on hand to make an unbelievable breakfast? Here are a few ideas to get your morning-after ideas flowing.

An omelet with ham, cheese, and a garnish of spices including oregano and parsley. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Classic Omelet

You wake up in the morning, struggling with the classic L-Tryptophan and high carb hangover and the last thing you want to do is get creative with your breakfast. Especially if you are in charge with feeding the same group you fed twelve hours ago. If you want to make a great breakfast, without a bunch of effort, you can always turn to a classic omelet.

As soon as you walk into the kitchen, unpack your refrigerator with all of the leftovers from the night before. Cut up some of your leftover turkey or ham, scramble some eggs and throw it all together with some leftover tomatoes, broccoli, and cheese from your salad. If you want to really give your omelet a kick, try incorporating a bit of cranberry sauce into your recipe. Throw in a scoop of leftover green bean casserole, too. The sky's the limit; or rather, the refrigerator's the limit.

The Simple Fritter

If you are not in the mood to scramble some eggs for the omelet, you can pull out two easy leftover  ingredients; mashed potatoes and stuffing. Combining your stuffing and your mashed potatoes in a ratio of 1 to 1 will give you an incredibly thick paste that you can mold and shape into patties. Once you have the mixture, you can fry them in a small amount of oil and prepare to be amazed.

Add some green bean casserole and a little diced ham or turkey to the mixture if you want to make your patties even heartier. Making this addition will give you a completely rounded meal and it will help you reduce the amount of leftovers that are just sitting in your fridge, which is always a good thing.

The Elegant Quiche

Quiche. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If you have your coffee and find you have a little more energy, you may want to show off a little. Impress your guests with the creative ways you can reuse your leftovers by making a quiche. A holiday quiche is like a holiday dinner all wrapped up in a fluffy egg! You will be able to enjoy the tastes you know and love while also having a healthy and delicious breakfast.

Your quiche can be the full spread, or just a few of your favorite leftover dishes. When you have a bunch of leftovers, you can include as many as you like. If you want to give this quiche a twist, try scrambling some pumpkin pie filling in with the eggs to give it that classic sweet nutmeg taste you love during the holidays. Just be creative. It all tasted good together on the table, so why not together in a quiche?

The morning after the big Holiday meal shouldn't be a lot of work for you, especially if you spent the entire day prior cooking food for an army. Use what you have, re-purpose it and give your family a new breakfast dish they can only get during the holidays each year. They will love it!  And to think, all you had to do was gather dishes from the refrigerator to appear in the morning sequel!

Beyond The Typical Sandwich - Treating Holiday Leftovers With Creative Direction

Thanksgiving, with it's short nature and over-abundance of food, is the quintessential leftover holiday. Even though it's the week after, many of us still have those good old leftovers sitting around. What to do with them? This week we'll share some tasty new twists on the same-old leftovers song. We are all familiar with the classic turkey or ham sandwich. You know, there was way too much turkey or ham at the holiday feast and now it can either sit in your fridge and go bad, or you can make sandwiches with the leftovers, over, and over, and over... you get the point. Sure, your home-cooked turkey tastes great and the sandwiches are tasty, but unless you do something different, even your best sandwiches will get boring quickly. Here are a few ideas to keep your taste buds entertained - and stock your lunch-box this week!

Dress It Up

Sandwiches (Photo credit: Joe Shlabotnik)

A turkey sandwich will always be a turkey sandwich and a ham sandwich will always be a ham sandwich. That is, unless you dress up your sandwich and bring out an entirely different flavor with the simple addition of a few key ingredients. For instance, instead of the typical mayonnaise and mustard, try adding a new spice to your favorite sandwich. Try using a chipotle mayo or sweet chili mayo, or use exotic sprouts instead of lettuce, or arugula, shredded cabbage, or even sauerkraut.

Think high-end boutique sandwich shop when you are creating your masterpiece. If you are a fan of avocado, try adding a few slices to your sandwich, or experiment with different types of cheese. When you are trying to break out of the holiday sandwich blues, toppings can be your best friend. Put away your regular sandwich cheese and grab the bleu cheese and bleu cheese dressing. Rethink each layer of your sandwich and use something you've never used before. That is how you dress up that slice of turkey or ham.

Change Clothes

If you have your toppings down to your liking, or don't want to experiment too far from normal, you can always change the method you use to close up your sandwich ingredients; you know, the bread. You can try a wrap, or grilled on a bun, or even leftover dinner rolls. With hundreds of different kinds of breads, you have an endless supply of possibilities.

Try your next grilled ham and cheese on Rye bread instead of the familiar wheat or white. You can also try authentic Chibatta bread for a distinct and unique taste. Don't forget pita and tortillas. Or, if you are trying to cut the carbs, you can always go naked. Okay, not you, but the sandwich. Use a piece of romaine lettuce to wrap the ingredients and enjoy the crisp, crunchy and healthy alternative to your typical holiday leftover sandwich.

Brie & ham sandwich with walnuts. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Take a Flavor Trip

Now that you have dressed up your sandwich and changed its clothes, you may also want to experiment with flavors from around the world. Take your typical turkey sandwich on a trip to Italy or Mexico. Dress it up with different flavor combinations and try authentic ingredients to completely make over your sandwich.

For instance, use a peanut flavored sauce, combined with shredded cabbage and some crispy noodles to give your sandwich a Thai flare. Or try a mango chutney with some spicy peppers for a Southwestern sizzle. Choose roasted sweet peppers, sun-dried tomatoes, and sliced olives for a Mediterranean inspired sandwich.

There are hundreds of different possibilities you can try with your holiday sandwiches. All it takes is a little creativity, an open mind and an empty stomach. No matter if you dress it up, get it naked or change its culture, your leftover holiday sandwich doesn't have to be boring any longer.  And all it took was a little creative direction!

Recipe: Holiday Leftovers - Ham Salad Sandwiches

If you've still got some ham rattling around in the fridge, check out this recipe for a tasty yet simple twist on the ham sandwich. Mustard, pickle, and onion gives it a kick, but rather than the usual sliced ham, this ham salad incorporates the spices right into the meat, so you'll get a yummy flavor combo in every bite.

Enjoy!

After The Feast Ham Salad Sandwiches

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup leftover ham, chopped
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp pickle relish
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp grated onion
salt and pepper to taste
kaiser rolls or other sturdy bread

Instructions:

1. In a food processor, put the ham and pulse until finely minced.
2. Put in a bowl and add the remaining ingredients; taste and season as desired.
3. Spread mixture on bread, bun, or crackers for a quick lunch or dinner the next day.

What to Do With Easter Dinner Leftovers?

The day after a holiday, often leftovers become old news. We eat them, because we don't want all our hard work of the day before to go to waste, but really we're not that enthusiastic about them - they've kind of lost their appeal. But your leftovers don't have to be a reheated repeat of last night's dinner. You can take your leftovers in a whole new direction by thinking about them in a whole new way.  It can be a challenge to arrange your leftovers into a main course without getting bored, but it can be done. Let's take a look at how to serve up a follow-up meal with as much excitement as the first time around.

Spicy Moves

Yay! Love those leftovers.  (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Trying to remake your leftovers into a main dish can seem pretty overwhelming at first. But, just like cooking a dish the first time, often the end result depends on the spices and seasonings. Take a look in your spice cabinet and you'll probably see a dozen or more ways to perk things up again. Open your refrigerator and look at the different mustard, salsas, hot sauces, vinegars, and other ingredients that can add new life to your leftovers.

Leftover green bean casserole can be given a new Asian inspired direction. Heat with teriyaki, soy sauce, and maybe a little sesame oil, toss with bean sprouts and chopped water chestnuts and wrap in wontons or serve over cooked rice. Instead of just using your leftover ham in yet another sandwich remake classic, marinate cut up chunks Cajun style in a little cumin, cayenne pepper, thyme, hot sauce, smoked paprika and a bit of oil and vinegar and add to gumbo or jambalaya. Think of the seasonings you like in other meals and take your leftovers for a trip to that side of the taste palate.

Put On a Fresh Face

Leftovers are often unappreciated as a replayed main course because the dishes just don't have the pizazz they did the night before. One of the reasons is that chilled foods can lose their color, aroma, or texture. It is important, if you want to successfully use your leftovers as a main course, to recreate the appeal in new ways.

If mashed potatoes are on the menu two days in a row, using the leftovers the second night takes some planning. The first night you may want to have smashed potatoes instead. Just lightly smash the potatoes with a hand-held masher with butter, salt and pepper and serve. These rustic potatoes are very appealing the first night, but boring the second. For the repeat, throw the potatoes in a bowl, add room temperature cream cheese, a touch of sour cream, more butter, and even some chopped chives, then whip with an electric mixer until fluffy. Blending in fresh herbs with leftovers that have lost their appeal overnight in the refrigerator is often all it takes to bring back the excitement of your favorite dishes.

Leftover ham (Photo credit: kregarious)

Costume Change Time

It is believed that almost 80% of a dish's enjoyment comes from senses other than taste, like aroma and appearance. If you take the time to make your dish look appealing and smell divine, it will usually taste better, too. This is especially important for leftovers since you have already experienced the flavors and your palate could get bored if repeated.

When you dish up that leftover piece of ham, is there a pleasing aroma that makes you anxious to enjoy it?  The spices and seasonings from the first night's dinner have probably faded in the refrigerator.  Kick it up a notch by refreshing the seasonings, or pop it in the oven for a few minutes with sprinkling of brown sugar on top - that will really get your taste buds going! A variety of color, textures, heights, and aromas can, and does, make your leftovers taste better the second time around.

There are lots of ways to turn your leftovers into a great main course the second, third, or even fourth time around. It takes imaginative seasoning, creative construction, an eye for style, and a nose for all the fabulous aromas that cooking has to offer. Does that sound like a tall order?  It really isn't, all it takes is experimenting with what you already know to find the talent waiting in the wings (or fridge)!

Recipe - Cranberry Ricotta Pie

Here is a tasty way to use up those leftover cranberries you didn't get to use yesterday. It's satisfying, tasty, and not too sweet - a welcome change from all the holiday candy and sugary cakes and pies.

Cranberry Ricotta Pie

Image by Shaw Girl via FlickrIngredients:
1 cup whole cranberries, fresh or frozen
1 1/4 cup ricotta
4 eggs
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
dash ground nutmeg
dash ground cloves

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, add the cranberries and, using a potato masher, mash them up a little bit to break them up.
3. Add to the bowl the remaining ingredients, stirring to mix; do not over-mix.
4. Grease, butter, or coat with cooking spray a large pie tin or other shallow baking dish about the same size.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 1-1/4 hour to 1-1/2 hour or until pie forms a crust-like top, browns slightly, and sets up.
6. Remove and let cool at room temperature.
7. Serve at room temperature with a dollop of whipped topping.

Recipe - Leftover Spaghetti Pizza

Here is a fun one that the kids will love! (What kid could resist a pizza made of spaghetti?) :-)  You can use whole grain pasta to make it healthier, and she gives some suggestions at the end for additional veggies you could add as well. It can be made with or without meat, and of course you can try different kinds of cheese too. Feel free to experiment, and be creative, but this is a great way to use up leftover spaghetti, in a way that is healthy and delicious for the whole family.

Pizza di Spaghetti Recipe (a recipe for leftover spaghetti)
This yummy recipe uses leftover spaghetti with sauce to make a delicious meal. It is vegetarian or meat eater friendly. The leftover spaghetti used in this example is simply 100% whole grain pasta and jar spaghetti sauce. Below is my recipe which I a...



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