Giving Thanks For Thanksgiving Leftovers

Source:  Rachel Ray Food Network

I was on my way to work last week listening to NPR, and I was startled to hear a mouth-opening fact.   The radio station reported that 20 percent of the waste that goes into municipal landfills is food.   Yes, food.  In fact, NPR reported, based on the latest U.S. Environmental Protection Agency report, that our landfills collected 35 million tons of discarded food in 2012.  In Massachusetts alone, food scraps generate more than 800,000 tons of the waste each year according to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.

It’s bad enough that the food decomposing in our landfills emits greenhouse gases into the air which contribute to global warming, but according to Harvest Public Media, 1 in 6 Americans currently struggle with hunger.  This waste of food is a travesty.

This had me thinking about all the platters of turkey, casserole dishes, bread baskets, and desserts trays containing a bounty of food (and thousands of calories) on Thanksgiving, and the colossal amount that goes into the trash because “it’s not quite enough for another family meal.” or “what can I do with all this leftover stuff?”

Last year, I blogged about making less food on Turkey Day and giving the money saved at the supermarket to a food pantry.  This is still a healthy idea and definitely a way to reduce the amount of food you will toss out.  At the same time, it helps those who are food insecure.

This year, you may want to consider also challenging yourself to recycling your leftovers and make another meal (or two), even if it is only for one person.  Here are some ways to reuse Thanksgiving Day leftovers, from the last spoonful of cranberry sauce scraped from the bottom of the bowl to the humongous turkey carcass left in the roasting pan:

• Buy plain, non-sweetened, yogurt and top it with a spoonful of leftover cranberry sauce.  The sweetened sauce will provide the perfect amount of sweetness to the tangy yogurt. Add some whole grain cereal for a crunchy breakfast topping. 

• Use the leftover fresh bread to make turkey sandwiches for lunch.

• Add a kick to leftover Thanksgiving Day turkey by making Rachel Ray’s Turkey Chili. She cleverly ladles it over the leftover mashed potatoes, which will stretch the chili recipe even further. (See above photo.)
  

• If making homemade turkey soup intimidates you, try this easy recipe.  Freeze any leftover soup in
  
  individualized, covered containers for on-demand, homemade soup for weeks to come.Toss the leftover Thanksgiving green beans and carrots to the soup pot during the last 15 minutes of the simmering.  If you don’t want to make the soup from scratch, open up a couple cans of vegetable soup and pour the contents into a large pot.  Add two cups of water and some diced leftover turkey along with the leftover vegetables.  Simmer until hot.  Presto:  Homemade (sort of) turkey vegetable soup.  

• Portion leftover desserts into bite size pieces and place them in paper cupcake liners.  Freeze these individualized desserts in plastic covered containers and defrost them in the refrigerator as needed for future holiday get-togethers. 
  
  Happy Thanksgiving!  Joan

       Twitter:  @JoanSalgeBlake