Thanksgiving Leftovers. My Most Favorite Second, Third and Fourth Meal of the Year!

What’s the best thing about Thanksgiving dinner?  Leftovers of course!  The following three ideas for leftovers are family traditions that I’ve adapted for my new GP-friendly lifestyle.  Because everyone’s leftovers are different and there are no exact serving sizes I can’t do a nutritional breakdown of each recipe…just make sure all of your leftover components and portions are GP-friendly for you.

GP-Friendly Big Bird Sammie

Serves 1

1 pita round, split into 2 rounds with scissors (I purchase pita bread from a local Syrian/Lebanese bakery.  The loaves are very thin and the large rounds are 9-10″ in diameter.)  Save remaining half for another purpose.

1 triangle Laughing Cow cheese (any flavor-I used garlic and herb)

thinly sliced leftover turkey breast

leftover jellied cranberry sauce

leftover stuffing

leftover gravy

Preheat oven or toaster oven to 350 degrees.  Spread Laughing Cow wedge over entire surface of pita round.  Layer turkey, cranberry sauce then stuffing over half of the pita.  Salt and pepper between each layer.  Fold pita over to make a half- moon.  Seal in a foil packet and bake until warm-15 to 20 minutes.  Cut into 4 wedges and serve with leftover gravy, if desired.

Turkey Soup

Add a spoonful or cooked rice or noodles to each bowl before serving, if desired.

6 cups turkey stock (From previous post-freeze the other 6 cups or so with some leftover turkey meat for another batch of soup in a month or so)

1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1″ cubes (or carrots if able to eat)

8 ounces sliced mushrooms (I used crimini)

2 cloves garlic, smashed

1 bay leaf

2 teaspoons Herbes de Provence (ground into a powder with a pinch of salt in spice grinder)

1 tablespoon onion powder

2 teaspoons soy sauce

reserved turkey meat

10 ounce package frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed of excess liquid

Add sweet potato cubes, mushrooms, garlic, bay leaf, Herbes de Provence and onion powder to 6 cups of turkey stock.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer and cook until sweet potato cubes are tender (approximately 15 minutes).  Add soy sauce, reserved turkey meat and spinach.  Simmer until hot.  Season with salt and pepper.

Leftover Thanksgiving Dinner Pie

Serves 1 in an individual gratin dish or multiplied in a pie plate to serve more

Leftover low-fat GP-friendly stuffing

Leftover fat free gravy

bite sized pieces of leftover turkey, skin removed

cooked carrots  (for those who eat carrots)

Leftover fat free mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes or a combination

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Press leftover stuffing into gratin dish or pie plate.  Pre-bake in oven until crispy bottom crust is formed.  Meanwhile, warm gravy, turkey and carrots (if using) in a saucepan.  Pour filling into warm stuffing shell.  Loosen potatoes by stirring with a fork.  Spread or pipe mashed potatoes on top of “pie”.  Bake until potato topping is warm and puffed.

Tasty Find!

I’ve decided that along with Juicing Updates I’m going to start a new recurring theme called “Tasty Find!”.  As I stumble upon tasty GP-friendly food items, combinations or new products I’ll post a review of sorts.  Hopefully, this will inspire some of you to post a few of yours.

Today’s “Tasty Find!” is Laughing Cow Light Queso Fresco & Chipotle cheese wedges.  Now, I’ve always been a fan of  “the cow” and have fond childhood memories of enjoying La Vache Qui Rit cubes in my grandfather’s kitchen.  Each tasty, creamy wedge contains 1.5 grams of fat, 0 grams of fiber and 2 grams of protein.

Any flavor Laughing Cow wedge can be melted with some fat free milk to create a low-fat creamy “Alfredo” sauce, stirred into a baked potato as a flavorful change from butter or sour cream, or used as a savory sandwich spread…which is how I enjoyed the Queso Fresco & Chipotle…spread on half of a pita round with some sliced deli chicken breast.  Smooth, smokey and muy delicioso amigos!

Also, there’s a new Blue Cheese flavor Light Laughing Cow but since I’m allergic to blue cheese you’ll have to taste test it yourselves.