Waste Wise Lane County is excited to feature the following recipes submitted by local amateur chefs in the spirit of food waste prevention and our Simplify the Holidays campaign. Check back weekly for new recipes collected and shared through Dec. 31.
Bon appétit!
Thanksgiving Egg Rolls
Submitted by: Lilly Provenzano
Source
My children
Recipe inspiration
My children really like egg rolls and we all get tired of sandwiches and casseroles pretty quickly.
Featured leftover/s
Anything savory leftover after the Thanksgiving day holiday.
Estimated savings from wasted food prevention
$100
Recipe directions
Take your choice of leftovers; turkey, green bean casserole, dressing, mashed potatoes, etc. Combine all the ingredients and then roll them in egg roll wrappers and deep or air fry.
Dip cooked egg rolls in warm gravy or chilled cranberry. They can also be frozen for later snacking.
Leftover Stuffing Muffins
Submitted by: Kathleen Crivello
Source
YouTube
Recipe inspiration
My family is picky, so it's a great way to make "new" leftovers.
Featured leftover/s
Turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy and biscuits.
Estimated savings from wasted food prevention
$25
Recipe directions
Ingredients
2 tsp butter (for greasing the muffin tin)
3 cups prepared stuffing or dressing
1 cup chopped turkey or ham
1/4 lb. frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed
6 large eggs
2 Tbsp milk
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp Freshly cracked pepper
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease a muffin tin with butter, oil, or non-stick spray. Thaw and squeeze the spinach dry.
Add the stuffing, turkey, and spinach to a bowl, then stir gently to combine without breaking up the stuffing too much.
Divide the stuffing mixture between all 12 wells of the muffin tin. Leave the stuffing loosely packed in the cups so that the egg mixture can fill in around the stuffing.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, and pepper. Divide the egg mixture among the 12 wells, starting with 2 Tbsp per muffin and then adding a little bit more until all of the egg mixture has been used. The egg will not fully cover the stuffing, it will puff up as it bakes.
Bake the muffins for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown and crispy on the top. Allow the muffins to cool slightly, then run a knife around the edges to loosen and remove each muffin. Serve warm.
Savory Bagel Stuffing
Submitted by: Brian Bull
Source
My own special recipe.
Recipe inspiration
Our family enjoys bagels, but sometimes we don't finish them before they get a bit dry, hard, and near-stale. We also love stuffing with our holiday meals, so this seemed to be a good way to reuse old bagels into something special for our dining experience.
Featured leftover/s
Day-old bagels (repurposed into a holiday side dish)
Estimated savings from wasted food prevention
$7-10
Recipe directions
I flipped the script a bit here! This entrée isn't made from repurposed holiday leftovers, but rather day-old bagels made into a holiday side-dish.
Ingredients:
4 day-old bagels, preferably savory (I used two garlic and two onion bagels from Lox, Stock, & Bagels)
4 tablespoons butter
½ white onion
2 medium carrots, peeled
2 celery stalks
Salt and pepper to taste
2 ½ to 3 cups chicken stock
1 16-oz. tube of sausage (ex: Jimmy Dean or similar brand)
½ green apple
1 Tb. ground sage
Step 1: With a sharp knife, slice the bagels into roughly ½” cubes. (If using fresh bagels, you can dry these cubes out in an oven at 275F for an hour, or let stand out on a counter for a couple days.)
Step 2: In large pan, melt butter. Finely mince onion, carrots, and celery, then cook in butter with salt and pepper at medium heat until onion is translucent and vegetables are slightly brown, about 12-15 minutes. Remove from heat.
Step 3: Heat chicken stock to near boiling. Add slowly to cubed bagels, and let sit to allow them to soak up stock, about 5 minutes. If mixture seems too dry, add more stock.
Step 4: Pre-heat oven to 400F. Lightly butter or grease 9”x13” glass or metal pan.
Step 5: Finely mince green apple (I keep the skin on mine.)
Step 6: When bagel-stock mixture has cooled enough to handle add sausage. Use hands to fully integrate sausage into bagels. You should have a mealy mixture that’s also sticky.
Step 7: Mix in browned onions, carrots, celery, and apple. Arrange stuffing evenly inside pan.
Step 8: Bake for 45 minutes. For a little bit of a singed crust, you can also broil on high for an extra 2-3 minutes at the end.
Step 9: Remove and let sit for 10 minutes before serving. Stuffing will still be hot, so be careful! Enjoy with traditional turkey and potatoes.
Vegetable Broth
(gluten-free)
(vegan)
(vegetarian)
Submitted by: Elizabeth Evans
Source
Sam
Recipe inspiration
I hated tossing the peels, ends, stems, etc. that's left after chopping vegetables for meals. I compost most, but save some for vegetable broth by collecting the scraps in a gallon bag kept in the freezer.
Featured leftover/s
Vegetable scraps and ends leftover after preparing dishes
Estimated savings from wasted food prevention
$20
Recipe directions
Place clean vegetable scraps in a large stock pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and lower heat to simmer, stirring occasionally. Simmer for 45 to 75 minutes. Strain out solids through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth. Store in fridge for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 6 months.
Use wherever broth or stock is called for in recipes.
Never the Same Soup
Submitted by: Marilyn O'Malley
Source
Marilyn O'Malley
Recipe inspiration
I think wasting food is a sin, especially if there's meat involved. An animal died so we can eat it and then to waste it seems like an unnecessary sacrifice. I probably waste less than 0.25% of the food I buy because I buy food thinking about what I'll do with the leftovers. If I do waste food, it's probably a piece of fruit that went bad before being eaten, and it will go into the compost bucket. I try to only buy enough fruit for a few days at a time. I make many dishes out of leftovers, usually invented on the spot. Whenever I have small amounts of leftover food that I can't turn it into the next evening's dinner, I add it to a jar I keep in the freezer. Let's call it the "Freezer Jar." If it looks like a stalk of celery or part of an onion is going to go bad before it gets eaten, it gets chopped up and put in the freezer jar. In a month's time the jar might have small bits of celery, green beans, onion, broth, gravy, noodles, rice, and whatever portion of some salsa I didn't use. It goes into the next soup I make. I make many dishes out of leftovers, usually invented on the spot, but making soup out of leftover turkey and nearly anything else left over from Thanksgiving dinner, is the easiest to describe.
Featured leftover/s
Leftover turkey, rice, vegetables, gravy, and any contents from the "Freezer jar."
Estimated savings from wasted food prevention
$25
Recipe directions
Step 1: After Thanksgiving dinner, trim the meat off the turkey and package and freeze it for later use. Take a large pot and use it to boil off any bits of meat remaining on the carcass and add whatever meat you decided not to package. The carcass must be submerged in boiling water for over an hour before you can strip the rest of the meat off of it.
Step 2: Take the Freezer Jar out to thaw.
Step 3: Remove the bones from the pot, leaving only the meat and any dressing that boiled off the bird.
Ingredients to Incorporate:
Rice stuffing or leftover potatoes (or both). **Do not use bread crumb stuffing.
Any vegetable leftover from the meal (except sweet potatoes or beets, which I don't think taste good in soup)
Leftover Gravy
Step 4: Throw all this stuff in the pot with the turkey meat. Now it's time to get creative!
If you didn't have rice with the meal, grab a few handfuls of pasta or rice and throw it in the pot. If there aren't enough vegetables, add some more until your satisfied that there's sufficiently enough. Chop up celery and carrots if you want? Cook all ingredients until the soup comes to a boil and then simmer for about 20 minutes. To taste, add salt, pepper, garlic, onion, other spices. Add what you think it needs and keep sampling until you are satisfied.
**Suggestions: A small pinch of cayenne can add just the right amount of warmth to a soup. Mushrooms can be a nice addition if you wish?
This soup will be different and unique all year depending on the ingredients you have.
Ham Gravy
Submitted by: Lisa Fortin
Source
Mary Rice
Recipe inspiration
Making something that tastes very different from the holiday food, but uses a lot of it up!
Featured leftover/s
Ham (or turkey - whatever meat), leftover bread or biscuits, cream/whole milk left from whipped cream or potatoes
Estimated savings from wasted food prevention
$15
Recipe directions
Ingredients:
2 tbsp. butter
2 cups chopped up leftover ham (or turkey)
2 tbsp. flour
1.5 cups of cream or whole milk
Salt
Pepper
Melt butter in a skillet. Add meat and sauté until meat gets a little color added to it. Sprinkle in flour and cook for a minute until the flour has soaked up all the butter and has coated the meat. Lower the heat a little and pour in the cream stirring constantly until a thickened gravy appears. Add more cream or milk to make it thinner if necessary. Add salt and pepper to taste. Toast the leftover bread/biscuits in the oven while this simmers. Put the bread/biscuit on a plate and cover with gravy.
This is a flexible recipe and can be scaled up or down depending on the amount of leftovers you have.
Easy Leftover Casserole
Submitted by:
Pat Allen
Source
Rachel Ray
Recipe inspiration
I was tired of the usual 2nd go round of Thanksgiving dinner!
Featured leftover/s
turkey slices, stuffing, cranberry sauce, gravy, mashed potatoes.
Estimated savings from wasted food prevention
$10-15
Recipe directions
In an appropriate sized baking dish or pan, layer: 1) stuffing, 2) cranberry sauce, 3) turkey slices, 4) gravy, 5) mashed potatoes. Bake at 350 degrees until the potatoes are brown.
It should take approximately 30 minutes.
The Renaissance Pie
Submitted by:
Meredith Diskin
Source
Recipe Tin Eats (www.recipetineats.com)
Recipe inspiration
I originally found a recipe for Garlic Bread Turkey Pot Pie from Recipe Tin Eats after we had cooked Turkey one year and I needed a recipe for the leftover Turkey. It was so delicious, and every year since, we have made it a little more our own. This year, I decided to do a twist between a Pot Pie and a Shepherd's Pie with the leftover mashed potatoes. Turkey, garlic bread, mashed potatoes and a handful of cheese. Can't go wrong!
Featured leftover/s
Turkey, mashed potatoes and dinner rolls.
Estimated savings from wasted food prevention
$10-20
Recipe directions
Ingredients
4 tbsp. butter
1 onion (finely chopped)
2 garlic cloves (minced)
2 carrots, peeled, chopped into 1/3" pieces
4 tbsp. flour
2 1/2 cups milk
4 cups cooked chopped turkey
1 cup creamy mashed potatoes
1 cups frozen peas
1 tsp chicken bouillon powder
1 spring fresh thyme (optional)
1 spring fresh rosemary (optional)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
2 tbsp. parmesan cheese, grated
2 tbsp. gruyere cheese, grated
Garlic bread toppings
4 tbsp. butter (melted)
2 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
5 "packed" cups of bread chunks 1" cubes (leftover dinner rolls or any soft bread)
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Garlic bread topping: Stir together melted butter and garlic. Place bread chunks in a bowl, drizzle over butter, toss. Set aside to let bread soak up butter and garlic flavor.
3. Sauté garlic & onion: Put stovetop heat on medium. Melt butter in sauté pan. Add onion and garlic, cook for 2 minutes.
4. Add carrots then cook for 1 minute.
5. Add flour, cook for 1 minute. You'll have a pasty mix. Don't worry if it looks dry (depends how sweaty your onions get).
6. Make roux: While stirring, add half the milk and mix quickly to dissolve the paste into the liquid (this happens quite quickly). Add remaining liquid and stir. Add chicken bouillon powder, salt and pepper, stir.
7. Thicken sauce: Cook for 3 – 5 minutes, stirring regularly. It should start steaming and bubbling a bit, and the sauce will eventually thicken.
8. Add turkey, peas, fresh rosemary and thyme (if using) and mix all together.
9. Pour mixture evenly into a 9x13 Pyrex dish.
10. Spread mashed potatoes evenly over the mixture. Use a spoon to smooth.
11. Top with garlic bread, spread to cover surface. Sprinkle parmesan and gruyere.
12. Bake for 12 – 15 minutes or until the cheese gets some brown spots. Use foil so it doesn't stick to the cheese, bake for a further 10 minutes.