Dealing with Thanksgiving leftovers

I don't know about you, but I'm still swimming in Thanksgiving leftovers. And after eating the same things for a few meals, I get tired of them. So then I decide to make different things with the leftovers. I usually just make soup, but this year I've got soup, and veggie burgers!

I don't usually have the patience for making pie dough myself, so I occasionally get someone else to do it for me, and then I can also make single-serving pot pies, and freeze them. So if you have the patience to make pie dough, or can convince someone else, there's another idea for you! (That can use up roasted veggies, and gravy)

First, we can start with the burgers. I totally made this up, and they came out pretty darn well!

Makes about a dozen fairly small burgers

1 cup mashed potatoes

2 cups roasted vegetables

1/2-1 whole cup of whole wheat flour

Panko

Tiny bit of oil

Herbs and seasonings of choice

If your mashed potatoes have skins, or large chunks, puree it in a food processor, and put it in a large bowl. Then put your roasted veggies in the food processor, and pulse until mostly pureed, but also with many small chunks. Add it to your bowl, and add the flour, and seasonings of choice. (More on that later)

It should be a nice dough, not very wet, but wetter, than say chocolate chip cookie dough, and it should look something like this:

You might need to add more flour depending on your veggies and mashed potatoes, but you can always play around with the recipe however you like.

Then put the panko in a shallow bowl and shape the dough into burgers and ten coat it in the panko. Then add a tiny little bit of oil in a cast iron pan, and cook them until golden brown. I tried with and without panko, and with panko, I liked it better, and it didn't stick to the pan nearly as much, but if you don't have any, it'll be fine without,

Cook until golden brown. (The far right one does not have panko, the other two do)

Tada!

The recipe is pretty bland without the seasonings, but I left it that way so you can play around with the recipe and have it taste however you like. I did many variations, one with just a bunch of herbs and garlic powder, some with some curry powder, some with some coriander, cumin, garlic powder and cilantro, and my favorite of the bunch, herbs, nutritional yeast, soy sauce, and miso. Heck, you might get something tasty by adding gravy and extra flour. Keep in mind that after being cooked, the flavor of the seasoning is more subtle than when you taste the dough.

I put most of them in the freezer, and I bet they'll be great out of the freezer, too!

Let me know what seasonings you try and like!

And here's the soup:

Thanksgiving leftover stoup: (Stew/soup)

3-4 cups vegetable broth

1/2 cup long-grain brown rice or half a cup barley (If you've got some sort of leftover grain dish, you can probably use that, too!)

2-4 cups roasted veggies (Depending on how many veggies you like in your stoups)

Few large leaves of chopped kale

2-3 cloves of garlic, minced

Thyme

Salt and pepper to taste

Put your broth in a medium pot, along with the rice or barley, and bring to a boil. Once boiling, bring it down to a simmer, and cook until the rice is tender. Meanwhile, chop your veggies into fairly small pieces. Once tender, add all remaining ingredients. Cook for a couple minutes until everything is warmed. Best served with a good sprinkle of nutritional yeast.

If you've got some leftover Tofurkey or something, you could probably add some chunks of that as well.

I still have no idea how to deal with leftover stuffing. If you've got any ideas, let me know.

I'll probably post about the vegan feast tomorrow. Until then!