How to Use Thanksgiving Leftovers for Healthy Meals

Now that you’ve seen all of the family and cleaning up that massive mess left by 
children and fun-loving pets, you peer into your refrigerator and what do you see? Tubs, 
and tubs of leftovers. Every year, a large portion of people simply have no idea what to 
do with massive amounts of food leftover from holiday functions. Your leftovers can 
soon become the best part of Thanksgiving with the following healthy meal ideas. 

Hot Turkey Melt

This one probably seems super obvious, but turkey can go a long way in a variety of 
meals. The easiest of which is to just make a sandwich. Take 2 slices of bread, if you 
want to get fancy you can use a marbled bread, and slice turkey as thinly as you can. In 
a bowl, mix a tablespoon of mayonnaise with a tablespoon of mustard. Spread the 
mustard and mayonnaise mixture on the bread, and dip the turkey. Place your favorite 
sliced cheese on both sides of the bread and place the now dipped turkey between the 
slices and fry in a pan with moderate heat until the cheese melts. 

Spicy Sweet Potato Soup

Do you have leftover sweet potatoes? Try this to give them new exciting life. Put a small 
amount of water and oil in a shallow pan and bring to a boil. Place the leftover pieces of 
sweet potato into the water and oil mixture and cook until warm, then add chili powder, 
and a pinch of cayenne pepper. Blend for 1 -2 minutes on a high setting and pour the 
contents into a bowl. You can garnish with parsley. If you want to add a bit of creamy 
texture to it, you can add plain Greek yogurt. To turn up the heat, add some diced, 
sautéed jalapenos. 

Turkey Stuffing Chili 

Stuffing can be a tough leftover to do new things with, but here's one that is guaranteed 
to make you want to keep it around. You can make a chili by boiling beans until they are 
halfway cooked and adding celery, onions and green or red peppers. Once the mixture 
is soft to where the beans mash between your fingers, add bits of turkey and stuffing 
stirring it the entire time for complete mixing. Stir in chili powder, ground cumin, salt, 
pepper, and paprika. Turn off the heat and you’re done! 

