Frugal Uses for Leftover Turkey

by Nicole Humphrey | More from this Blogger

17 Jun 2007 10:54 AM

Turkey is pretty popular around our house. We don't just cook whole turkey's though, we often buy turkey breasts, deli meat and ground turkey. We substitute ground turkey for many of our meals that call for ground beef. Honestly, the turkey just tastes better - it's full of flavor and is of course, a much healthier choice.

The thing about turkey is that if you buy a whole bird, it's a lot. We are always faced with leftovers, but that simply is not a problem for us. We found great, creative and tasty ways to reuse the turkey.

Here are some great ways to use up leftover turkey:

• Substitute ground turkey when a recipe calls for ground beef.
• Add turkey chunks to your favorite pasta, it really adds flavor.
• Turkey is one of the best and most popular lunch meats. Yum!
• Thinly sliced deli turkey tastes great in salads, and can also be added to pasta salads.
• Try making turkey salad, the same way you might make chicken or ham salad with the leftovers and add to a sandwich, or just eat plain. Delicious!
• Turkey tastes great in casseroles, stews and soups that call for chicken.
• Turkey can be substituted for almost any meat called for in a recipe, and it just needs to be cubed, cut, sliced, diced or chunked.

Here is one of our favorite family recipes for leftover turkey.

Turkey Tetrazzini

8 ounces thin spaghetti, broken up into smaller pieces, cooked and drained

1 1/2 cups of shredded cheese, divided (American or Cheddar taste great!)

1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese, divided

2 to 3 cups of diced cooked turkey

2 Tablespoons of diced pimientos

1 Tablespoon of butter

4 ounces of sliced mushrooms

1/4 cup of onion, chopped

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

1/2 cup of chicken broth

1/4 cup of dry sherry

salt and pepper, to taste

In a bowl, combine cooked spaghetti with 1 cup of the cheese and half of the Parmesan cheese. Add the turkey and the pimientos. In a small skillet, melt the butter and sauté the mushrooms and onions, just until tender . Next, add the turkey mixture along with remaining ingredients. Gently stir to combine everything Place into a greased casserole dish and sprinkle the rest of the cheeses over the top. Cover with a lid or tin foil and bake at 350° for 45 minutes, or until hot and bubbly.

Related Articles:

Frugal Uses for Leftover Turkey

Frugal Uses for Leftover Ham

Frugal Uses for Leftover Chicken

Frugal Uses for Leftovers

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Learn more about Nicole Humphrey

Nicole Humphrey is a freelance writer, consultant for CTMH and a Sr. Blogger for families.com. She resides in St. Charles, Missouri with Mike and their five children and two furbabies.

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