Turkey Leftovers

Do you get tired eating all of those leftover turkey sandwiches for the week or two after Thanksgiving?  Me too.  This year I thought I’d switch things up a bit and try making a casserole with my leftover bread, turkey and gravy.  You may recognize some of the basics in this recipe as a classic Stovetop Chicken Bake, but modified to work with the leftovers I had on hand.  This year, I cooked with my older daughter who was having a Friendsgiving with 4 of her besties.  I have no idea how this happened, but somehow she committed to making the turkey, the gravy and the mashed potatoes.  Her logic… if we make the mashed potatoes, we have to make the gravy and we can’t make gravy without making the turkey.

Wow.  Really?  Couldn’t we have just brought a dessert?

Then I suggested we make my Uncle Al’s Amazing Buttered Onion Rolls and a veggie tray since that was what we brought to our family get-together.  I guess there is always a silver lining, because without this Friendsgiving meal, I would not have had leftovers in the first place, right?  I also thought it would be a good learning experience for my daughter and she did a lot of the work with my supervision.  She and her best friend did all of the shopping as well, so that helped a lot.

Friendsgiving Meal Prep

My daughter woke up at 9 a.m. and got started.  By the time I came downstairs, she had already taken the turkey out of its packaging and had it in a roasting pan.  She peeled the potatoes and had them soaking in water so they wouldn’t brown (good girl, she remembered!).

She was working on the buttered onion rolls and we decided to try and make a buttered onion loaf of bread as well, which is the base layer for this Leftover Turkey Casserole recipe.  We used the same ingredients as my standard rolls, but used a Rhodes loaf of bread instead.

Things were on track and I was happy to see that she had done so much on her own.  We were ready to continue to prep the turkey, so we cleaned the sink and rinsed the turkey.  I asked if she had taken out what was inside and she pointed at the gravy packet she had removed.  Of course, I could tell that she hadn’t gotten to the neck and giblets.  I reached my hand in and pulled out the neck.  She was absolutely disgusted.  I reached in and pulled out a second neck.  Yes, there were two necks so someone out there who was looking forward to using a neck in their stuffing or gravy was sorely disappointed.

I asked if she had looked in the other cavity and she was disgusted that there even is a second cavity.  I reached up toward the neck area and pulled out the bag of giblets.

<insert more disgusted looks and gagging sounds from teenager>

Kitchen Mishap

So the rest of the meal prep went great until about an hour before she was going to leave.  The rolls had risen nicely and I popped them in the oven.  Within a few minutes, smoke began to pour out.  My first thought was that the turkey was burning, but quickly realized it was from the pan of rolls.  We used an aluminum tray and apparently there was a hole in the bottom.  Butter was dripping into the bottom of the oven.  I pulled the pan of rolls out and put them on top of the stove, butter dripping everywhere.

The next minute or two went so well it was almost as if we had rehearsed.  I told my daughter to run and get the fan in the garage and I opened the kitchen window and the front door.  My daughter put the fan on a chair and turned it on, creating a cross-breeze in the house to blow the smoke out.  We have done this in the past more times than I’d care to mention.  We transferred the slippery, buttery risen rolls into a new pan with butter and spring onion on the bottom and managed to successfully cook the rolls.

Other than the smoking stove incident, the day went very well.  We put the turkey in my large crockpot, put the potatoes in my smaller one and put the gravy in a thermos.  She had a great time with her friends and I heard many compliments on the food.  Score one for mom.  Don’t forget to save the turkey bones and make a yummy turkey stock based on this recipe for chicken bone broth.

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Assembling the Casserole

I had the one loaf of Amazing Buttered Onion Bread and cut about 1 inch off the bottom of the loaf to use as the base layer of the casserole. Since there was already butter on the bread, I did not need to spray with cooking spray, but you should if you’re starting with regular bread or rolls.  Pour 1 cup of turkey gravy over the bread. Layer 4 ounces (or more if you want!) of shredded turkey over the gravy.  In a separate bowl, combine the Stovetop stuffing mix, condensed soup, sour cream and water, then layer it over the top.  Bake 30 minutes at 375, uncovered until last 5 to 10 minutes. If it’s browning too much, cover with foil.

If you were lucky enough to end up with even MORE leftover turkey gravy, it’s awesome to serve some at the table so your family can pour a little more over the top of this casserole.

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Leftover Turkey Casserole

Rating  5 from 1 reviews

Ingredients

• Leftover bread or rolls
• 1 cup turkey gravy
• 4 oz shredded turkey
• 1 package Stovetop Turkey Stuffing mix
• ⅓ cup sour cream
• 1 can Healthy Request Campbell's Cream of Chicken (has lower sodium)*
• 4 oz water

Instructions

1. Spray bottom of 8x10 inch baking dish with cooking spray.
2. Place a layer of bread on the bottom of the dish. If using leftover rolls, tear or cut them to about 1 inch thickness.
3. Pour turkey gravy over bread
4. Add a layer of shredded turkey
5. Mix up your stuffing for the top layer:
6. In a separate mixing bowl, combine the Stuffing mix, sour cream, soup and water. Mix well to combine and be sure all of stuffing is moistened. Layer the stuffing mix on top of shredded turkey
7. Cook 30 minutes at 375, uncovered until last 5 to 10 minutes. If it's browning too much, cover with foil.

Notes

*I first made this recipe with standard Cream of Chicken soup and chicken broth instead of water. I thought it was too salty, so I recommend using the lower sodium Healthy Request version and water.

Serve with extra gravy. If you were lucky enough to end up with even MORE leftover turkey gravy, it's awesome to serve some at the table so your family can pour a little more over the top of your awesome creation.

3.5.3229