Most people will have either an Easter ham or Easter turkey for their Easter dinner or brunch. Lets talk Easter dinner leftovers… I’m suggesting that you purchase the LARGEST Easter ham or turkey possible and plan leftovers the remainder of the week. Leftovers don’t mean your eating the same food for the next several days so we’re going to talk “meal planning” so that you’re eating gourmet all week long just from your one main Easter meal. When planning your Easter Dinner think about double batch cooking too. That just means that you’re making double the food necessary and freezing for another night when you are busy. These strategies will help with;
- Weight loss or maintenance
- Reducing food waste each week
- Spend valuable time with family
- Get rid of the “What’s for dinner tonight?” crunch
- Reduce your grocery budget by being more efficient
Ready to get started? I have some awesome EASY ideas for leftovers….. And I promise if you plan out your meals this is going to make your life sooooo much easier! (Pinterest link to Bacon wrapped turkey above)
When I cooked my turkey I was sure to fill the pan with several cups of water. It helps with stock for your soup and as the water starts to boil it keeps your turkey moist with all of the steam. This took me about 12 to 15 minutes to pick the turkey and maybe another 5 minutes to throw these ingredients into the crock pot. (Pinterest link to Turkey Rice soup here)
Turkey Rice Soup Recipe;
- Leftover turkey meat
- bag of carrots
- about 2-3 cups rice (brown or white or wild is fine)
- Knorr soup stock – I used 1 vegetable, 1 chicken
- 3 to 6 cups water (depending on how much broth you want and how much leftover turkey you have)
- stock juice from your turkey
Crock pot directions: Throw all of the above ingredients into the crock pot and set it on low to medium for several hours. Just be sure you don’t run out of water in the crock pot. Your amount of soup depends on how much turkey etc you have leftover. This soup freezes well to plan a quick meal you can just heat up for a busy night (like if you have to run kids to dance class, soccer etc.)
Check out Kooky Carol’s Kitchen Concoctions for more yummy leftover recipes! She has an awesome recipe for a Turkey Noodle Soup here and I also like the pot pie recipe here. Its for chicken but you can substitute turkey.
Easter Ham dinner-brunch: If you’re planning an Easter ham for your family then be sure to purchase a LARGE ham and plan for some great leftovers. I usually cut up my ham afterwards and pop it in the refrigerator for an Easter Monday scrambled eggs and ham breakfast. I’m sure to cook my ham with some whole potatoes and I’ll just slice those and fry those the next morning for homemade home fries for our breakfast. I have an EASY recipe for Ham Pot Pie too. Get creative and save time by planning your meals in advance. BE SURE TO WRITE DOWN WHAT YOUR PLANNING TO MAKE.
Ham Pot Pie:
- Pillsbury pie crust (I use the roll out frozen ones or box ones)
- Milk 1/2 to 1 Cup
- 1/4 Stick butter
- Swiss Cheese
- Leftover Ham chunks
- lima beans (or any veggies leftover from your meal)
- Carrots (or any veggie leftovers from your Easter meal)
- Potatoes (insides scooped out so leftover baked potatoes are great)
Throw ham, milk and veggies in pan & butter and heat, add potatoes (no skins, insides scouped out). Stir mixture. Milk should all be absorbed by the potatoes and other ingredients.
Pour into your pie shell. Add a thin layer swiss cheese and then add a top to your pot pie (see photo) bake until golden. Enjoy
Here is what the mixture should look like before you pour it into the pie shell. If you have quite a bit of leftover ham you could make 2 or 3 pies and freeze one for a busy night. (like you see the 3 I made in my image above)
Now… You’ll have baked potatoes with the insides scooped out. These freeze really well for bacon cheddar skins another night. Nothing should go to waste and you should make use of EVERYTHING! Plan in advance~ ☺
If you’re thinking about how to heck do you make a “bacon wrapped turkey” its really easy. It took about 2 lbs of bacon to cover the large bird but I just draped the bacon and wrapped and tucked. It was moist and delicious! Don’t forget to add extra water (several cups) to the bottom of your turkey baking pan for your turkey soup stock (plus it keep turkey moist)
Leave a Reply