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The Leftover Parade

Everyone knows how Thanksgiving works, right?

You make too much food.
You eat too much food.
You try to send home too much food with all your guests.
You still have too much food in your refrigerator even after that.

At this point, you either get creative with the leftovers, or you eat them straight up as is, or you throw them away.  Usually, here at Chez Nelson, we go with the second option until we just can't stand it anymore and then we do #3.

This year, though, I've got different ideas.


This is a Sweet Potato and Turkey Pizza.  I made the dough from scratch, rolled it out to a 1/4" thickness, and used the rest of the Savory Garlic Philly Cooking Creme from the galette for the "sauce".  Had I not that, I would have probably gone with a seasoned olive oil brushing on the crust instead.  I don't think traditional tomato-based pizza sauce would go as well.

My father-in-law had brought me some garden-grown sweet potatoes and I diced them up and roasted them in my 375 oven for about 25 minutes until soft.  Then, I sprinkled them and some diced leftover turkey on top of the crust.  Back into the oven (now at 450 degrees) for about 20 minutes until things start getting brown on the top.


The turkey itself is rather flavorless, but that's okay with the sweet potatoes here.  It lends a little texture and substance to the pie, and looking at these pictures, I do wish I'd chopped a little fresh sage leaves up and sprinkled them on here.  That would given a little extra burst of flavor and color.

Some people dig the challenge of chopping down their own Christmas tree, some people thrive on the Black Friday chaos, but me, personally, this is my own private Herculean task: to artfully and uniquely transform leftovers into delicious goodness.  I feel a little like Cinderella's fairy godmother the night before the big ball.

The game is afoot.  The challenge is on.

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