“Waste not want not,” is a phrase that we try to live by here at the Earthbound Kitchen year round. However, if there’s one time during the year that we need reminding of how to avoid wasting food it’s probably Thanksgiving. I don’t know about all of you, but we have a ridiculous amount of food leftover from the holiday. Half a pie, an entire loaf of pumpkin nut cake, mashed potatoes, gravy, sweet potato soufflé, stuffing, green bean casserole, and 6 acorn squash halves that every person at dinner was too polite to eat because there weren’t enough to go around.

As far as I’m concerned apple pie and pumpkin nut bread make a great breakfasts, they can’t possibly be any worse for you than some of that sugar filled cereal that most people eat every morning. Most of the side dishes left over can be eaten with various other main courses. The real question is what to do with all that turkey. Here are some ideas that I’ve come up with so far:

• Traditional Turkey Sandwiches
• Hot Open Face Turkey Sandwiches
• Turkey Pot Pie
• Turkey Noodle Soup

The turkey soup is fantastic, even after I carved the remaining turkey up and got enough meat for a dozen sandwiches I still had enough left on the bones to make an incredibly rich and tasty broth. My favorite so far though has been the open face turkey sandwiches. For these I take a slice of bread and spread a little gravy on it. Then I layer on some stuffing and some turkey. Pour a little more gravy on top and lay on a couple of slices of cheese if you’re feeling daring. Bake in the oven at 250 or 300 for 10 or so minutes until the sandwich is hot and the cheese is melted. Savor with a side of cranberry juice. Yum!