5 Healthy Recipes for Your Thanksgiving Leftovers

After all the planning, expenses and time spent cooking your Thanksgiving feast, your family deserves Thanksgiving leftover meals that they will want to gobble down again. (One can only eat so many turkey sandwiches!)

If you’re not too creative with leftovers, don’t fret! We have five delicious yet healthy recipes for your Thanksgiving leftovers.

Turkey Pear Salad

This healthy salad incorporates a lot of different ingredients that you may have used for your Thanksgiving meal. Take your turkey leftovers and mix them with fresh fruits and greens to create this gorgeous salad that is as colorful as it is delicious.

Turkey Shepherd’s Pie

Everyone loves a good casserole, right? This recipe allows you to take a ton of leftover veggies, herbs and main courses and then turn them into a mouth-watering dish that can easily be used for work lunches or a healthy, yet filling, dinner.

Turkey Thai Curry

Spice things up by combining Thanksgiving leftovers with the bold flavors of Thai food! This is an excellent entree for taking advantage of extra turkey (or any leftover meat) and remaining veggies. Coconut milk is good for the heart, digestion and has other helpful vitamins (it’s also lactose-free). To make this even healthier, use light-fat coconut milk and brown rice.

Turkey Ramen

This savory soup is healthy, hearty and delectable. Use up those Thanksgiving scraps by dumping in remaining vegetables. Perfect for a chilly night, warm up your family’s bellies with this well-balanced ramen.

Cranberry Sauce Parfait

Don’t forget dessert! Incorporate your leftover cranberry sauce with a few other basic ingredients to create this simple treat. Yogurt burns fat and has tons of nutrients, such as calcium, protein and other vitamins. This parfait can even be used as a tantalizing mid-day snack.

Food, family, football – Thanksgiving is awesome. Even though Thanksgiving is revered as a time of gluttony, the holiday shouldn’t be an excuse for poor eating habits and extending your waistline. Say it with me: self control.

Many Americans worry about the discomfort that occurs after we’ve eaten on Thanksgiving. Here are some tips on how to have a healthier, more comfortable Thanksgiving:

• Have a balanced breakfast and lunch before dinner
• Drink lots of water throughout the day
• Skip the turkey skin (it’s high in fat)
• Eat various fruit in the morning and lots of vegetables with dinner
• Limit yourself on the desserts
• After dinner, go on a walk with a loved one

We hope you utilize your Thanksgiving scraps wisely and plan out healthy leftover meals for your family. For more healthy food ideas, check out Scripps Affiliated Medical Groups’ articles.