Last Thanksgiving, my husband was driving us to his parents for Thanksgiving and I was in the passenger seat scrolling through Facebook on my phone. In the midst of all the “I am thankful for…” posts, this not so fun-fact from one of the many food focused groups that I follow crossed my screen:
“Some five million tons of food—enough to fill the John Hancock Building more than 14 times—will be wasted between Thanksgiving and the end of 2013.”
I was shocked.
And confused.
Thanksgiving is great. I love being with family and getting everyone around the table for a great meal. I also love the idea of giving thanks for all the blessings in your life.
But, isn’t one of the best things about Thanksgiving the left overs?
Why waste all the fabulous Thanksgiving food when you can enjoy the left overs in so many different ways until they are gone?
I shared a handful of my great Thanksgiving left over go-to’s on my personal blog leading up to Turkey Day and decided to also share the love on Scratch Mommy.
Left over turkey can get a little mundane, but this salad totally changes it…
…and will fill the void of wanting to just order Chinese take out thanks to the increased tryptophan in your diet.
And, you will feel better about it too!
Not only is the spicy, fresh flavor so much more authentic, one of the six portions flirts with only about three hundred calories which makes it an excellent day after Thanksgiving meal. The salad is a pretty good source of protein — thanks to the turkey and peanut butter. You can sub sun butter for the peanut butter or whatever you typically use.
And, trust me, there won’t be any left overs.
- 3 cups left over turkey, chopped in bite sized pieces
- 1 large carrot, shredded
- ½ head of red cabbage, thinly sliced
- 2 cups mixed greens
- 1 small bunch cilantro, chopped
- 4 green onions, chopped, or 1 bunch chives, chopped
- ½ cup chopped peanuts
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 Serrano peppers, centers removed, minced
- 1 small knob of ginger, minced
- 2 Tbsp chili garlic sauce
- 2 Tbsp rice vinegar
- 2 Tbsp soy sauce (unpasteurized soy sauce like this)
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar (our favorite organic brown sugar)
- Juice of one lime
- ½ cup peanut butter (check ingredient labels!)
- Add all salad ingredients into a large bowl.
- Using a medium bowl, combine dressing ingredients together until well incorporated.
- Pour dressing over salad and toss until well combined.
- Top with additional chopped peanuts, cilantro and green onions, if desired; Serve right away.