Cash Cuddler » Thrifty Thanksgiving Leftovers

Thrifty Thanksgiving Leftovers

I spend Thanksgiving at the home of a cousin who makes a very large, wonderful meal, and obviously fusses for days cooking.

Towards the end of the last visit, Lisa, who is a low-carb/fitness fanatic, didn’t want to deal with the large pan of leftover mashed sweet potatoes, and was about to toss it out. “Not on my watch,” I said, who rescued the food like a cheapskate superhero. The leftover sweet potato mash was sent home with to my thrifty kitchen, where it was consumed over several days, and baked into two pies.

Two cups of the stuff, along with 1/4 cup of sugar, an egg, a little vanilla and an unbaked pie shell yielded a very delicious sweet potato pie. It was better than the pumpkin pie, had a firmer texture and was certainly cheaper.

After several days, numerous meals and a sweet potato pie, some of the mash was still left over, so it was reborn as a new pie, a cheesecake sweet potato pie!

Two cups of the mash, two 8-oz. blocks of cream cheese, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 egg, vanilla and a pie shell. Very nice, but the first one was superior. Tip for next time: Purée the vegetables before combining with cream cheese, or else there will be lumps (in a solid sweet potato pie, this doesn’t matter).

This only one of many thrifty ideas for using Thanksgiving dinner leftovers. If you have a good idea for using leftovers to save on food bills, please post it in the comments.