Happy Post-Thanksgiving!

I had the most amazing few days with a house full of family and a fridge full of food. This year I waited until the last possible minute to prepare for the holiday.

I let the fridge go almost bare and then Wednesday I filled it with everything I needed to make the big meal and to feed our visitors for a few days.

My plan worked! And I think I may have made my best Thanksgiving meal yet!

My plate was beautiful.

And now I'm left with a fridge full of glorious leftovers!

Thanksgiving wouldn't be Thanksgiving without leftovers, and every year I try to come up with at least one new way to eat them.

Growing up we always made simple turkey sandwiches: a bit of mayo, two pieces of toast, salt, pepper and voila. There are a few variations in the family. The Husband adds a little stuffing to his and my stepfather uses ketchup. Yes. Ketchup.

Even this ketchup lover says, ew.

The past few years I've made some kind of turkey salad but it was time for a change. I was craving something warm.

I made homemade cranberry sauce for the first time ever this year and Mom and I were the only ones to eat it, so I have quite a bit left. Looking at it I thought, what a great spread for a turkey sandwich! Oh and I bet it would be amazing with the arugula and smoked Cheddar I bought for my traditional harvest salad. (Note: I usually buy Gouda but decided to change things up this year.)

I pulled everything out and already knew I had a winner.

The result was a yummy, warm, pressed sandwich with all the fun tastes of Thanksgiving in a new way.

Here's what I did …

Ingredients

1 whole wheat English muffin
½ oz smoked Cheddar or Gouda, sliced
2 oz leftover turkey
Handful of arugula
1 tablespoon homemade cranberry sauce

Instructions

Prepare all the ingredients.

I decided to use an English muffin to save a few calories on the bread, but you can use any bread or wrap-type things you have on hand.

Layer the cheese, turkey and arugula on the muffin. Spred the cranberry sauce on the top half.

Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat.

Arrange the sandwich and place it on the heated skillet. Press with a spatula or even weigh it down with a pot filled with water.

Note: This is my solution for not having a panini press AND being too lazy to pull out the George Foreman grill.

Cook it for 3-4 minutes until the cheese starts to melt and the muffin cooks through. Flip, pressing again and cooking for at least 2 more minutes.

Remove from heat and enjoy!

I served mine with some leftover green beans and I ate them like fries. SO yummy!

I also had a bowl of homemade turkey soup on the side as well. I may share it later this week but I didn't take that many photos with a houseful of guests.

📖 Recipe