One of the best things about Thanksgiving is the wonderful leftovers. You can have an encore of the whole leftover meal, make sandwiches, or you can use the leftovers to create something new and amazing. When starting with such delicious food, you can go in just about any direction! I know after a few days, though, my family starts to get a little bored with the same thing at every meal, no matter how tasty it is. Because I want to keep mealtimes interesting for everyone, I like to find a variety of ways to present the food—in many cases, the resulting meal is completely different even though the starting components were the same! I’ve recently found making soup or stew is a way of completely reworking my Thanksgiving leftovers into a meal that my entire family adores, without having to hear “Turkey…again?” from my kids. LOL In fact, leftover mashed potatoes make some of the best soup you will ever try. Growing up, I was always a huge fan of potato soup, but when you’re starting with your leftover mashed potatoes, you have the benefit of starting with all of the flavors you already had in that side dish (butter, milk, salt, and yum), it can only make your soup even better! Once you add in all of the other fantastic components from your Thanksgiving meal, you’ll have an incredibly delicious soup to share with your family—and it’s something that you won’t feel like you’ve already eaten for the last four days! This recipe also works for those days after you’ve roasted a chicken and don’t want to eat the same leftovers again and again. Once the soup is made, you can also easily freeze any remainder to enjoy at a future date as a one-dish meal!
For this recipe, start by cooking celery, carrots, and onion in a pot until softened. Next, add some Marsala wine and bring to a simmer to cook off the alcohol. In a separate pan, melt butter, add flour, and cook until brown, stirring constantly. Next, add chicken broth to the butter and flour and cook until thickened. Once thickened, combine with green chiles, the celery, onion, carrots, the leftover mashed potatoes, any other desired vegetables, gravy, and meat (Turkey, chicken, etc.) in a large pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat until heated through. Serve with your favorite bread and Enjoy!
