On Turkey Day, we are usually so stuffed we can’t think about preparing food for the following day. But really, is there anything nicer then sitting down to Thanksgiving leftovers? Especially if there’s extra homemade gravy left.

Instead of relegating our readers to two weeks of the same reheated turkey, mashed potatoes and stuffing, we asked our food writers what they do with their leftovers. They responded with recipes for a Thanksgiving casserole, a turkey bake covered with Parmesan cheese and a sweet-tart dessert using leftover cranberry sauce. And don’t forget a slice of pie the next morning for breakfast.

Leftover Thanksgiving — Lee White

Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday because I love to cook, I’m crazy about turkey day food and it is wonderful to cook for friends and family. Or maybe because I love the leftovers.

Whenever I do a big roast, and nothing is bigger than an 18-pound turkey, I make sure there are leftovers. I stuff the turkey’s cavity with dressing and make enough in casserole dishes for an army. On the table there will be mounds of mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes, two or more vegetables, extra gravy and, each year, another cranberry recipe. When the dinners are washed, I watch football and, that night, I begin the turkey casseroles. Sometimes we have one over the weekend, but I freeze two or three for the winter.

Leftover Thanksgiving

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using butter or Pam, grease the bottom of an oven-safe glass or gratin pan or dutch oven.

Beginning with the first layer, using a silicone spatula, add mashed white potatoes or sweet potatoes or both. Add about one inch of vegetables and spoon in the stuffing. (Usually there is not enough stuffing, so you can drop big spoonsful over the vegetables.) Dice the white and dark turkey into one-inch pieces and spread over the stuffing. If you have gravy left over from the feast, ladle it onto the stuffing. (If you have none or just a little gravy left, make Knorr’s gravy mix.) End with more mashed white or sweet potatoes. Top with a little salt and pepper. I assume all the leftovers were well seasoned. Dot with pats of butter.

Cover with aluminum foil and bake for around 45 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for perhaps 10 minutes, until the mashed potatoes are golden. Serve with cranberry sauce.

Turkey Tetrazzini — Jill Blanchette

When everyone goes around the table on Thanksgiving Day and says what they’re thankful for, I’m the one who says “leftovers.”

Think of it. You spend days planning and preparing a meal that’s over in an hour. The leftovers are the reward you reap the next day for all your hard work. And the day after that. And the next day, too.

That’s the downside of Thanksgiving. If you made more than you can eat in a couple of days, your reward can soon turn into a burden, a food obligation. That’s where Turkey Tetrazzini comes in.

This recipe combines common holiday leftovers — broth, peas, turkey and yes, wine, — with some delicious add-ins — linguine, mushrooms and Parmesan cheese among them — to create a dish you can freeze, then, sometime in January when you’ve long forgotten you were sick of turkey, bake and enjoy the delayed fruits of your labor.

It’s delicious with a slice of cranberry sauce or a pile of tartly dressed salad. And at other times of the year, it’s equally good when you swap in the meat from a grocery story rotisserie chicken and some boxed broth.

Enjoy!

Turkey Tetrazzini

Original recipe from “Everyday Food,” April 2007.

Coarse salt and ground pepper

6 tablespoons butter

1 pound white mushrooms, trimmed and sliced 1/4 inch thick

½ cup all-purpose flour

3 cups milk

1¾ cups leftover turkey broth or chicken broth

¾ cup white wine

3 cups grated Parmesan cheese

½ teaspoon dried thyme leaves

1 pound linguine, broken in half

4 cups leftover turkey, skin removed, meat shredded

1¼ cups leftover vegetables (carrots, turnip, pearl onions, peas or a mix) or a 10 oz. package frozen peas, thawed and drained

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter two shallow, 2-quart baking dishes and set them aside. Put a big pot of salted water on the stove and bring to a boil. Meanwhile, in a large saucepan melt 2 tablespoons butter over high heat. Add mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Cook, tossing frequently, until tender and browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer to a bowl, and set aside.

Make sauce: In the same saucepan, melt remaining 4 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Add flour; cook, whisking constantly, for about 1 minute. Continue to whisk while you gradually add the milk, broth and wine. Bring it all to a boil then reduce to a simmer and add thyme and 2 cups Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper and turn off the heat.

Cook the pasta: two minutes less than the package instructions specify; drain and return to pot. Add sauce, turkey, vegetables and mushrooms. Toss well to combine. Divide evenly between your prepared baking dishes; sprinkle with remaining Parmesan. Freeze (see below) or bake until browned, about 30 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

To freeze: After placing pasta mixture in baking dishes and sprinkling with Parmesan, cool to room temperature. Then cover tightly with a layer of plastic wrap and a layer of aluminum foil, and freeze up to 3 months.

To bake from frozen: Remove the plastic wrap but keep the foil. Bake, covered with foil, at 400 degrees, until center is warm, about 2 hours. Uncover, and bake until the tetrazzini is bubbling and the top is browned, about 20 minutes more. Serve.

To bake from thawed: Thaw overnight in refrigerator. Bake, covered with foil, at 400 degrees, until center is warm, about 30 minutes. Uncover, and bake until top is browned, about 20 minutes.

Cranberry Crisp — Emily Clark

If you end up with leftover cranberry sauce after Thanksgiving, put it to good use in these cranberry crisp bars. Starting with whole-berry cranberry sauce (preferably homemade, but store-bought would work), you can have them in the oven in 10 minutes and ready to eat in another 35. The combination of oats, brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon lends a satisfying texture and depth of flavor to the cranberries to produce a sweet-tart treat that doesn’t feel too sinful post-Thanksgiving.

If you don’t have the full amount of leftover cranberry sauce called for in the recipe, you can substitute thinly sliced apples to make up the difference. Just stir the apples together with the cranberry sauce before spreading the fruit mixture in the pan as directed. Apples will likely take a few minutes longer to bake, so cover the bars with foil for the first half of the baking time if you go that route and bake until the apples are soft. The recipe below can also be doubled to fit in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish.

Cranberry Crisp Bars

Adapted from Apple Crisp Mix-in-the-Pan Bars in One Bowl Baking by Yvonne Ruperti (Running Press, 2013)

1 cup rolled oats

5/8 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Generous 1/4 teaspoon salt

Generous 1/8 teaspoon baking soda

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 cup whole-berry cranberry sauce (homemade or store-bought)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line the bottom and two sides of an 8-by-8-inch baking pan with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda. Add the melted butter and stir until moistened. Set aside ½ cup of the mixture. Firmly press the remaining oat mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan.

Spread the cranberry sauce over the oat mixture in the pan. Sprinkle the reserved oat mixture over the cranberry sauce.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until topping is golden and fragrant. Set the pan on a wire rack to cool. When cool, use the parchment paper to remove the bars from the pan, and cut into squares or rectangles as desired.