Use Up Those Paleo Holiday Leftovers; Making Refrigerator Surprise

Your feast was delicious, delectable… and far too much food was prepared. Sound familiar? I’m guilty of this.  More often than not, I end up making ‘food to feed an army’ as my husband says. But it doesn’t go to waste.  Sure, you can certainly use up the turkey by making a savory soup, but if you’re tired of that and are wondering what to do not only with all the other leftover dishes you prepared, but also the odds and ends of ingredients, you’ve got the perfect scenario to make what I’ve long referred to as refrigerator surprise. Start with the leftover protein and throw it into your Dutch Oven or slow cooker.  Add the leftover roasted veggies, too.   And the mushroom ‘stuffing’ you made… yes, scoop that in as well. Now we get to the interesting parts.   The half onion that you didn’t use, the four stalks of celery and the extra squash you were going to eat on Tuesday all go in, too. You see where I’m going. Add some sort of liquid; enough to almost cover the other ingredients; you choose whether to go for water, homemade broth if you have any on hand, a splash of red (the 1/2 bottle that remains from the feast yesterday that wasn’t properly vacuum sealed is perfect here)… all are great options.  Finish off with a bouquet garnis of whichever herbs or spices you have on hand, tied nicely with a bit of kitchen twine. Then, allow this mixture to slow cook on low for a couple of hours until meat falls of any bones (if you’ve used a carcass) and/or until the flavors have had enough time to develop properly. Let cool, serve and enjoy. It gets better. After you’ve eaten and there’s still some left, remove any bones and the bouquet garnis, puree and freeze to enjoy, perhaps in a week or two, before you tire of the flavors that we’ve been forced on over the last few weeks. Nothing wasted, and a nice variety of meals developed from one single meal!