Last night we had Thanksgiving leftovers and I made turkey sliders with an celery apple slaw as the main dish. It was delicious. I think there are two schools of thought with respect to turkey leftovers.

Some of us love them and the rest of us, just want to get through them so we can start the Christmas holidays turkey free! I’m not that big of a turkey fan, so I am always on the hunt for more interesting ways to eat the leftovers. This recipe qualifies! It’s tasty and way different than the Thursday extravaganza. Let me show you how I made it:

Turkey Sliders with Cranberry BBQ Sauce and Celery Apple Slaw

(Adapted from Giada De Laurentiis)

Serves 6

Ingredients:

Cranberry Sauce:

• -one 1-pound bag of fresh or frozen cranberries
• -1/2 cup maple syrup
• -1 cinnamon stick
• -1 orange zested, and juiced

Directions:

1. Combine the cranberries, maple syrup, cinnamon stick, orange zest, and orange juice in a medium saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon.

2. Turn the burner off, and using the back of your spoon, lightly mash the cranberies to desired consistency.

3. Chill until ready to serve.

Celery Apple Slaw:

• -2T apple cider vinegar
• -1 tsp Dijon mustard
• -1 tsp olive oil
• -1/4 tsp kosher salt
• -1/4 tsp freshly ground pepper
• -2 celery ribs, thinly sliced
• -1 granny smith apple, cored, not peeled, cut into 2-inch match sticks

Directions:

1. Whisk together all these ingredients in a large bowl. Set aside while you make the sliders.

Cranberry BBQ Sliders:

• -2 T olive oil
• -2 large shallots, diced
• -2 cloves garlic, minced
• -1 1/2 cups cranberry sauce (recipe above)
• -3/4 cup ketchup
• -6 T apple cider vinegar
• -2 T Dijon mustard
• –2 T Worcestershire sauce
• -1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• -1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
• -4 cups shredded turkey
• -12 sweet dinner rolls

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the shallots and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
3. Stir in the cranberry sauce, ketchup, vinegar, Dijon mustard, Worcestershire, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for five minutes until the sauce has thickened.
4. Turn off the heat and carefully pour the sauce into a food processor or blender and process until smooth.
5. Put the newly blended sauce in a large saucepan. Add in the turkey. Stir over low heat for 5-10 minutes until the turkey is heated through. (While the turkey is heating, warm the dinner rolls for a few minutes at 350 degrees in the oven.)
6. To serve, spoon the turkey over the bottom half of the rolls, add 2 T of the slaw and then the top half of the rolls.
7. Enjoy!

Well there you have it folks. A new and exciting way to serve your turkey leftovers! I hope you enjoy this recipe. Let me know if you did and/or how do you eat your leftovers? Please leave a comment below.

Happy start of the Christmas Holidays!!!

XO,

Dr. Julie