Using Christmas Leftovers and New Year's Recipes (2024)

Easy recipes to use all of those Christmas leftovers and New Year’s recipes that your party guests will love! Make your holiday leftovers delicious!

Using Christmas Leftovers and New Year's Recipes (1)

Using Christmas Leftovers and New Year’s Party Recipes!

Leftover and Holiday Party Tips:

Here are some extra recipes to use those Christmas dinner leftovers and other holiday leftovers and also some dips to serve at your New Year’s get together.

  • This is an unexpected canape and a handy little finger food:
    • Roll about 1 teaspoon full your favorite cream cheese dip into a ball. Press it between two walnut halves. Lay on a platter to serve.
  • Save dry cereal odds and ends to add to your Chex mix when you make it.
  • Wrap celery in aluminum foil when putting it in the fridge. It will keep much longer.

Recipes:

Using Christmas Leftovers and New Year's Recipes (2)

(For Using Leftover Ham)

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Sheala’s Easy Ham and Noodles Recipe

Using Christmas Leftovers and New Year's Recipes (3)

Print Recipe

This easy ham and noodles casserole recipe is quick and easy and kids love it! Just 5 minutes preparation to a tasty meal without a lot of work!

  • Author: Sheala Cooper

Ingredients

Units

1 (8 oz.) pkg. egg noodles or pasta, cooked
1/2 lb. ham, chopped
1(10 3/4 oz.) can cream of chicken soup
1 cup Cheddar cheese, grated

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°.
  2. Mix the first three ingredients together in a casserole dish.
  3. Bake for 20 minutes, until warmed.
  4. Top with cheese.
  5. Bake an additional 5 minutes or until the cheese melts.

You may add 1 package of any vegetable.

Cheesy Mashed Potatoes Recipe
(For Using Leftover Mashed Potatoes)

3-4 cups mashed potatoes
4 oz. cream cheese, softened in the microwave
1 clove of garlic or 1 tsp. garlic powder, to taste
1 cup Mexican cheese blend, shredded

Mix potatoes, cream cheese and garlic. Place in a 1 quart greased baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese. Place under the broiler for 3-4 minutes until cheese is melted.

Eggnog Pound Cake Recipe

2 Tbsp. butter or margarine
2/3 cup sliced almonds

Grease a Bundt or tube pan with butter and press almonds into the sides and bottom.

Cake:

1 package yellow cake mix
3 Tbsp. butter or margarine, melted
1 1/2 cups eggnog
2 eggs
1/8 tsp. nutmeg

Prelheat oven to 350°. Beat everything together until smooth. Pour into a prepared pan. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

David’s Favorite Dip

1 jar Kraft Old English cheese spread
1 (8 oz.) pkg. cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup nuts, chopped

Mix ingredients. Roll into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap. Serve with chips.

Most of the time we just mix it and serve in a bowl without wrapping it.

Blue Cheese Dip (Jill’s favorite)

1 stick butter (not margarine), softened
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
2 oz. crumbled blue cheese
1/2 small package (2-3 Tbsp.) slivered almonds, toasted*
2 Tbsp. chopped ripe olives

Mix everything. Chill. If you want to make a ball or log then don’t mix in the almonds. Instead, make your cheese ball or log and then roll it in the almonds.

*To toast your almonds, lay them on foil or a pan and heat in a 400° oven until brown. Watch carefully.

Serve with chips.

This dip tastes like some very expensive ones that you can buy pre-made. it is a perfect holiday recipe! Be sure to use dried herbs and not powdered herbs. Dried herbs are the bigger flakes that haven’t been finely ground.

Herb Dip

1 clove garlic, crushed or garlic powder
2 (8 oz.) pkgs. cream cheese, softened
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine
1 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp. each of dried basil, dill weed, marjoram, thyme,
pepper

Blend all ingredients together. This will keep in the refrigerator for 1 week or in the freezer for 3 months.

Here’s a recipe for you fruit lovers! It’s a great recipe to make to use all of those fruit plate Christmas leftovers!

Cinnamon Sour Cream

1/4 cup sour cream
2 tsp. sugar
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
Dash of nutmeg

Mix and serve with fresh fruit. You can use this as a fruit salad dressing. too. If you decide to use it as a dressing, you can use canned fruit and garnish with the coconut and/or toasted chopped almonds or nuts.

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Using Christmas Leftovers and New Year's Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What to cook in between Christmas and New Year? ›

Easy family recipes for the Christmas holidays
  • Garlic prawn rice. ...
  • Slow cooker chicken tikka masala. ...
  • Turkey minestrone. ...
  • Campfire smoky bean brekkie. ...
  • Teriyaki tofu. ...
  • Creamy lentil & veggie curry. ...
  • Butternut squash & cherry tomato crumble.

How long should you keep Christmas leftovers? ›

– After the holidays, you may have more leftovers than you know what to do with. Looking at all the leftovers, you may be considering two options: keep or toss. Food experts said that leftovers should only last three to four days, but when in doubt, you should throw them out.

What to cook the day after Christmas? ›

What To Eat After Christmas
  1. 0:50. Fresh Spring Rolls. ...
  2. BBQ Chicken Bowls with Sweet Potatoes and Coleslaw (Whole30) BBQ Chicken Bowls with Sweet Potatoes and Coleslaw (Whole30) ...
  3. Creamy Mushroom Chicken and Wild Rice Soup. ...
  4. Spicy Coconut, Chicken & Mushroom Soup. ...
  5. Chinese Archives - Closet Cooking. ...
  6. giving thanks.

Can you freeze Christmas dinner leftovers? ›

After enjoying your Christmas dinner feast with family and friends, it is common to have leftovers. To minimise food waste and make your Christmas foods go further, your leftovers can be prepared and frozen to use in future meals.

What are 3 foods that are eaten on new year's Day? ›

Looking for prosperity? As Southern tradition dictates, black-eyed peas, greens, and cornbread represent pennies, dollars, and gold, respectively, so eating them together on New Year's will keep your purse full all year long.

What do Southerners cook for new year's Day? ›

In the South, that means a meal of collard greens, hoppin' John, black-eyed peas, cornbread, and pot likker soup. For an auspicious year, we've rounded up some of our favorite traditional New Year's Day recipes. We have all the traditional New Year's recipes, from Southern-style collards to classic Hoppin' John.

Are Christmas leftovers still good? ›

Your guide to post-holiday food safety. Health officials recommend eating or freezing turkey and other leftovers within three to four days.

What Christmas food has the longest shelf life? ›

What's amazing about these old fruitcakes is that people have tasted them and lived, meaning they are still edible after all these years. The trifecta of sugar, low moisture ingredients and some high-proof spirits make fruitcakes some of the longest-lasting foods in the world.

How long do Christmas leftovers last in the fridge? ›

Leftovers stored in the fridge should be eaten within three days. When freezing Christmas meats or stuffing, wrap them in heavy freezer wrap and put them in a container suitable for your freezer.

What do you cook New Year's Day? ›

Greens, pork, and cornbread, as well as black-eyed peas, cowpeas, or beans, are some of the typical symbolic foods served on New Year's Day. When planning your dinner menu, add the Southern foods that some say bring good luck and avoid those that may do just the opposite in the new year.

What do you eat after Christmas? ›

What to eat after Christmas
  • Fish. Fish, especially salmon, that increases the level of satiety and white fish. ...
  • Frittatas. Frittatas are a great way to combine all your leftover veggies and cheeses to create a yummy dish that you serve up with a salad. ...
  • Soups. Soups are great way to help keep weight under control. ...
  • Snacks.
Dec 26, 2023

What is the perfect Christmas Eve dinner? ›

Turkey is classic, of course, as is ham, but you could also serve a roast chicken, roast beef, or pork tenderloin. Fill out your meal with some Christmas-y side dishes, and you'll be all set for the perfect holiday dinner.

What leftovers should not be frozen? ›

You should never freeze anything containing eggs or egg-whites, fully cooked pasta or rice, fried foods (they get soggy), cucumbers, any salad with mayo or miracle whip (tuna salad, egg salad, chicken salad, etc), anything with icing that contains egg whites, lettuce, hard-boiled eggs, sour cream, etc., etc., etc.

What leftovers can you not freeze? ›

Here are 12 common ingredients that don't freeze well due to quality issues and safety concerns.
  • 01 of 12. Milk. ...
  • 02 of 12. Mayonnaise. ...
  • 03 of 12. Cream Cheese. ...
  • 04 of 12. Cucumbers. ...
  • 05 of 12. Zucchini. ...
  • 06 of 12. Lettuce and Cabbage. ...
  • 07 of 12. Tomatoes. ...
  • 08 of 12. Baked and Boiled Potatoes.
Oct 5, 2022

What is the best thing to freeze leftovers in? ›

Zip-top bags are great for freezing food because it's easier to get all the air out of them than it is with rigid containers. And zip-top bags have an added space-saving benefit: You can stack them, if you lay them flat to freeze first.

What foods are you supposed to cook for new year's? ›

Greens, pork, and cornbread, as well as black-eyed peas, cowpeas, or beans, are some of the typical symbolic foods served on New Year's Day. When planning your dinner menu, add the Southern foods that some say bring good luck and avoid those that may do just the opposite in the new year.

What is good luck to cook on new year's Day? ›

Cornbread

Part of the popular New Year's Day good luck food trio, a slice of cornbread rounds out a plate of lucky foods for the new year thought to bring about wealth and good fortune. As the saying goes, “Peas for pennies, greens for dollars and cornbread for gold.”

What is the traditional New Years Eve food for good luck? ›

Food traditions that you can do to bring good luck next year
  • Pork. Pork is thought to bring good luck on New Year's Day. ...
  • Cabbage. ...
  • Black-Eyed Peas. ...
  • Greens. ...
  • Lentils. ...
  • Fish. ...
  • Noodles. ...
  • Grapes and other fruit.
Dec 31, 2023

What are you supposed to cook for new year's? ›

Along with black-eyed peas, some cultures believe that grapes, noodles, pork, or pomegranates can be considered lucky when eaten on New Year's.

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