pie for breakfast

cherry apple streusel pie with gluten free crust

Thanksgiving has come and gone.  Maybe there's a few crumbs left on the tablecloth, but for sure there's a fridge full of delicious leftovers.  I'm so grateful for so many things this year.  Having all of my children around the table, plus extra guests, plus an array of food that is truly bountiful.

Resonating in the back of my head among all of the pleasant memories and musings is this article that I recently read about Thanksgiving Thrift.  Which leads me to be grateful that at least for this one holiday there probably won't be much food waste.  Jonathan Bloom talks about how much food we waste in this country both on his blog and in his book American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of Its Food (and What We Can Do About It).

One way to avoid waste is to utilize leftovers.  This is a concept that I embrace whole-heartedly at all times of the year.  I've written about it before here and here.  Not only does it cut down on the grocery and trash bills, it also helps cut down on my time in the kitchen.  Don't get me wrong, I love to cook and bake.  But even so I don't feel the need to create a full three course meal from scratch every single night of the week.

I was struck by the thought, prompted by the article, that other folks don't utilize their leftovers to plan other delicious meals for their families.  Except for Thanksiving.  Well at least for today the twitterverse is aflutter with ideas for leftovers.  Starting with pie for breakfast and wandering through a host of culinary genius I'm struck by the creativity and enthusiasm with which so many people greet the concept of Thanksgiving leftovers.  And hoping that it will continue throughout the year.