So…what do YOU do with your turkey leftovers?  In the past we’ve just divided everything up with the family and had turkey sandwiches or re-heated the entire meal for the next day at lunch or dinner.

This year, our family gathering on Thanksgiving day was smaller and we had an awful lot of leftover food in the fridge!  It’s hard to watch it go to waste on Saturday, especially when my son decided to go out to eat with friends and my youngest daughter was in Auburn for the Iron Bowl game!

Eddie and I were at home together finishing up some cleaning and decorating when the game began at 2:30 p.m.  As we watched the game, I decided we needed to do a little something different with the turkey and not just heat it up – blah!  Boring!  I remembered a Pampered Chef ham wreath recipe I had used many years ago.  I looked it up online but couldn’t find the exact recipe so I used what I found as a basis and just made the rest up as I went along.

Getting the ingredients to the turkey wreath ready…

I chopped up 2 cups of turkey, added 2 stalks of chopped celery, half a chopped onion, and grated parmesan cheese (I only had half a bag so used it all).  After mixing it all together, I added mayo – enough to get things to stick together, and also mustard to give it a little color – and finally, salt and pepper.  I would have preferred to use Dijon mustard but I haven’t had any in my fridge for ages.  (Note to self…buy some Dijon mustard!  My friend and chef, Nick Hartmann likes to add Dijon to steak!)

Filling is ready…now to get the Pillsbury crescent rolls positioned…

Next I took a can of Pillsbury crescent rolls (8 total) and arranged them in a star design – with the large part in the center on a cookie sheet.  This is always a little tricky to me because they aren’t necessary the same size and when you see how it’s done in a photo…well, it’s perfect and that’s just ridiculous!  I used to make the ham wreath every year at Christmas and it was NEVER perfect!  After this was done – as perfectly as I could make it – I added the turkey filling by large spoonful.  Finally, I wrapped the thin part over the mixture covering as much as possible.

Crescent rolls are arranged in a star design with the large end in the center. It never looks as perfect as it does in the pictures…

I cooked the wreath in a preheated over set at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  I would have liked to have added cranberries to give the wreath a little hint of sweetness, but my husband doesn’t like cranberries that much.  I had leftover cranberry sauce from Thursday so I just added it next to my portion once the wreath was ready to devour.  So good with a buttery chardonnay!

Mission accomplished!  Big thumbs up from the husby…leftover makeover was a success!

Arrange the ingredients by spoonful onto the crescent rolls.

Fold the skinny ends of the crescent rolls over the mixture…I had to get a little creative with some of the longer ends.

The finished product! After being baked at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.

A close up of the finished product with a side of cranberries!