Making the Most of Thanksgiving Leftovers

I cooked my very first Thanksgiving this year and decided to spend the weekend making the most of the leftovers.  I rarely eat Turkey so the idea of Turkey sandwiches for a week left me underwhelmed.  Instead I decided I would get creative in order to use all of our leftovers.  The result was way better than I ever expected and has me rethinking my previously limited turkey consumption. 

 I always make (and freeze) extra pie dough before the holidays which came in handy when I decided to make these mini pot pies.  I had more than enough filling so I put the remainder to good use in this Thanksgiving Casserole.

Pumpkin Spice Whoopie Pies

Halloween is one of my favorite holidays, but not for the obvious reasons.  I love sweets but not in the form of packaged candy so I try to go out of my way to prepare pumpkin flavored desserts around this holiday and throughout Fall for that matter.  The first time I made this recipe I used homemade pumpkin puree from roasting a pumpkin, but the hassle did not provide any better results.  Now I stock up on Organic Pumpkin Puree at the beginning of the season and spend my time baking instead of roasting pumpkins.

Ingredients:

Cream Cheese Filling
3 cups confectioners sugar - sifted
1/2 cup unsalted butter - softened
8 ounces cream cheese - softened
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Whoopie Pies
3 cups AP flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 tablespoon ground cloves
2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
3 cups pumpkin puree - chilled
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Non-perils for decoration