I’ve just started a great new campaign with the folks who run Great Value–the Walmart house brand. Over the next few months I get to share with you information and ideas for using Great Value products to make all the different holiday occasions tasty and fun without spending too much time or too much cash!!
My first assignment was to get a couple of my friends together and host a pre-Thanksgiving baking party. The highlighted ingredients? Great Value Pie Crust, Crescent Rolls and Biscuits.
Now that was just too easy–Thanksgiving is a holiday KNOWN for it’s pies, and what turkey dinner would be complete without some biscuits or crescent rolls on the side? Of course I’m a bit crazy and can’t go the easy route-so I decided to take each ingredient and feature it in a way that would help you to use up your Thanksgiving leftovers while still giving you elegant food fit to serve any lingering post Thanksgiving company!
Holiday Baking Idea Number One: Pie Bites!
That’s right–itty bitty pies you can gulp down in a single bite! (well-maybe two). Great Value Refridgerated Pie Crust makes these a snap-cut, stuff, crimp & bake. They take a little bit more time than a regular shell pie–but you’ll get more oohs and ahhs.!
I think these pie bites solve several problems.
1. They are a great way to get just a taste of mincemeat. Lets face it, while there are a few folks out there who adore the stuff, most of us just want a taste, not a whole slice. By the time I’ve had 3 or 4 bites I’m ready to be done with mincemeat for the year. By turning the mincemeat into a pie bite you not only get just a small taste–you increase the proportion of crust to mincemeat, sort of spreading out the taste so it isn’t as overwhelming.
2. They are a great way to use up leftover cranberry relish or cranberry sauce. Personally I’m a cranberry relish gal-I love the stuff. But when you make a full batch you just wind up with more than will be eaten at dinner. So what to do? Baking it into these little bites of pie is a great way to use it up–trust me, you won’t have any leftovers 😉
3. They allow you to try several different kinds of “pie” without feeling like a pig.
4. They are really easy to make but look difficult. I just love looking like a rock star without breaking a sweat.
Holiday Baking Idea Number Two: Cranberry Walnut Turkey Crescent Ring!
I love Thanksgiving dinner-so it really doesn’t bother me to eat meals of leftovers that are basically the same combinations of flavors. I mean really-Turkey soup doesn’t have an incredibly different flavor profile from the traditional turkey dinner. Neither do open faced turkey and stuffing sandwiches. Those things are all well and good-but sometimes you want something a bit different. Especially if you’ve got house guests you are trying to impress, or a work potluck you are supposed to bring something in for.
This Cranberry Walnut Turkey Crescent Ring addresses the “what can I do with leftover turkey that is DIFFERENT” issue–it combines some typical Thanksgiving flavors with a few unusual ones, like walnuts, celery, Swiss cheese and mustard. Of course the star of the show are the Great Value Crescent Rolls which make the complicated looking (but easy to create) ring.
Keep this one up your sleeve for when you need to impress your mother in law!
Holiday Baking Idea Number Three: Pierogie Biscuits!
The last issue I wanted to find a way to address was what do do with leftover mashed potatoes. I don’t know about you, but we splurge for the real deal at Thanksgiving–homemade mashed potatoes with butter and half and half. Mmmm. There’s just something about going through the trouble of making it all from scratch that always makes me go a bit crazy–I tend to make a full five pounds of mashed potatoes at a time. That’s a lot of potatoes when you’ve already got stuffing, squash, biscuits and more on the table.
So what to do? How do you combine mashed potatoes with another carb like biscuits. I decided to get creative! Since moving to the Binghamton NY area I’ve been introduced to Pierogies–a dish of polish origin. They are basically dumplings made out of dough and stuffed. First they are boiled and then they are fried in butter or baked. Although they can be stuffed with sausage or sauerkraut, the classic stuffing is potato and cheese.
I’ve never made Pierogies from scratch myself-the dough just seems like a lot of work. But using Great Value Biscuits? Those I can do–just pop the biscuit in half and spoon in some authentic Pierogie potato and cheese filling. Bake and you are done!
These guys might not look as impressive as the crescent ring or the pie bites, but they are tasty, filling, down home cooking. Perfect for a quick lunch. With the warm cheesy interior, even the kiddos should love them.
Now on to cooking:
Now that I’ve created my recipes, I’m going to teach them to some friends. I’ve got three of the gals coming over on Thursday–we are going to bake and talk and probably laugh far too much. . . I’ll send them home with some munchies for the family and several new ideas for how to use up their holiday leftovers! I’ll give you all an update next week 🙂
****This is a sponsored post****
Disclosure: This is a sponsored post I am participating in for the Motherhood and Great Value. They have provided me with compensation for this post. My participation is voluntary and opinions, as always are my own.
Jen, I live in Syracuse! We’re almost neighbors. Anyway, I love this post!!! I plan on using every single recipe!!! And you can never, never laugh too much. Have a great time. Many hand make light work (as my grandmother used to say). 🙂