November 28th is National French Toast Day, so have fun with it.

At Fabrick, a fine restaurant restaurant in New York City, part of the culinary journey is food fun. Almost everything on the menu offers a new take on the traditional.

For French Toast, it’s nuggets.

The French Toast is cooked and cut into squares, which are:

 
How would you turn French Toast into fun?
 
MORE FOR NATIONAL FRENCH TOAST DAY

Sure: We toss them right on top of plain Greek yogurt.

Or atop a green salad.

Or on top of mac and cheese or casseroles.

We never let those little pieces chips die heedlessly. We use them as croutons.

We use any chip pieces, plus cracker and pretzel pieces—anything crunchy. You can store all the crumbs in an airtight jar. A mix of crumbs will taste even better!

If you have enough, pulse them to an even consistency and use them as breading for chicken and fish.
 
TYPES OF CHIPS: CAN YOU ADD TO THIS LIST?

Here’s the list of chips we’ve had. Can you add to it?

Sweetgreen garnishes a green salad with tortilla chips. We use the broken chip pieces at the bottom of the bag. Photo courtesy Sweetgreen.

 
*The main difference between the two types of chip is that a tortilla chip is cut from a whole tortilla, and a corn chip is made from corn meal.

TOP PHOTO: Maya Kaimal Naan Chips.
BOTTOM PHOTO: Tandoori-cooked naan from
Stonefire.

A NEW KIND OF CHIP FROM MAYA KAIMAL

The latest addition to our roster of chips are Naan Chips from Maya Kaimal Fine Indian Foods. Joining the company’s line of Chickpea Chips, they’re available nin Sea Salt, Rosemary and Almost Everything (onion, poppy and anise). You can find a store locator as well as e-tailers at MayaKaimal.com.

One of the delectable family of Indian breads, naan (pronounced like the female name Nan) is a light, leavened bread, traditionally in a teardrop shape and cooked in a clay oven (see photo).

The chips are baked in a proprietary flame-baked process meant to emulate a wood-fired tandoor oven. The process creates the signature blisters and bubbles of authentic naan flatbread (it took more than 40 tries to get it right).

The toasty triangles are lighter and flakier than pita chips, and the seasonings are incorporated into the dough, not dusted on the surface.

Enjoy them with guacamole, hummus or other dips; with cheese or soup; or simply crunch away.

We love these Thanksgiving leftovers recipes from Reynolds Kitchens.

They created recipes for three popular American foods—waffles, tacos and pizza—to use up your leftovers at breakfast, lunch and dinner.

FOR MORE RECIPES, see Part 1 of this article.
 
 
RECIPE #1: THANKSGIVING LEFTOVERS WAFFLE

For breakfast, start with a Thanksgiving Leftovers Waffle. Your stuffing becomes the waffle!

If you don’t have enough leftover stuffing, you can make regular waffles (don’t add sugar) or toaster waffles and use the stuffing as a topping.

Ingredients Per Waffle

 
Preparation

1. PLACE the stuffing onto a waffle maker and bake until slightly crispy on the outside. While the waffle cooks…

2. WARM the turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy.

3. ASSEMBLE: Place the stuffing waffle on a plate and top with mashed potatoes and turkey. Drizzle with gravy, or pass the gravy in a pitcher.
 
 
RECIPE #2: THANKSGIVING LEFTOVERS TACO

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. WARM the leftovers, such as sweet potatoes, turkey and cranberries.

2. WARM the tortillas in the microwave or on the stove top.

3. ASSEMBLE the tortillas, topping off with cranberry sauce, gravy and/or salsa.
 
 
RECIPE #3: THANKSGIVING LEFTOVERS PIZZA

Ingredients

 
Preparation

1. PREHEAT the oven to 400°F.

[2] Tacos filled with leftovers.

[3] A pizza topped with leftovers.

3. TOP with additional leftovers, such as turkey, stuffing and fresh herbs.

4. HEAT until the crust is baked and the toppings are warmed through.

[3] Just place the ingredients in an Oven Bag, bake, cook and eat. There’s no pan to wash!

[5] Use Slow Cooker Liners to have steel-cut oatmeal waiting for you in the morning. Just toss the liner.

PRODUCTS FROM REYNOLDS

In case you think of Reynolds only as a manufacturer or aluminum foil, the company makes numerous other useful products for cooking, baking and roasting. All of them make clean-up so much easier.

You can use the foil pans just once, or be economical and wash them for re-use (we throw ours in the dishwasher).

 
See the full line.

Todd and Diane, the White On Rice Couple, cleverly tossed the leftovers into a galette. Visit their website and be awed by their recipes and photography.

A galette is a rustic pie, made without a pie pan. The crust is formed by hand, leaving a bare edge to fold up around the ingredients. The shape can be round, rectangular or freeform; the filling can be be sweet or savory.

The crust here is shortcrust pastry or pâte brisée (POT bree-ZAY), a flaky, buttery crust traditionally used for pies and quiches, sweet and savory. It has no leavening agent so does not puff up during baking. The dough can be made one day ahead and refrigerated, well wrapped in plastic; or it can be frozen for up to one month. The ball of kneaded dough is flattened into a disc or discs to allow it to chill faster (and similarly, to thaw faster if frozen).

FOR MORE RECIPES, see Part 2 of this article.
 
RECIPE: TODD & DIANE’S THANKSGIVING GALETTE

Ingredients For The Crust

 
Leftovers For The Filling

 
*If you have potatoes that are not mashed, mash them.
 

Preparation

1. MAKE the dough. Place the flour, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl and whisk to combine. Add the butter pieces and with your hands, pinch them together with the flour mix until most of the large chunks of butter are broken up and there is no remaining dry flour.

2. ADD just enough cold water for the mixture to bind together; forms it into a rough ball. Knead the ball just until the dough begins to become smooth. Never overwork dough or it will be tough when baked.

3. DIVIDE the dough ball in half and roll each half into a ball, then flatten them into disks. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes or overnight. When ready to make the pie…

4. PREHEAT the oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet pan with parchment paper.

5. LET the chilled dough sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. Dough will roll out best when is still cold to the touch. On a floured surface, roll the dough into a 12″ circle and transfer to the baking sheet.

6. LAYER the fillings, including any fresh herbs, leaving a clean edge of 2 inches to fold up. Fold the edges of the dough over the filling, creasing and folding all the way around. Brush the folded-up crust with the egg wash or cream. Grind black pepper over the filling. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the crust is golden.

7. SERVE hot, warm or at room temperature with knives and forks. If you have more gravy, pass it so that participants can pour more over the top of their slices.
 
Click here to see a step-by-step video.

We adapted this recipe from Audra, The Baker Chick. Our leftovers are different from hers, and we put them in parentheses. See all of Audra’s recipes at TheBakerChick.com
 
Ingredients For One 14-Inch Pizza

1. PREHEAT the oven to 500°F and heat the pizza pan or stone along with it, for at least 30 minutes

2. COVER the work surface with a sheet of parchment paper and place the dough ball in the center. Coat your hands with olive oil, then roll and spread the dough until it is thin and shaped. Form a thin crust ridge around the edge. Use a bit of extra oil as needed to spread the dough thinly.

3. SPREAD the mashed potatoes on top, up until the crust rim. Optional: Drizzle the potatoes with gravy.

4. SPRINKLE the bacon, corn and scallions on top of the potatoes. Add any other leftover ingredients you want. Then, top with any fresh herbs and the cheese.

5. USE a cutting board or pizza peel to help transfer the pizza to the hot stone. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden and crisp.

What about the cranberry sauce?

You can place dabs of it over the toppings but before the mozzarella, or serve it on the side so people can garnish their own slices.

If you feel you could have done one more thing to dress your Thanksgiving table, we recommend turkey-festooned plates. They’re all on sale now for half price, maybe even less.

The handsome tom turkey on these “Plymouth” porcelain salad plates greet guests when they come to the table. They plates can be used for desserts as well.

They create an endearing family tradition. We always looked forward to seeing the turkey plates each year at our grandmother’s house; and when our mother or aunt hosted the dinner, Nana had to bring the turkey plates with her!

Microwavable and dishwasher safe, a set of four salad/dessert plates is on sale for $29.98, regularly $59.95. They’re an online exclusive at Williams-Sonoma.com.

A matching set of four dinner plates, bordered with a harvest garland of oak leaves and acorns, is $33.98, regularly $67.95.

What are you waiting for? Gobble them up!