Leftover Cranberry Turkey Salad Sandwich

Did you buy an extra turkey when they went on sale after Thanksgiving? I love my deep freezer, and absolutely grabbed up the biggest one I could around that time. And recently decided I'd really like that 20+ pound bird sized space back in the freezer, so it was thawed and roasted up! 

The next decision was how to use up all that beautiful turkey meat. Because I had a LOT to work with. There are so, so many delicious recipes to choose from out there and turkey and zucchini enchiladas are almost always my go-to with leftover turkey. But I also had leftover cranberry sauce in the fridge.

This Copycat Chick Fil A Chicken sandwich is the first time I've used my food processor to make chicken salad, but I was thinking that method might be absolutely perfect to blend together some turkey and cranberry sauce.

I wasn't wrong! This was a quick and easy way to combine a few simple ingredients that yield a very tasty sandwich spread with lovely crunch, and a hint of sweet, and just the right amount of creaminess. If you like hardboiled eggs, throw a couple in, if you like raw onion, throw a little of that in, and if you like the crunch and flavor of walnuts (which I think would be a great touch) definitely add a small handful of those! No one in my house but me really likes nuts, so I don't use them very often.

In any event - I am definitely saving this one to pull back out when I have leftover cranberry sauce and turkey again in the future. It made a lovely light lunch.

Cranberry Turkey Salad Sandwich

Ingredients

3 cups leftover cooked turkey, roughly chopped

2-3 stalks celery, roughly chopped

1/3 cup mayonnaise or Miracle Whip

1/2 cup whole berry cranberry sauce

1/4 tsp salt, more / less to taste

1/4 tsp black pepper, more / less to taste

Optional add-ins:

1/3 cup walnuts 

2 hardboiled eggs, rough chopped

2 green onions, diced

Directions

1. Add all ingredients to the bowl of a food processor and blend on pulse a little at a time until the mixture reaches your desired consistency (I did about 5 or 6 pulses, and held it down briefly). If you want it mostly "chunky" just pulse a few times, if you like it smoother and more even / spreadable just hold it down a little longer.
2. Taste and adjust the seasonings if needed.
3. Serve on toasted bread, or a croissant. Add lettuce and tomato if desired (or a slice or two of bacon!)

Recipe inspired by The Healthy Maven