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South Florida Chef On How To Salvage Thanksgiving Leftovers

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MIAMI (CBSMiami) -- As specialty chef at the the famed fine food store Epicure Gourmet Market & Cafe , Chef Michael Love knows a lot about transforming extra food into delicious dishes and meals. His new book The Salvage Chef Cookbook features 125 recipes using ingredients most of us have in our kitchens.

"The key is don't throw it away. If it's left over or left out or forgotten or not as perfect as it was when you first bought it, there are really interesting and creative and simple ways to save money and make delicious meals for your family," Love said.

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Michael is making an easy recipe using some of the ingredients that are likely to be left over from Thanksgiving: turkey , onions, green beans..

'We're making Turkey Meatballs. They tare very versatile. If you have green beans alone or in a casserole or any vegetable you can mix that  into the turkey," said Love.

Michael pulls the leftover turkey into small pieces, adds the cooked onions, green beans, an egg and homemade breadcrumbs.

"Bread is number one ingredient that people throw away. You just take the ends off the bread, put it in food processor and you have bread crumbs," said Love. "We throw away between 150- 200 pounds of food per person in this country."

He's not talking about food that is spoiled, just maybe not picture perfect but perfectly good food like left-over stuffing.

"Imagine stuffing that's put into a waffle iron and made into a crispy waffle served with maple syrup! We call it a "STUFFLE," said Love.

What about those countless left over pieces of pie?

"You can take that left over slice of pecan pie, put it in food processor, whether its store bought cookie dough or from scratch and you can make pecan pie cookies, pumpkin pie cookies, apple pie cookies. That way you don't have to eat all those three slices in morning which I'll do,"he said while laughing.

The Salvage Chef Cookbook can be found in most bookstores, online and at Epicure Markets in South Florida.

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