Twelve tasty ideas to make the most of your festive favourites into the New Year

Turkey

Help-yourself salad: Mix shredded turkey with salad leaves, crispy bacon and citrus fruit. Add nuts and pomegranate seeds, then drizzle with yoghurt or a zesty vinaigrette.

Thai-style noodles: Stir-fry shredded turkey with red onion, green beans, chilli and garlic. Add lime juice and Thai fish sauce, then cooked rice noodles. Top with mint and coriander.

Turkey burritos: Pile hot shredded turkey, sweetcorn, spring onions, black beans, chilli sauce and cooked rice in wraps with avocado and grated cheese.

Cheese

Mac and cheese: Add a little crumbled stilton to your cheese sauce to give this comfort-food classic a tangy edge.

Cheese on toast with a twist: Spread soft goat's cheese onto toasted baguette slices and serve with soup.

Combine soured cream, buttermilk and mayonnaise, then mash in a handful of blue cheese with a dash of lemon juice – just the job for perking up green leaves.

Christmas Pudding

Sweet fry up: Fry small bites of pudding until hot and crisp and serve with brandy butter.

Special sundae: Top a scoop of vanilla ice cream with warmed, crumbled pudding, sweet sherry, chopped nuts and melted chocolate.

Truffles: Blitz slices of pudding in a food processor until crumbled, then stir in melted chocolate and sherry and roll it into balls. Decorate with melted white chocolate and a glacé cherry to look like mini Christmas puddings.

Chocolate

Brioche sandwich: Make a sweet sarnie by slicing a brioche loaf into rounds and layering with pieces of chocolate. Warm in the oven until the chocolate has melted.

Quick chocolate milk: Blitz a selection of filled chocolates in a blender with milk for a deliciously moreish milkshake.

From-the-fridge squares: Melt squares of plain chocolate in a heatproof bowl and stir in crushed plain biscuits, leftover nuts and dried fruit, then chill for an easy rocky road.