Don’t hate yourself for having excess holiday meals. In fact, you should be thankful. Why? There are two reasons: First, it means you can afford holiday recipes (others can’t). Second, you can transform any leftovers into muscle-building foods. Seriously? Yes, who would have thought that ordinary holiday recipes can be helpful in building muscles?

Say for example a typical roasted turkey, which is loaded with potassium, zinc, phosphorus, vitamin B6, niacin, and protein, can be turned into a cranberry turkey salad or a stuffing and turkey casserole. In addition, leftover sweet potatoes can be made into a sweet potato mash and pumpkin spice protein shake from your leftover pumpkins. And so on (there’s a lot).

Of course, these are just a few ideas as you can always add your own twist. If you want to experiment with your leftover holiday foods, give it a try. Bon appétit and good luck on your muscle building endeavors.