If you’re like me, there’s nothing that makes your mouth water as much as a Thanksgiving feast. But, oh, the leftovers! Looking for new ways to use some up? Try these treats:

• Gobble up quesadillas. Simply tuck turkey pieces, veggies, and cranberry relish between two tortillas, and heat it up in the oven.
• Soup’s on. Skinless meat and leftover Turkey Day veggies are great additions to any noodle soup.
• Super sandwich. Spread pureed squash on rye bread, then pile on cold turkey slices, lettuce, tomato, and onion. Top with another slice of rye bread, and enjoy!

When winter winds are howling, it’s no fun trudging outdoors to drop your kitchen scraps in the compost bin. So don’t do it! Instead, do your composting indoors with my no-fail method.

1. In the fall, gather up some heavy-duty, black trash bags, and add a shovelful or two of finished compost or garden soil to each one. (This will jump-start the enzymes that break down the organic matter into “black gold.”)
2. Fasten the bags tightly with twist ties, and keep them in your garage or basement, or on the back porch.
3. Every day or so, toss in your fruit or vegetable scraps, re-close the sack, and shake it a few times to blend the new material with the old.

Come spring, you’ll have heaps of dark, earthy compost, all ready to mulch your planting beds with, or to dig into your soil.

As any dentist will tell you, giving your toothbrush early retirement leads to healthier teeth and gums (besides providing you with a steady supply of gardening and cleaning aids). But did you know it can also help you lick a cold or the flu? That’s because germs linger on a wet brush, and when you use the same one over and over, you keep reinfecting yourself. So the next time you come down with a sore throat, runny nose, fever…the whole nine yards…play it smart: Get yourself a fresh toothbrush and put the old one to work elsewhere, doing chores like scrubbing the bathroom sink, or cleaning the treads in your muddy sneakers!

If you grow and preserve your own herbs for cooking—or even buy them fresh at the supermarket—here’s a little secret you ought to know: Most culinary herbs retain a lot more of their fresh-from-the-garden flavor when they’re frozen, rather than dried (although, of course, they won’t keep their good looks). There are several easy-as-pie freezing methods. Use whichever one you want, then later just pull out whatever quantity you need to cook with, and put the rest back in the freezer. Here are your culinary choices:

· Wrap up bunches of herb sprigs (one kind per bunch) in aluminum foil.
· Chop fresh herbs, and freeze them in food-storage containers.
· Puree chopped herbs with water, butter, or olive oil. (The exact amount is your call, but roughly 2 parts herbs to 1 part mixer is a good starting point.) Then pour the mixture into ice cube trays. When the cubes are frozen, pop them out of the trays and store them in food-storage containers or freezer bags.