Yes the Leftover Queen is a name I love to call myself – and love even more hearing it from those I feed. I get the biggest kick out of taking leftovers and re-creating them into something tasty and frugal. My Pantry Challenge Menu this week takes advantage of a few of these leftovers. Our BBQ Pork on Tuesday is using up the Garlic Thyme Pork Roast leftovers in the freezer from last week. I will serve it sliced thin heated with sautéed onions and BBQ sauce. The ‘meat’ in Wednesday night’s Spaghetti and Meat Sauce is actually cubed leftover Meat Loaf frozen from the week before last.
One of my family’s favorites re-created from leftovers is quesadillas or wraps. I sauté whatever leftover meat I have along with onions, peppers, leftover veggies (broccoli, mushrooms, squash, potato, sweet potato, etc) and either roll them into a flour tortilla or put the mixture between two tortillas with cheese and fry lightly until the cheese is melted. The quesadillas work great as either a sandwich for one or cut into smaller triangles as an appetizer.
Leftover rice, veggies and meat often become Fried Rice, Soup or Pot Pie . Leftover potatoes are re-created into potato pancakes or hash browns on the weekend.
How do you make use of leftovers? Do you plan your menu to create leftovers and then re-create them? I’d love to hear your recipe ideas for creating meals out of leftovers.
This is really great! I love all your many and varied uses of leftovers. We like to do a lot of beans and rice, pasta dishes with leftover veggies and omlettes. I also do a lot of cooking ahead and either freezing or preserving for busy weeks when I don't have much time for cooking!
ReplyDeleteI also try to cook for the freezer - especially baked goods and breakfast foods. My kids love waffles and pancakes with butter and jelly so on the weekends I will make double batches and freeze half. It's a nice thing to have when we're short on bread too.
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