THE "I LOVE LEFTOVERS" THREAD!

[wackyaunt]

My DS's roomates steadfastly refused to eat any leftovers, DS loves them so he was a happy camper. Now he adds a bit of this and that to create "new" dishes. A fav is cheesy enchiladas with turkey and/or chicken. Unfortunately, he now has to share because the roomates now believe that his cooking is wonderful; he says they just don't realize they are eating leftovers! I told him he should be studying marketing, this product relabeling that he does seems to be working!

[dividend]

Jan 3, 2011 22:51:26 GMT -5 chiver78 said:

dividend, I cook for one most nights. most pasta dishes I make are sized for a single package of frozen veggies, and feed me for a few days. I can also stretch a rotisserie chicken almost a week. I've got a couple suggestions for your roast or chicken - quesadillas and chicken salad. is your DH opposed to leftover pasta dishes? if not, I can offer up a few of those too.

for quesadillas, if you grab the recipe off a can of Goya black beans for "black beans and rice" and make up a can's worth, you can have a meal's worth of black beans and rice, and then a couple days of quesadillas out of it. you don't need to use the Goya beans if you can find a better deal, but that recipe is spot-on for what I remember from one Puerto Rican aunt's menu. I recommend it to anyone that's interested.

for chicken salad, when I pick up a rotisserie chicken, I will reserve all the white meat I'm not having for dinner that night, plus about half the dark meat. the rest of the dark meat goes to quesadillas with the black beans above. I shred the chicken into a bowl, and add garlic powder, onion salt, McCormick's "Italian Seasoning", and a pinch of "summer savory" that is hard to find in the US (one of my 'house spices'). oh, and just enough mayo to hold it all together, since I really don't like mayo. for what I can pull off the bird, I've got enough for a few days' worth of sammies.

Those are great ideas for chicken. I've actually got a couple of really nice free range constantly hugged whole chickens in the freezer. I may cook one up next weekend and try the quesadillas with black beans. I googled the Goya black beans and they sound delicious, but they sound like they require a lot of speciality ingredients, and I've heard the Sazón GOYA is full of salt/msg. Do you ever subsitute or simplify the recipe? Also, I love summer savory - I have some I dried from last summer's CSA, and I bet it would be great in chicken salad. I normally use mayo, diced celery, white pepper, salt, and lots of dill. Walnuts and raisins or dried cherries if I'm feeling fancy.

Hit me with your pasta recipes too. I used to cook whole chickens alot when it was just me, because I love chicken salad, mini pot pies, chicken and dumplings - DBF won't eat most of those things, and I don't want to have to cook something else just for him.

[Apple]

dividend--I'm still copying recipes for the old boards, but there are two "white chili" recipes posted under "main dishes-->chili" Also, there is a thread there for leftover chicken meals that might give you a few more ideas.
Chicken is also a good topping on home made pizza (seasoned with a little italian seasoning) using alfredo sauce or BBQ sauce instead of a "regular" pizza sauce.

[hopetoberich]

I had a co worker who had " no money" even though she made good money. Anyway, she would say she was saving by bringing in leftovers for lunch the next day, and then cooking again that night. After many months of her complaining of having no money i told how how i was raised.
Dinner was dinner, a cooked meal. Lunch was a sandwich and and treat, breakfast was cereal and milk. We didn't have 2 dinners a day, leftovers to me is a 2nd dinner. She gave me a filthy look...lol
The next day these sandwiches appeared for her lunch, and she told me for dinner they were eating the leftovers. lol

[dividend]

I made the Goya black beans and rice last week to go with chicken quesadillas. It's delicious and easy - I made a double batch for lunches this week with brown rice. Although, I will probably try to find a spice blend to sub for the packets because they are full of msg and preservatives. Oh well, the box came with like 8 packets.

So I feel like I got my money's worth out of that chicken. For DBF and I we got : 1 meal of roasted chicken with potatoes and bok choy, 2 meals of chicken quesadillas with black beans and rice, and I made enough chicken and dumplings for 3 meals with what was left. So that's 10 meals total. Not to bed, eh?

I definitely LOVE leftovers.

[doxieluvr]

I hate leftovers and we have learned to cook just what we need so we won't have leftovers. We rarely ate them, and storing them just meant more work to dipose of them when I cleaned out the fridge. On the off chance we do have leftovers, I just pitch them. Last night we had about a serving spoon amount of corn.

[constanz22]

When you only cook for one, you pretty much HAVE to like leftovers! LOL! They really don't bother me. I like to get as many meals with as little effort as I can. It doesn't bother me to eat the exact same thing for 2-3 dinners in a row. When I can "mix it up" a bit, I will. I made a roast, potatoes and carrots in the crock pot on Sunday. Had that Sunday night and tonight for dinner. There is probably 2 more servings. I took a big hunk of the roast, put it back in the crock pot and shredded it with bbq sauce for bbq beef. I'll take that with a roll for lunch tomorrow and Thursday, maybe even Friday. I also made a quiche yesterday and have 2 more servings of that for lunch/dinner. So, really, I have cooked 2 "meals" that will fee me for 5 days.

[chiver78]

dividend, sorry I missed you earlier. I was on vacation and didn't see this thread again until today! to answer your black beans question, the only tweak I do is to use the low-sodium beans most of the time. to me, it's such an easy (healthy-ish) comfort food, that I don't want to change too much. I don't cook with a lot of salt in general, so the content of the Sazon packet never really bothered me too much. I've got some beans in the fridge right now, actually - I grilled up some Montreal-seasoned salmon the other night, which went with black beans and rice. the rice might turn into fried rice (if I get to it before it goes bad) and the beans will go into quesadillas or breakfast burritos.

for pastas: I typically either do a steam/saute of chicken/veggies in stock, or a cheese sauce with a frozen veggie. to paraphrase Rachael Ray, it's a technique, rather than a recipe. I hope you're OK with the terms, I'm assuming you know them. if not, please let me know and I'll further explain! I did the saute tonight, so the ingredients are what I just used. I ate to stuffed (didn't have much today otherwise) and still have leftovers for a few days. if you have any questions, holler back. enjoy!

saute:

1/2 lb curly pasta (I like cellentani for this)
1 chicken breast, whole
2 c broccoli florets
2 plum tomatoes, seeded and cut into chunks
3 mushrooms, cut into chunks
garlic
olive oil
chicken stock
S/P, red pepper to taste
grated parmesan cheese

cook pasta according to package directions. mince garlic, and heat with olive oil in a frying pan. when it's sizzling, add the chicken breast, about a 1/2" of stock, cover and cook on med heat for a few minutes. flip the chicken when ready to cook the other side, cook for a few more minutes.

while the chicken's cooking, prep the veggies for cooking. when the chicken is done, remove from the pan and shred to bite-sized pieces. add the veggies to the pan, cover, and cook over med-low heat in the liquids left from cooking the chicken. give the broccoli a couple more minutes than the rest.

add the shredded chicken back to the pan, season with S/P and red pepper to taste, and let the flavors blend a little before mixing into the pasta. add parmesan cheese, toss and serve.

mac 'n cheese:
1/2 lb curly pasta (I like campanelle or orechiette for this)
1c (ish?) grated cheese
3 T butter
2 T flour
1 c milk
1 c chicken stock
10 oz (ish?) frozen veggies, defrosted and wrung dry.
S/P to taste
pinch of nutmeg

cook pasta per package directions.
thaw the frozen veggies in the microwave. spinach is good at basic "defrost" for about 8 minutes. flip package halfway through, and wring dry with paper towels. these veggies are already cooked, and just need to warm up with the sauce.

in a separate pan, start with a roux. add the milk, stock, and nutmeg. cook on low-med heat for a couple minutes before adding cheese. allow cheese to melt into the bechamel before tasting for seasoning. add seasoning as needed. just before you drain the pasta, add the frozen veggies to the cheese sauce pan and cook for a couple minutes.

add the sauce (and veggies) to the drained pasta, toss and serve.

combos I typically use:
spinach/parmesan sauce **this is my failsafe comfort food, hands down.
broccoli/cheddar sauce
fajita grilled veggies/pepper jack cheese sauce

[motherto2]

I love leftovers!!!! Since it's just me right now, I will cook something and eat it for several days, either for lunch or dinner. I hate cooking for one and when I can come home and just pop something in the microwave, I'm less likely to eat as I'm cooking. And much easier to clean up ;D

[gsbrq]

I like leftovers, but I don't like eating the same thing 2 days in a row. I either freeze or repurpose.

I always make extra mashed potatoes and freeze some for later.

[yogi]

My favorite type of leftover is lasagna (tastes better the next day!) and pretty much any other type of pasta dish. I also enjoy leftover meatloaf, pot roast, or other types of meat that I can make sandwiches out of the next day.

[yogi]

Oh and you can never go wrong with leftover pizza IMO. My favorite lately is homemade BBQ chicken pizza. I buy a pre-made crust, or make my own and top it with shredded chicken breast, BBQ sauce and shredded cheddar cheese. Simple and delicious.

[pepperdoo]

Here's one I make with the leftover bread dough recipe that's a bit under than the rest of the loaves:)
Here's the stuffed bread recipe: 2 Pepper Stromboli
1. 1 loaf frozen bread dough, thawed and refrigerated
3/4 pound ground beef
1 meduim sweet onion, sliced into julienne
1 red bell pepper, seeded and julienned
1 green pepper, julienned
1 clove garlic, minced
1/8 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp basil
Salt and pepper to taste
5 ounces cream cheese, diced into smaller cubes
1 egg, beaten slightly
Roll the bread dough into a 13x9 inch rectangle and cover with a slightly damp towel. Brown the ground beef, and drain. Add the onion and peppers and saute till crisp-tender. Add seasonings and then add cream cheese, stirring till melted. Cool slightly.
Place filling in the center of bread and spread out to make a 3 inch wide rectangle of filling, leaving one inch on each of the long ends of the dough for sealing. Roll up dough, and seal tightly. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and brush with beaten egg. Sprinkle with a little kosher salt and bake at 350F for 35 to 40 minutes. Cut into serving pieces and serve with a green mixed salad. Enjoy!!

[donnafreedman]

I agree: Freeze the leftovers in small containers and you'll have a bunch of microwavable lunches ready to go.
I hate the idea of throwing out all that food...Really? She threw away freshly roasted turkey? Argh!

[merryheart]

I almost never throw out leftovers. Even if it is just a tablespoon of something, it will go in the freezer container that I keep for soup/stew. All sorts of leftovers go into the same container - meats, broths, gravies (not cream gravies though), veggies but not usually starches(mainly pastas). I don't think they freeze as well and both DH and I are diabetic - we need to be able to track those starches. When the container is full and we are ready for soup, it gets dumped into a large pot and simmered for a while. Checked for seasonings and adjusted. DH always says these are the best soups he ever had. Doxielover, that serving spoonful of corn would have made it to the soup freezer container instead of the trash!

[Deleted]

I roasted a duck on Saturday and I am finishing up the leftovers today. Just add greens, a couple of pieces of cheese, mmmmm.

[Deleted]

Today I am having roast beef sandwich, my favourite cauliflower salad and french onion soup. All leftovers and I defy anyone not to think it is delicous!

[Deleted]

Shred leftover roast beast, mix with any leftover gravy, add salsa and some chopped green chilies, heat through, turn it into beef mixture for burritos. Just slap a little shredded cheese on the meat before rolling up. Heat for a few seconds in the nuke box to melt the cheese and soften the tortilla.

You can do the same thing with leftover chicken or pork or taco meat. If you want to bulk it up some, spread some refried beans on the tortillas before putting the meat mixture and cheese in it.

Add egg, milk, some pepper, to leftover mashed potatoes and turn them into potato pancakes. You could even throw in a little shredded cheese. Hm. I wonder if they'd be good with some green chilies, too.

I guess it's apparent that I truly believe that most foods can benefit from the addition of cheese and green chilies.

[kadee]

If it weren't for leftovers, there would be many nights we didn't eat! I refuse to cook EVERY night! I also make lots of things that I can freeze the excess to save time/work/electric (stove)!

[merryheart]

Miss Rigby, we make potato pancakes from leftover mashed potatoes all the time! They are lovely with green chilis and a little minced onion, particularly if they wer garlic mashed potaties to begin with. Some of our best eating is repurposed leftovers!