At my home, "left overs" is two four letter words attached by a shudder and grimace. They are my family's least favorite answer to the all important question "What's for dinner?"
Why? Maybe it's because my darling husband does not care for them. Maybe it's because when the boys were younger having left overs rarely happened. If there was anything remaining, it was barely enough for 1 person to have for lunch the following day. If we had enough left for another full meal, it meant dinner was a flop.
Whatever the reason, I now live with 3 mighty food warriors who will lead a revolution overthrowing the kitchen queen's rule if the words are uttered.
Okay, so that's going a bit far, but you get the idea. They do not like left overs. At. All.
Ever.
Even when they are still tasty the next day.
Now that our two eldest sons have moved out on their own we frequently have enough for a second meal. Since I do not want to incite a hostile take over, I had to get creative in the kitchen finding ways to transform left overs into a completely different meal.
Last week I did "the left over shuffle" with spaghetti.
To make it easy to transform, I serve everything separately. I must also admit there are certain family members who do not like everything mixed together. They want to control how much of everything is on their plate. One doesn't like sauce. Can you imagine?
So, I have bowls of spaghetti noodles, meat sauce, meatballs and of course cheese. The noodles and sauce are generally left over.
This is when things get fun in the kitchen. If I am in the mood for a casserole, I will make a cheesy béchamel sauce and mix with the noodles. I pour it into the casserole dish. Next, I chop Canadian bacon (or ham, depends on what I have on hand) and layer on top of the noodles. Now it's time for the meat sauce. If there are meatballs remaining, I will halve or quarter them and add to the sauce. If there isn't enough sauce or it is too thick, I will add a small can of tomato sauce with herbs to it. Pour this over the noodles and ham. Next, cheese. An Italian blend, or Mozzarella and parmesan. Next, a layer of pepperoni. Then, into the oven and BAM! Italian Casserole for dinner.
The great thing about this casserole is you can make a large or small one, depending on how much you have left over, or how much you add into it. To pump up the nutrition factor, add lots of veggies to the sauce. It is delicious and tricks the picky ones into eating more veggies. I have added carrots, mushrooms, peppers, onions, garlic, celery, spinach, etc., to the sauce and no one ever knew because I used my food processor and shredded them as small as could be.
It is limited only by your imagination.
OR you can make lasagna using your left over sauce if you family tosses away the uneaten noodles. I made a small lasagna this past week and it was possibly the best one I have ever made. The main difference was I used more noodles and alternated cheese or sauce on each layer of noodles.
Other favorites to do "the left over shuffle" with are to use roast beef for sub sandwiches on rolls with sautéed onions, peppers and onions with Swiss cheese.
Left over meat and veggies into a stew.
Left over chicken from tacos for flautas, or enchiladas.
Left over taco meat for taco soup.
Hope this helped you think of new ways to use left overs at your home. After all, no one wants to eat the same meal over and over again.
What are some of your favorites?
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