What To Do With Leftovers?

What To Do With Leftovers?

There's nothing worse than opening your refrigerator and seeing leftovers sitting there that you know will probably end up in the trash. It's so frustrating! But what are you supposed to do? Nobody really wants leftovers, right?

Well.... maybe. Check out this list of ideas to see if you can spark some life into those leftovers.

1. One of my favorite ideas is Hash! Yup, nice and easy. Dice up everything to about the same size and reheat with some lovely browned diced potatoes.

Hash with leftover chicken and chickpeas

 

2. Pot Pie/Shepard's Pie. Whether you make it with a pie crust, a box of Jiffy corn bread or with a layer of mashed potatoes, putting leftovers together in any pie-like form is a crowd pleaser.

3. Soup/Stew. A great use especially of leftover veggies. Add some noodles or pasta or even rice to fill it out into a hearty meal. Want more of a stew? Thicken it up and add some beans to the mix for a heartier meal.

4. Empanadas. Mince all your leftovers together and reheat them in a skillet, add any seasonings to either amp up the flavor profile or change it completely. Put filling inside empanada wrapper and fry. Serve with a nice salad.

5. Noodle Casserole. Cook up some egg noodles, mix in your leftovers along with a can of Campbell's Cream of Whatever, a can full of milk or cream and some shredded cheese. Bake until done. Campbell's has lots of cream soups, not just mushroom. There's cream of celery, potato, chicken, broccoli. You can even use cheddar cheese soup.

6. Meat Pie. Great for all that leftover ham after Easter. You need a lot of leftover meat, but it doesn't have to be the same. It can be a turkey breast from one night, some chicken thighs from another, etc. But it's all poultry, so that's ok. Put the meat and veg in your food processor and blend it all together. Mix together with some leftover mashed potatoes or some refrigerated/frozen/instant/fresh potatoes. Whatever you've got. Line a springform pan, a very deep pie plate or a casserole dish, bottom and sides with pastry. Fill with meat and potato mixture. Top with pastry and bake according to pastry directions. Serve with gravy.

7. Scalloped potatoes. This is great when you just have leftover meat. Again, great for leftover Easter ham. Make scalloped potatoes according to your favorite recipe (or use box mix), but add a layer of bite sized pieces of meat on top of potatoes until you reach the top. Bake as usual. Makes it a meal instead of a side dish. Great dish for a brunch.

8. Junkyard Pizza. Make your own pizza. Do it with your kids and have fun. See who can come up with the weirdest combination. If the pieces are too big/messy for a pizza, make calzones.

9. Over Loaded Baked Potatoes. Make twice-baked potatoes, but instead of putting all of the potato back in, leave room to add a mixture of your leftovers dripping in cheese sauce. Jar of Cheez Whiz or some Campbell's cheddar soup will do the job.

10. Everything But The Kitchen Sink Lasagna. You can either dice everything real small or puree in your food processor, depending on whether or not you want chunks. Spread mixture over the layer of ricotta cheese when assembling your lasagna. You get more flavor and more protein and nutrients from the veggies.

 So... there you go. Ten ideas of what to do with leftovers. Hope you found something helpful!