Cooking Tips and Articles

Start Loving Your Leftovers

If you are like most us, when dinner time is over all the leftovers get stored in the fridge for another day. Hopefully, they will get eaten, but quite often they will just go bad and end up in the trash. I, for one, do not understand this because a lot of leftovers, particularly chili, soups and casseroles, are even better after spending the night in the ice box. Nevertheless, family members may turn their nose up at these offerings. So what can you do to make these leftovers more appetizing to the rest of the fam?

Many folks like leftovers and others do not. Those that don't care for them may not mind eating them the next day, but if there are still some on the third day, not so much. The repetition gets to them, and this is understandable. The good news is that there are many ways to, let's say, spice up leftovers and make them a lot more tempting. Here's a good example for you...

Let's say you made a nice roasted chicken for supper and there was, with a little help, just about enough to make another meal in the refrigerator. Hey, you're already half way there! It's easy from here. Don't let that chilly chicken go kaput.

If you were to heat that chicken up and bring it back to the table the next night, you might get some yawns and maybe even a food fight. Hmmm. But, with a little creativity you can be queen of the cuisine.

Eating leftovers the way they were first served, is most likely what’s turning the fam away from wanting it once more the next time.  Your family doesn’t have to have the roasted chicken just the way it is, so chop that bird up into small pieces. We've got an idea for it.

By the way, this idea works for roast beef, pork roast, or about any cut of meat you can think of.

In a hefty skillet or wok, stir-fry some frozen veggies on high heat and add the chopped chicken pieces to them along with a little soy sauce or teriyaki sauce. You can also add a couple of eggs and chop them while they're cooking. Garlic will also be great in the leftover recipe dish.

This is just one way that leftovers can be turned into a new dish with a new flavor. The same can also be done using chicken, seafood, or beef.  Let’s take a look at beef.

If you have ground beef patties left from last night's meal, chop them up fine and add some chili powder and taco sauce to make beef burritos, taco salad, nachos or tacos.  Or, add some beans, tomatoes and chopped peppers and hot sauce to make some chili. If you have the imagination, the ideas are limitless and you will soon be creating all kinds of great leftover recipes from meats, breads and vegetables from another meal.