Leftovers

I generally do not care all that much for leftovers. I don't know why. My husband will eat anything twice in a row and with great gusto. I usually will not (unless it's something I love). But what I will do, is turn one dish into something else. So chili becomes a baked potato topping; leftover bits of meat get turned into a hash or a pasta dish. Leftover chicken becomes quesadillas or enchiladas and so on. But, sometimes it's hard to be creative when you're faced with a previous dish.

I thought it might be helpful if we shared some leftover ideas.

I'll start.

Tonight, I'm making soup. A cold front came in last night and it went from the high 70s (shorts on December 3rd) to barely in the 50s. So that calls for a hearty soup in my book. Starring is a couple cups of leftover meat sauce from Monday night's spaghetti dinner. Added to that is a couple of teaspoons of taco seasoning (I buy it in bulk instead of the little packages) and one chopped up chipotle pepper in adobo sauce. Enough stock to make it soup-like. It's all simmering on low in the crock pot. Later on today, I'll add frozen peas, corn and carrots to the pot make a full-meal soup. I picked up a crusty loaf of bread at the bakery when I was running errands and I've got brownies in the oven for dessert.

With my kids, you have to be careful with the spice...they're getting better, but even a tinge too spicy and they won't eat it. I'll probably add an extra bit of adobo sauce to my husband and my portions. We think the smoky flavor of the chipotle pepper is just divine but the kids don't exactly agree. The addition of the chipotle changes the flavor quite a bit from the meat sauce.

I am trying very hard to be a more useful consumer of leftovers and reduce our food waste. I sort of realized that I was throwing out a lot of food, partially because I would buy too much at one time and partially because the leftovers would sit and then have to be tossed. So, I am making a real effort to use the leftovers and not waste food.

In addition, I still haven't gotten my stuffed fridge back from the storm (after having to throw out everything in there three times due to our unstable power situation, I have been hesitant to completely stock up). This means that foods aren't getting lost quite so easily in the fridge or in the freezer. I am making an extra mid-week trip to the grocery store (usually combined with another errand), so I buy less at any one time and think about how to complement what I already have with a few purchases.

Anyway, any leftover suggestions would be highly appreciated and probably enjoyed by all the blog readers.