For those of you who know this Foodie, you probably know how much I dislike leftovers. It is a rare occasion that I take any unfinished food home from a restaurant, friend's house, etc. I just don't like the idea of something cooked for the second time or the re-heated texture (too soggy or tough) or taste of said food on another day.
Over the years, I have learned some passable tricks for "re-packaging" foods of yesterday. One of them is leftover beef or chicken, marinated or plain. Many years ago, we were out with some friends and I'm thinking it was actually pre-kids... (I could easily go off on a tangent here, but I won't) and we went back to their house for some late night chow and he whipped us up some fresh quesadillas with a leftover piece of steak sliced thin and sandwiched in between that cheesy tortilla. It was super satisfying and perhaps my memory is slightly tainted because of the adult beverages I had that night, but borderline delicious. Whenever I have leftover steak or chicken now, my go-to lunch, appetizer or dinner in one of the days following is the quesadilla. Easy to make and in my house we have all of those ingredients on hand (shredded cheese, tortillas and a little cooking spray or olive oil- pepper and other veggies also optional) and the bonus is, my kids eat quesadillas now too.
I love pizza. To tell you the truth, I don't really know anyone who doesn't. I usually have a pre-made crust on hand for a last minute snack or meal or Pillsbury makes a pizza dough or you can always go old school with a Pillsbury crescent roll crust. I buy a wheat version at Whole Foods, but recently tried Mama Mary's thin crusts with a crowd of people which got the thumbs up from both kids and adults (more about that in a minute). I've made mini pizzas on the Indian bread, Naan or on pitas or the "kid-friendly" English Muffins. There are so many different things on the market to choose from. It occurred to me last night that pizza is really an open canvas for leftovers and basically to get rid of anything that's in your refrigerator. In no time, I whipped up a pizza on a whole wheat crust with a little tomato sauce, peppers, mushrooms, shrimp, mozzarella, ricotta and parmesan cheese. With a little garlic powder, oregano and basil, you're on your way and this new concoction was fresh and tasted great. Think of all of the variations that are possible and inexpensive because you already have everything at home! Until now, I totally didn't think of this as "leftover" but it kinda was!
Last, there is the "Leftover Challenge"... My family and I were away last week on vacation in North Carolina with 2 other families. On the day we arrived, we went shopping for 11 people for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The first couple of nights we had basics that were cooked fresh: hamburgers and hotdogs, another night chicken and steak, etc. The FUN part was as the week went on, assessing what was in the fridge and deciding what we could make to feed 5 kids and 6 adults. I mean it, I enjoyed the challenge of thinking out of the box in order to use what was on hand with minimal additions from the store. Afterall, we didn't want to have a full fridge of stuff that needed to be thrown in the garbage at the end of the week. Some favorites of the week were blueberry pancakes, lots of sandwich combinations and top nights included a Mexican fiesta where there was plenty of chicken, beans, rice and vegetables for fajitas, tacos and quesadillas and make-your-own pizza night where we bought personal pizza crusts (Mama Mary's) and all of the kids and adults got to choose there own toppings from meals and veggies that were cooked, sliced and diced earlier in the week. Almost everything that we put out for both meals was stuff that we already had on hand. I'm here to tell you that much of this group of 11 had the same things with small variations for lunch the next day and they were THRILLED about it! I'm still trying to fit back into my jeans. Oh wait, that wasn't only from this vacation. Haha!
You still won't likely catch me taking extra stuff home from a restaurant, but I wanted to share these ideas for "fresh leftovers" and let you know that I am re-thinking the actual meaning of leftovers and I'm likin' it!
Thanks- Foodie
| Fishing in the Outerbanks for our next meal (just kidding) |
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