Favorite Things to Make with Common Leftovers

Image from: Rachel Levit

Reducing food waste is a really crucial step in managing a grocery budget and helping to better care for our resources and planet. Below, I've listed some recipes and ways we use common leftovers up in our house. Thanks to Stephanie for the post idea :)



Spaghetti- Store leftover spaghetti or noodles in a separate container from any leftover sauce. Sauce can be used for english muffin pizzas for lunch, regular pizza for dinner, or an easy dish of eggs baked in tomato sauce for breakfast or a quick lunch. Use leftover noodles/spaghetti to make a  delicious pasta fritatta. The best thing about a fritatta is that it is the perfect vehicle for using up really any small bit of ingredients--feel free to add leftover cheese bits, chopped veggies, or meat.

Rice- I personally try not to keep leftover rice in the fridge for more than a night, as I once read somewhere it is a food that spoils quickly...so usually, the next day after having rice, I make one of two things. If we didn't have the rice with an Asian themed dish the night before, either Mike or I will make fried rice. If fried rice doesn't sound good or was too close to the previous meal, I'll usually add the rice to a soup OR I will make crispy rice cakes. Somehow, I always think the kids will like these for lunch. Somehow, I always end up eating tons of rice cakes that they won't touch. A kid friendly thing my mom used to serve us was leftover rice heated up with a bunch of shredded cheese stirred in. Comforting and easy.

Fruit (especially bruised or slightly mushy fruits)- I freeze bananas after peeling them for use in smoothies. Same with other fruit after it is washed and cut, like berries or nectarines/peaches. I also like to take imperfect fruit and use it to make a simple sauce to put over pancakes or waffles. You can hide bruised fruit in muffins or a cobbler/crisp as well.

Herbs- use leftover herbs to make a green sauce, add to a marinade for meat, use in your juicer (parsley especially), or blend them with olive oil and freeze in ice cube trays. Once they are frozen you can pop them out and store in a Ziploc for later use in meals. Also, don't forget, with lots of herbs, the stems are perfectly edible! Don't waste them!!

Leftover Chicken- I absolutely love roasting chicken and if I need some shredded chicken quick for a recipe, I'll buy a whole rotisserie chicken instead of chicken parts (it is cheaper around here). This always results in leftover chicken. Some of my favorite things to do with leftover chicken are: make chicken salad, chicken packets (an old Once a Month Cooking Meal my mom used to make...so you can freeze them! And kids love them! We never used croutons on them growing up, but I have made them that way, as well as using crushed Ritz crackers instead. Both were tasty), making soup in the winter, and throwing it into quick chicken quesadillas.

If this was helpful at all, I'd be more than happy to write up a "Round Two" with some more common leftover ingredients. These were just the top items that came into my head as things we are good about re-purposing.



Oh...and before I sign off:

An AMAZING book that talks about using what you have to make delicious meals & figure out what to do with "scraps" is An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace by Tamar Adler. I would highly recommend buying or renting a copy. The book isn't your typical cookbook, but more of a helpful navigation tool and is beautifully written (the link here is NOT an affiliate link. I don't have any idea how to even do those).

Weekly Meal Planning Recap- 7/16 to 7/22

Saturday July 16th- 

I made Chicken Broccoli Cheese Casserole for dinner. This recipe is one I clipped from a magazine last fall, when I usually start to gravitate towards casseroles and heavier dishes. Mike is a big fan of broccoli and it is a vegetable I'd personally rather eat when it is cooked in smaller pieces and hidden in a casserole or soup.

My original intention was to make this homemade "cream of" soup mix to have on hand and use in this recipe, but I ended up caving and making a stop at the store for a $2 can of cream of onion soup because Saturday was a very rough day here. I vow to make the homemade mix soon and report on its success here.

Recipe adaptations: 

• I use cream of onion soup instead of cream of mushroom.
• I use shredded supermarket rotisserie chicken when I make this because I don't normally buy chicken breasts (whole chickens are cheaper and already cooked is a plus)! 
• Broccoli crowns were 10/$10 at Mejier so I cut and steamed my own broccoli, even through the original recipe uses frozen broccoli. 
• I use crumbled butter crackers for a topping instead of potato chips. 

Verdict: Mike was very enthusiastic about this dinner, I enjoyed it, and the kids weren't interested at all. Orion took two bites and didn't seem to hate it...The meal also provided three lunch servings of leftovers. I may have ate one portion in the middle of the night when I got uncontrollably hungry due to third trimester craziness.


Sunday July 17th-

We has family friends over for Sunday dinner and I had the inspiration to go off of the meal plan and add an unexpected expense to our grocery bill for the week: Brisket.

The only two places I know to buy a brisket around here sell huge pieces that are quite an investment, but considering we can make three separate briskets out of one cut and then eat that brisket for 3 meals or so, it's a meal worth doing. Especially since I have pregnancy related anemia and can use all the extra iron I can get ;)

I am devoted to the recipe for Maya's Sweet and Sour Holiday Brisket from the Smitten Kitchen cookbook. I always make it in the oven and use my Le Creuset dutch oven.

The brisket was served with an arugula, feta, and dried MI cherry salad, along with Parmesan-garlic potatoes brought by our guests. I made a lemon based vinaigrette for the dressing.

For dessert I went with a frugal recipe for Maple Pudding Cake, which was also by Smitten Kitchen. This made exactly enough for four adults and I served it with vanilla ice cream. I used maple syrup from my dad's trees and therefore I think the sweetness of my sauce wasn't overpowering as that syrup is milder than the typical commercial sold maple syrup.

Verdict: Everyone had clean plates! And I may have heard some words of praise... The kids had a separate meal, but ate well too.


Monday July 18th-

We had leftovers tonight. Not very exciting, but there was enough broccoli and chicken casserole to go around and now I'm content knowing it is gone. Having a quick meal also boded well because Mike was able to mow our lawn and do some tree trimming afterwards and then we all went outside to play until bedtime!

Tuesday July 19th-

It was just the kids and myself tonight for dinner. I was tired from a long day of playing outside, attending a magic show, and trying to chase Otto around the library. We had grilled cheese sandwiches for dinner. 


Wednesday July 20th-

This was a busy and stressful day. I had to pick up my sister from the airport, but the flight was delayed and our whole day was a little thrown off. Luckily, I had made the Roasted Potatoes with Chicken Sausage and Maple Mustard Glaze ahead of time around 3pm so I was able to quickly re-heat it for dinner (and eat more when we all arrived home from the airport at midnight). I used Golden Delicious apples. 

Thursday July 21st-

Had dinner at my parent's house. Papa cooked up a pork butt, so there were BBQ sandwiches, potato chips, and a nice cucumber salad.

Friday July 22nd- 

Another exhausting day here. The last night of having Mike away though! We drove back from Ludington and laid low at the house due to really really hot weather. I made the kids macaroni and cheese (Annie's brand--our favorite and a steal at Sam's Club) and I had another grilled cheese sandwich because nothing else sounded good.


Hopefully next week I'll have a bit more of an inspiring or interesting week of meals to share with you! "Just keeping it real" and all that, y'know...

Everybody Wants to Know About: Meal Planning!!

(meal planning supplies: favorite cookbooks, my recipe binder, shopping list, & loose recipe sheets I pulled for the upcoming week).

Let me start by saying we are people who love good food and being in the kitchen. How I meal plan might be a little overboard for those who are content with routine or a simple rotation of meals...I just had to make my own method because I love to cook and try new things often! I take joy in cooking most days and if I had an unlimited budget, I would shop daily for whatever tickled my fancy instead of meal planning...

Since my reality requires me to think ahead and spend our resources wisely, here's what I currently do for meal planning (which really means "dinner planning"):


Step One: Look through way too many recipes. Spend a lot of time reading recipes on blogs while the kids sleep. Consider it research and part of my homemaking job, even if maybe I go overboard. Usually end up going to my trusty recipe binder for 3-4 meals and pick out 1-2 new dishes to try from a cookbook or the internet.

Step Two: Consider who is going to be around that week. I will most certainly plan differently if Mike is gone on business or not. Usually those weeks I buy produce and essentials, but try to clean out the pantry and make simple meals for myself and the kids.

For example, tonight we are running low on fresh produce and pay day isn't until Friday.

I found a can of pumpkin in the cupboard, so the kids and I made whole-wheat pumpkin muffins with maple syrup and I served them with the rest of the sweet cherries, scrambled eggs, and leftover breakfast sausage for dinner. I had an omelet with the rest of the feta cheese we had, some of the sausage, and a muffin.

Step Three: Look at the calendar again. Usually subtract one meal from the list I have been compiling of what sounds good to make/what we have on hand to make. The "subtract one" meal really helps us keep the leftovers in check. If I cook a casserole sized meal every night of the week, we waste a lot of food. Some recipes I specifically know don't produce leftovers & we will combine those with the ones that make lots of leftovers to pick around 5 meals to make during the week.

The "what we have on hand to make" means a pantry staple meal. I add something like this in every week because if I have to drop it from the menu we aren't wasting any food. An easy example of this is spaghetti. I always have pasta, tomatoes, and onions on hand. Usually have some frozen sausage or meat. Therefore if this is on the menu for Wednesday and then Wednesday we discover we have too many leftovers from Tuesday or one of us parents is going to be out (or if we--oops--go out to eat after playing at the park), we have the option not to make the dish without wasting any fresh food. I then rearrange the rest of the dinners in the week up a day to close the gap.

I must also note here that I am playing around with a new-for-me way of doing things where I have certain nights for certain types of food. I cannot abide by just making EVERY Tuesday night "taco night" but we do love to cook Asian food, so one night a week is Asian food night where I pick from our favorite stir-fry or Thai dishes...I want to do more of a structure and the loose categories will help me, I think. The most recent one I am excited to add is "Meatball Monday." So many meatball recipes! I could eat meatballs every night, but once a week is probably enough. Plus, usually very kid-friendly. Sundays are usually home made pizza night, which is economical and delicious. If we aren't doing pizza, during the summer we grill or during the other seasons we will have a roast or stew in the crock pot.

Step Four: Confirm the order of the meals I am planning. For example, if we are having a rice heavy dish one night, I only want one rice dish that week. If I am using a loaf of bread for french toast, maybe I need to serve a salad with homemade croutons to use the rest of the bread up the next day...things like this are considered. Also, I always try to use the meat on hand in the freezer first, because buying meat is expensive and a pain (we do eat some vegetarian meals too).

Here's the plan for the upcoming week:

Step Five: Write a grocery list. Look at the ads for Mejier, Walmart, and Aldi. Make notes on the shopping list of what to buy where (if Mejier has 10 for 10 deals I note the healthy/useful ones). Also ask Mike if there is anything special he wants for his lunchbox that week (because I am so sweet).

Step Six: Shop. Whenever possible, without children!!



SIDE NOTE: 

Here's a brief idea of what we eat when it isn't dinner time: 

Breakfasts during the week tend to be some combo of: eggs, toast, greek yogurt, frozen waffles, homemade muffins (or cake!), fresh fruit, smoothies, or cereal (everyone but me eats it the normal way, with milk). I keep most of these options stocked & on weekends we may have something else, like biscuits & gravy (Mike's favorite), dutch baby, or a breakfast casserole. Bacon is a weekend food too :)  I tend to make pancakes as a dinner though because my fragile before-coffee brain can't handle the intensity of my favorite pancake recipe in the morning hours. 

Lunches are usually leftovers for Mike and I. I let the kids usually have "kid food" at lunch because they eat the same thing we do at dinner (minor variations can apply). This means keeping peanut butter, jelly, noodles, chicken nuggets (actually haven't done those in awhile), sausage or hot dogs, cheese and crackers, etc on hand. I always serve veggies and fresh fruit (well, sometimes in the winter it is applesauce or canned oranges) with lunch too. Quick is a benefit at lunch time. 

For snacks, I keep cheese sticks, fruit (fresh and dried), pretzel sticks, and usually some kind of crackers on hand. If someone asks for a second snack after the allotted crackers or pretzels they can have either a banana or carrots. I never say no to apple slices as a snack either, unless someone has an upset stomach. Mike will have special snacks for his lunchbox--like Chex Mix from Sam's Club. Sometimes the kids will get some of that as well, especially if he is feeding them. I am powerless over the occasional bag of kettle style chips--we all have our vices. 




One of my favorite things to do here used to be to post our weekly meal plans. I may go back to that! Let me know if that is something you'd be interested in seeing. I would post them after we completed a week of dinners so I could discuss how they turned out and share recipes with you :)

Welcome Back!

So the topic of starting a blog for 2016 arose on a simple living forum I am a part of and I decided, after finding this old place a few days back and enjoying reading all my entries, that I would really like to get back to it. My friend over at Untangled Simplicity is also an inspiration and asked me awhile back to write a guest post for her blog, so getting back in the writing habit should happen!

Simple Living and Minimalism are topics I really enjoy reading about and it would be nice for me to do a little more documentation of the various things I do to make my life simple & cozy while documenting daily life here at Acorn Landing with my sweet family...

Today is the first time this winter that I have used the snow blower. I think he remembers all the struggles we had last year, because he graciously started for me on the third pull today. Yes, the snowblower is masculine to me. Mike is around, but I did the job because he is fighting a horrible and nasty cold. The boys are still coughing and poor Otto is leaking snot everywhere, which makes his sleep erratic and all of us a little on edge.

On the 1st, I began my latest knitting project, which is the Outlander inspired Transported to 1743 shawl . The yarn cost more than I expected AND I ended up reversing two colors, but I am continuing the way I started, with a darker color than the main color in the photo of the pattern. The colors will suit my wardrobe better this way besides.

I ended up frogging all my progress you see in this photo on the 2nd because I did not end up with the correct number of stitches after the first 33 rows (only 70-something instead of 97)...our printer is broken and I had to hand write out the instructions.

So, due to that, apparently I missed transcribing a M1R and a M1L increase before and after my stitch markers! Ugh! So, I am back on row 9-10 because now I've been assisting all the sick boys in the house and working on housework without time for the knitting. Today's nap time should yield a good chunk of time for some progress though. Ah, the trials of a beginning knitter. I suppose this is how one learns. I hope some day I'll have less of these mistakes. I thought I was doing well and being careful!

Cleaned out the fridge today...so nice to get back to decluttering after some time off!

We also (finally) cooked a ham last night for dinner. We bought one on sale during the holidays, but already had so many other good meals planned that the ham was moved to the back burner. Tonight I am going to make Ham and Cheese Pasta Casserole from this recipe, but I think I will adapt it to be closer to what commenter Stacie Clarke made.

And there's a brief update on what is new in my simple little life! :)