Using leftovers.....

[Chickysmom]

How do you use your leftovers from one meal to make something new? My DH isn ot fond of leftovers but if I can disguise them as a new meal (and often freeze things for the same meal at a later date) he doesn't complain. he may not be thrileed, but at least it's a change. I thought we can list some of our handy "meal makeovers" here.

I froze the veggies off my platter at Xmas and added my precooked chicken and broth to make a yummy smelling chicken veggie soup today. I will probably have to freeze any leftovers but having homemade soup on hand for another night will be great too....


I often turn leftover spaghetti into spaghetti casserole by layering it in a dish with corn or creamed corn then alayer of cheese, heat through in oven and yum!!!

Anyone else want to join in?

 

[sunshinegirl]

My favorites:

Ham turns into ham and bean soup
Turkey become Turkey Tetrazini (big at our house!
Rotisserie chicken becomes Chicken Tortilla Soup
Chicken Breast goes into Chicken Taco Salad or Stir Fry

 

[gemjoy]

My favorites:

Turkey become Turkey Tetrazini (big at our house!

How do you make your Turkey Tetrazini??? I just roasted a turkey and have tons of left-over... I would love the recipe!

 

[sunshinegirl]

Here's the Turkey Tetrazzini recipe that I always use from AllRecipes.com. I don't add the pimentos but add frozen peas like a tuna salad. Sometimes I put crackers on the top as well. Make sure that you do not make the mixture too thick because it thickens a LOT when it cools. I usually make two at a time and freeze one.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Turkey-Tetrazzini/Detail.aspx

 

[MiniGirl]

I make a lot of soups with my leftovers. I love soup though, and almost anything makes a good soup. I make a lot of fajitas. We've had steak, chicken, shrimp, and fish. As long as the initial flavor isn't too strong, they seem to turn out fine. I've also done left over meats (not seafood) in the crock with just BBQ sauce for easy sandwiches. I also make gumbo quite often -- can't use fish for that though. Just about anything can be made into a stir fry or fried rice or paella type of dish, too. Our oldest doesn't like strong flavors, so we often add most of out stronger seasonings after we cook it and just on our plates. Not as good, but this way dd#1 will eat and our leftovers can be totally changes into something else.

 

[gemjoy]

Thanks "Sunshinegirl"!! I'm making this for dinner tonight! Sounds great!

 

[snoodledoo]

Leftover chicken from (whole) chicken & rice goes into Chicken Chimis.

 

[aynt79]

For whenever I cook a whole chicken, leftover meat can make:

chicken and dumplings
chicken soup (tons of options here, either potatoes or noodles, chicken corn chowder, or a spicy mexican corn concoction)
chicken tacos
enchiladas
quesadillas
stir fry
chicken casserole (like a shepherds pie)
hot chicken sandwiches with gravy

A lot of times I'll freeze some of the preportioned chicken to use in one the above meals for a later date.

 

[livindis]

I actually just started doing this. This week I will make a Roast Beef served with Lyonnaise potatoes and a salad. Then I will turn it into a sandwich served on rustic bread rolls with horseradish-mustard sauce, arugula, and havarti along with soup that I made the day after the Roast Beef. The next day I am making Arugula, Proscuitto Chicken Breasts with the same Lyonnaise potatoes and salad. On the 4th day I will make chicken salad out of extra chicken meat that I cooked on the previous day and serve that with the mini meatball soup that I had already served. With all of our late afternoon and early evening activities I have found that a hearty soup and sandwich or salad is perfect when you don't have time to make dinner or enough time to eat a large meal.

 

[samanthacatangel]

Amanda, you sound like me! I can stretch a roast chicken like you would not believe!

I also make chicken stock from the carcass of the roast chicken, and use this to make soups with the chicken meat.

I make chicken stew, and sometimes chicken pot pie. Putting leftovers with biscuits or pie crust makes a new meal. I make a less fattening white sauce with 1% milk instead of whole milk.

We love stuff between tortillas as quesadillas too.

Meatballs become crushed into meat sauce, and I use this in lasagna, or just plain with pasta.

There is a great book called Cheap!Fast!Good! which is not gourmet, but gives lots of ideas for dinners on the fly - and with lots of leftovers. The authors' first book, Desperation Dinners, is also good.

Samantha

 

[DawnM]

We cooked a whole/huge Turkey for New Year's! We would have done it for Christmas but we had some deaths in the family and it threw us off with celebrating.

Anyway, we had turkey a couple of nights, then I got all the meat off and used one "batch" to make Shephard's Pie (turkey, Cream of Mushroom Soup, paprika, onion, garlic, salt and pepper, corn, mashed potatoes, cheese).

I used another "batch" to make taco pie (ANY LEFTOVER meat can be used and my kids love this one).....layer cut up corn tortillas, meat, cheese and mixure of cream cheese and salsa (Campbell's also has a SW flavour condensed soup that could be used instead). Layer a couple of times, top with cheese and cook until done.

I LOVE soup, but my family DOES NOT!

The other thing I like to do is to make huge batches of things we like and cut into family size helping and freeze so that I can use it later on a night I don't want to actually cook again.

Dawn

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

We eat alot of our leftovers for lunch the following day, but some of the things I've started making are:

leftover roast--beef stroganoff
leftover chicken breast--chicken casserole with biscuits on top, don't know what it's called
DH will make just about anything into a sandwich, steak, chicken, pork chops, roast, ham, etc.

I'm enjoying reading others' ideas, I could use some variety.

 

[Maybelle]

My favorites:

Ham turns into ham and bean soup
Turkey become Turkey Tetrazini (big at our house!
Rotisserie chicken becomes Chicken Tortilla Soup
Chicken Breast goes into Chicken Taco Salad or Stir Fry

the chicken tortilla soup sounds great to me, but the recipe looks pretty spicy, which would not be good with dd. Maybe I'll try it sometime when dd won't be here.

 

[abbyndrewmom]

One of my week day tricks is to make a big pot of chilli early in the week and then later in the week we have taco's using the leftover chilli for the filler.

Allison

 

[Chickysmom]

One of my week day tricks is to make a big pot of chilli early in the week and then later in the week we have taco's using the leftover chilli for the filler.

Allison

or topping on baked potatoes sounds yummy too!!!

 

[87Heel]

One of my week day tricks is to make a big pot of chilli early in the week and then later in the week we have taco's using the leftover chilli for the filler.

Allison

Or the reverse... use the leftover taco meat/pinto beans/etc to add to your chili.

 

[writersblock42]

You will actually save more money by trying not to have left-overs. Only cook a small ham, a small turkey, only use two chicken breasts instead of four or only cook a small pot of spaghetti. However, sometimes there are still leftovers. Some of my favorites are
spaghetti sauce-lasagna (sp?)
baked ham-ham and noodle casserole (cubed ham, cream of mushroom, egg noodles, cheddar cheese)
turkey-turkey pot pie (you can also throw in leftover peas, carrots, broccoli, mushrooms, or whatever veggies you have left)
chili-chili dogs
left over steak-beef and noodle casserole
roasted chicken-chicken corn soup
sausage or bacon-baked egg casserole

 

[jbmom]

These ideas are great, our leftovers usually end up in the garbage. But, I'm going to have to try some of these recipes.

 

[PaulaSue]

Yummy, all the ideas sound so good and I just got done eating supper.

 

[CrazedDisFan]

I always boil more chicken than I need to when making a recipe. I do it intentionally.

I will use some to make a chicken pot pie. I use the recipe right off the Bisquick box. It's tasty and SIMPLE!

I take about 2 cups of the chicken and shred it. Add 1/2 cup hot water and one packet of taco seasoning. I then allow it to cool and freeze it. I use this later for White Chicken enchiladas. (recipe to follow)

I take a cup or two and add some diced celery, diced onions, and mayo to it for some chicken salad. My kids and dh love it and will take it in their lunches. I usually add a bit of garlic to it for a little extra flavor.

I will use the stock and the remaining chicken for chicken noodle soup, which is so easy to make. The best soup tip I have is to take it off the heat when the noodles are about 3/4 of the way done. The hot broth will finish the cooking. If you leave the heat on you'll end up with mush.


White Chicken Enchiladas

2 cups cooked shredded chicken with taco seasoning added (see above)
8 tortillas
1 cup sour cream
1 can cream of chicken soup
2 cups shredded montery cheese (I have used mexican blend too)
1 can diced green chiles drained (find by the mexican food at your grocer)

preheat oven to 350
Equally divide the chicken and 1 cup of cheese on the 8 tortillas.
Roll tortillas like burritos.
Place in 9x13 pan
Mix sour cream, soup, and drained chiles.
Pour evenly over the enchiladas.
Top with remaining cup of cheese
Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until the top is brown and bubbly.

*Cheaters method... Old El Paso Shredded Chicken for tacos is great in this recipe. You can find it near the meat at your grocer. It is in a yellow tub. Also Chi-Chi's makes a shredded chicken that is good in this recipe too. *