The consolidated "Leftovers" thread
 

When Mrs BamaVol and I were married ages ago, someone gave us a cookbook called, I think, Cooking for Two. It got a lot of use until kids came along. With 4 kids at home over a 10+ year period, there was no such thing as leftovers the next day. Anything put in the fridge after dinner would be gone by the following night. Now that we're down to the last kid, I've pulled out the book. It's been a somewhat difficult transition and I tend to cook too much still. Besides, it's more difficult to purchase food in small sizes - especially when some of the stores are moving away from service and toward bulk pre-packs that are inconveniently sized.

The book is pretty basic stuff, beginner info and recipes. But, I do like the focus on making big purchases and "Sunday dinners" and then making something different out of the leftovers. Buy a ham and make ham and cheese supper bread the next night. Buy an eye of the round and make roast beef in onion vinegar the next night and roast beef hash the next. I love picking a turkey or roaster chicken carcass apart and making open faced sandwiches with hot gravy.

Anybody got favorite leftover recipes?

I have two big dogs. :cool: There are never any leftovers when they get done. ;) I find that they are usually more civilized than my kids were when they were young.:D

Our kids are also grown & gone, so I also cook for two. Meatloaf one night is meatloaf sandwiches subsequent meals. Get plenty of variety from a leftover turkey - sanwiches, casseroles with brocolli & mushroom soup. Whenever steaks are on sale we load up and we grill lots of extra, leaving them a bit rare. They are then cut into about 1/2 to 3/4 lb portions, freezer wrap them, and freeze them. They get thawed and thin-sliced to go into a stir-fry, atop a salad, or cubed into soups. Extra pasta usually goes into a stir-fry.

Mostly, though, a dinner with leftovers becomes lunch for me for the next few days, as I work less than a mile from home. Mrs. Deubster works too far away to return at lunch, so she eats those 8 - 9 oz. frozen diet meal things at her job (that would be an appetizer for me).

Um, did they finish off that beet dish?

I like leftovers of some things - mostly enchiladas and pasta dishes. I cannot abide by left over roasts. I know I am wierd.

How did you know? I forgot to put it in the fridge. None left the next morning. :o

At least they didn't break the dish when they pulled if off of the counter. It needed more beets.............

Leftovers = dog :) Even if it smells a little funny.

A balanced diet! It is time to worry if the dog gets fat from the leftovers. ;)

(I'd probably not 'risk' the dog if the food was something I'd not touch)

It's simple. When I'm home, I eat them the next day. :)

When I'm not home, my wife leaves them in the fridge to be thrown out the next weekend. For some reason, my wife and kids don't do left overs.

Actually, I usually only cook once or twice a week. I cook a meal for 6-8 & make my own individual sized dinners of enchiladas, spaghetti, tortellini, beef stroganof & soups. I'm sure there are others I make that I can't remember right now.

I cover the top of the bowl or plate with plastic wrap & alum. foil. Then freeze the leftovers & reheat them as needed. After a while I have built up a nice selection. You just have to label the containers & date them. Then rotate out the older stuff first.

I have great containers for freezing & zapping. They are from Stouffers, Lean Cuisin & elsewhere in the frozen food aisle.

For consumption in a day or two, there is nothing better than leftover homemade stir fry with fried rice. I never freeze that.

I usually have leftovers a couple times a week. My trick is to add eggs or cheese to my meal. Or to make a sandwhich from the leftover meat.

We tend to have a lot of chicken and pork leftovers. I guess I cook smaller portions of beef.

Some ways we use leftovers:
- jambalaya
- fried rice (I usually make 2x the rice I'll need and use the rest in leftovers)
- pizza (assuming I have a crust in the freezer)
- sandwiches
- salads
- enchiladas

I made salmon cakes a few weeks ago from some leftover grilled salmon. They were pretty good.

Same here!

As an egg lover since early childhood, I've always try to include eggs to most of my meals. :)

Was that on a regular sweet cake?

Do you like cold leftovers?
 

I met a friend for lunch today at the Gold Coast hotel and we had Chinese food. As she was visiting town and I live here, I took her leftovers home and had them for dinner. As I often do, especially with Asian food, I ate it right out of the container without even thinking about warming the food up. I've found that I often end up enjoying the leftovers more than the original meal when they've had a chance to soak in their own juices and are digested cold.

Am I alone in this?