When you’re planning meals, think about what the extras can become because they can be a time and budget saver. If you prepare twice the vegetables you’ll need for tonight’s dinner, you’ll have the starting point for a soup or pasta dish later in the week. Anticipate using leftover roast poultry, meat or fish on sandwiches; cook twice as much rice and potatoes as you need and freeze the extra for later use.
Put aside a lunch-able portion of dinner in a container and pack it for lunch the next day. With a bit of planning and no extra effort, you can create a week’s worth of healthy take-it-to-work lunches.
Turn extra cooked vegetables into a frittata. Mix cooked vegetables with a can of whole tomatoes and seasonings to create a pasta sauce. Use leftover cooked rice, meat and vegetables for a burrito for a quick dinner.
Extra leftover vegetables can become soup on another day. In a blender, puree the vegetables with 3 or 4 cups of vegetable or chicken broth, then warm the soup in a pot. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and finish the soup with a bit of pesto, olive oil and croutons.
Another way to use extra cooked vegetables, cheese, grilled steak, shrimp or chicken is to toss them with lettuce and your favorite dressing to create a delicious salad.
Certainly, for environmental and financial reasons, it makes sense for us to get smarter about using the food that we purchase.
Spinach Stuffed Mushrooms
I often have a small amount of cooked spinach leftover and since I am a frugal cook, I save even small amounts of leftovers. They can go into soups, omelets or a stuffing.
Ingredients
- 6 large mushrooms, stems removed and chopped
- 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1/4 cup leftover cooked, chopped spinach
- 2 tablespoons reduced fat cream cheese
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped chives
- 3 tablespoons panko bread crumbs
- Pinch salt and pepper
Directions
Heat a small skillet and add the olive oil, onion and chopped mushroom stems. Cook until lightly brown. Add the spinach to the skillet and heat. Add the cream cheese and chives and cook until the cheese melts. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the panko crumbs. Stuff the mushrooms with the spinach mixture and place in an oiled baking dish.
Bake in a 350 degree F oven for 20-25 minutes.
Zucchini, Onion and Pepper Fritatta
Have leftover sautéed vegetables? They are delicious in a fritatta.
Ingredients
- 6 large eggs plus 2 egg whites
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1/2 teaspoon each salt and pepper
- 3 cups leftover sautéed vegetable mixture, such as zucchini, red and green bell pepper, onion
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 cup mixed Italian shredded cheese (mozzarella, parmesan and asiago)
Directions
Preheat the broiler to high.
In a large bowl combine the eggs, milk and salt. Set aside.
Brush a 9 inch ovenproof skillet with 1 tablespoon of olive oil and heat over medium heat.
Saute the garlic until soft and add the vegetables and oregano. Heat about five minutes.
Pour in the egg/milk mixture.Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes or until the eggs are partially set. Sprinkle the cheese on top.
Place the pan about 5 inches under the broiler and broil for 2-3 minutes until the top cooks and puffs up and the cheese melts.
Italian Fish Cakes
Have leftover fish and mashed potatoes? Turn them into fish cakes.
Makes 8-12 fish cakes, depending on size
Ingredients:
- 1 cup leftover mashed potatoes
- 1 cup minced onion
- 1 large garlic clove, minced
- 1/3 cup celery, chopped fine
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 pound leftover, cooked fish (such as cod, halibut, flounder or salmon, flaked
- 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
- 1/4 teaspoon mustard powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Ground black pepper to taste
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 cup bread crumbs
- Olive oil
Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Generously brush two baking sheets with olive oil.
In a large saucepan melt the butter and saute onion, garlic and celery in butter over medium high heat until tender. Slowly mix in flour, cheese, Old Bay seasoning, dry mustard, salt, pepper, mashed potatoes and milk. Turn heat to low and fold in flaked fish. Mix gently. Remove pan from heat. If you have time, chill the mixture in the refrigerator for an hour.
For perfect even cakes, try using an ice-cream scoop to form balls. With floured hands shape batter into cakes 1/2 inch by 3 inches. Coat in breadcrumbs and place on the prepared baking sheets.
Spray the top of the cakes with olive oil cooking spray.
Bake the fish cakes for 10 minutes, turn the cakes over and bake another 15 minutes until golden brown.
Leftover Vegetable Pasta
If you have leftover, cooked sausage, chicken, pork, etc, add them in as well.
Ingredients
For 2 servings
Any of the following leftover vegetables:
- Squash
- Broccoli
- Tomato
- Onion
- Asparagus
- Mushrooms
- Bell Peppers
All of the following:
- 3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving
- 1 cup dried penne pasta
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon dried Italian seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (chili)
Directions
Slice all the vegetables into bite-sized pieces. Put the olive oil in a large skillet and add the garlic, Italian seasoning, red pepper flakes and vegetables. Cook and stir until heated through.
In a separate pot, cook the pasta in boiling salted water until al dente. Reserve ½ cup pasta cooking water. Drain.
Add the pasta and cheese to the skillet with the vegetables. Add the pasta cooking water and stir well. Heat and serve immediately with extra cheese on the side.
Quick Meat Stew
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 onion, diced
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 2 cans (14 oz each) diced tomatoes, undrained
- 1 lb leftover pork or beef roast, cubed
- 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- 2 carrots, sliced
- 1 red potato, cubed
- 2 teaspoons dried thyme leaves, crushed
- 2 bay leaves
Directions
Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, for 2-3 minutes, or until golden. Add the flour and cook, stirring, just until the flour turns a light brown, about 1 minute.
Add the tomatoes (with juice), meat, vinegar, carrots, potato, bay leaves and thyme. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes, until flavors have blended and the meat is hot. Remove the bay leaves before serving.
Marisa Franca @ All Our Way
I love those glass containers — they hold leftovers perfectly and you can actually see what’s inside. Yes indeed!! There should be no waste at all in the house — I was taught this well. To this day I say a little prayer if I have something to toss that didn’t get used and went bad. Usually it’s a lime or a bit of cilantro. I love the recipes!! Thank you.
Jovina Coughlin
Thank you Marisa, You know we, Italians, were taught to be frugal with food.
Kentucky Angel
You know me Jovina. I love leftovers. I’ve had so many problems with Google lately that I’ve switched to my ATT account, and I’m using Firefox as default now, so I’m not getting the updates from the Italian site any longer. At least I’m still getting your blog, now that my phone service has been restored. One of the construction people seems to have cut my phone line, along with about half the other phone lines in the building, and I had to threaten the ATT people with switching service to the cable company before they came out to do anything about mine. Not sure if they are doing something about the rest of the building or not, but I found that threat to be very helpful.
I also love these recipes. I’ll probably create another gmail account on this browser to get other things, like my photos.
Jovina Coughlin
Technology is great when it works but boy when it doesn’t -what a pain. I am glad you can read my blog. Creating a new google account shouldn’t be too difficult. I’ll look for you.
Kentucky Angel
The new account is angiewink26@gmail.com, so if I can be added back to the Italian food group I would love it. Google was really giving me a dozen kinds of fits when I used them as my default service, but Firefox is doing okay. At least it is for now. Just hope it continues to do so.
As for technology, I sometimes wish I could turn the clock back 70 years to when we wrote actual letters that were put in physical mailboxes. Well, I didn’t, because I couldn’t write yet, but some people did.
Animalcouriers
Good to have new options – so often it’s to the soup for our leftovers.
ohiocook
Reblogged this on My Meals are on Wheels.
nancyruth
Fabulous ideas for leftovers. My mom grew up in the depression years so I learned from her not to waste anything. I’m trying to be true to that now.
For the Love of Cooking
Those mushrooms have me drooling!
Health News Library
Left overs always taste good.