My food blogging has tapered off in recent weeks. This is due to my intolerance for standing for long in one spot and I do apologize. I haven't been cooking much at all. Nor did I really cook last night, but last night's dinner brings up a subject I thought I'd talk about today that sees a lot of action in my house – food recycling.
What do you do with your leftovers? Do you take them as originally eaten for lunch the next day or do you remake it into something else?
Often we just bring our leftovers for lunch. I do love a hot, home cooked lunch! Last week you saw that I made pork chops and black bean soup. Last night, when I decided again that I didn't feel like cooking, I surveyed the contents of my fridge. I dumped the sliced pork chops into a small sauce pan. Then I drained most of the liquid off the black bean soup and dumped the beans, onions and carrots into the pot. I sprinkled garlic and chili powder in the pot and heated over medium heat. Next I grabbed a can of whole green chiles and roughly chopped them. I poured all this into two flour tortillas with some shredded cheese and rolled them up. I topped off our green chile pork burritos with lettuce and black olives. Dinner was done in under 10 minutes.
While this isn't recipe-worthy because it was made with leftovers you wouldn't have (unless you cooked exactly what I cook, when I cook it), I thought it prompted a worthwhile topic for discussion. So tell me, do you recycle food?
7 comments:
Hi Jeni! I always "recycle" my leftovers into something new. Hope you're doing just fine. Have a great day!
I rarely have leftovers anymore, b/c I am a huge pig. When I do have leftovers however, I bring them to lunch the next day.
Hubby, on the other hand, recycles bones and makes them into various stocks. He then uses these tasty, fatty base liquids for sauces, dressings – almost everything really. Very resourceful.
Nice work! I don't eat pork, but those sound like yummy burritos. You know I rarely cook, but when I do, I intentionally make enough for leftovers (easy when it's just me), but the leftovers almost always remain in their original state.
The hubbie's grandma taught him to recycle most things into meatloaf, but that can get pretty repetitive, even though the kids have learned the flavor of meatloaf is completely unpredictable! We also recycle leftovers into stir fry or tacos, but more and more lately we'll plan our meals to incorporate previous meals. In other words, we'll do BLTs one night and use the leftover tomato, lettuce, and bacon for side salads the next night. Somewhere online there's a recipe for 'rubber chicken' - dubbed thus because the recipe stretches out over several days. There's also a free menu subscription that uses the same idea, so you'll take the ham you roast one night to make kabobs the next, etc. Very, very seldom do I eat leftovers. I usually plan for just one night and may have one serving left that will mysteriously disappear while I'm asleep (thanks, DH!). Alternatively, I'll buy enough for multiple meals to cook ahead and freeze in portions just big enough for the four of us.
What a great way to turn that into a whole other meal. Sometimes I plan ahead about things like that, sometimes not. And sometimes I get tired of leftovers and something goes to waste, but rarely.
I figured you were getting a little worn down on your feet. Hope you're feeling well today, Jeni. :)
Are you digging in to your frozen meals yet? I would be tempted to! I recycle a lot, usually any left over meats & pasta will be transformed in to salads. I am realizing as the kids are getting older that I don't have as much time in the kitchen as I did, even just a few months ago...with the Spring and Summer seasons coming I need to re-think our meals completely. I am hoping we can start doing sandwiches for lunch...
Btw, have you seen Williams-Sonomas new line of baby food products...I never had any of those "fancy" tools, but I did enjoy making my own baby food. Do you plan to make your own when Lily starts eating solids?
Thanks everyone. I've been a real whiner for the past week, but I think I'm finally starting to adjust:)
I've not yet touched a frozen meal. I've done some light cooking, and we've done some takeout. I definitely plan on making babyfood when the time comes!
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