Leftover magic

[Skylace]

I know that some people hate leftovers. Or if you have someone like Aja cooking for you, you won't have leftovers!

But, whether these leftovers came from your own kitchen or even the "doggy bag" from the restaurant, you can do more than just reheat them in the oven, microwave, or pan (which I found turns some people off of leftovers). Instead, why not breathe new life into your leftovers and make a whole new meal?

I am sure many of us have great leftover recipes and they would be great to share.

Like tonight, I made a leftover stir fry.

We had left over rice from our Indian, I had half an onion from earlier in the week, and two thawed out chicken breasts clucking for some excitement. I didn't just bake up the breasts (tee hee) in the oven and place them on the rice. Oh no, I took the onion, chopped it up nice, cut the chicken into nice strips, got some of my fresh garlic (three cloves) and the rice and made a tasty stir fry. Prep time about 10 mins, cook time, well until the onions were glassy and the chicken was done And I had a tasty meal that all three of us could enjoy and I didn't waste a thing

It was quick, it was simple and it wasn't the same meal we had last night, even though it was a lot of the same food.

What recipes do you have?

[misslisalynn]

Last night I thawed out the last of my homemade chicken gumbo, put it into a glass casserole dish and topped it with flattened out refrigerated biscuits and baked for 15 mins. An easy version of a pot pie and the family didn't mutiny.

[eefanincan]

When I have some leftover mashed potatoes and some left over salmon I will finely mince or puree the salmon in the food processor/grinder and mix it in with the potatoes and some seasonings and breadcrubs to make salmon cakes--- then lightly fry them up or bake them in the oven. It's a quick way to make a healthy meal.

[Skylace]

Wow! Both of those sounds great. I am really going to have to file those away and remember.

The idea for the biscuits is perfect. I've never thought of that and feel silly for not doing so!

And I just love salmon cakes and crab as well. YUM!

[eefanincan]

[faceless]

the salmon cakes sound great, I'll definitely try that.

as far as putting biscuits on chicken is concerned - I'm guessing they're not chocolate digestives?

[Aja]

[Skylace]

Did something different with the turkey leftovers this year (and the green bean casserole).

I took some green onions, chopped up the turkey into bite sized pieces, took the left over green bean casserole, a can of cream of chicken soup and a bit of milk and cooked it all up in a frying pan. It made a nice looking pot pie filling. But instead of putting a pastry top for a pot pie, I topped it with mash like a shepherds pie. Cooked it at 350 for 30 mins and it came out lovely.

It was a nice twist on the leftovers and I used it all at once.

[eefanincan]

Sounds yummy..... I'll keep this in mind for boxing day when we're knee deep in turkey

[faceless]

I made the fish cakes the other day, but they were a bit too moist for frying. They kind of fell apart... next time I'll dry the stuff out a bit more. They did taste great though.

[eefanincan]