Tuesday, March 9, 2010

A Leftover Makeover!

So. It's dinnertime, you're trying to decide what to make, so you open the fridge.


Leftovers. Tupperwares and tupperwares of leftovers. Ugh. You know you should eat them, but its just not going to be the same. The breading is going to be soggy, the meat's going to taste 2nd day funky, and you're out of that sauce that made it taste really good anyway. What's a girl to do?

Time for a leftover makeover! I swear this is not an infomercial.

Leftover #1: pork chops
These were so good the first time. Crispy breading, with flavorful pork choppy taste. But I know once I rehear them, they're going to taste like feet. So, the challenge here is to do something with this pork to mask a little of that reheated taste, without treating it like Mockolate . To do this, I called on another leftover.

Mole, you are my hero. Slice the pork up thin, put in bake dish, cover with mole and cheese, serve over rice with a side of homemade tortilla chips, and voila!
It's like I meant to make this all along. The enchiladas were still better, but it was a great (and easy) substitute.

Leftover #2: Rotisserie chicken and spaghetti noodles


Sometimes, the problem with leftovers is really just that you don't want to have the same thing. Again. And again. Dave in particular seems to have some sort of psychological block against eating leftovers, so some trickery is clearly in order. To change up these leftovers, I changed the genre--from Sunday Dinner and Easy Italian to....

Chicken Lo Mein! Just stir fry some veggies, throw in the noodles, chicken and some scrambled egg. Season with soy sauce and oyster sauce, maybe some garlic, and whatever else you like in your stir fry. It's like an entirely new meal!

What do you do with your leftovers?

2 comments:

  1. i don't ever do anything this exciting, but every time I make a big pot of soup or a casserole, I keep half to eat as leftovers right away and freeze the other half for much later. I had some yummy re-heated lasagna for lunch yesterday and dinner the day before. haven't cooked anything big in awhile, though, and I'm almost out of frozen leftovers!

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  2. Mmm lasagna. You are the Queen of the leftover freezer!

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