Leftovers 9/1/2010-1/1/2011

muth3rluvx2

Hey all - I just had a BRILLIANT (?) idea....

You know that day that you have to clean out the fridge of all the left-overs - some things have gone bad and others soon will if you don't do something with them? Well, I do this about every other week (usually) and often find that I come up with the most creative meal ideas on that night.... but i also often to neglect to write down what I made (and of course, there's often "repeat offenders" in our fridge, so these aren't necessarily one time recipes!).

Then I started to wonder if I was the only one and then thought - hell, anyone with kids is going to go through this at least once in while and probably most others as well. So... what would happen if we all had a recipe book for left-overs? Really tasty food-stuffs that works with our MFP goals but gives us a fresh perspective on what can be done with all that's not been eaten by Friday or Sunday or whatever day it is you start your meal plans and realize how much is going to waste in your fridge...

Here's the idea - even though its late in the year, I'm thinking if you have a really good, really easy left-over recipe, post it here until Dec. 31st, 2010. On Jan. 1, you can copy & paste the recipes you want into a word file and print them out for your own special recipe book. Bind it, decorate it, whatever - but do give the poster credit in your "cook book".

On Jan 1, 2011 - also starts the new series. No reposting of old recipes, please. If possible, give nutritional information so that people don't necessarily have to plug all that in again or give it a name that can be seen, used and shared on the food list. Hey, we could even do that.. if you know a meal's nutritional value, give it your name (John123 - Meatless Mushroom Casserole) and then everyone can just put in their portion size and voila! there it is!!

These are just the details of what I am imagining this could look like. Is anyone interested? If so - then just start posting your recipes - make sure they have some sort of name like above so people know who gets credit and what kind of food it is. It doesn't matter if you use your real name or user ID here. If you use your real name, maybe include a last name initial in case there's more than one person. We want to know if it's Sue B. or Sue H. that gave us that fabulous potato and bean salad dish! (I'm clearly making things up!! lol).

There's just so many random recipes on here and even though there's a search bar, this just seemed to make sense to me... perhaps several "cook books" can get started with various themes (ie: seafood, pork, beef, vegan, vegetarian, dessert, fruit, salad, etc etc etc....) Just in case folks like the idea, I've appropriately named the thread. :-)

I am soooo excited to see what people put up.........

farmgirlh

Sounds like a great idea. Thanks.

muth3rluvx2

yeah, but no one else seems to think so. :-(

Oh well.

mel_istheshit

I think it's a great idea! One of my main "re-used" meals is a two-meal crock pot creation. For the first night I will make standard beef pot roast:
Layer potatoes, carrots, onions, and roast in your crock pot. Season with salt, pepper and whatever you like (Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb is delish!). Sometimes I'll top with a small can of beef gravy, sometimes I'll just add a spash of water. Cook on low 8 hrs, or until beef is done and falling apart.

Vegetable soup for the next day (or later in the week):
Cut up all the left-overs from the pot roast (if your husband hasn't already eaten them all). Mix with with a large can of tomato sauce or soup (lately I've been doing tomato puree for less sodium) and a bag of frozen mixed vegetables. Cook on low for 8 hrs (really you're just trying to get the flavors to meld, so it's ok to eat whenever it's heated through).

These are two go-to meals in our house for all of fall and winter. Two meals with very little prep time (make it easier by cutting up the left-overs while cleaning up the first meal). I typically leave them to cook while I'm at work... so about 10 hr start to finish... should be done in 8, though if you have a smart pot. Enjoy!

muth3rluvx2

Oh, that reminds me - avoid canned tomatoes! Get jarred if you must but the acidity in the product combined with an aluminum based can creates a toxified end product. Even the growers won't eat their own canned tomatoes! There's an article out there somewhere in one of the healthy-food columns. I wish I could remember!

Here's one:
Once you've demolished your whole bird (chicken or turkey - even several hens if you make 3 or more for a family meal), toss your bones, grisel and other bird parts into a pot of water with some spices. Boil down, add more water and continue to boil for several hours (adding water every so often to keep it from killing your pot!). Fish out the bones with a slotted spoon after your 3rd boil down. Allow to boil down once more to about 1/4-1/3 your original pot size and you've got soup stock for the winter.

Package & freeze into "individual" portions and when you're ready to use, toss a frozen block of stock into your pot, add a few cups of water, veggies, more bird meat if you want and some large egg noodles and you have the best home-made chicken noodle soup ever! No preservatives, no additives, no extra sodium.

Prep time for stock: 2-3 hours (depending on how many boil downs).
Prep time for soup with prepared frozen stock: 20-30 minutes.