OMG! What's in the fridge?

Mmmm. My favorite dessert. Cataloupe.

There's always stuff leftover in there to make an omlette. Delicious and nutritious. Just make sure your eggs are still... fresh-ish.

I'll take 2 kittehs on the half shell, please.

Um. I think that's turtles. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sometimes, we made a dish called rizoto. (Don't know if it's spelled right, but that's how it sounds) Any cooked meat, throw into a pot of rice with finely chopped onions and spice it how ya like.
Depends on the meat for me. If it's beef or pork, I usually add a little ketchup or some type of tomato sauce. With chicken, I use rosemary, garlic powder, and a little soy sauce. Stir it all up, get it hot and serve. Takes about 5 minutes longer than cooking rice.

Here's a quick fix for any leftover cooked meat (or you can chop up a kielhbasa sausage, if you have one laying around). Best part--one pan!


Chop up the meat into bite-sized pieces. Add some olive oil (or vegetable oil, if you prefer) to a large skillet. Just drizzle over the bottom. Add the meat and sautee until hot. While the meat is heating, prepare one of those boil-in-bag bags of brown rice in the microwave (I've found that 11 minutes on high works perfectly).

In the skillet, shove the hot meat to the edges. Add a little more oil to the center, toss in the rice, and season with a few shakes of soy sauce. Mix and sautee, then stir together with meat. Defrost about 1.5 cups of frozen veggies (I like peas, but you can use anything). Push meat/rice mixture to the side. Add oil as needed to keep from sticking, then toss in the veggies. Sautee until hot.

Push to the side (sensing a theme, are we? ). Scramble two eggs in whatever space is left in the pan. Stir it all together. Add soy sauce, salt, and pepper to taste. Cook for about five minutes, to let all the flavors combine.

Yummy, fast, and it makes a lot.

I'm a soup girl, totally Irish, but only fresh ingredients for that, unless you've got a turkey carcass to boil up. But years back, while working at Stouffer's Hotel, I got into quiche'. They had their standbys that they served everyday. I believe it was one cup of cream and six eggs, beat it, toss it in a pie shell, throw in whatever and top with Lorraine Swiss. I was living back home with my girls, then, and there were always tons of leftovers. I even made one with polish sausage and sour kraut.

Saritams8 said:

There's always stuff leftover in there to make an omlette.

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You mean Eggy Mess? That's a fave dish of mine

Get-rid-of-it Soup ain't bad either.

To my kid's great dismay, I am the undisputed leftover queen.

Leftover spaghetti sauce either gets made into a type of minestrone soup or gets a couple of cans of beans dumped into it along with seasonings and voila chili. If there is leftovers it gets turned into soup as well - with the addition of some stock, more seasonings, canned diced tomatoes, rice and corn.

During the winter I often purposely make lots of one meal, usually on a Sunday or Monday, so that I can have leftovers for the rest of the week, which I like better than the original meal. It goes something like this - pot roast or roast chicken on Sunday with potatoes, veggies and gravy. Monday it will either be "Shepherd's Pie" with some of the meat layered in a casserole with veggies and gravy poured on top and then topped with left over potatoes, baked til hot, or just a straight repeat. Tuesday with any remaining meat I will use it to make stew or fried rice - either oriental or curried , or maybe a stir fry. It goes without saying that if there are left overs from these they end up in soup - but I make sure I don't serve that until there is a day or so between these meals in the (vain) hope my family doesn't recognize it's origins.

Matera the Mad said:

You mean Eggy Mess? That's a fave dish of mine

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Wait, you mean I'm not the only person around here who's completely incompetent at making an omelette look like an omelette instead of, uh, that Eggy Mess thing?

kikazaru said:

It goes without saying that if there are left overs from these they end up in soup - but I make sure I don't serve that until there is a day or so between these meals in the (vain) hope my family doesn't recognize it's origins.

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I'm really really really really really lucky. The husband never complains (and I do mean never, as in not once in our five years of marriage) over what I feed him, regardless of anything, including leftover status. He really makes my life so much easier. Even though he's a somewhat picky eater when given the opportunity.

This here's my favourite cookbook for leftovers. We're also big on shepherd's pie (with beef, usually, so doesn't that make it cowboy pie?), and quiche. Ally likes to cook a potpie once in a while, too.

But mostly, leftover meat just ends up as sandwiches.

L M Ashton said:

Wait, you mean I'm not the only person around here who's completely incompetent at making an omelette look like an omelette instead of, uh, that Eggy Mess thing?

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A trick I learned to make omelets appear "neater" is to stir the eggs in the pan as if you're making scrambled eggs. When the eggs are just about cooked yet still moist, allow them to sit in the pan for a minute or so to form the omelet. Then place the pan in a preheated oven set to "broil," leaving the oven door slightly ajar. After another minute or so, you can layer the cheese on top and return the pan to the oven until the cheese melts.

This method also helps the omelet bulk up, giving it a more fluffy appearance so it doesn't lay flat on the plate like a lame taco in need of life support.

Yeah, well, we can't get decent cheese here, either... *laughs* No, seriously, Silver King, that sounds like a great idea. I'll give that a try next time I attempt omelettes, provided that I remember this thread.

L M Ashton said:

Yeah, well, we can't get decent cheese here, either... *laughs* No, seriously, Silver King, that sounds like a great idea. I'll give that a try next time I attempt omelettes, provided that I remember this thread.

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I hope the tip works for you.

It's difficult to cook eggs for an omelet all the way through while relying on the bottom heat alone. The broiling method helps to apply heat from the top and cook the eggs through without concern for a "runny mess." And you can see how well the omelet is cooked before folding it onto a plate.

Also, one other thing I do is to heat all of the ingredients beforehand, whether they be mushrooms or peppers or onions or whatever, prior to adding the eggs to the pan. Then I mix it all together while cooking the omelet. The only ingredient I save for last is the cheese.

*drools* Now I want an omelette. *whines* But all I have are the stupid cinnamon coconut buns I made yesterday. *whines*

Easiest Quiche in the Universe:

This is a good 'clean out the ice box' recipe. Use left over smoked sausage, leftover chicken, leftover ham... get the idea? Leftover broccoli... leftover peas...

½ C Real Mayonnaise (none of that low-fat stuff!)
2 tbsp Flour
2 Beaten Eggs
½ C Milk

Mix until above ingredients are well blended.

Then, stir in:

1 C Meat of Choice
Broccoli
Mushrooms
Chopped Green Onions
8 oz grated Cheese (Swiss, Cheddar, Mix - whatever)

Pour into a DEEP dish, 9" pie shell and bake at 350º for 40-45 minutes. Serves 4 hearty eaters... 6-8 ladies in for tea. Real men WILL like this quiche... and it's SO simple to make.

My omelette tricks:

Be sure the eggs are at room temperature.

Mix them in a bowl with a fork, but do NOT over mix.

Mix in a drop or two of water. This will create steam which will help the omlette fluff.

Make sure there is plenty of melted butter in the frying pan, then pour eggs into pan all at once.

Swirl pan to evenly distribute eggs.

After omlette has cooked briefly, take a fork and pull the egg mixture from one side toward the middle. This will let some of the still liquid egg pour directly onto the pan. Do it again from another direction. Do it again. Once more, if necessary. Swirl the pan again.

Reduce the heat. Add your stuff (cheese,sautéed onion, ham, whatever, which must be cooked and warm beforehand).

Put the cover on your frying pan. If your frying pan doesn't have a cover, put a plate over it and let it sit there for a couple of minutes. Maybe three. If you don't want to use a plate, cover it with the bottom of a larger frying pan.

Remove plate, fold omlette onto serving plate.

My fave leftover meal is "bubble and stuff." It's like bubble and squeak, but with stuffing instead of cabbage.

Mix leftover smashed taters with leftover stuffing and make patties. Fry on med-high until golden then carefully flip over (carefully, they're soft) to do the other side. While these brown, mix leftover gravy, beggies and chicken/turkey in a pot.

Serve a spoonfull of veg/meat/gravy on top of each bubble and stuff patty. If it was turkey, garnish with cranberry sauce.

mmm....

With a little bacon, lettuce and tomato, a bit of leftover chicken makes a wicked club sandwich. My family is totally fooled when I tell them it's supper.

Haggis said:

...Mix in a drop or two of water...

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Water? WATER??? Mixed with eggs?

*rolls up sleeves, preparing for the very first fight in this forum.*

Besides water, any type of milk (just about) will do the trick. Half-and-half works well for some of us.

You can mix any homemade leftover soup with any other homemade leftover soup and create another really good soup. If you still don't have enough, add some cooked veggies and some pasta/rice/beans. Just keep chicken broth around for the liquid.

two of my fave leftover meals-


Quesadillas
warm leftovers
heat oil or butter in pan and lay down tortilla
spread leftovers on tortilla leaving 1/4 of an inch around the edges
top with cheese of choice-anything melty
cover with second tortilla and flip over when bottom is crispy
cut into wedges with a pizza cutter and serve with dipping choice du jour Ranch, sour cream, salsa, honey mustard....
drizzle across the top instead for a little flair


bbq sandwiches
simmer meat in saucepan with 1/2 cup of juice, I prefer OJ or apple, wine or stock-whatever you have handy
remove meat and cube or shred
add to pan-these are estimates because I don't measure
1/2 cup of brown sugar
anywhere from 1/2 to full bottle of franks red hot, tobasco or similar hot sauce. Enough to coat meat. If you don't have any of these add 1/2 a tsp of cayenne to BBq sauce
add meat back in and simmer
cooking time really varies on your needs serve right away or let it simmer down to a thick sticky sauce. You could easily crock pot this for entertaining
serve on any kind of bun or over rice

You know the crap at the bottom of the bran cereal that no one wants to eat? Rub them together with some flour, chopped nuts, brown sugar, and butter and you will have the crunchiest crumble topping ever.

Leftover meat goes into a slow cooker with potatoes, onions and stock to make Stovies (the best feel-good food there is)