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Tuesday, January 22, 2013

leftovers

How do you feel about leftovers?
I suppose it depends what they are, but in principle I welcome the challenge of using them in tasty ways.
This is contrast to Minou, who would prefer to cook just enough and make something fresh nightly.
Which doesn't always work...

...leaving me with the minor irritation of multiple small, ignored pots and jars of this-and-that in the fridge.
I think that for Minou eating leftovers implies something--want, poverty, not having enough to cook more.
Whereas I feel that it is an appropriate, frugal, responsible thing to do. Not wasting. Making something good.

Maybe I'm turning into my mother?
She used to make me laugh, as a young adult, with invitations offered to "Come over and help me eat XYZ before it goes bad!" Ummm...no thank you! It's all in the presentation.

Tonight's dinner: the fridge was feeling really full, so I did some rummaging around to see what I could consolidate and make for dinner. I found:

  • leftover orzo pasta that I sauteed with onion, garlic, red bell pepper and plum tomatoes
  • a bit of parmesan to put on the pasta
  • vegetarian lasagna (I do like lasagna, but even I am getting tired of it after 4 days--I made a very large pan of it, forgetting that P'tit Minou Un does not care for ricotta)
  • plain cooked lasagna noodles (maybe I will bake with bechamel sauce and cheese tomorrow)
  • jicama and carrots (these weren't really leftovers, but were tucked away in a crisper corner)
  • vegetable soup
  • two pounds of fresh tempeh, which I crumbled and marinated to make into "soysage" tomorrow
  • some cooked garbanzos in vinaigrette that I will take for lunch tomorrow
  • leftover chocolate chip muffin dough (in a big bowl) that I baked in cake format
  • leftover whipped cream (from Minou's last cake) that we will eat with it
Good things!

I also sadly found some soup (from the last batch) that needed to be tossed. It was languishing in an opaque yogurt container, its true nature disguised. 

Do you have any interesting leftovers in your fridge? Would you prefer to toss them or eat them?

-


3 comments:

  1. hi and greetings from italy. i found your blog very very interesting:) and follow your posts paying attention on what you write:) i usually cook twice a week, so my fridge is full of leftovers the whole week. i usally have a meal plan for at least five days. all left over left overs are for the weekend:)
    have a great day

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  2. Hi Katia--thank you for commenting! I kind of do the same thing as you, except I usually do my big cooking days on the weekend. Do you usually rotate the same dishes, or do you choose something different every week?

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  3. hi, i use always a different menu, following the wheather and the seasons. here, in south italy we do have always the sun, so my cooking is based on fruit and fresh vegetables. rice, pasta, cous cous and cereals are basic for me:)
    i cook sauces and then need no more then 10 minutes to cook pasta! we have very poor recipes to make;)
    thanks for answering! have a great day!

    ReplyDelete