Turning Leftovers into Do-Overs

At our house I intentionally cook so that we will have leftovers.  With a large and busy family, sometimes leftovers can be a mom's best friend....but sometimes the family may balk at a second or third meal of the same dish.   Many times when we try a new dish Jeff proclaims it to be a "do-over", meaning it was so good he would like to see it on the table again.   So what can you do with those leftovers to turn them into Do-overs?

For Thanksgiving I purchased a huge 20 pound turkey.  I cooked it at a low setting in my 22 quart roaster oven for about 20 hours. (thanks for the roaster, Becky!)  The turkey browned beautifully and was delicious for our big dinner.  There was also a huge amount of beautifully golden drippings in the pan as well.  After the meal, one or more of the children deboned the carcass, put it back in the pan with all the drippings and juices and added a couple of gallons of filtered water.  I let this cook on low for another day. Usually I would add in some carrots, onions, garlic and apple cider vinegar, but the children were doing this for me and well, it was Thanksgiving Day, so we made it simple.

After straining out the bones and getting any remaining meat, I poured up two of the richest, darkest gallons of turkey broth I have ever made.  It was wonderful!!  I try to keep turkey, beef and chicken broth canned up, and still had some turkey broth from the spring so I decided to use up the broth and remaining meat for some freezer meals.

First, I made a turkey/rice dish.  I browned a diced onion, finely chopped garlic and finely chopped carrots in olive oil.  Then I added two cups of rice and sprinkled in some dried chives to add a little more color.  When all was lightly browned I poured in four cups of that lovely broth and about two cups of chopped meat.  A liberal dose of salt and pepper were also added.  Stirred it up, let it come to a boil and then simmered until done.  A simple, filling and wonderfully nutritious meal!

Then I decided to make up a turkey pot pie base for the freezer.  A couple of chopped onions, several diced carrots and potatoes and a can of whole kernel corn were added to a gallon of turkey broth along with salt and pepper.  After the veggies were cooked and the mixture cooled, I bagged it up into several quart bags.   I mixed up a regular biscuit recipe except added more milk for a looser (?) dough.  I poured a bag of the mixture into a 9 x 13 inch baking dish and then plopped the dough over all and baked in a 350 degree oven until browned.  The dough thickens the broth/veggie mixture and the dish is wonderfully wholesome and filling.  I've already taken a turkey pot pie to a pot luck dinner and made two for a large family who just moved into the area.  I think I still have 3-4 bags left for meals throughout the next couple of months.

I still had about 1/2 a gallon sized bag of chopped turkey and half a gallon of turkey broth.  Racking my brain for ideas, I decided to make a turkey tetrazini.  Now this is something that most of my family would turn their noses up at, and I have to admit only having this dish in the school cafeteria.  It thought I could make it much better, though!!  Again, I sauteed an onion and some garlic in olive oil.  In another pot I cooked up a pound of spaghetti.   After the onions and garlic were slightly browned I added some dehydrated mushrooms and dried chives.  Then I poured in the broth.  After the broth was heated thoroughly I scooped out two cups and mixed it with a cup of flour.  After it was mixed well I added it back to the big pot.  Now I had a lovely mushroom soup-y mixture.  I poured the water off the spaghetti and mixed the ingredients from the two pots.  The chopped turkey was added in and stirred thoroughly.  I set it aside to cool.  After the mixture was cooled I mixed in a cup of freshly grated parmesan and about 3 cups of freshly grated mozzarella cheese.  Stirred this up well and then bagged it up in two gallon sized baggies and filled a pie plate to add to the other leftovers for our evening meal.  I overheard one of the older boys tell his father that it was really good!!

The other day I cooked a large roast for dinner.  We love roast around here, but maybe not quite so much the next day.  I took out my trusty iron skillet and coated it with olive oil.  I diced up a sweet onion and sliced about three large potatoes.  These were browned and cooked until just tender.  Then I took the leftover roast with its juices, carrots, onions and potatoes and poured it in the skillet as well.  This was heated through and served as beef hash!  Yummy!!

Another way I use up leftovers is to freeze leftover vegetables, sauces, pasta and chopped meats in a large freezer container.   When the container is full I make soup by adding a couple of jars of tomato juice or sauce and maybe some extra potatoes, onions (dried onions work well), carrots and seasonings.  We usually get a huge batch of soup doing this and then I am able to freeze the soup as well.

I hope this will give you some ideas for turning those leftovers into do-overs!  What are some ways that you already use leftovers in your home?  I'd love to hear!

Linked up over at Raising Olives!! http://raisingolives.com/2012/05/cooking-leftovers-moms-linky/

















  

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Simple Cooking

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Now that our family has two children with some severe food allergies my meals have become a little more simple.   Unless I want to make two or three main dishes for one meal, I need our meals to at least be egg- free and nut-free.  Egg- free and nut-free means one of my allergic kids can eat it.  Then, if I want to make sure Caedmon can also eat the same thing I have to exclude not only the eggs and nuts, but wheat, dairy, tomatoes, peas, peppers and...well, that's leaves out a whole lot, doesn't it?

That pretty much leaves us making simple meat dishes with rice or potatoes and several choices of vegetables.  Casseroles are out most of the time, but we do still have spaghetti and pizzas every other week or so.  I just have to prepare a separate meal for Caedmon or he gets lots of munchies like sunflower seeds, olives, grapes, apples, cooked hamburger meat or chicken or a vegetable pilaf that we keep made up for these occasions.

To make things easier on myself I try to use the slowcooker often to make roasted meats and vegetables. It's so easy to throw everything into the slowcooker in the morning and open it up at meal time for a fully cooked meal.  One of our favorites is a beef roast.  I add several potatoes, carrots and onions, cloves of garlic, salt and pepper and lots of spices.  I can't use store-bought seasoning packets as it can be hard to tell exactly what is in the package.  However, just using spices that I have on hand really seasons the dish well.  I can then add a side of green beans or a salad for an easy and delicious meal that will most likely serve as leftovers as well.

I have also cooked one or even two whole chickens at a time in the slowcooker.  We then eat one of the chickens and freeze the other for another day.  If I am making only one chicken I will add several vegetables to the pot as well.  I generally add the same potatoes, carrots and onions, but will also include some cabbage occasionally.

The other day we had grilled boneless chicken for dinner.  I rarely buy boneless chicken and generally only buy chicken breasts that are on sale or marked down.  I had six chicken breasts that had been reduced in price.  I cut off most of the meat from each breast for our grilled chicken dinner.  Then I put all the bones in the slowcooker.  There was a good bit of meat left on those bones!  I added some onion, garlic, salt, pepper, parsley and carrots to the pot and then filled with water.  I left this to cook overnight on low.  The next morning we removed the chicken (still need to debone it, but it will make about three cups of shredded chicken--enough for a casserole, salad or Mexican dish.  And I poured off about 3 quarts of rich chicken stock to  use in making our vegetable rice pilaf or in soups.

I recently started buying pork roasts.  I have always bought pork loins, but the roasts are a good bit cheaper so I decided to try one out.  To my surprise the family liked it better than the more expensive cut.  I have been cooking one or two at a time in the slowcooker.  One day after the meat was cooked, I simply took my kitchen shears and cut the meat up right in the pot.  Then I sprinkled it with some salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and brown sugar.  I then poured a bottle of our favorite BBQ sauce of all and mixed it up.  What an easy way to make BBQ sandwiches and of course, there were enough leftovers to freeze for another quick meal on another day.

A made another pork roast in the slowcooker this week, but added a can of pureed pineapple, red pepper flakes and about 1/2 cup of brown sugar.   I served with a rice pilaf and green vegetable.  The leftover meat was bagged for the freezer.  With it's slightly sweet and sour flavor, I think I will use it to make an eggless fried rice dish soon.

Do you have any simple cooking strategies to help you through your busy days?  I would love to hear your ideas!  Please share in the comments and check out more simple living ideas at GNOWFGLINS.

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Quick and Easy Meal Prep

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I've been doing batch cooking for years, cooking up several batches of a particular recipe and freezing them in meal portions.  Some recipes that we love to have stored up in the freezer are spaghetti sauce, lasagnes, a variety of marinated or grilled chicken, whole baked chickens, shredded chicken, bbq pork,  beef roasts, meatballs, meatloaves, hamburgers, chicken and turkey broths and even a variety of cooked beans.

This year we added a pressure canner to our kitchen arsenal and that has added a new dimension to our batch cooking and food storage.  Something that I have really wanted to do was to can foods that would make quick meals for our lunches.  I really hate to have to stop in the middle of school to prepare lunch and I don't buy quick frozen pizzas or lunch meat and store bought bread to make a quick sandwich, so lunch prep can take some thought and time.  Another thing we have been trying to do is to decrease the amount of meat we are eating and eating more and more meatless meals.  So, instead of freezing all those previously dried and cooked beans I am now canning them.  Why bother with canning them?  They are now instantly ready to heat and eat!!  I don't have to think about lunch at breakfast time in order to set the bag of beans out to thaw.  Just pop the lid off, pour into a pot and heat them up.  Or, if we are making refried beans we simply pour them into the blender adding additional seasonings and then put in a baking dish.  I am finding this so very helpful and it makes lunch prep (at least one day a week) so much easier.

We can quickly add a jar of beans to browned meat and have a hearty chili in just a few minutes with the addition of onions, garlic, tomatoes and spices.  I hope to even start canning my own chili soon.  We have been serving this chili over Fritos and topped with shredded cheese and sour cream for a fun lunch or quick Sunday evening dinner.  For even simpler meals, we heat the jar of beans and serve with corn tortillas, browned in the oven.  We can then top with chopped onions, peppers, salsa, cheese, sour cream or tomatoes for a very quick and healthy lunch.

I recently came across this recipe from the Maxwell family of Managers of Their Homes fame.  This makes a huge batch of beans to use for burritos.  I'll be making these tomorrow for the freezer.  This will be great to pull from the freezer for other meatless dishes and I hope to share some bags with another mom who just added a baby to her large family.

Do you have some great batch cooking recipes for the freezer or for canning? I am always interested in trying something new!  Please share in the comments below.