Minimize Cooking With Expanding Leftovers

Posted on September 23, 2011 by LJ Earnest
Categories: Simplification

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Fridays are tip days at SimpleProductivity blog.

For those of us who work outside the home, meal time can be a major hassle. Come mid-week I don’t want to be standing in the kitchen at all! To solve this problem, I resort to planned leftovers.

Planned leftovers are not your mother’s leftovers. Not like warmed-over ick. Planned leftovers means taking ingredients from one meal and spinning it into other meals that only bear a minor resemblance to the original. Here are my favorites.

Rubber Chicken

I heard this called rubber chicken not because the chicken itself is rubbery, but because it keeps bouncing back for another meal. The best part about this is you can start this with a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken.

1. Day 1: Chicken, mashed potatoes with gravy, carrots and green beans. Serve as grandma would. Cook double carrots, beans, mashed potatoes and gravy. After the meal pick the meat from the bones, but do not discard the carcass.
2. Day 2: Chicken pie. Use some picked meat and mix with carrots, frozen peas and gravy. Top with refrigerator biscuits and bake until heated.
3. Day 3: Chicken Alfredo. Toss the rest of the chicken in some jarred Alfredo sauce and serve over pasta. Serve with leftover green beans.
4. Day 4: Chicken soup. Throw the carcass in a pot, add whatever wilty veggies are in your fridge, along with some chopped onion, and simmer for an hour or so. Remove the bones and add pasta or rice and serve.

Bouncing Beef Roast

Beef roast bounces back as well!

1. Day 1: Crock roast. Throw a chopped onion in a crock pot, then put the roast on top. Sprinkle with rosemary and thyme and pour a cup of red wine over it. Cook on high for 5 hours. Serve with mashed potatoes and gravy, carrots and broccoli (double all these!).
2. Day 2: Shepherds pie. Mix cubed beef with carrots, frozen peas and onions and coat with gravy. Top with mashed potatoes and either nuke or bake until hot.
3. Day 3: Beef stir fry. Take leftover beef and frozen pea pods, along with the leftover broccoli and sliced onion and stir fry. Add your favorite sauce and serve over rice (make double rice).
4. Day 4: Beef burritos. Mix the last of the beef, rice and canned black beans with a jar of salsa and serve on tortillas.

Do you have any favorite make-once-eat-a-bunch recipes? Share below! I’d love to try them!

Photo by TheCulinaryGeek

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