Leftovers are still delicious
My Mom has been buying Fiestaware in different colors, and I love them! As in, they are all going to disappear mysteriously when I move. =P Colors are cheerful. ^_^ Anyways, I was getting around to finding something to eat for dinner, and a quick look in the fridge told me there were lots of “half-used” things that needed eating.
Leftover leftover pasta
The pasta is something I concocted for Saturday dinner - I had about 1/3 of a box of Campbell’s tomato basil soup and thought, “hey, I can use this as a basis for the sauce” - it was too sweet by itself, and I was trying to come up with something that my dad would eat (he doesn’t really care for pasta, but he really dislikes garlic, *sigh*).
Trying to use up some garden veggies my aunt brought us, I chopped up a zucchini, carrot, onion, two fresh tomatoes, and threw in a can of corn for good measure. Then I sautéed the veggies in some olive oil, added in the soup, a can of tomato paste, Italian seasoning, salt, and lots of pepper. I used some pasta water to deglaze the pan and also threw in some of the (cooked) meat juices from the brisket I thawed out to go with the pasta (at least I know my Dad likes brisket. He usually barbecues 40 pounds or so and then freezes meal sized packages that just have to be thawed and heated in the microwave. Convenient & tasty! ^_^ anyways, digression…) At the end I threw in some shredded cheddar and parmesan cheese. I used odds and ends (the only thing opened new was the can of corn) and it turned out pretty good!
I finished off a bag of salad and added a freshly diced tomato, some shredded parmesan, and some crumbled toasted pecans that we keep on hand in the fridge for just such occasions. Topped it with a couple of sprays of balsamic vinaigrette spray dressing (about as much dressing as I can stand). One of my last real peaches, some cherries & blueberries were topped with cinnamon and a bit of plain yogurt. All-in-all, a pretty delicious meal made out of bits of things just-well, left over.
Leftover smoothies
I have a lot of fruit, but I often have trouble eating it all up before it goes bad (especially as I am basically the only person who eats it.) Very ripe bananas (and other fruits) can be frozen and are great for banana bread, but alternatively they can be thrown into a smoothie! I make smoothies out of whatever I have on hand - I tend to use fruit juices instead of ice cream. This time I also had some nonfat plain yogurt that I threw in as well. This one had a frozen banana, some strawberries, orange juice, yogurt, and ice. I also have a handy dandy smoothie maker, ha!
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my dad didn't finish off the pasta for breakfast, so i know he didn't really like it *sigh* the unenlightened palata...