Using up left-overs [Archive] - Simple Living Forums

jody

1-13-15, 2:18pm

I have about 3/4 to a cup of pulled pork left over and can't refreeze it, so please give me an idea for a meal for two or three people using it as an ingredient.
I hate to throw away good food!

kimberlyf0

1-13-15, 2:25pm

You could make fried rice with it, or stretch it with a grain and use it as a taco filling :)

Songbird

1-13-15, 2:32pm

You could make burritos or enchiladas, or add some good barbecue sauce and have sandwiches on toasted buns.

herbgeek

1-13-15, 2:46pm

Pulled pork quesadillas, with barbeque sauce and some sauteed onions.

cdttmm

1-13-15, 3:56pm

You asked for ideas for using the pulled pork as an ingredient, but I just wanted to put this idea out there. Sometimes when we have leftovers where it's not enough for two of us, we eat both eat different things for dinner. For instance, yesterday there was enough soup for one person, but not two; and there was enough macaroni and cheese for one person, but not two. So we picked what we liked best and each ate something different. Sort of like ordering off the menu in a restaurant...except this was a very short menu! :D

CathyA

1-13-15, 4:48pm

jody

1-13-15, 5:09pm

Burritos might just be the ticket here. Very good ideas all around.

I have been thinking about a soup.....but then, I'm always thinking about a soup! I think I could just about live on soup!

lessisbest

1-13-15, 5:15pm

Everything that was already mentioned (use in nearly any Mexican entrée), plus:

-Add it to stir-fry.
-Use as meat on a pizza, using bbq sauce instead of pizza sauce.
-Add to a Frittata

I often make 1/2 of one of the Bisquick Impossible Pie Recipes when I have a small amount of meat and bake it in a small pie dish or small casserole dish:
-Impossibly Easy Beef Enchilada Pie (substitute pork for beef)- http://www.freebisquickrecipes.com/Impossible-Beef-Enchilada-Pie.html
-Impossibly Easy Barbecue Beef Pie (substitute pork for beef)- http://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/impossibly-easy-barbecue-beef-pie/c70eac9a-2987-44a2-89df-10a60ca16e80

Packratona!

1-13-15, 5:32pm

Make some Pork n' beans with it. In the crockpot; soap beans overnight then cook until soft in just enough water to cover, with some onions but no salt. Then after the beans are soft, add add the pork and barbecue type seasonings (ketchup, brown sugar/molasses, worchestershire sauce, mustard, etc.)
Or make Spanish style beans to serve with yellow rice.
Make some tamales.

catherine

1-13-15, 5:50pm

What are left-overs? :)
One time, a number of years ago we had dinner at a friend's house. It was delicious.......but she threw the left-overs out!! What ??
If there are any left-overs at our house, we definitely eat them the next day. I usually have them for breakfast or lunch.

That is a pet peeve of mine--people who won't eat leftovers. I don't get it. Many home-cooked things, like soups and stews, are so much better on the 2nd day. People who won't eat leftovers are just fussy buggers in my book.

Regarding the left-over pork, jody, you've gotten some great suggestions. And I agree with you on the soup! I'm a huge soup-lover and soup-maker. I've got a big stock pot on the stove right now and DH and I are deciding--Beef mushroom, or French onion tonight?

Good luck with your decision!

Blackdog Lin

1-13-15, 10:14pm

been thinking about a soup.....but then, I'm always thinking about a soup! I think I could just about live on soup!

jody - since it's winter and you're thinking soup anyway, consider a kind of Southwestern Pork Stew. We love it.

Soup pot with heated oil and sauté some onions and peppers (of any kind that you like and might be around) then some garlic then add chicken broth and a can of tomatoes and a heaping tbs. of cumin and a little less basil and oregano. And then 1 or 2 cans of any beans (or any leftovers in the freezer?) and some corn, canned or frozen, and leftover cooked rice if some is around. Zucchini is good in this if available. Or any squash.

I just always throw in kind of "Native American" ingredients - as long as it has cumin and basil and oregano, it's always good.

Good job with your wanting to not waste leftovers.

P.S. Our talking about not wanting to waste leftovers reminds me that not everyone is so sensible. I have a good good friend, I love her, but my gosh, the waste she has in her kitchen! I want to throttle her! I was having coffee with her one morning a few months ago and her 18-yr. old grandson walked in and said was there anything to eat around and she said sorry, you'll have to fix something or have cereal 'cause the pork chops from the night before were gone and he said oh you ate them all? and she said well there were 2 left over but grandpa gave them to the dogs.

Gave them to the dogs???!!! Two whole leftover pork chops???!!! I could have made us 2 whole new meals from 2 leftover pork chops! The waste! In her case why aren't they wrapping them up for a hungry teenager?!!!

I don't understand the mindset.

frugal-one

1-14-15, 3:36pm

Recently made chili with pulled pork instead of hamburger or ground turkey.... was WONDERFUL. Also, as someone else mentioned, added some pulled pork to "pork and beans". It was great also.

domestic goddess

1-15-15, 7:26am

That is a pet peeve of mine--people who won't eat leftovers. I don't get it. Many home-cooked things, like soups and stews, are so much better on the 2nd day. People who won't eat leftovers are just fussy buggers in my book.

Regarding the left-over pork, jody, you've gotten some great suggestions. And I agree with you on the soup! I'm a huge soup-lover and soup-maker. I've got a big stock pot on the stove right now and DH and I are deciding--Beef mushroom, or French onion tonight?

Good luck with your decision!
I agree completely! I love leftovers, mainly because I get fed without having to cook! Even though I like cooking, sometimes time is short and leftovers are something to be thankful for. I eat them for breakfast, too. Since I am a night shift worker, that is often my dinner time, or at least I am not committed to "breakfast" food in the morning! And I do get impatient with the people in my house who won't eat them. For those folk, they require more disguising.

lessisbest

1-15-15, 11:01am

I realize the OP was seeking recipes for using a small amount of pulled pork, but perhaps we should continue the discussion using other leftovers.

I purposefully make a little extra oatmeal so I can freeze it in 1/2-cup portions to use in this recipe for Cooked Oatmeal Scones - http://www.food.com/recipe/cooked-oatmeal-scones-46876. I typically make a 1/2 recipe and make 8-scones baked on a pizza pan lined with parchment paper in my Convection/Microwave Oven. I've adapted the recipe to be gluten-free and would suggest adding the milk at the very end of mixing and ONLY add as much as it takes to make a soft dough. If you make the dough too soft, the scones spread too much and have always used much less than the recipe calls for. I have also used sour cream, plain yogurt, plain homemade kefir, and buttermilk in this recipe, so use whatever you have a dab of. The reason I add the milk (liquid) last is because the oatmeal will have varying amounts of liquid in it, so sometimes you don't need a lot of additional liquid, and other times you do.

I made a half-recipe this morning using 1/2 c. of cooked oatmeal and added about 1-2 T. of buttermilk. These freeze and reheat well.

leslieann

1-15-15, 12:19pm

I love the ideas for the pulled pork, and second the notion of "what are left-overs?" We have PLANNED-overs, where I purposefully cook extra so that we have lunches for the week, and/or additional ingredients for a supper. Any little bit of anything can go into fried rice, which usually is left over anyway. My beloved is getting the hang of this too, as I have noticed he's been scouring the refrigerator for ingredients for his mash-ups in the frying pan. As long as you season it and make sure it is hot, "left over" food is just food that wasn't cooked today.

There is some issue in ayurveda, I think, about "freshly cooked food," but that might be due to inappropriate handling allowing bacteria to grow.

I do love having last night's supper ready for today's lunch. Especially since we don't eat bread, so the easy sandwich lunch is out for us.

awakenedsoul

1-15-15, 8:25pm

I would use it in quesadillas. Lately I've been adding finely sliced onions, home grown arugula, and avocados to mine. I bake a lot of bread, too. It sounds like it would make a delicious sandwich.

jody

1-20-15, 3:22pm

I love the idea of keeping a 'left-over' thread going. So many great ideas.

Today for lunch I pulled out the cup of left over vegs from last night's meal and put it into the blender with a cup of milk, added some cheese and seasonings, popped it into the microwave and had a nice hot cup of broccoli-cauliflower soup to go with my ham sandwich.

People that don't like left-overs are just missing the boat!

SteveinMN

1-20-15, 4:26pm

"Musgovian" chicken soup this time included maybe two or three chickens worth of backs, necks, and carcass trimmings, maybe a cup or so of carmelized onions that had done their time in the freezer, some older celery stalks and "baby-cut" carrots, a couple of cloves of garlic, some leftover corn and steamed zucchini spears, and some spices I always have hanging around. Served with the last of last week's Rustica loaf. It'll feed us probably six, maybe seven meals. Never twice the same.

creaker

1-20-15, 10:39pm

Any leftover you cook something else with is not a leftover, it's an "ingredient". Turkey tetrazzini is not "leftovers" - except when you eat it day after (and when it's even better).

I think it's funny that people won't eat leftovers - but will go out and buy precooked/premade stuff and have no idea how long it's been there or what was used in making it.

About the only leftover I'm not keen on is sushi - it does not hold up well overnight. But cold pizza is the breakfast of the gods :-)

lessisbest

1-21-15, 9:33am

Sometimes it only takes a little creative thinking to make leftovers more palatable....

--Wait a day before serving it again is a good move, but don't serve them the exact same way.

--Try pan frying that slice of roast beef or meat loaf instead of just reheating it - it makes a HUGE difference!

--We add almost any kind of leftover meat (chopped or shredded) to a quesadilla, pizza, top a dinner salad, or add to hash browns.

--When I cut up a ham I'll take all the small bits and snip them into small 1/4-inch cubes using my OXO kitchen shears and place it in small packets in the freezer. I add it to egg dishes, flavor green beans, make a "Ham and Swiss Rosti - http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/ham_swiss_rosti.html (and I use dried hash browns rehydrated with hot water).....

--LEFTOVER BREAD AND CHEESE PATTIES
(great use for old bread)
3 slices bread (crumbled)
1/2 c. cheese, feta or goat cheese
1 egg
chopped fresh chives (or minced green onion or regular onion)
fresh minced parsley
seasoning of choice: pepper, lemon pepper, ground nigella (my favorite), Mrs. Dash seasonings (I don't add salt because the bread and cheese is usually salty enough)
oil for frying

Beat egg in a bowl. Add seasonings and whisk. Crumble cheese and add it along with minced parsley and chives. Toss in crumbled leftover bread. Mix well. Heat oil in a frying pan or griddle and spoon mixture into frying pan to form patties. Fry each side for 1-2 minutes (depending on how large you made the patties), or until golden brown. Repeat on the other side.

jody

1-21-15, 12:33pm

lessisbest, you never fail to amaze me! I would have never thought that up myself but I will be trying it next time I have just a bit of cheese left.
Thank you.

Blackdog Lin

1-21-15, 9:29pm

I tried a new soup today (Creamy Italian Chicken Tomato). DH liked it, me not so much. Very edible, but not a keeper. So there was quite a bit left over.

I'm already thinking of Friday's re-use of it (I'll skip tomorrow) by using it as a pasta sauce layered with macaroni (only 'cause that's the pasta I have the most of in the house) and a cottage cheese-cheddar mixture. A "sort-of lasagna". I'm excited to try it, and put the leftovers to good use.

lessisbest

1-22-15, 10:23am

jody

5-5-15, 4:48pm

I have four slices roast beef left from last night. I am going to bread it as you would for chicken fried steak, fry it and make a cream gravy to go over the top. I've done this before and it really good and quick, since you're only cooking the coating. I will serve it with oven baked french fries and salad. Quick and easy. (my kind of meal)

messengerhot

6-5-15, 1:55am

Hi, about left overs, it actually depends on what kind but I usually took advantage of those and reused it as pizza toppings, for sandwiches or even for fried rice:)

creaker

6-5-15, 7:59am

Tenngal

6-5-15, 9:20am

I have about 3/4 to a cup of pulled pork left over and can't refreeze it, so please give me an idea for a meal for two or three people using it as an ingredient.
I hate to throw away good food!

stuff baked potatoes.......local favorite from our BBQ joint

kib

6-5-15, 9:43pm

I don't understand the not eating leftovers things at all.

Often I don't have windows of time before meals to cook - so I've cooked meals when I have time available and throw the whole thing in the fridge to be consumed as leftovers later. DH "doesn't like leftovers". When I prepare extra portions of anything I don't consider that 'left over', and I just call it what it is: we're having chili again tonight. to me, leftovers are only the little extra bits, when I'm making a meal of a taco shell stuffed with macaroni and cheese with carrot sticks and a quarter cup of chocolate pudding on the side.

lmerullo

6-6-15, 7:51am

I think I've created the exact same meal, kib.

When the kid were young, we'd often get to the end of a week and have smorgasbord of leftover little bits that weren't enough for anything else. In my frequent end of week meals there'd often be five or six main meal bits with at least that many sides as well. Sometimes we would have four or five tablespoons of one item each on our plates! It got creatively ridiculous.

Now, with it just being dh and i, I'm much better at gauging how much we will eat and only cooking that amount. We do have what someone else called planned overs too.

catherine

6-6-15, 8:39am

Regarding the left-over thing, I have a very, very mean streak in me that comes out with a vengeance when we ask BIL over, and I'm ashamed to admit it.

BIL comes over for dinner fairly often, since he lives next door. He's single, not that smart in the ways of the world, mainly because he lived with his mother his entire life. He's 52. For instance, his stove gas line broke months ago and he still hasn't repaired it, saying he doesn't have the money, but meanwhile, every night he does take-out. I've tried to tell him that in one month he would break even on the cost of the repair in what he'd save cooking at home.. oh well.

So he comes for dinner, and here's a recent example of what drives me crazy. DH made about 8 pieces of chicken: plenty for dinner, plus some left over. He invited BIL over. We all eat,and then DH asks BIL if he wan't more chicken. Of course BIL says yes, because he has a bit of an eating problem. So now we're down to enough chicken for DH and I to have lunch the next day.

But DH will go and wrap up the extra chicken and give it to BIL. Now if this happened once, it would be fine. But this is HABITUAL. And it drives me crazy!! I know it sounds mean-spirited, but I don't get why DH and I together get half of what we make and BIL, one person, gets the other half. It's a food budget issue, but it's also a labor issue, because we could have saved ourselves another stint at the stove if we had saved the extra chicken for ourselves. BTW, BIL never reciprocates--he might bring dessert once in a while.

I've talked to DH about this--I don't know why he feels compelled to give second, thirds, and then anything left over to his brother. I think he has some inner emotional issue related to his mother telling him before she died "Take care of your brother." DH used to go crazy watching his mother do for his brother exactly what he's doing for his brother now!! So now I'm the one going crazy.

Anyway, off topic, but I just had to vent on the left-over topic. I wish we had some once in a while!

kib

6-6-15, 11:45am

Catherine, I don't have an "invisible third" but I can sympathize. DH has a weird issue I think of as chronic leftover syndrome. He always has to leave a little bit undone, whether it's a woodworking project or cleaning the house OR FOOD. I'll make a meal for two, assuming there will be a left over lunch, and come out to the kitchen to see that two tablespoons of taco meat (but no tortillas) are still sitting in the pan, along with a teaspoon of chopped onion but no cheese. Or the bag of potato chips I thought had one serving left really has about half a cup of crumbs (but it's been neatly sealed up and put back in the snack basket.) Or there is a tablespoon of popping corn left. MINDFULNESS, people, MINDFULNESS! >8)

Eta - Catherine, if I were you I think I'd set aside the next-day portion right at the time the food is cooked. For myself, I'm trying to be the food manager, even though I resent it a little it's better than living a life of weird little meals made up of the least interesting food on the table.