Leftover Makeover
Every day without fail, my family ask the age old question, “What’s for dinner?”
I’ve cooked so many different meals. Some nights I need help. I’m almost begging for an idea. The last thing my family wants to hear is LEFTOVERS!
Around 6:45 p.m. if I’m not in the kitchen, or the family doesn’t smell anything cooking, they’ll ask… WFD? If my response is leftovers, their faces get long, and they get sick. Leftovers might as well be a four letter word. It’s definitely a bad word in my house.
I’ve tried using other word like” re-dos”, “replays” and “do-overs”. It doesn’t matter what I call it. Leftovers, include anything we’ve already had that is still hanging around in the refrigerator. Mr. Husband really doesn’t care for leftovers, but will eat them. He says it’s a shame to throw away food. He says it’s the same as throwing away money.
Mr. Husband is right. We’ve thrown away too much food/money. Leftover food goes in the refrigerator and stays until it expires. The next step is the garbage disposal. To keep that from happening, I had to get creative. Making leftovers appear as something other than leftovers is a magic trick.
Recently, we had leftover macaroni and cheese and roasted chicken. Reheating the chicken would dry it out for sure. Operation Leftover Makeover was in full affect. Generally, any leftovers that I reinvented are called “Tonya Helper.” To the mac and cheese, I added a can of cream of mushroom and a can of Rotel tomatoes. After de-boning and chopping chicken, it was added.
Wa-La! Re-dos in disguise! I served it with a salad and French bread. I am the woman!
Just warming leftovers, and presenting them looking like the first go round, never gets a favorable response. It has taken years for that to sink in. Now I have it!
Why do I cook so much?
I have a large family, and I can’t ever just cook a little. We’re subject to have two, or three of my children’s friends over at any time. Secondly, we are a very busy family. For that reason, I cook extra so that we can have leftovers. This frees me up from cooking every day, and we can eat before 9 p.m.
The Leftover Makeover seems to work pretty well. I wonder if they’ll ever figure it out?! For now it will just be my (our) little secret.
Cross post on latonyarichardson.com
LaTonya
LaTonya's goal is to experience life one adventure at a time, live like no one’s watching, and write about it along the way!
Follow Me:
I’m really bad with leftovers. My mom never ate leftovers so I’m not used to keeping food. I know it’s such a huge waste of money. But I can’t stand food that’s been warmed in the microwave. I need to be a little more creative with my re-done meals.
You pocket will thank you, and it saves time in the kitchen.
Tonya Helper. I love it! Adding the cream of mushroom was a casserole move. I’m still trying to get a virtual taste with the tomatoes, but I’m sure it was delicious.
Casserole is exactly it! I’m a casserole dutchess, not yet a queen, lol.
My family won’t eat left overs…even from the restaurant. I give up. I told them I am going on strike! LOL.
Good post
Last night I was tired, and my 16-year-old asked WFD, and I responded, “Any leftovers you dig out of the fridge.”
I think she went to bed without eating, another ate cereal, and not sure what the others ate… if they ate at all. They’d rather go hungry than knowingly eat leftovers.