What new dishes have you made from leftovers?

today I decided to make a shepherd pie from left over meat loaf. i browned onion, garlic, added 2 c.  thawed peas & carrots, a sandwich bag of crumbled meat loaf, a Tb. four,1 cup of beef broth, a dash of catsup & mustard, & a few shots of worchestershire sauce & heated it thru. poured into a 4 .5 c. greased pyrex dish, topped with 2 micro'd potatoes  i  mashed. i'll bake at 375 for about 30 mins. this evening in the toaster oven & hope that the DH loves it!

 I love this idea & the possibilities are just endless!

What have you made or RE- made from your left overs lately or maybe plan  to make for the future?

I made a chicken casserole recently from the leftovers of a rotisserie chicken we had bought. (We had bought the chicken dinner from a local grocery store who was doing the dinners as a fund-raiser.)  Had quite a bit of meat left on the chicken, so I took it off the bones, chopped it into bite size pieces.  I browned some onion and celery, added some garlic powder, poultry season and seasoned salt. I made a sauce out of a can of chicken broth from the cupboard, flour, and butter.  Mixed it all together, added a drained can of mixed veggies, put it all into a greased casserole dish and topped with canned biscuits. Baked until the biscuits were brown and the casserole heated through. It was really good. Knock off chicken pot pie!

Nothing is wasted around here if I can help it. If I don't make a dish out of something leftover, then the leftover is frozen, for another meal at another time. Any more the leftovers are seeing the freezer or I am cooking to where there isn't hardly any leftovers. The last several weeks it has been hit and miss on what is leftover.

 Here are some of the things I have remade the last couple weeks. 

I had a meatloaf leftover with scalloped potatoes that was a meal for one family the one night. Then last night I took the meatloaf chunked it up and had another family member heat it up in a pan ( I was busy with another situation.), then I told them to add two cans of spaghetti sauce. Some spaghetti noodles were cooked and instant supper was made. There is still a coolwhip size of spaghetti sauce and crumbled meatloaf leftover, that it will get frozen for another meal.

I had a pork roast   I cooked up the one day. Then the next day I took the pork roast chunked it up, added it to the roaster with it's leftover broth, added some apple juice, chunked apples, a jar of applesauce, potatoes, carrots, celery,an onion, some different seasonings, and had it bake until everything was good and tender and great smelling. We had that for supper, and the leftovers went in the freezer for another meal.

I had some green beans from the garden leftover, so I cooked them up with a ham butt, made a great meal. There was still plenty leftover so it went in the freezer for another meal.

Chili was leftover from the one meal, I placed it in the freezer to use again for another meal.

Cooked two beef roasts, turned them into a seasoned hot pepper sandwhich meal. Where you have the meat and the drippings and place it on a bun. Then froze what was leftover of that meal for another time.

Here are some ideas on how I use leftovers when anything is left...

taco meat or sloppy jo's gets turned into lasgna or chili

meatloaf is usually used in spaghetti or the meatloaf is sliced and fried up and made into sandwhiches or just  frozen and eaten another time depending the size.

Leftover chicken is made into soups or casseroles.

Leftover vegetables or little bit of meat is made into soups or stir fry.

Thanksgiving meal is turned into soups or casserole...you take an layer the turkey, gravy, corn or green beans in a dish, place stuffing or mash potatoes on top. Then freeze the casserole for another time. Or take the turkey, gravy, and corn made soup adding more vegetables or rice or noodles with it.

Leftover roast can be made into vegetable soup or a stew or enchilda's or sandwhiches.

Leftover mash potatoes are turned into fried potato cakes. Or rarely potato candy.

Bread getting stale can be made into stuffing.  

Leftover rice with no butter into fried rice, or soup, or rice pudding.

Leftover ham, gets turned into ham and green beans and potatoes, or ham and bean soup or ham pot pie.

Leftover noodles gets turned into haluski or used in a soup  or casserole.

Leftover pork or roast or steak gets turned into a healthly enchilada's with  a variety of beans, tomato, and lettuce added to the mixture on a torta shell with cheese. Or the meat is turned into stir fry's or stews.

Leftover corn usually gets placed in with chili or rarely any more do I make fritters with the corn. 

wow! i'm coming to your house for leftovers! never thot of serving meat loaf with sauce  on pasta. i will try that next time. my DH loved the shepherds pie. i thot it  was ok but only took a bite. since i am not a meat lover the meat dishes never appeal to me much except for the flavor the meat mite add to a soup like ckn & noodles & then i don't eat the meat part. you have lots of great leftover meal ideas. thanks!

Cauliflower cheese is a favourite of ours and sometimes I plan on using it a couple of separate times - they are usually too big for just the 2 of us - but others I will make the whole cauliflower up with lots of extra sauce and that turns into a great cauliflower soup with very little work.  Add some chicken stock, maybe some flour to thicken it (or dried potato flakes) and use the immersible blender on it and adjust the seasoning to suit.  Makes for a great lunch

Made my first pot of rainbow stew of the season. All summer I keep a plastic container in my freezer to catch the spoonful of this and the 1/4 cup of that that would normally be thrown out because their isn't enough left for another meal. Vegetables, sloppy joes,  roast beef and gravy in the container it goes. Yesterday we had some cooler weather so I took out one of my containers, added a few diced potatoes, a can of my home canned tomatoes , some okra I froze this summer and let it simmer all day long in the crockpot. Delicious, nutritious bascially FREE meal for dinner last night.

I love the name, "Rainbow stew" - you simply couldn't give leftovers a more positve name.  What kid wouldn't want a bowl of Rainbow stew - that made my morning.  This has been a crazy week.  I have forgotten 2 nights in a row to soak my lentils for the crockpot - really crimping my dinner plans this week.  This should not be that hard

I USED to make an impossible pie out of our leftovers (before I found out I was diabetic).  I used the bisquick recipe for their "Impossible Pie" but added whatever leftovers that I had stored in the refrig or freezer.  This made a great dinner for the kids (what kid doesn't love pie for dinner???) and a lot of time, they wanted to "help" make it.  We had a lot of fun and even though some of it was a little "different" than I would have liked, we also had some really great creations!  With a tossed salad or whatever I had on hand, it made a nice meal, esp in the fall and winter on those cold blustery days and kept the kids busy and they actually learned a few cooking lessons in the process.  Can't beat that.  LOL.

One of our favorite sandwiches is made with leftover corned beef or turkey and sauerkraut, on rye bread.  If I don't have any leftover sauerkraut, I make a small amount of cole slaw, if I have any cabbage in the refrig.  To this, I add any leftover cheese and homemade 1000 Island dressing.  Butter the sandwiches and cook until meat is hot and the cheese is all melty and gooey.  This is good served with homemade soup (or canned if you are really in a hurry).

I have also made this in the oven, sans the bread.  I often put buttered bread crumbs (or whatever crumbs I have) over the top when it has heated thru.  The possibilities are endless and it is quick to assemble and cook. 

Another one of my kids favs has always been "hamburger gravy" over mashed potates (or whatever you have on hand that needs using up)  I have always added whatever was leftover in the refrig that mixed well with it and the kids gobbled it up.  It is still one of my "comfort" foods, altho I don't think my Doctor would appreciate it

What are your favorite re-makes?

Jan in MI

Hey Gunslinger!

  I can't wait to try this on the grandkids when they come to visit!!  The name alone is very interesing and it really will catch their attention, I am sure. I will start "saving' all of my leftovers and try this one on them for sure.  It sounds like a really hearty, interesting stew.  Thanks so much for the idea.

Jan in MI 

When I make any meal, leftovers are always in my mind. I like to change up the dish so it doesn't resemble the original meal. With my Coq au Vin my son and I look forward to a Chicken Pot Pie. The chicken meat is removed from the bone, chopped and mixed with the remaining vegetables (carrots, celery, onion, mushroom and garlic) and sauce. The sauce mixture is thickened slightly if necessary, put in individual ramekins and topped with crescent roll rectangles. Place ramekins on a cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees until crescents are golden brown and delicious. Served with a green salad, this makes a spin on the original dish.

I take leftover beef roast or pork roast, cut it up into small pieces, chop an onion, and put the meat and onion in my food processor or use my mixer's grinder attachment. I then add cumin and paprika to taste along with Miracle Whip -- enough to moisten the ground meat so it is spreadable. You could also use mayo instead of Miracle Whip or your own favorite spices. This makes a great sandwich filling.

Whenever we have leftover roast beef and there are lots of little pieces I make hash the next day.  Cook a couple of diced potatoes with some chopped onion and add chopped up meat, if you have any leftover broth from the roast cook the potatoes in it.  Toward the end of cooking time if I have few leftover carrots or potatoes and gravy I add that to the pot.  If I don't have any broth or gravy I put a boullion cube in with potatoes.

Nancy