Eat them!
Often times leftovers get a bad rap – however, there are a lot of cases when foods only gets better with time, such as:
- Chili
- Soup
- Dips
- Casseroles
- Fresh Salsa
Leftovers are also great for creating NEW dishes. Got leftover rice? Make warm, brown rice pudding. Extra cooked pasta? Make a hearty vegetable frittata. Leftover mashed sweet potato? You’ll just have to wait and see… 
Other leftovers that get better with time? Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal. I heated up the second serving of the batch I made on Monday night for breakfast today. Results? As creamy and fantastic as if I had just pulled it straight out of the oven!
Like my brother said “It’s not very pretty…” (thanks bro) BUT it is soooo tasty!
Also – I’m hearing about pumpkin shortages around the country? Like I said yesterday, I found a ton at my local grocery store this weekend but apparently that might be coming to an end, yikes! Better stock up while I still can…I have another pumpkin recipe looming on the horizon. 
Something else that definitely gets better the next day is Crock Pot meals. For lunch, I packed some leftover Cuban-Style Shredded Pork with Brown Rice.
Ben was thinking this pork would also be seriously tasty served taco style in a soft shell tortilla!
To add some freshness into my day, I also packed a Honeycrisp apple. Supplies are dwindling…just FYI…
So I didn’t share the rest of my Top 10 favorite tips from the “Easy Weight Loss Tips: 50 Ways to Fight Fat” list yesterday because of my fun questionnaire. In case you missed it, check out tips 1-5 here and 6-10 below!
6. Trade Crackers for Oats: In any meat recipe that calls for crackers or bread crumbs, use an equal amount of rolled oats instead. This ramps up your soluble fiber intake, which can help lower your cholesterol. Use the quick-cooking variety of oatmeal, because it retains moisture well and doesn’t alter the meaty taste.
- You can also use ground oats as a flour substitute in pancakes. I have a great recipe that I’ll make for you guys sometime soon!
7. Leave No Cheerio Behind: To get all the vitamins out of your cereal, drink the milk left in the bowl. Up to 40 percent of the vitamins in your cereal dissolve into that orphaned puddle of milk. Drink up.
- As you know, I prefer dry cereal – but I bet a lot of you don’t and I thought this was so cool. It never occurred to me that the milk in your cereal could be “washing” away vitamins!
8. Choose the Blues: Use blue corn tortillas in your next batch of nachos, fajitas, or quesadillas for more effective weight loss. A team of Mexican and Venezuelan researchers found that tortillas made from blue corn have a lower glycemic load than white corn tortillas do, so they won’t raise your blood sugar as quickly. The blue variety also has more protein and less starch.
- So interesting – again, something I never knew!
9. Rinse Your Beans: Canned beans—kidney, cannellini, chickpeas—are a quick and easy way to add protein and fiber to your meals. But they can also spike your daily sodium intake, increasing your risk of stomach cancer and high blood pressure. Simply rinsing them, however, will shed one-third of their sodium.
- Always make sure to pour your can of beans into a strainer and rinse off the “goop” that they come packed in. No matter what!
10: Create the Best Steam Room for Your Veggies: For perfectly cooked and nutrient-rich vegetables, rinse, throw them in a sealed container, and microwave for 3 or 4 minutes. Boiling, blanching, or oversteaming zaps vegetables of their nutrients—the only water you need is the drops that cling after rinsing.
- I used this method the last time I cooked broccoli and it turned out perfectly fork-tender and bright green.
Well my gas light came on as I was driving home from work yesterday, so I’ve got to jet. Have a great Wednesday everyone – we’re halfway through the week! 
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Are you good about eating leftovers?
My Dad is very particular about leftovers – he won’t eat meat or pasta if it has to be reheated. Everything else is fair game. Me? I’ll eat anything – but usually leave our leftovers for Ben to take for his lunch. Because I’m a good wife like that…
I used to hate leftovers when I lived at home but now that I am the one cooking and buying groceries I LOVE leftovers!!
I am a leftover LOVAH! I don’t have time to really cook at night when I get home, so I cook on the weekends and it’s leftover lovin’ for me all week! Some things are better reheated than others, but for the most part, it’s all good. Plus, it makes me feel very green and economical.
I only have one Honeycrisp left, too.
Time to hit the store!
OH NO!! I haven’t bought ANY pumpkin yet, and I’m down to one honeycrisp! Honestly though, my favorite canned pumpkin is from Aldi
As for leftovers… i find that most crockpot recipes get better, as do baked pasta dishes. Rice though, I find gets gross. I eat ALL leftovers, while the fiance will only eat chili mac and lasagna.
Don’t really like leftovers unless it was that pumkin oatmeal you made! I need to go stock up on lots of pumpkin too!
I am SO bad about eating leftovers. Fortunately, I have my human garbage disposal a.k.a. my boyfriend to help me out!
I have a very hard time with leftovers! I need to get better at it! Your post reminds me that I need to stock up on some pumpkin!
Have a great day
I love number 7. I never knew that about the vitamins
i used to hate leftovers, but since becoming employed in the real world with a budget, leftovers are suddenly my best friend
I used to be such a sandwich person for lunch, so I rarely ate leftovers. But now I am slowly warming up to having leftovers for lunch, very slowly…
I love leftover casseroles and soups – to me they get better with time.
I’ve always rinsed my beans cuz that “goopy” stuff grosses me out!
We always have leftovers for lunch the next day… I usually try to make a few meals that will serve us twice for that reason… nothing like a homecooked meal while sitting in your cubicle the next day! Hey, something’s gotta get us through the day right
Most of the time I’m not a huge fan of leftovers. I usually eat them because I don’t like to waste food. A lot of time I alter recipes to make a small amount so I don’t end up with leftovers.
I need to try your pumpkin pie oatmeal, it look so good!
Great Tips!!! I can never get enough of them, so keep them coming, please.
I am actually working on a TIP page for my blog that will list all of the tips I see or read. I have learned a lot from them over the years.
=) Laura @ Finding A Healthy Balance…..after a 100+ POUND weight loss!
leftovers are pretty great, especially those that you named that get better over time! in my younger years i used to eat leftovers like it was my job. why waste food right?
I am a leftover connoisseur (that’s a hard word to spell, had to look it up) and I look at what’s in the fridge as ingredients for another meal, providing they are not ancient or spoiled. My suggestions: Soup, soup, soup. You can use almost ANYTHING to make soup.
Start with simmering cans of broth and just start dumping stuff in.
Mashed potatoes? A great thickening agent. Veggies, meat? You know what to do with that. Stale garlic bread? Croutons! Mac and cheese? Into the pot! You have to use a modicum of common sense when blending flavors, but almost anything would work. Cranberry sauce? Probably not.
Also, I sometimes make ‘garbage pizza’, starting with a rising crust plain cheese pizza to which I add any likely ingredient in the fridge/cupboard. I was really pleasantly surprised once when I added leftover shrimp, steamed mussels, roasted red peppers and Mexican crumbly cheese – delicioso!
Kristin, I have to lay this recipe for squash soup on you – it is so easy and delicious:
You take a couple acorn or butternut squash, halve them, scoop the seeds and stick them in the micro until they are mostly cooked through and steamy. Then you brush them with olive oil and stick them in the oven at 500, top rack, until they brown up nice. Then let them cool.
Meanwhile, and this seems excessive, but you plop an ENTIRE pound of bacon in a large skillet and fry it down on medium-high heat until it’s crispy but not burnt. You’re going to end up with at least a cup of hot bacon grease, so get a can ready to dump it. The put the bacon on paper towels to drain.
Get a big stock pot and put a couple tablespoons of olive oil in the bottom. Add finely chopped onion, minced garlic and thin sliced celery – about one cup total, whatever proportions you prefer, I like a bit more garlic than some. Sautee that on medium heat until it the onion and celery starts to go clear. Season with white pepper and fresh fine-chopped parsley. Add two quarts of broth and heat to a good simmer, then scoop out your cooked, browned squash and dump it in. Allow this to cook over medium heat with the lid on until it’s good and hot. Add the cooked, drained, crumbled bacon and cook for another ten minutes or so. Remove from heat and either place in a blender, a batch at a time and puree until smooth (a pain), or get one of those wand blenders you can stick right in the pot (much easier). Once the soup is blended smooth, you can add additional broth if you want a more liquid consistency or more volume.
This is a very hearty soup you can serve as a side or a main dish. It is very good with toasted breads and green salads, and it stores and reheats very well – I have even made very large batches and frozen it for use later.
Now that cold weather is here, I’m going to dig out some more soup and stew recipes – I’ve got a parsnip soup recipe that is so good, it’ll make you wanna lie down and scream.
Bon appetit!
I love leftovers! I don’t like to waste anything!
I’m not a fan of leftovers!
I love making a double batch of anything! For example, this week I made Meatball Escarole Soup… so good. Now i have it all week for some lunches and dinner!. Then, if there is any leftover, I freeze it until I am ready for it again! My freezer has a lot of rotating things like that. Leftovers are a great way to save time and money
I LOVE LOVE LOOOVE leftovers! Unless you end up eating the same thing for lunch & dinner several days in a row…then it gets old & needs to get jazzed up. Happy Hump Day!!!
I fall between liking leftovers and being a leftover snob. I get weirded out if something is more than two days old. So, I plan ahead not to make too much food for a 2 person household. My husband also calls me the freeze queen. When I make a big batch of soup or rigatoni I usually freeze 1/2 the night that I make it, saving out portions for lunch and dinner for Matt and I to enjoy right away and equal portions frozen for later in the month.
As a general rule, I can eat most leftovers if they are good and hot, but I really hate looking at cold, congealed leftovers – shudder! This is why I sometimes cover my eyes and run from the kitchen, asking my boyfriend if he can pop some leftovers in the microwave for me and tell me when they’re ready!
My favorite twist on leftover rice is to heat it with some milk, butter, cinnamon and nutmeg, and either sugar or honey to sweeten it. It makes a yummy dessert or breakfast porridge! Another memory from my childhood is leftover chicken or pork with gravy on a slice of bread, eaten with a fork. One thing I really hate reheated is steak – I swear the flavor is not the same after it goes through the microwave…
I don’t mind leftovers but past one leftover meal I am usually done. Unfortunately it’s hard to learn to cook for 2 after cooking for a household of teenagers (me+brother+2 “foster” sibs+ random assortment of friends) in the high school years. Considering I just had my 10 year reunion, I’m guessing I’ll never learn to cook smaller portions. But it does make me sad to throw stuff out
I couldn’t agree with this list more. These foods you’ve stated, taste soooo much better after a day or two. I would also add Stir Fries to this. Everything soaks up so much flavor over time. Delicious!
Leftovers are the best!
I’m really worried about this pumpkin shortage you speak of. I’m feeling the urge to run to the store right now and stock up! I might have to buy some more honey crisps too…
Hunni normally eats all my leftovers. I occassionally get some of them but most times they are gone before I go to look for them. At least I know he likes my cooking