The ability to turn one meal into another is one of the most valuable skills a cook has up their sleeve, maybe the one instance where alchemy is real. It's the best way to ensure against trudging through a week's worth of lentils (or chili, or soup) and getting sick of it as a result.
Over on our (Not)Recipes app, you're making us want your leftovers—barely recognizable as their original iterations. Here's how a few of you are upping the fridge-scraps ante:
Wrap hot griddled whole wheat chapati (from Indian grocery) around leftovers: flank steak, not-too-wilted arugula and shaved fennel salad, home-made hummus, quick-pickled onions, drizzle of hot sauce #verynotsaddesklunch #leftovers #chapatis=newfavoritewrap
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Last nights pizza becomes this morning's breakfast. While your pizza reheats in the oven, gently sauté a generous handful of kale till slightly wilted. Salt to taste and finish with lemon juice.
Bring the entire thing together as all things should be brought together - with a fried egg on top.
Bring the entire thing together as all things should be brought together - with a fried egg on top.
#notcontest Last night's (not)recipe gets incorporated into tonight's dinner. Boil some pasta, I used Cellentani. Drain and toss with young spinach, olives, and marinated mozzarella. #dinner #pasta
Mac and Cheese Bites | leftover macaroni and cheese, bread crumbs, egg. Combine ingredients well. Place in buttered mini-cupcake baking sheet. Cook for about 12 minutes at 425 degrees. If you're feeling fancy, add leftover bacon, herbs, etc to jazz up the bites. #notcontest #notrecipe #notrecipes #leftovers #dinner #lunch #fingerfood #cookwithkids #macandcheese
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A good example of how one (not)recipe begets another (not)recipe! In this case, my curried cauliflower sheet pan salad from the other night is today's oven-baked frittata. I heated some olive oil in an ovenproof skillet and warmed the leftover salad, then added 10 eggs that I whisked together with salt, pepper, and some grated sharp cheddar. Baked for about 20 minutes at 325. #notcontest
5 minute egg over leftover coconut rice with sausage and scallions, fried crisp in a cast iron pan. Added a few more freshly chopped scallions and lots of black pepper.
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Whisk together milk, eggs, instant espresso, cinnamon, split vanilla bean and a little sugar. Slice a loaf of day old babka and soak each piece in the milk mixture for 1-2 minutes. Heat butter in a skillet and brown each slice for about 5 minutes per side.
Today for a simple lunch I poached eggs in leftover pasta sauce. Add a little basil chiffonade, a little parm, and some roasted veg and you have yourself a delicious, hearty meal.
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Easter dinner #leftovers turned egg rolls! I just mixed my leftover mashed potatoes, roasted squash, ham and an egg yolk...rolled in an egg roll wrap, sealed with egg white and pan fried in vegetable oil. Easy-Peasy and all done on my wood stove in a cast iron pan.
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It's on lazy nights when awesome things like this occur. Last nights lasagna becomes tonight's lasagna quesadilla. Who would have thunk this would be so good, crispy buttery outside vs. creamy tomato noodly (and the secret ingredient–American cheese) interior. #dinner #leftover #dinner #italian #mexican #vegetarian #norecipe
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I didn't have any form of tomato sauce, so broccoli soup it was.
Then spinach, capers, scallions, pepper flakes -- in other words, the only items remotely related to pizza in my kitchen.
Then spinach, capers, scallions, pepper flakes -- in other words, the only items remotely related to pizza in my kitchen.
Poached asparagus recycled from Easter and red torpedo onions (pickled in Meyer lemon juice) all casually spread out on top of a slab of puff pastry from my freezer. I painted the border with crème fraîche for brown edges. And then I let hella Parmesan rain on down. Baked at 350F for 25 minutes or so.
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Sunday-the best for leftovers! Saturday night's artichoke gratin with pecorino béchamel and ricotta and Friday night's roasted cherry tomatoes tossed with bucatini (my new favorite pasta)-all dusted with pecorino. Frig is ready for the next week!
Do you have a favorite leftover? Nominate one in the comments.
Written by: Caroline Lange
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