Wasting Less Food: Creative Leftovers II
I’ve been reading a lot about food waste recently. As I had written about previously, one of the major shifts I have made in food planning and preparation has been to dramatically reduce the amount of food wasted. I perhaps haven’t said enough about how enjoyable this has been. I’m learning about new ways to repurpose food, creative ways around ingredients and generally learning about expanding my repertoire of dishes in new and interesting ways. It has been the learning of different ingredients, combined with interesting foods that I’ve had while traveling that has led to various creative uses of food in ethnic dishes. I’ve also been exploring ways to incorporate more seasonal vegetables and to prepare interesting fruits and vegetables that are at the farmer’s market each week.
This has been fun for me, because I am someone who tends not to like leftovers or eating the same meal two days in a row. In a previous post, I had looked at ways of using up previous ingredients and combining them in smoothies, soups, and stir frys. I wanted to update this with additional ideas, especially to use up summer fruits and vegetable leftovers and garden surpluses. Here are some ideas that I’ve been incorporating:
–Break out the blender — in addition to smoothies to add extra fruit, gazpacho is one of my favorite ways to incorporate the bounty of summer produce. My gazpacho’s traditionally include: tomatoes,zucchini, cucumber, jalapeno, peppers and onion, all in abundance in late summer. You can add a range of other things including bread crumbs, herbs and spices such as fresh cilantro or basil, and yogurt.
–Quesadillas — We had quesadillas tonight that included leftover black beans and chicken sandwiched together with melty cheese inside a tortilla. All types of leftover vegetables and protein work well in quesadillas. For extra fun, try some very thinly sliced fruit, such as nectarines and brie; or in the fall mashed sweet potato.
–Curry — I recently posted my recipe for Thai red curry. I never make this with the same ingredients twice, but leftover chicken and mixed vegetable is a great combination. I like to include different colored vegetables including carrots and red pepper to make it attractive.
I would love to hear your ideas for leftovers!
posted at Works for Me Wednesday and Food Renegade
Nice ideas: I love quesadillas and will have to make a curry soon!
I like to use pizza, quiche or fried rice as vehicles for extra vegetables… pizza works great with tomatoes and sauteed peppers for example as well as basil if you have it, and fried rice goes well with just about any vegetables chopped small and sauteed… especially if you have some green onions to top it with! These are not super low fat options, of course, but I am more of a small-portions person than a low-fat person. (And once they are cooked, the leftovers freeze fine.)
Thank you for this post! I too hate wasting food. I actually write “meal of the moment” post topics that give ideas on how to use leftovers.
Love the quesadilla ideas!
Sarah, great suggestions. I make fried rice quite often and add in all kinds of leftovers including (raw) shredded cabbage, corn, green beans and tofu. I also make egg scrambles with leftovers, sort of a very quick skillet quiche or mixed up omelette.
Lisa, love the “meal of the moment” concept.
Thanks for commenting.
I’m not fussy (being single) and so i’ll eat anything by itself just so it doesn’t go to waste. For instance, i have a motherlode of cucumbers from my garden. I need to pick them, but can’t eat them fast enough, even while i force myself to eat an entire cucumber each and every day!
I’ve been wasting more food lately, too, partly due to higher temps and humidity which gets in the fridge when you open it. I’m losing a big chunk of expensive gouda cheese from costco and also lost some organic nectarines which seem to go very quickly. Also a cold bean salad i made with garden stringbeans. Damn.
fern, when I cooked for one I had a lot of problems with this. You might try freezing things early. Saving a freezer bag of cheese slivers is great for the quesadillas. And for the nectarines, I recommend making smoothies. Thanks for visiting.