You can save money on your grocy bill if you use up those bits of vegetables, meats and sauces for a meal later in the week. In fact, you can plan to cook a roast or a whole chicken for the purpose of using the leftovers for another lunch or dinner. It's a great time saver as well as a money saver. Here are a few guidelines for using leftovers:
1. Cut leftover meat or poultry into bite-sized pieces so that they will be uniformly heated.
2. When you have a cooked meat or poultry to add to a main dish, add it after the other ingredients are mostly cooked through.
3. Prepare a sauce to serve the meat with. Add the meat for the last few minutes of cooking time.
4. Make a hash of left over meats and potatoes. Hash was a popular leftover dish that my grandma used to make. Here's her recipe:
Chop 1 to 2 cups of leftover meat. Then, cube an equal portion of cold, cooked potatoes. Add 1 teaspoon of minced onion and 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper.
Melt butter or margarine in a frying pan (1 tablespoon for each cup of hash mixture). Spread the meat and potatoes evenly over the bottom of the pan and moisten with a small amount of milk or leftover gravy.
Cook slowly over medium-low heat about 20 minutes or until the mixture has browned on the bottom. Shake the pan occasionally to prevent sticking.
Slide out of the frying pan and into a serving dish.
You can also bake the hash in the oven. Spray cooking spray onto the sides and bottom of a casserole dish. Add hash mixture and bake for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.
Beef, chicken or turkey all make tasty hash dishes.
5. Use leftover rice to make a delicious pudding dessert:
Mix 1 cup of cold white or brown rice with 1/4 cup sugar, 1/8 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla.
Stir in one chilled can (10 oz) of crushed pineapple, drained. Fold in 1 cup of whipped cream. Stir just long enough to blend ingredients.
Serve in sherbet glasses for a more fancy meal.
6. Another good way to use up leftovers is to make soup. Here's a good recipe for that leftover Thanksgiving or Christmas turkey:
Remove any fat and skin from your turkey carcass. Put the bones and leftover turkey meat into a large cooking pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and skim off foam from top of water.
