Leftovers: the uneaten remains of a meal.
But I blame Mom. Every afternoon when I came home from school I would ask, "What's for dinner?" And about once a week she'd respond, "Leftovers." As if these leftovers weren't worthy of being called the actual food that they were. "Leftovers" sometimes meant mac 'n cheese (a childhood favorite!), yet after being labeled "leftovers", I wasn't interested. Seems Mom would have benefitted from a Marketing 101 class.
My distaste of the "leftovers" concept trickled along into my twenties. But at this point, the depression stemmed from a heightened awareness of my economic status: leftovers made me feel poor. And I was poor, mind you, but I certainly didn't want to be reminded of that fact when I sat down for lunch or dinner! So, instead, more often than not, I made the wise choice of either ordering in or going out (declining the doggy bag), driving myself further into debt.
As I matured into my thirties, leftovers no longer felt like the plague. Yet still, there were issues, boredom being one: my taste buds weren't interested in having the same dinner two nights in a row. And often, I wasn't even home two nights in a row. But then inevitably a few nights later, I'd take a look at my leftovers and wonder if they'd gone bad. I would decide they probably had, but as I was not sure, I'd leave them there. (Am I the only one here? Highly irrational!) And they'd then get pushed farther in the back of the fridge only to be discovered weeks later in a state I will not describe here.
But I am happy to report that, pushing 40, I have finally embraced and mastered the art of leftover-ing! In fact, I now strategically cook to ensure I have plenty of leftovers to choose from at all times. A big motto in my house is "cook once, eat twice." I'll admit this is much easier to do now that I'm home rather than at a corporate job (and that health coaching is my career focus!) but it's easier than you may think. Here is a handful of ideas:
- Roast a chicken on Sunday for dinner. Kids can have chicken again one or two nights that week. You can have it in your salads. Or make chicken noodle soup!
- Cook four pieces of salmon instead of two. Refrigerate the remaining two for lunch salads or make salmon breakfast omelets.
- Make more couscous, quinoa, brown rice than you need. Save for up to four days in the fridge and use as a side for any dinner during the week and/or sprinkle over salads. Or spice it up into a salad of its own like this tabbouleh!
- Make more black beans than you need. Use in the kids' dinner quesadillas the next night.
- Bake an additional sweet potato. Divide the flesh into ice cube trays, freeze them and then use a couple of cubes in each of your morning smoothies!
But all of that might feel like too much planning. So what about the stuff you just couldn't finish but know you shouldn't throw away? Odds and ends leftovers can still be made into something fabulously delicious. Check out this list of recipe ideas from Greatist. (And let me know if you decide to make the breakfast spaghetti. Dying to know if that's any good, but haven't gotten around to trying it myself.)
And as far as more "traditional" leftovers go - meaning, just heat them up and there's your meal - I happen to believe foods like pizza, meatballs and thai anything improve with age (okay, overnight.) Or even just remember the Friday after Thanksgiving. Isn't it all somehow more delicious the day after? Here's some actual science behind that.
During the holidays, more than any other time of the year, there are bound to be leftovers. Get creative. I bet you discover some yummy combinations!
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