Another of my favorite ways to use up left over meat is to make a fried rice. It is particularly useful if you are a little short on the meat. I have used chicken, pork, and sausages. They have all worked out well. Two of the best were a Southern Asian fusion where I used leftover pulled pork. The other was not having enough chicken I add some leftover breakfast sausages.
Last nights started because I had some leftover pork. Again this isn’t some much a recipe as a starting point.
Ingredients
- Rice (Leftover is great and if I know in advanced I make extra. Otherwise I start with 1.5 cup uncooked and cook it normally)
- Oil
- 2-3 cups of cooked leftover meat (cut up smaller to make it stretch)
- 2-3 cups of Veggies (Leftovers are great again. In this case all I had was frozen veggie cubes)
- 1 medium onion diced small
- 3-5 eggs (more if I’m shorting them on meat, less if I’m running out and sometimes I’m generous because I like scrambled eggs)
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 TBSP Sesame oil (Optional, If you don’t have it don’t worry about it)
- 1/2 cup of water
- Pepper to taste
Instructions
If the rice isn’t already cooked, cook it the way you normally do rice. Scramble the eggs in a wok with some oil. Remove. Dice and fry the onion over medium heat. Add the meat and stir together. Add the veggies and stir. Add the rice and stir. Turn the heat down to simmer. Mix together the soy sauce, water, sesame oil and pepper. Add and mix well. Add the scrambled eggs and mix. Cover until everything is warm through and the veggies are cooked. Add more water if needed and stir to keep it from burning to the bottom.
Today I have leftovers of the leftovers but not quite enough for another meal. I’ll probably pair it with some pot stickers on Saturday.
Our household budget for food is $400/month, that’s for a family of 5. That means that I tend to buy large cheap cuts of meat. Generally I cook the whole thing for the first night and then have to come up with ways to use the leftovers that everyone will eat. If it is different enough its no longer leftovers.
One of my favorite ways to use leftovers is to make a frittata. This is one of those meals that doesn’t have a set recipe. The basics are potatoes and onions, some kind of meat, eggs, veggies and cheese.
- 3-4 small potatoes
- 1 large onion
- 1 Green Pepper (if you have one)
- Leftover meat, Ham, pork, sausages and chicken work well.
- Leftover Veggies (Broccoli, Cauliflower work great but just about anything you like will work.)
- 5-6 eggs
- Grated cheese
Put an oven safe frying pan on med to med high heat. Dice the potatoes into about 1/4 inch cubes. Dice the onion and Green Pepper. Add to the frying pan and brown. Cut the meat up. Smaller pieces if you need to make it stretch. Reduce the heat to med-low. Add the meat to warm through. Add the veggies cutting them small. Beat the eggs in a bowl. Add salt and pepper to taste. Pour over mixture in the frying pan. It should almost cover everything. Swirl the pan to spread the eggs. Spread some grated cheese over the top. I prefer cheddar. Put in a 350deg oven for 15 minutes or until the eggs have set. Serve. Feed my family of five with rarely any leftovers.
I like it with salsa and sour cream if they are in the house, plain if not. Its quick and easy to make and a great way to use leftovers.
Previous Leftovers:
Chicken Pot Pie with Baking Powder Biscuits
Image Source (Wikipedia Fir0002/Flagstaffotos) under GNU Free Documentation License.
Leftover Chicken in my house quite often results in Chicken Pot Pie. I always like having a plan for any leftovers. Cleaning out the fridge and filling a garbage bag is really quite sad and very expensive.
Ingredients (Filling)
- 1 Onion
- 6 tbsp butter or hard margarine
- 6 tbsp flour
- 3 cups of milk
- 1 tsp poultry seasoning
- 3-4 cups of leftover cooked chicken
- 3-4 cups mixed frozen veggies
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450°
- Cut up your chicken
- Melt the butter in a pot medium low heat
- Dice the onion
- Sauté the onion in the butter until translucent.
- Add the flour
- Stir with a whisk until it is sizzling
- Add the milk
- Whisk to make a smooth white sauce
- Add the Poultry Seasoning, Salt and Pepper
- Bring to a simmer and it will start to thicken
- Add the chicken and frozen veggies to a large casserole dish
- Add the white sauce.
- Stir
- Place some of the biscuits on top
- Bake for 15 minutes
- Add the remaining biscuit on a tray
- Bake additional 12 minutes
Baking Powder Biscuits
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cups flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 tsp baking powder
- 6 tbsp butter or hard margarine
- 3/4 cup milk
Instructions
- In a mixing bowl mix together the flour, salt and baking powder
- Use a pastry blender or 2 dinner knives to cut the butter into the flour mixture until butter is the size of peas
- Add the milk
- Stir together until it forms a loose ball
- Turn out onto a floured surface
- Kneed about 10 times
- Flatten out with you palms or a rolling pin until about 1/2 inch think
- Cut into twelve pieces
- Bake 10-12 minutes at 450° (This step is included above)
This a favorite in our household, tasty, cheap, uses leftovers, easy to make and quick. The reason that I put some of the biscuits on top and some on a tray is for two reasons. First in my casserole dish they won’t all fit. Second my daughter prefers them on the side buttered. I have also made it without the poultry seasoning and extra salt and pepper. I like it either way but my wife prefers it with the poultry seasoning. In this case the leftover chicken was BBQ Chicken thighs and it made enough to have leftovers of the Chicken Pot Pie as well.
Tips, Tricks and Humor of Being a House Husband
