Cooking By The Seat Of My Pants

Over the last week we had a house full of people, and we ate well. There were Chinese, carryout pizza, and barbecue meals. For the big extended family get-together  I baked a turkey breast and pork loin roast, and cooked French Dip in the crock pot. I sliced it all for sandwiches, and served it on pretzel slider buns. For the non-meat eaters I made a main dish bean salad. Others brought a green salad, a potato casserole, and desserts.

Even though some of the earlier leftovers were consumed as the week went on, when things started returning to normal on Monday the refrigerator was still very full. That night Hubby Tony and I attended the Christmas party dinner for a club he belongs to. Neither one of us finished our food, so yet one more Styrofoam container got shoved into the refrigerator.

I hate to throw away food, so I've been getting creative with those leftovers.

• Tuesday night I heated up the previous evening's extras (Tony's pork medallions and my breaded chicken with white wine sauce and mushrooms) and cut them each in two pieces so we could share. I roughly smashed the leftover baked potato, and nuked some frozen Normandy blend vegetables to serve with the protein and carbs.

• Last night I combined the last of the French Dip au jus and partial containers of Hot and Sour and Egg Drop soup to make the liquid for a hearty soup. I bought a bag of bok choy at the Oriental market, chopped it up, and tossed it in to cook, then threw in the extra scallions and shredded carrots that I'd purchased for Sunday's bean salad.  When it was time to serve the dish I poured it over leftover rice.

• Tonight's meal was loaded sweet potatoes. They were topped with a combination of leftover barbecue brisket, frozen mixed vegetables, sauteed onion and garlic, and assorted barbecue sauces.

Even though I've made a large dent in the extra food, there's still baked beans, rice, cheese, and yogurt to get rid of.  Not sure what exactly I'll do with them, but I'll think of something.

Five years ago today: Oy!