A good week of leftovers means no wasted food. While my children don't hear the "starving babies in third-world countries" saga that my mother always told me, they know better than to argue when leftovers are the meal du jour or in this case, de la semaine.
 Quiche is long gone, Costco chicken picked to the bone, hard-boiled eggs made into sandwiches and after-schools snacks, and the last of the ham and Greek salad are getting eaten today. Plus, a long-forgotten recipe for salmon cakes was revived. Here was the highlight leftovers meal. Salmon cakes. New recipe in the Greenhouse, working out measurements. Leftover Greek SaladThe lemon juice makes this salad keep well. Just keep the feta cheese on the side and add it at the time of serving. Purple rice from last week's purchase at Hankook. The rice doesn't taste that much different, but it looks pretty.
 Easy roasted asparagus is a new addition that is pretty well based on the Barefoot Contessa, who I adore. We've made it twice, and it was a hit at Easter brunch. Click here for the recipe. Good food makes good leftovers. Eat Well. Be Well.
 Union Square, SF. No fog in the winter! Hope everyone had a good Christmas. We've had a great time with assorted family dinners and thus, have a fridge full of assorted leftovers. This is my 'off' week, when we eat very modestly and with lots of leftovers. It's a Japanese tradition to clean your house for New Year's, so this is the week to flaunt my inner OCD. We purge outgrown toys/clothes/stuff, clear out the computers/email, clean the house from top to bottom and generally, get ready to start New Year's clean and fresh. We also write thank you notes (on paper) and mail them out before the New Year. Again, all to start out the New Year clean and fresh. So here's what's 'cooking' this week. MondayScrambles with leftover spinach salad, ham and a grated cheese.
TuesdayThe ever-popular fried rice with ham, leftover green beans, kim chee and carrots. I use very little shoyu because the ham is so strongly flavored. WednesdayLeftover sticky rice, roast beef and Anna's Broccoli Salad. (See below) ThursdayNearly chicken-less enchiladas with the last of the turkey FridaySandwiches of some sort, with fresh baked bread. Eat Well. Be Well. Happy New Year of the Dragon.
Shepherd's Pie is ideal for leftovers roulette, and when you use the Thanksgiving leftovers instead of the more traditional ground beef or lamb and canned peas and carrots, it's that much better. I found a skeleton recipe from PGEW (Poor Girl Eats Well) for our post-Thanksgiving Shepherd's Pie. This is a knock-it-together kind of dinner, so here's what I used: 1 onion, chopped The rest of the leftover baby carrots (about half a bag), chopped 4 stalks of celery, also chopped 1/2 carton of leftover chicken broth (vegetable would work also) A few handfuls of eftover turkey, chopped About 1 cup of the leftover Make-ahead Mushroom (+ Onion) GravyThyme Marjoram Poultry seasoning The rest of the mashed potatoes, maybe 3 potatoes worth Milk Grated sharp cheddar cheese Chop vegetables and turkey so that they are all approximately the same size. Toss the onions into a large pan with the rest of the chicken broth and cook over medium heat. Add carrots and celery. Add chopped turkey, thyme, marjoram and poultry seasoning to taste. Toss in the rest of the gravy and stir. Let the mixture reduce slightly, but it shouldn't be dry. Pour into a 9 x 13 pan.
I then microwaved the mashed potatoes. Add milk to re-hydrate. NOTE: This may not be necessary, but our mashies got a little overcooked the first time, so some help was needed. Toss in a little bit of grated cheese.
Spread mashed potatoes over the turkey/vegetable mix. Lightly sprinkle grated cheese over the potatoes. Bake at 350 degrees until cheese is melted and mixture is bubbly and the edges are turning brown.
Turned out well, emptied out 3 Tupperwares, and the kids had seconds and requested it for lunch the next day, so this is a good sign.
Eat Well. Be Well.
 Turkey plate #1 Controlling the leftovers is one of the benefits of hosting Thanksgiving. This week is all about creative and tried-and-true ways to use Thanksgiving leftovers. First of all, my relatives want to know what the no-leftover Thanksgiving winners were (not that we're competing or anything). So here it is: honey-walnut prawns, sashimi, spam musubi, inari sushi, steamed green beans, pumpkin mini-muffins, sauteed American peas and Chinese chicken salad. Most requested take-home leftovers: salted version of Thanksgiving turkey, sweet potatoes, pecan pie and full-cream pumpkin pie.
And lucky us, now we have a fridge full of Tupperware leftovers. Leftovers roulette is one of my favorite activities and it's even better with Thanksgiving leftovers. Along with plain old turkey sandwiches, here's what's cooking this week. SundayMy Daddy's Fried Rice using the leftover ham, carrots, onions and the spare green beans we had 'just in case' Husband also made pear sour cream coffee cake to take advantage of in-season pears. MondayMom is requesting (Aunty) Marie Callender's. They don't have these in Hawaii. TuesdayI'm going to attempt a turkey shepherd's pie, with onions, mushrooms, celery and the rest of the mashed potatoes. I may even throw in the rest of the gravy and some stuffing. WednesdayLeftover ham, cranberry sauce, green salad and sweet potato fluff. Simple and satisfying. ThursdayTeddy Bear Turkey Soup with more turkey and the last of the carrots, celery and onions. FridayBBQ Turkey PizzaWhat were your Thanksgiving winners? Eat Well. Be Well.
 Our weekend was a little here, there and everywhere. Dog-sitting (see dog at left), dog-returning, hockey game, football game, golf, Buddhist church picnic, Christian church salmon dinner (We are a bi-religious household.), group projects for the kids, making a Shutterfly book before my free-book coupon expires, a birthday party, and shopping for birthday present. While I wish I could say I planned ahead and ordered online, I ended up shopping a couple hours before the actual event. So Monday has been deemed catch-up day. With that, here's what's *not* cooking on Monday. By the time Tuesday rolls around, I shall re-acquaint myself with the stove and the grocery store. MondayFeeding My Ohana Buffet Night, aka, Clearing Out the Refrigerator Lest a Biological Hazard Ensue. Mauna Lani Leftover Chicken Pasta Salad, Quinoa Salad from yesterday's picnic, salmon from a church fundraiser on Saturday, and some chicken hamburgers from last night. Thinking the salmon and quinoa will play nicely together and the pasta salad will work with the chicken burgers.
 TuesdayI'm feeling a little pang of longing for Elena's in Waipahu, so it's Pork Adobo Fried Rice for dinner. WednesdayWontons. The kids have been asking for these and I can freeze a bunch of them. The thought of a bowl of steaming won ton min on a miserable November evening is already sounding good. It will be so worth the extra work this week.
 ThursdaySimple Tomato Spaghetti. I know this will not leave leftovers, and it's volleyball/laundry day. FridayOkonomiyaki. A great way to end the week. Even with all the here and there, for this week especially, I'm reminded that every day is a gift. Eat Well. Be Well.
Had a big cooking weekend and the fridge is full of Tupperware. A week of leftovers looms. Typically, this degrades into grab-and-microwave, buffet-style dinners that just aren't that good after the 2nd, 3rd or 4th consecutive day. Enter Leftovers Roulette--a little game to create essentially microwavable dinners from our 3rd/4th of July feasts (see previous post). With a little creativity, leftovers become makeovers.  They don't even look like leftovers! Tuesday: Bulgogi stack-ups, see left. Slice the leftover Yaki Musubi in half to make flat platforms. Make sure the sticky side is up. Layer on a piece of Bulgogi. The stickiness in the rice, even though it's a leftover will keep the meat anchored on the rice. Microwave meat and rice on high for about 25 seconds. Sprinkle leftover Won Bok Coleslaw on top and eat. Wednesday: Basil Chicken, Take 2--The Greenhouse interlude. Thanks to RussB for adding some very timely suggestions for upping the flavor for basil chicken. Take 2 is looking a lot spicier, and this is a good thing.
 Thursday: Amped Up Macaroni and Cheese plus 5-minute Tomato Salad, see right. Mix some of the tomatoes into the macaroni and microwave on high for 45 seconds. The meat eaters in the house also added some of the leftover habanero sausages. Also very pretty presentation. Friday: BBQ Pizza with leftover Habanero Sausages, Corn Salsa and the last of the 5-Minute Tomato Salad. Similar to BBQ Chicken Pizza. Spread BBQ sauce over Boboli (whole wheat is my current fave). Sprinkle the tomatoes over the sauce. Then add the sliced sausages. Sprinkle the corn salsa over everything and top with smoked gouda, or in this case, the rest of the smoked cheddar from the Amped Up Mac and Cheese. Here's hoping that the fridge is starting to look a littler roomier. And all ideas for leftover makeovers welcome!
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