What to do with fresh salad dressing?

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Good Afternoon What's for Leftovers readers!  This past weekend, I wasn't feeling well, so my fabulous brother brought my family dinner from Concetta's.  Now, if you've ever been to Concetta's, you know how great their Italian food is.  He brought salads, lasagna, and bread.  Yum!  Concetta's house salad dressing is a creamy parmesan dressing.  It is delicious and very fresh.  There were 2 giant containers of this dressing.  It was way more dressing than we could ever use on the salads.  Since it was fresh, I knew the dressing would not be good for very long.  To use up a whole bunch of it, I made it into a dip last night.  The dip was great and it was a perfect addition to chips and carrot sticks I served with our hamburgers at dinner.  This recipe makes about a cup of dip.  If you're going to serve it at a party, I would double the dip.

Creamy Parmesan Dip
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Creamy Parmesan Salad Dressing (You could also use Creamy Italian or Ranch)
1/3 Cup Cream Cheese or Neufchatel Cheese
1/4 Cup Mayonnaise
1 TBSP Onion Soup Dip Mix
1 TBSP Taco Seasoning

1. Let cream cheese sit on counter until softened.
2. Mix together salad dressing, cream cheese, and mayonnaise until smooth.  Add onion soup mix and taco seasoning.  Serve with chips or fresh vegetables.

What to do with leftover Enchiladas?

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We had some awesome enchiladas at the birthday party we went to this past weekend.  Our host, Kimberly, sent us home with some, but they're never as good reheated as they are originally.  Instead, I made them into a really creamy casserole.  Your family won't even know that this dish has leftovers in it, if you don't tell them!

Enchilada Casserole
Ingredients:
4 Large Enchiladas
1 Can Beans, drained (I used black eye peas, but any kind of beans would work)
1/2 Cup Mexican Rice
1/2 Cup Salsa
1/3 Cup Cream Cheese
1 Egg
1 Can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 and 1/2 TBSP Taco Seasoning
1/4 Cup Mayonnaise
3 to 4 Roma Tomatoes
1/4 Cup Chopped Onion
1/2 to 1 Cup Cheddar Cheese
Lettuce
Fresh Cilantro
Diced Tomatoes

1. Preheat oven to 35o degrees.  Spray a square (8x8 or 9x9) glass baking pan with non-stick spray.
2. Cut enchiladas into 1/2" circles.  Place circles on bottom of baking pan, touching each other.
3. In separate bowl, mix together beans, rice, salsa, cream cheese, egg, cream of mushroom soup, taco seasoning and mayo.  When finished, pour on top of enchilada circles. 
4. Cut tomatoes into thin slices.  Sprinkle onions on top of casserole.  Put tomato slices on top of onions. 
5. Chop up some lettuce, cilantro and tomatoes.  Mix together and set aside. 
6. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes, pour a layer of cheese on top and broil for 5 minutes.  Let sit for 5-10 minutes.  Top individual servings with lettuce mixture.  Serves 4 to 6 people.

What to do with leftover broccoli and potatoes?

Good Morning What's for Leftovers Readers!  We have had a very busy weekend.  Our children went out of town because Andy had to play the piano in our friends' wedding.  So needless to say, there was not a lot of time for leftover cooking.  Because of this, I made sure to make a dish last Thursday to post this Sunday.  It was a breakfast quiche for the guys at Andy's shop for lunch.  It was a big hit judging by the empty pie dish that came home with Andy that night.  Quiche filling is one of the easiest food items to prepare, but the crust, unless you use a store-bought one, is a little more time consuming.  Since I was in hurry, and I didn't have any ready-made pie crusts, I used baking potatoes as my crust.  This was so simple, plus it made the dish a little healthier.  I love to sneak vegetables in my recipes whenever I can!  Let me know if you have any questions.

Ham and Potato Quiche
Ingredients:
2 Medium Baking Potatoes

1 Cup Chopped Broccoli
1 Cup Diced Ham
1/4 Cup Diced Red Bell Pepper
1/3 Cup Mayonnaise
6 Eggs
1/3 Cup Milk
1 1/2 Cups Shredded Colby Cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a glass bottom pie pan.
2. Peel baking potatoes.  Cut in half and thinly slice.  Layer potato slices on bottom of pie pan.
3. Layer chopped broccoli, ham, and bell peppers on top of potato slices.

4. In a blender or Magic Bullet, whip together mayo, eggs and milk until creamy and frothy.  When finished, gently pour over vegetables.
5. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes add cheese to the top of the quiche and bake for another 15 minutes.  When finished, the bottom of the quiche should be light brown and the cheese should be completely melted and bubbly.

What to do with a little bit of Italian salad dressing and half a box of pasta.

We have quite a variety of salad dressings in our fridge.  Earlier this year, my friend Kimberly taught me how to really use coupons to save money when grocery shopping.  Because of this, I have an even larger variety in our pantry waiting to be savored on delicious salads.  I have completely stocked up because of low, low prices!  Opening a new bottle of salad dressing is a fabulous surprise, you really never know what new flavors you're going to get.  We have a bottle of Imo's dressing that has been hanging around in our refrigerator for awhile.  I've been trying to finish it up so I could open a new bottle of dressing.  Last night I succeeded when I made this yummy pea salad.  It's a spin on the version you might have eaten at church dinners and you'll love it!  Bring it to your next church dinner or picnic.

Peas and Pasta Salad
Ingredients:
2 1/2 Cups Frozen Peas
3 Cups Cooked Pasta
1/2 Red Bell Pepper, chopped
2 Hard-boiled Eggs, chopped
1/2 Colby Cheese, diced
1/4 Cup Red Onions, diced
1/4 Cup Italian Salad Dressing
1/2 Cup Mayonnaise
1/2 Tsp Dill Weed

1. Pour frozen peas into a large bowl.  Do not cook them. 
2. Add cooked pasta to the bowl
3. Chop and dice bell peppers, eggs, colby cheese, and red onions.  Add to bowl.
4. Pour Italian salad dressing and mayo into the bowl.  Sprinkle dill weed on top.  Mix thoroughly. 

Your salad will need to sit out while for awhile (1/2 an hour to an hour) to allow your peas to defrost.  After that, stir and either serve immediately or put in the refrigerator to enjoy later.

What to do with a little bit of sour cream?

When I was in college, my friend Christy used to make this great dip.  She would bring it to all our sorority get-togethers and it was known as Christy's dip.  When I looked in the fridge tonight, I realized I had a whole bunch of little bits in there: a little bit of mayo, a little bit of cheese and a little bit of sour cream.  I tried to recreate Christy's dip with it.  It didn't turn out exactly the same, but it was still yummy!  Serve it with salsa and tortilla chips and it's an instant party.


Christy's Dip
Ingredients:
3/4 Cup Cream Cheese
1/3 Cup Sour Cream
1/4 Cup Mayonnaise
1 Pack Taco or Burrito Seasoning
1/2 TBSP Onion Soup Mix
1 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese
1/2 Cup Chopped Black Olives
1 Cup Thick Salsa

Mix together cream cheese, sour cream and mayo until smooth.  Add taco seasoning and onion soup mix.  Stir until mixed in.  Finally mix in cheddar cheese, black olives, and salsa.  Serve with tortilla chips and salsa.

Another what to do with leftover birthday cake...

I promise this is my last birthday cake recipe for a while, at least until April when Celia turns 4.  I successfully used up all of our leftover birthday cake with this recipe.  Now, in general, I am not a baker.  I have every intention of baking cookies or cakes and breads, but it never happens.  I don't like to follow recipes and if I make cookies  my second batch always burns because I forget about them in the oven.  Well tonight I baked!  I made up my own recipe and since it was a cheese/custard cake, there wasn't a second batch to burn.  The pie turned out absolutely fabulous and it was really easy and fast to make.  I hope you enjoy making it and serving it as much as I did.


Birthday Cake Pie


Ingredients:
For the crust:
2 1/2 Cups Cake (mashed)
1 Stick Butter or Margarine


For the filling:
1- 8oz box Neufchatel or Cream Cheese (room temperature)
2/3 Cup Sugar
2/3 Cup Sour Cream
3 Eggs
1/3 Cup Mayo
1/2 tsp Vanilla


Smash up birthday cake with icing until crumbly.  You need to have 2 1/2 cups after you finish mashing it up, not before.  If your icing is pink and blue, your crust will have a bit of a grey tint- don't worry, it will still taste delicious!  Melt margarine in the microwave completely, then mix in with cake.  Spray a 9 and 1/2 inch glass pie pan (or a larger one) with PAM.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Smash cake mixture into bottom of pie pan, spreading it out all over the bottom of the pan.  Put in the oven and bake for 10 to 15 minutes.  The crust will puff up and start to turn light brown.  Take it out at this point.


While the crust is baking, make the filling.  Pour all of the ingredients into a large mixing bowl.  Beat with your mixer until it is a creamy, airy mixture.  It is okay if there are a couple of lumps from the cream cheese left.  Pour the mixture into your pie crust and bake at 350 degrees for around 35 minutes.  It is finished when the center no longer jiggles and the edges and bottom have turned light brown.  Take out of the oven and let cool.

What to do with extra white rice?

We have had Chinese 3 times in the past week- that's a lot!  Each time it was delicious, but once again I was faced with the dilemma of what to do with another carton of white rice.  I made the rice into a tangy salad, that you'll hopefully love.  It's a great change from all of the 'winter' foods we've been eating lately.




Tangy Rice Salad


Ingredients:
3 Cups Cooked White Rice
1/2 Large Green Pepper- diced
20 Small Green Olives- sliced
1/4 Cup Large Red Onion
1/2 Cup Small Cubes of Colby Cheese
1 Cup Frozen Peas
3/4 Cup Mayonnaise
1/4 Cup Italian Salad Dressing (I used the Pasta House dressing)
1 TBSP Dijon Style Mustard


Pour the rice into a large bowl, breaking up the clumps as you pour it into the bowl.  Mix the Mayonnaise, Salad Dressing, and Mustard into the rice.  Add the Veggies and Cheese and stir.


The vegetables I added to the salad are what I had on hand.  Other veggies that would be good in this are artichoke hearts and black olives.