What to do with leftover Mexican/Spanish rice...

    Rice always seems to be the gift that never stops growing. Our neighbor made us a huge dish of Mexican rice the other day, and it was delicious! For a week I have been making dishes with this rice. This is my last one, I have finally used it all up!  This happens to us when we eat out at a Mexican restaurant too.
   I made this for our church lunch on Sunday. It was delicious and soooooo easy! Just like the name says, you should probably have everything on hand in your pantry. It is easy to make this soup really spicy or really mild according to your family’s taste. So, the next cold, snowy day you have- don’t go out to buy ingredients to make a soup, just look in your pantry!

Everything you already have Mexican Crockpot Soup
2 and ½ Cups Mexican Rice
1 to 1&½ Cups Hamburger, browned with diced onions
1 Can Rotel
1 Can Tomato Sauce
1 Can Chicken Broth
1 Can Black Beans
1 Can Tomato Soup
½ Cup Salsa
5 Cups Water
1 TBSP Onion Powder
1 TBSP Chili Powder
½ TBSP Cumin
1 TBSP Dried Cilantro
½ TBSP Garlic Powder
1&½ Cups Frozen Corn
4 Slices of American Cheese
Tortilla Chips
Shredded Cheese


Put all ingredients in your crock pot. Cook on high 3&½ to 4 hours, stirring occasionally. Top with crushed tortilla chips and shredded cheese. Serves 12 to 15 people.

What to do with leftover spaghetti and fried okra?

My mom is semi-Southern, so, we grew up eating fried okra.  For us, it was a treat when my mom would take the time to cook this Southern delicacy.  Although, I have battered and fried okra by hand, I am lucky enough to be able to buy it in the grocery store.  I love it when it is on sale for $1 a bag.  While I think fried okra is simply delicious, I was very surprised to find out that my children aren't as thrilled about it (although they both tried it for me!).  With all this fried okra leftover, I seriously thought I might have to throw it out, but then I got to thinking.  I hid it in this Cajun Spaghetti that went over extremely well with my husband and father.  Enjoy the recipe, it's spaghetti with a twist!

Cajun Spaghetti
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Diced Onions
2 Celery Stalks, Chopped
1 TBSP Minced Garlic
2 Chorizo Sausage Links
1 Brat or Smoked Sausage
1/2 Cup Chopped Ham
1 Diced Tomato
1 Cup Fried Okra
I Can Diced Tomatoes
1 & 1/2 Cups Spaghetti Sauce
1 Cup Water
1 TBSP Creole Seasoning
4 Cups Cooked Pasta

1. In a large soup pot, saute diced onions, celery and minced garlic in a little olive oil for 5 minutes. 
2. When celery turns bright green add chorizo (decased and crumbled).  Cook for another 5 minutes.  Add smoked sausage, ham, tomato, fried okra, diced tomatoes, spaghetti sauce, water, and creole seasoning.  Simmer on  high for 10 minutes. 
3.  Turn to low and mix pasta in.  Cook until pasta is thoroughly heated.  Serves 6 people.

What to do with leftover turkey and corn...

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This is a great meal if you're ever in a hurry.  It's also a non-traditional way to use leftover turkey.

Mexican Turkey Skillet
Ingredients:
1 Box Spanish Style Rice-a-Roni
3 Cups Cooked Turkey, Cut Bite-Sized
1 Cup Corn (Canned, Frozen, or Leftover)
1 Can Diced Tomatoes
1 Can Water (use tomato can)
1/2 TBSP Dried Cilantro
1 & 1/2 Cups Colby Jack Cheese

1. Follow instructions on rice box.  Brown rice in olive oil or butter.  Add turkey, corn, tomatoes, water and cilantro.  Bring to a boil.  Turn heat down to a simmer and cook for 15 to 20 minutes until rice is cooked.
2. Mix in cheese.  Cool for 3 to 5 minutes before serving.

What to do with leftover pesto dip and lunch meat?

Happy rainy Monday!

Last weekend we had a really fun engagement party for my sister Jen and her fiance Austin.  As with most parties, there was a ton of food leftover.  Lucky for us, my mom brought a whole bunch of the leftovers to my house.  Jen had made this really fantastic tasting, simple to make, Pesto Dip for the party.  I added some half and half to it to turn it into a creamy dressing for a pasta salad. The pasta salad can be served warm or cold, depending upon what your family likes.  Here's the dip recipe, plus the Pesto Pasta Salad recipe.  This way you can plan your leftover meal in advance!  Enjoy!

Jen's Pesto Dip
Ingredients:
Half a Jar of Pesto
1/2 cup (or so) chopped roasted red pepper
1 Bar of Cream Cheese
3/4 Cup Chopped Walnuts

Combine pesto and cream cheese, add peppers and walnuts.
Serve with crackers or french bread

Pesto Pasta Salad
Ingredients:
1 and 1/8 Cup of Pesto Dip
3/8 Cup Half & Half
1 TBSP Dried Minced Onion
4 Cups Cooked Pasta
3 Roma Tomatoes, Chopped
2 oz Mozzarella Cheese (shredded or cubed)
1/2 Cup Turkey or Ham Lunchmeat, Chopped
2 and 1/2 Cups Cooked Cauliflower, Chopped*

1. Mix together pesto dip, half & half and minced onion until creamy.
2. In large bowl, stir together cooked pasta, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese, lunchmeat and cauliflower.  Pour dressing on top and mix.

*If your family does not like cauliflower, substitute 2 and 1/2 cups of peas and chopped green peppers.

What to do with ham and plain yogurt?

I love when the unexpected turns out great.  Yesterday Andy and I wanted to have an easy dinner without a lot of fuss.  He was talking about Taco Bell, but I had just gone major grocery shopping the other day.  Plus, ever since we've made friends with our neighbor Mathilde, Taco Bell just doesn't sound that great.  Mathilde's authentic Mexican food is to die for!  So I talked Andy out of Taco Bell and set out to make something easy.  I knew I needed to use up some ham, but I was tired of my regular leftover ham recipes.  Instead, I looked around and came up with this curry noodle dish.  It was amazing: one of the best pastas I've ever made and oh so simple.  The egg noodles have great substance and the scent of the curry powder will make your house smell great!  If you want yours to have a little more bite, add some red pepper to your dish.  Enjoy!

Curry Noodles with Summer Squash
Ingredients:
8 oz Egg Noodles*
2 Cups Chopped Ham
1 Medium Yellow Squash
1 Medium Zucchini
1 and 1/2 Cups Water
1 TBSP Dried Minced Onion
1/2 TBSP Curry Powder
1 and 1/2 TBSP Cream Cheese
3 Oz Plain Yogurt
2 Chopped Roma Tomatoes

1. Put water in a medium sized soup pan on stove top and bring to a boil.
2. While water is starting to boil, chop ham, squash and zucchini.  Put in a separate medium sized soup pan.  Add water, dried onion, cream cheese, yogurt and curry powder to pan.  Turn heat on high right before putting egg noodles into boiling water.   Bring to a boil and turn down to medium heat.  Continue stirring while cooking so sauce won't burn on the bottom.
3. Follow directions on egg noodles.  Cook until al dente.  When finished cooking, drain water and put back into pan. Turn stove off under noodles.
4. Right before mixing sauce in with noodles, take out a large spoon full of sauce and mix a teaspoon of flour with liquid to form a paste.  Pour paste back into sauce and bring sauce to a boil, stirring frequently.  (This will thicken your sauce up a bit.)  Pour sauce over noodles, turn heat back on and bring to a boil, stirring.  Turn off heat and let sit covered for 5 to 10 minutes.

* I used specialty, dried egg noodles (from Aldis).  If you don't have these, I reccomend the type you buy from the freezer.

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 Spaghetti Sauce?

A while back, our grocery story had spaghetti sauce on sale for ridiculously cheap prices.  Being half Italian, I never pass up a sale on anything to do with tomatoes, so I stocked up!  The other day I was looking in my pantry and I realized I haven't used any of my sauces yet.  This really surprised me.  I immediately set to remedy this situation.  Since I was on Spring Break and my kids were at the sitter, I wanted to make something fast so I could clean our house a bit between my appointments that day.  In these situations, our slow cooker is my best friend.  It was rainy and cold that day, I made a Tomato Basil Soup.  The aroma was delicious and it was so simple to make.  Our friends Erin and Drew came over for dinner that night.  We served it with roasted chicken, cantaloupe and cheesy garlic bread.  It was a perfectly simple dinner that was delicious.

Tomato Basil Soup
Ingredients:
1 Can Northern Beans
1 Can Diced Tomatoes
1 Can Cream of Mushroom Soup
4 Cups Milk
1/2 Jar of Spaghetti Sauce
1/2 Pack Frozen Peas
3 TBSP Creme Fraiche (or sour cream)
2 Pinches of Salt
1 Tsp Onion Powder
1 Tsp Dried Basil (Use fresh if available, I didn't have any)
1/2 Tsp Garlic Powder

1. Pour all ingredients into your slow cooker, cook on high for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally so it won't bubble up and burn.
2. Before serving, pull out about 1/4 cup of liquid.  Mix together with 1 Tbsp of flour until a paste forms.  Mix paste into soup and put lid on until soup comes to a boil.  Continue cooking until soup is at desired thickness.
3. Serve with cheesy garlic bread.

What to do with leftover baked beans?

I made a huge pot of baked beans at our bbq this weekend because I love them and I knew I could make something with them for What's for Leftovers. Last night we had my brother, neice and dad over for dinner. Michael (my brother) brought a pizza along "just in case". Up until last night, he had never had Sloppy Joes that he liked. He ate two sandwiches during dinner, so I don't think he feels that way anymore. Homemade Sloppy Joes are so easy to prepare. You don't need that mix that they sell at the store to make them really tasty. You just need a few ingredients that I'm willing to bet you already have in your kitchen. We put ours on buns with cheese slices, mmmm, tasty!

Deluxe Sloppy Joe
Ingredients:
1 lb Hamburger Meat
1/2 Cup Steak (Optional or add more if you have more)
1 1/2 Cups Baked Beans
1/2 Cup BBQ Sauce
1 Can diced tomatoes
1 TBSP Ketchup
1/2 TBSP Mustard

1. Brown hamburger meat in a large frying pan and drain fat.
2. Add steak, baked beans, tomatoes, bbq sauce, ketchup, and mustard. Mix all together.
3. Cook on medium until sauce thickens up. Make sure you keep stirring so the bottom won't burn. Put on buns and top with cheese.