What to do with hamburger buns?

We had a bbq last night and amazingly enough, we ended up with more food leftover than when we started.  It was totally loaves and fishes :)  We have such great friends!  This morning when I was figuring out breakfast, I realized that I should probably use some of the myriad of hamburger buns sitting on my counter, but I was tired of making the same old breakfast regulars.  Here's a twist on French toast and peanut butter and jelly that was a huge hit!  We ate them as a finger food.  They are great for kids and husbands with very little clean up!

PB Jammerwiches
Ingredients:
4 to 6 Hamburger Buns
2 Eggs
1/4 Cup Milk
1 Tsp Cinnamon Sugar
Peanut Butter
Jelly or Jam
Powdered Sugar

1.  In a shallow bowl, mix together milk, cinnamon sugar, and eggs.
2. Spray your griddle with non-stick spray and heat it up. 
3. Spread a thin layer of peanut butter and jellly on the "wrong" sides of the bun.  Put together like a sandwich and smash flat.  Dip both sides of sandwich in egg mixture.  Place on griddle and cook until both sides are golden brown.  Sprinkle powdered sugar on top.  Makes 4 to 6 PB Jammerwiches.

What to do with Ricotta Cheese and French Onion Dip?

I think when you have children, your idea of relaxation changes.  At least this is what has happened to me.  Before children, to relax, I used to sleep in late, watch movies, get a pedicure, go out to eat, even go on vacation.  All of this has changed!  Today to relax, I'll drink a diet pepsi on the back porch while Andy gives the kids a bath.  Or, I'll go get the mail, BY MYSELF :)  I like to walk around my house and look at plants I never would have noticed before I had children.  Anything for five minutes of quiet.  Instead of watching movies, we now watch episodes of shows on Hulu.  They don't take as long.  This applies to my cooking too- I'm always thinking fast and easy.  But I also want my cooking to be delicious, economical and kid friendly.  That's quite a list to fulfill for every meal, however this recipe fits it to a T.  Creamy Sausage and Potato Supper.  It's a one pot meal that I served with a side of strawberries.  It's healthy and delicious.  I hope you and your family love it!

Creamy Sausage and Potato Supper
Ingredients:
8 Small to Medium Sized Potatoes (I used 4 red and 4 russet)
25 Thin Stalks of Asparagus
1/2 Large Yellow Onion
3/4 Cup Ricotta Cheese
1/3 Cup French Onion Dip
1/2 Package of Cream Cheese
1/8 Cup Parmesan Cheese
1/3 Cup Vanilla Soymilk
1 Egg
1/8 Cup Flour
1 Package Smoked Sausage (I used turkey sausage)
1 TBSP Minced Garlic
3/4 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Dried Basil

1. Wash and cut potatoes into medium sized chunks (the same size you would use for potato salad.  Do not peel.  Put into a large soup pot.

2. Cut the bottom, tough part of the asparagus off.  Chop each stalk into 4 to 5 pieces.  Put into soup pot.
3. Chop onion and throw into pot too.  Cover vegetables with water and boil for ten minutes uncovered.   Turn off heat on stove.  Drain vegetables and put back into soup pot.
4. Add to the pot the ricotta cheese, French onion dip, parmesan cheese, soymilk, cream cheese, egg and flour.  Stir until creamy and smooth.  Turn stove back on at medium heat. 
6.  Chop sausage and add to the pot.  Also add garlic, salt and basil.  Cook for 15 more minutes covered.  Stir frequently so the bottom won't burn.  Let cool 5 minutes and serve.

What to do with ham and grits?

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Believe it or not, we made it to sunrise service on Easter.  We woke up with 5 minutes to spare, went in our pajamas and got to be part of a lovely service!  After, we went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast.  I love the CB- what a great idea, shopping and eating!  Andy, for this very same reason, doesn't care for it very much.  We had an awesomly filling breakfast that included grits.  I am not a big fan of grits.  I know there are many ways you can fancy them up, but to me they taste like baby cereal.  I just don't get it.  However, I was bound and determined that our grits would not go to waste.  Two nights later, all of our grits were used up in this deliciously easy, stuffed corn bread.  I haven't seen Celia eat something so fast in a long time!  If you want to spice it up a bit, add a small can of green chiles on top of the ham.  Enjoy!

Stuffed Cornbread
Ingredients:
1 Box Cornbread Mix
3 Jumbo Eggs (or 4 medium eggs)
3/4 Cup Cooked Grits
1/2 Cup Milk
1 TBSP of Mayonnaise
4 Slices American Cheese (or 1/2 to 1 Cup Shredded Cheese)
1 Cup Chopped Ham

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, mix together cornbread, eggs, grits, mayo and milk.  Make sure you break up your grits.
3. Spray a deep-dish pie pan with non-stick spray.

4. Pour half of batter into pie pan.  Lay cheese on top of batter.  Sprinkle ham on top of cheese.  Pour other half of batter on top of ham.
5. Bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes.  When finished, the top should be golden and cracking, the bottom should be light brown.

What to do with leftover Chinese Takeout?

We love to order Chinese!  This Friday, Andy had a guys' night out, so my friend Leigh Anne and her daughter came over to hang with me and my kiddos.  We had a smasing time catching up and our children played nicely the whole night!  We ordered Chinese delivery for dinner.  I have found that when I order Chinese, I am always really hungry, so I order around two times as much as we really need.  This incidence was no exception.  We had enough Chinese for 2 meals plus some.  This is great news for What's for Leftovers readers.  Leftover Chinese, warmed up is adequate at best, but leftover Chinese re-worked is like a whole new, delicious meal.  My family loves it everytime!  This is a loosey goosey recipe as my mother would say.  Meaning, everybody's leftover Chinese will be a little bit different, as will be your quantities, but if you follow the general guidelines, it will turn out great every time!

Chinese Take-Out Fried Rice
Ingredients:
*Olive Oil
*Frozen Vegetables- Use 1/2 of a Bag to a Full Bag of Peas or Peas and Carrots
*1/2 Yellow Onion
*Meat- I had 1 and 1/2 Cups of 2 different kinds of Chicken
*Rice- I had 3 Cups of Fried.  It doesn't matter if it's Fried or White
*Any juices left at the bottom of your take-out boxes
*1/2 Cup Apple Juice
*1/8 Cup BBQ Sauce
*3 Packets Soy Sauce
*3 Packets Sweet n' Sour Sauce
* 1 Jumbo Egg or 2 Medium Eggs

1. Pour a thin layer of oil in a large frying pan.  Chop up Onion and Meat into bite-sized pieces. 
2. Heat oil.  When oil is hot, put onion and frozen veggies in frying pan. 

3. After 5 minutes, add meat, rice, juice left on the bottom of container and apple juice.  If you do not have any juice left on the bottom of the containers, add 1 cup of apple juice instead of 1/2 cup.  It's important for your rice to stay moist so it won't burn on the bottom of your frying pan.

4. Add BBQ Sauce, Soy Sauce, and Sweet n' Sour Sauce.  Mix all together.  Continue Cooking until everything is hot and onions are cooked.  Make sure your rice stays moist.  If is starts to dry out, add a little bit more apple juice or honey.
5.  After everything is cooked, make a well in the middle of your pan.  Crack your eggs into the well and scramble them.  Cook them completely, then mix in with your rice.  Enjoy, Chinese- part 2 with your family.  They'll never even know it's leftover!

What to do with instant oatmeal?

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What's cooking What's for Leftovers readers?  This has been a great spring break week, but since we've been so busy, I haven't actually been doing a lot of cooking.  The other day I did make peanut butter cookies for our Community Group.  We did not bring a single one home, so I think everybody liked them.  For breakfast that morning, I had fed Celia and Charlie instant oatmeal.  This was my first time preparing it, but it is like a gold mine.  It is so easy to make and they loved it!  Well, I made Celia's great, but I think I got distracted with Charlie's and did something wrong (I know you're asking yourself, who messes up instant oatmeal!?).  To thicken it up, I had to open another packet.  Instead of making a huge amount of instant oatmeal, I saved the rest of it and added it to the peanut butter cookies.  According to Belinda, it made the cookies look healthy :)

Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients:
1 Cup Peanut Butter
2 Eggs
3/4 Cup Pecan Meal (Finely chop pecans in your food processor if you don't have pecan meal)
3/4 Cup Honey
2 TBSP Instant Oatmeal (You can add a whole packet if you don't have one open already)
1 TBSP Baking Powder
1/4 Cup Flour
M&M's (Optional)
Powdered Sugar (Optional)

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2.  In a large mixing bowl, mix together peanut butter, eggs, pecan meal, honey, instant oatmeal, baking powder and flour until dough forms into a large lump.
3. Place dough in freezer for fifteen minutes.
4. Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray.  Take cookie dough out and roll into small balls.  Place several M&Ms on top of balls (optional).  Put remaining dough back in freezer.
5.  Bake in oven for 11 to 13 minutes.  Cookies are finished when they puff up and start to turn light brown.  Take out of oven, sprinkle with powder sugar (optional) and let cool.  Repeat until dough is finished.

**Makes 2 and 1/2 dozen cookies** 

What to do with leftover mashed sweet potatoes?

Good evening What's for Leftovers readers!  We have had a whirlwind weekend, traveling to visit Andy's family.  As always, we had a great time hanging out with all our loved ones.  Lucky for us, that side of Missouri got 6 to 8 inches of snow.  It was beautiful!  Hopefully it's the last snow of the season since it's officially Spring.  I am ready for flip flops and tank tops!  Since it was so chilly this weekend, we ate a lot of cozy, comfort foods.  For dinner on Friday, I prepared mashed sweet potatoes and acorn squash.  We ate all of it, except a cup and a half.  On Saturday morning, I took the leftovers and created muffins.  They were fabulous, very moist and flavorful.  In fact, I had to hide the two in the picture in the freezer to keep them from being eaten by all the little ones in the house. 

Sweet Potato Muffins
Ingredients:
1 1/2 Cups Mashed Sweet Potatoes
2 Eggs
1/2 Stick Butter- Softened
1/2 Cups White Sugar
1/4 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Tsp Cinnamon
1/2 Tsp Vanilla
1 TBSP Baking Powder
1 1/2 Cups Flour
Cinnamon and Sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, mix together sweet potatoes, eggs and butter until creamy and smooth.  Next, add white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and baking powder.  Mix until smooth.
3. Slowly add flour, mixing it in as you pour.
4. Line muffin tins with paper liners.  Pour batter into muffin cups, filling them 3/4 of the way full.
5. Sprinkle the tops of the muffins with cinnamon and sugar.  Bake in the oven for 25 minutes.  Makes 12 to 18 muffins.

What to do with leftover bbq chicken and milk?

I gave Celia and Charlie a cup of milk this morning with their breakfast.  A little while later Celia comes up to me and says, "Mommy, there's something wrong with this milk, it's going to make me throw up."  I started to laugh at her and asked Andy to try the milk (He's our official taster of things that might have turned bad).  He said the milk wasn't bad, it just needed to be used today or tomorrow.  So voila, Chicken and Vegetable Soup with Dumplings.  It was a perfect homestye soup for this rainy, cloudy Sunday.  It also used up the rest of the chicken that we grilled last night.  Thanks to my Mama for helping me figure out the homemade dumplings.  I had only made them with Bisquick up until now.  They ended up being really easy to make.

Chicken and Vegetable Soup with Dumplings
Ingredients for Soup:
2 Cups Cooked, Chopped, Chicken
2 Carrots
1 Small Yellow Onion
1 Green Pepper
1 TBSP Garlic
6 Cups Water
1 Tsp Salt

1. Chop carrots, onion, and green pepper.
2. Put chicken, carrots, onion and green pepper in a large soup pot.  Add garlic, water and salt.
3. Cook on high so soup will boil.  Cook until carrots are finished and onions are translucent. 
4. Start to add spoon size dumplings to soup.  Let soup continue boiling.  After the last dumpling is dropped in the pot, cover and cook for 7 to 8 more minutes.  Dumplings will plump up and expand.

Ingredients for Dumplings:
2 Cups Flour 
1 1/4 Cups Milk
1 Egg
Pinch of Salt

Mix all ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  This will be a wet dough.  After finished mixing, drop into soup pot by spoonfuls 

What to do with pancake mix? Part 2

It's funny how weekends are supposed to be filled with relaxing downtime, but they often end up being busier, but more fun, than the work week!  We've had an exciting weekend hanging out with friends and family!  In fact, some of them are still hanging out in our kitchen.  We also got to eat out at some really great restaurants.  But don't worry What's for Leftovers readers, I still managed to squeeze in a couple of new recipes.  This one is a variation of a recipe I read in a Guideposts a while back.  It's called a Finnish Pancake.  I told Celia and Charlie it was a 'GIANT' pancake.  No matter what you call it, it's delicious.  After you finish baking it, make sure you let it completely cool.  This gives the inside time to settle.  Top with fried apples and powdered sugar for a breakfast treat or a great dessert!

Fried Apples
Ingredients:
8 Medium Apples
1/4 Cup Honey
2 TBSP Butter
1/2 Cup Water
Pinch of Salt

1. Spray a large frying pan.
2. Peel Apples.  Cut into large slices and put into frying pan.
3. Add honey, butter, water and salt.
4. Cook on high heat until water has evaporated.  While cooking, stir frequently so apples don't burn.  Lower heat and continue cooking until apples are soft and smell like apple pie filling.


Finnish Pancakes
Ingredients:
1 Cup Pancake Mix
2 1/2 Cups Milk
4 Eggs
1/4 Cup Honey
4 TBSP Butter
Powdered Sugar

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Spray a 10"-11" round baking pan or skillet with PAM. 
3. Pour pancake mix, milk, eggs, honey and butter into a blender.  Blend until smooth.  Pour into baking pan.
4. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes.  Top should be golden brown when 'Finnished'.
5. Let cool completely.  After slicing, top with powdered sugar and fried apples.
 

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 tortilla chips?

My husband Andy loves all Mexican and Tex-Mex foods.  I could make tacos and burritos every night of the week and he would be in heaven.  However, our daughter Celia, wouldn't like it very much.  You can imagine Andy's surprise when his daughter did not pop out of the womb wanting some nachos.  In fact, it took her three and a half years to find something on the Taco Bell menu that she actually likes besides cinnamon twists.  Lucky for Andy, they started selling cheese roll-ups- melted cheese and a tortilla, which Celia loves.  So now, we can regularly visit Taco Bell again. 

Last night, when I started to make dinner, I wanted to make something Mexicany for Andy, but I was tired of tacos.  I had a few tortilla chips at the bottom of the bag that I wanted to use, so I made a Tex-Mex Meatloaf for dinner.  It was really good and moist!  The best thing about it is, if you have any leftover, crumble it up, throw in some taco seasoning and beans and have tacos the next night. 

I did not make the meatloaf very spicy so Celia and Charlie would eat it.  Add some red peppers and use spicy salsa to heat it up.

Tex-Mex Meatloaf
Ingredients:
1 lb Ground Turkey
1/8 Cup Dried, Chopped Onions
1 TBSP Dried Green Peppers
1 TBSP Dried Red Bell Peppers
2 Eggs
1/2 TBSP Southwest Seasoning Mix (I used a Pampered Chef one)
3/4 Cup Crushed Tortilla Chips (divide into 1/4 Cup and 1/2 Cup)
1/4 Cup Bread Crumbs
3/4 Cup Salsa (divide into 1/4 Cup and 1/2 Cup)
3 Slices Colby Jack Cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, mix together ground turkey, onions, peppers, eggs, southwest seasoning, 1/4 cup crushed tortilla chips, bread crumbs, and 1/4 cup salsa.
3. Spray a glass bottom pie pan.  Form meat mixture into a log and place on pie pan.  I did this by making two large balls.  I placed them next to each other on the pan and filled in between them with the rest of the meatloaf mix.
4. Spread 1/2 cup of salsa on top of meatloaf.  Place in oven and bake for 20 minutes.  After 20 minutes, place cheese slices on top of meatloaf, bake for another 10 minutes.  When timer goes off spread 1/2 cup of crushed tortilla chips on top of melted cheese.  Bake for another 15 minutes.
5. Let cool for 5 to 10 minutes after you take out of oven.  Serve with salsa.

What to do with leftover potato salad?

I love potato salad.  It reminds me of summer fun and church picnics.  I think when you eat it in Winter, it's an automatic mood lifter because it reminds you of sunnier, warmer days.  However, there's only so many times you can eat leftover potato salad before you say, "Blah, potato salad again!"  Today when I looked in our fridge and saw our leftover potato salad, that's exactly what I said to myself, so I decided to do something with it.  This recipe is really fast to put together.  I think it took me 15 minutes, and that included a 2 minute break to bandage myself up when I grated my thumb.  It was also easy to clean up my mess since everything goes into one pan- this will make Andy happy since he's our official kitchen cleaner!

Ham and Potato Casserole

Ingredients:
1 Cup Potato Salad
1 1/2 Cups Cubed Ham
2 Eggs
1 Cup Milk
3/4 Cup Water
1 Cup Chopped Carrots (about 30 baby carrots)
1 TBSP Dried Onions
1 Box AuGratin Potatoes (I used Betty Crocker)
1 Cup Shredded Cheese (I used 1/2 cup of mozzerlla and 1/2 Cup of Colby)

Preheat oven to 35o degrees.  Spray a 9" or 10" glass, pie pan.  Crush dried potato rounds from augratin potatoes into smaller pieces.  Mix first 8 ingredients together, including spice packet from augratin potatoes.  Pour in 1/2 cup of the cheese and mix.  Next put the mixture into the pie pan.  Bake for 20 minutes.  After 20 minutes, lightly stir mixture so liquid is equally dispersed.  Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on top.  Cook for another 15 to 20 minutes.  When finished, cheese will be completly melted on top, and the edges and bottom will start to turn light brown.

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 an extra loaf of bread?

I love grilled cheese.  They are one of my comfort foods.  It reminds me of my childhood when my mama would make me fried bologna grilled cheese sandwiches.  I think I used to even dip these in ketchup.  Tonight I made my family a variation of these, but I used ham (Do people even buy bologna anymore?), and made the sandwiches French toast style.  It turned out to be a great variation of an old favorite.  Of course, I cut them into four small triangles for my kiddos, just like my mama used to do when I was little. 


French-Toast Style Grilled Cheese


Ingredients:


5 Eggs
3/8 Cup Milk
2 tsp Spinach Dip Seasonings (the kind that comes in little packets to make a dip- mine was a PartyLite packet)
8 Slices of Colby Cheese
16 Slices of Deli Stye Honey Ham
8 Slices of Bread


Whisk eggs and milk together until creamy.  Add 1 tsp of Spinach dip seasoning and stir until mixed in.  Heat a large frying pan or griddle and spray with pam.  Dip both sides of a slice of bread in egg mixture and put in pan.  Dip another slice in the egg mixture and put in pan.  Flip the first slice when browned like French toast.  Add a slice of cheese, two slices of ham and then another slice of cheese to this slice of bread.  When the second slice of bread is browned, flip cooked side onto cheese (like a sandwich).  Finish cooking the second side of the first slice, then turn entire sandwich over to cook the last side.  Made sure both sides are browned like French toast and cheese is melted before taking off heat.  Repeat to make the second sandwich.  Before making the third sandwich, add 1 more tsp of Spinach dip seasoning to egg mixture.  Mix in and continue making the third and fourth sandwich.