What to do with leftover bratwursts and canned corn?

The sun is shining, the birds are singing and Spring is in the air- hopefully!  It's a perfect day for cajun food!  Okay, any day is a perfect day for cajun food.  I myself have never been to New Orleans, but my husband Andy has for Mardi Gras.  According to him, Mardi Gras is crazy and the food is great.  He loves cajun food, so he was a big fan of this dish!  From start to finish, it will take you less than an hour, and you can feed a crowd of 5-7 adults with it.  Serve some toasty french bread on the side and you'll have a feast!

Cajun Rice

Ingredients:

1 Box Red Beans and Rice

1 Small Onion

1 Green Pepper

1 Orange, Yellow, or Red Pepper

1/4 Cup Canned Corn (this is all I had, you can add more)

2 Bratwursts

1 Cup Chopped Ham

1 TBSP Garlic
1 Can Tomato Soup
1 Can Diced Tomatoes
1 1/2 Cans of Water (use the diced tomatoes can)

1. Dice onion, green pepper, and colored pepper. Put into a large soup pot with red beans and rice mix.
2. Cut up brats into small pieces.  Add brats and ham cubes to pot.
3. Add garlic, tomato soup, diced tomatoes (with juice) and water to the pot.  Mix all ingredients together.
4. Cook covered, on high until rice mix comes to a boil.  Stir occasionally so the bottom won't burn.
5. After rice starts to boil, turn heat down to medium and cook covered for 20 minutes.  Continue stirring occasionally so rice won't burn on the bottom.
6.  After 20 minutes, uncover and turn off stove.  Let sit for ten minutes to thicken up and cool.

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What to do with Clementines and Oranges

Celia and Charlie love clementines.  They're so cute and little and the kids can peel and eat them by themselves.  However, when I looked in our refrigerator yesterday, I realized we were each going to have to eat about 5 clementines a day or they were going to go bad.  So that this didn't happen, I made a clementine-orange salad.  It's a basic creamy fruit salad, so if you have any fruit besides clementines and oranges available, throw it in too.


Sunshine Salad
Ingredients:
6 Clementines
2 Medium Oranges
1/2 Cup Chopped Pecans
1/2 Cup Whipped Creme
1/4 Cup Sour Creme
1 Vanilla Pudding Snack-Pak
1 TBSP Brown Sugar

1. Peel and separate clementine segments.  Make sure the clementines don't have any seeds.  Throw into a large bowl.
2. Peel oranges.  Cut each orange into four circular slices going against the segments (so it looks like a flower or a star).  Separate circle into triangles.  Make sure you take out any seeds.  Throw oranges and chopped nuts in with the clementines.
3.  In a separate bowl, mix together whipped creme, sour cream, vanilla pudding and brown sugar.
4. Gently pour creamy mix into fruit and nut mixture and stir.  Sprinkle a few chopped pecans on top and serve.

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 a little bit of icing?

We went over to our friends' house for dinner last night and I made a chocolate cake for dessert.  Thanks to the modern convenience of cake mix boxes and icing tubs, it turned out great!  However, I had just a little bit of creamy, chocolaty icing leftover.  I definitely thought about just getting a spoon and eating it, but in the end, I made it into something new.  These are very easy to make and a great chocolate fix.  You might want to make them and hide them for yourself.

Chocolate Graham Cracker Balls
Ingredients:
4 Whole Cinnamon Graham Crackers
3 TBSP Chocolate Icing
2 1/2 TBSP Peanut Butter
1 Tsp Powdered Sugar
1 Cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
Powdered Sugar

1. Smash graham crackers into small bits.  You don't want to grind them to a powder so your balls have some crunch, but you don't want them too big so they won't hinder you when you're rolling your balls.
2. Mix in 2 of the TBSP of chocolate icing, 2 1/2 TBSP of peanut butter and 1 Tsp of Powdered Sugar.
3.  Fill a small pot with water.  Place on the stove and place a bowl on top of it.  (or if you have one, use a double-boiler).  Heat your water and pour your chocolate chops into the bowl.  Mix in 1 TBSP of chocolate icing with them.  Heat water until your chocolate becomes a large, soft ball.  Make sure you stir constantly so your chocolate won't burn.
4. After chocolate melts, pour into graham cracker mixture.  Mix until smooth.  Roll chocolate mixture into small balls.  Roll these balls into powdered sugar.  This recipe will make 12 to 15 balls.  Place in refrigerator until ready to eat.

What to do with ham and potatoes?

Happy Anniversary What's for Leftovers? readers!  It's been one month since our blog was started!  I have really enjoyed sharing my recipes with everybody and I love reading your comments.  I look forward to more cooking suggestions and ideas from you!  To celebrate, Andy and I are taking our little ones to McDonalds tonight and not cooking.  So tomorrow night, tune in for leftover McDonalds :) 

Since today is rainy and cozy, I made my family Cheesy Ham and Potato Soup for lunch.  It made our house smell great while I was cooking it and then it tasted delicious when we ate it.  Plus, I was able to use up the rest of the ham my mom and dad had bought me from the Amish store at the Lake of the Ozarks.  After the soup was done cooking, the cheese separated from the broth a bit.  When I make this soup again, I'll make a paste out of a little bit of broth and flour.  I'll mix it into the soup and bring it to a boil.  This should make it a little bit thicker and help with the problem of separating.  If you make the soup and include this step, let me know how it turns out.

Cheesy Ham and Potato Soup
Ingredients:
4 Medium Baking Potatoes
3 Medium Carrots
1/2 Cup Choppped Yellow Onion
1 Cup Ham Chunks
1 Can Chicken Broth (I used reduced sodium/fat-free)
1 Can  Evaporated Milk (I used fat-free)
1/2 Cup Water
Salt
Pepper
1 Cup Shredded Colby Jack Cheese

Peel and chop potatoes and carrots.  Put potatoes, carrots, and onions into a medium-sized soup pot.  Add ham, chicken broth, evaporated milk and water.  Start cooking on high.  Stir frequently, so milk won't burn.  After soup starts to boil, turn burner down to medium and cook for 30 minutes.  Continue stirring frequently so soup won't boil over or burn.  After 30 minutes, potatoes, onions and carrots should be completely cooked.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Toss in shredded cheese, let it melt and then turn off burner.  Serve as is, or topped with croutons.  This recipe will make enough soup for 4 adults.

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.

What to do with leftover Pork Loin? Part 2

Aaahhh, for the first time in a very long time, we have a calm, uneventful weekend planned.  I am so excited!  I can't wait for Andy, Celia, Charlie and I to hang out and do laundry.  You know you're getting older when doing laundry excites you more than going out on a weekend!  We started our weekend off with a family dinner of pork loin leftovers.  I am happy to say that after making my Pecan Pork Cakes and adding some pork to our baked beans, we are finished with the leftover pork and will be on to new leftover recipes.  But first, the recipe for Pecan Pork Cakes.  They are delicious!  These are very similar to Crab Cakes, but with a sweeter taste and a smoother texture.  I topped them with a tangy sauce; the recipe for it will follow the Pecan Pork Cakes' recipe.  Hopefully your weekend will be as relaxing and productive as I'm planning on ours being!

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Pecan Pork Cakes
Ingredients:
2 1/2 Cups Chopped Pork
1/4 Cup Cream Cheese
1/2 Cup Pecan Meal*
1/8 Cup Bread Crumbs
2 Eggs
1/2 Tsp Salt
1/2 Tsp Onion Powder
1/4 Tsp Ground Mustard
1/4 Tsp Pepper
1 Pinch of Sugar

Grind chopped pork loin and cream cheese in food processor until smooth.  Pour into a separate bowl.  Add pecan meal, bread crumbs, and eggs.  Mix thoroughly.  Add spices and mix again.  Heat oil in a frying pan.  Form pork into 2" to 2 1/2" patties.  Drop patties into oil and fry until golden brown.  Flip and fry the other side until both sides are golden brown.  Place on a plate with a paper towel, so the oil can drain off.  This recipe makes roughly 7 cakes.

*If you do not have pecan meal, simply grind pecans up in your food processor until finely chopped.

Dipping Sauce
Ingedients:
1/8 Cup BBQ Sauce
1/8 Cups Sweet n' Sour Sauce
2 Packs of Soy Sauce (the kind you get with Chinese take-out)
1/2 TBSP Honey

Whisk all ingredients together.  Serve with your Pecan Pork Cakes.

What to do with leftover Pork Loin and Spaghetti Sauce?

I made a Bacon-Wrapped Pork Loin on Valentine's Day for my little family, my parents and my brother.  It was huge!  We had about 1/2 of it left.  So last night's dinner was a dish made with leftover pork loin and tonight's will be too.  Growing up, my mom used to make a great beef stroganoff.  It wasn't fancy, but it was really good.  She made it with hamburger, but since we had so much pork leftover, I made a version of it with pork.  We had some friends over for dinner last night and they seemed to really enjoy it.  I hope your family does too!


Remember, you can make any recipe provided by What's For Leftover's healthier by using low-fat and fat free ingredients. 


Pork Stroganoff
Ingredients:
1 1/2 Medium Green Peppers- Chopped
1/2 Cup Finely Chopped Onion
1/2 Cup Water
1 Can Cream of Soup (I used celery)
1 Can of Milk (use the cream of soup can)
1/4 Cup Sour Cream
1/2 Cup Spaghetti Sauce
1 1/2 TBSP Sugar
2 Squirts of Ketchup
1 TBSP Minced Garlic (refrigerated kind)
3 Cups Chopped Pork Loin
Salt
Pepper


2 Cups Uncooked Pasta (3 cups cooked)

Cook Pasta in a separate dish.

In a large frying pan, saute green peppers and onions in water.  Cook until water is almost gone and onions start to become translucent.  Next add cream of soup, milk, sour cream, spaghetti sauce, sugar, ketchup and minced garlic.  Cook until sauce thickens up.  Generously season with salt and pepper.  Add pork loin and continue cooking.  After pork loin is heated, add cooked pasta and cook until dish is nice and creamy.

What to do with leftover lasagna and garlic bread?

This past weekend we celebrated Valentine's Day at a progressive dinner.  Everybody's food was delicious.  Lucky us, my friend Kimberly sent us home with a whole bunch of lasagna.  It was delicious!  I ate it again as soon as we got home.  However, after a couple of days, lasagna starts to get a little dry, so when we ate if for dinner tonight, I jazzed it up again by turning it into an open-faced sandwich.  It was totally different from anything we've had before.  We really enjoyed it.  I hope you do too!

Open-Faced Lasagna Sandwiches
Ingredients:
For the Sauce-
1 Cup Vitamin D Milk
1/2 Cup Grated Parmesean Cheese
1 Egg Yolk
2 TBSP Butter
1 Cup Spaghetti Sauce

For the Skillet-
2 1/2 Cups Cooked Veggies- Chopped
3 Cups Lasagna- Chopped

Garlic Bread

Cut up 2 1/2 Cups of cooked vegetables.  I used frozen onions and peppers and leftover eggplant, mushrooms and peppers.  Cut lasagna up, measure it after it's chopped.  Set aside.  Next prepare sauce.  Turn stovetop burner onto medium.  Pour milk into your sauce pan.  Add parmesean cheese and egg yolk.  Start whisking milk mixture.  You want to be careful to keep whisking so your sauce won't burn.  Add 2 TBSP of butter.  Sauce will boil and start to thicken, continue stirring.  After sauce thickens a bit, add red spaghetti sauce.  Keep whisking while it boils for a minute.  Then turn buner down and let it simmer while you cook your veggies and lasagna, stirring ocassionaly so it won't burn.

Before cooking veggies, warm up or make your garlic bread. 

Drizzle olive oil on your frying pan.  Put chopped veggies into the pan and saute them.  When they are thoroughly warmed, add chopped lasagna to pan.  Mix together and continue cooking and stirring until both are warm.  Add sauce to mixture.  Cook until lasagna mixture is bubbly.  Turn the burner off and let cool for a minute to thicken up.  Pour lasagna mixture on top of a slice of garlic bread.  Enjoy!

What to do with a leftover cucumber and green pepper?

We are blessed with wonderful neighbors.  We live in a quiet, little neighborhood and we have become good friends with the neighbors on all our sides and across the street.  So, the other day on our snow day, our neighbor Marty brought us a bag of groceries because they were going out of town.  I love when people give us food.  It's always different from what I would buy and gives me new ideas for recipes.  In the bag was half a cucumber.  Normally I would just cut it up because Celia loves to eat cucumber slices, but instead I made a sweet bean salad with it.  The good thing about this salad is that it tastes better the second day after marinating in the fridge overnight.


Sweet Bean Salad
Ingredients:
1/2 Large Green Pepper Chopped
1 Large Cucumber Chopped
15 Baby Carrots Chopped
1/4 to 1/2 Cup Onion Chopped (add more, if you like onions a lot)
1 Can of Beans (I used small white ones)
2 TBSP Sugar
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
1 TBSP Rice Wine Vinegar
Salt
Pepper

In a large bowl, mix together green peppers, cucumbers, carrots, onions and beans.  In a separate bowl make dressing.   Whisk together sugar, olive oil, and vinegar.  Pour over veggie mixture.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  I was very generous with both. 

What to do with leftover Brandy and Wine?

Okay, I know people don't actually have leftover brandy, but you might have some leftover wine!  I love mixed drinks; the fruity and fru fruer, the better.  My favorite fru fru fruity drink is Sangria.  The first time I ever had Sangria was on our honeymoon.  We went to dinner at an excellent Cuban restaurant in Miami and ordered a pitcher of Sangria.  It was delicious!  Since then I've tried Sangria at several different restaurants, but it never is as good as it was at that Cuban restaurant.  Because of that, I decided I was going to figure out how to make it myself.  Since then it's been my signature drink.  I make it for parties and get-togethers all of the time.  Tonight I made it for our church progressive dinner for Valentine's Day.  It's so easy to make and it costs less to make a pitcher at home than it does for two glasses at a restaurant.  The good thing about this recipe is that it's flexible.  You can use any kind of wine, no matter the cost, and any type of frozen fruit.  It always tastes good.  My favorite combination is a white wine and a bag of tropical fruit.  Mmmm, instant vacation.

Sangria
Ingredients:
1 Bottle of Wine (or the equivalent- I often use two half bottles if I have some open.  One time I even used champagne)
1 Cup of Sugar
3 Shots of Brandy
A little more than 1/2 of a 32 oz Bag of Frozen Fruit
2 Cans Sprite or 7-Up

Pour wine, sugar, brandy and frozen fruit into a large pitcher.  Put in the refrigerator overnight or for several hours.  Before serving, pour soda into the pitcher and stir. 

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.

What to do with new pork chops?

So the last two leftover recipes I tried did not go to well.  I tried to make banana pancakes for Celia and Charlie for breakfast, but they had too much banana and not enough pancake.  Charlie fed Celia's to our dog, Hammie, when I wasn't looking.  Then, tonight I made a cucumber bean salad for dinner.  It tasted okay, but just okay.  I think it's missing a spice.  As soon as I figure out what needs to be added, I'll post the recipe.  So my recipe tonight is not actually a leftover recipe, instead it's a beginning recipe for pork chops.  It's really good and smells great when cooking.  It's a recipe I created a while ago, so there's not as much detail as there is in my newer recipes.

Creamy Pork Chops

Ingredients:
4-6 Pork Chops
1 Can Cream Corn
1 Can Cream of Chicken Soup
1/2 Envelope of Onion Soup Mix
1/2 Can of Milk (use cream of soup can)

Layer pork chops in a crock pot or baking pan.  Pour all ingredients on top.  Cook in the crockpot on high for 2 to 2 1/2 hours or cook in the oven at 300 degrees until pork is completely cooked.  While cooking, baste pork chops with gravy several times to keep them moist.  Remove from oven or crockpot when pork is at correct temperature and let cool a bit.

What to do with leftover ham?

Whenever we buy a pack of lunchmeat ham, there's always a slice or two left at the end of the pack.  It's not enough to make a sandwich with or really use in any recipe.  Celia and Charlie will gladly eat what's left by itself, but I also like to cook with it.  Here's a really easy pea recipe for you to use with your leftover bit of ham. We had it for dinner tonight.  Celia told me even the juice from the peas was delicious.  Good thing, since my meat surprised us by not being done when we started eating: the peas ended up being our main dish!

Easy Peasies
Ingredients:
1/3 Cup Chopped Ham
1 Can Sweet Peas
1 TBSP Dried Chopped Onion
1 TBSP Flour

Do not drain peas.  Add ham, peas and dried onion to a pan.  Bring to a boil.  Stir in flour to make peas a little bit creamier.  Continue cooking until juice thickens up a bit.

What to do with a little bit of leftover frozen fruit?

I love to make Sangria, but the only problem is I always have a little bit of frozen fruit left over from it.  Yesterday morning I used it to make a smoothie for my children for breakfast.  It is so easy to do and really healthy.  Charlie, my 2 year old, loves them.  For some reason he calls them chocolate milk.  I know there are frozen smoothie mixes in the grocery store, but you don't have to buy those because you can easily make one at home.  The homemade one is better for you too.  What do you like to use in your smoothies?  I love apple juice, frozen strawberries and peach yogurt. Yum!


Breakfast (or anytime!) Smoothie

Ingredients:
1 Cup of Frozen Fruit
1 Cup Fruit Juice
1/2 Container of Single Serving Yogurt
1 1/2 TBSP Honey

Mix all ingredients in blender or Magic Bullet.  Blend until smooth and creamy.  If smoothie is too thick for you, add a little bit more juice, water or ice.  This makes enough smoothie for two adults.

What to do with leftover dollar rolls?

Happy Super Bowl Day!   We are having our neighbors over tonight to watch the big game.  So, I've been working on some snacks for us to eat.  Of course one of my main ingredients is leftovers!  I turned the dollar rolls from my birthday into bread dippers for our spinach dip.  They are really tasty and easy to eat so you can still pay attention to the game.  They're also a leftover you can make into a new dish!  If you have any of these leftover, turn them into breadcrumbs by throwing them into your food processor or cut them up into croutons for your salads.  In not so recent news, Kurt Warner has decided to retire from football at age 38. I guess he decided he was too old to undergo another season of being chased down by guys like DeMarcus Ware.  As a Rams fan, I would like to take this opportunity to say farewell to Kurt, who took our rams to two Super Bowls and won one. Look on the bright side Kurt, at least you can 'pass' these wonderful snacks out for Super Bowls to come!




Dinner Roll Dippers 

Ingredients:
Dollar Rolls
Olive Oil
Garlic Powder
Salt
Italian Seasoning

Cut each dollar roll into four circular slices.  Coat a large frying pan with a thick (1/4" to 1/3") layer of oil and heat up.  Place bread in frying pan after oil is heated.  Fry side of bread until crispy and light brown, then flip.  Right after flipping, season cooked side with  a little salt, garlic powder and Italian seasoning.  When sprinkling Italian seasoning, roll it between your fingers a little, so it crushes and is finer.  Take out of pan when other side is toasted.  Cover a large plate with a paper towel for olive oil to drain on.  Place finished toasted rolls on plate and season other side.  Let cool and enjoy with dip.

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 leftover roast beef and veggies?

The other day, Andy brought home a container of roast beef and veggies my mom had made for the guys at the shop.  Even though I had never eaten it, I have a problem leaving food as is.  I mixed the pot roast and veggies with cornbread and a creamy gravy.  It was a really great meal for a snowy evening with my family.  I served it with a side of homestyle green beans and fresh garlic bread.  Everybody loved it, Charlie had 3 helpings!  That's a lot for a 2 year old who normally only eats Taco Bell Cheese Roll Ups and oranges.  


Roast Beef Bake


Ingredients:


For the gravy:
1/4 Large Onion
1/2 Large Green Pepper
3 Cups of Water
4 oz Neufchatel or Cream Cheese
1 12 oz Jar Turkey Gravy


For the bake:
4 Cups Leftover Roast Beef and Veggies
1 Box Stuffing Mix (I used a cornbread one)
2 Eggs
1 1/2 Cups Shredded Cheddar Cheese


First make the gravy.  Chop the green pepper and onion.  Put in a large pan with three cups of water.  Bring to a boil on top of the stove.  Cook until peppers are bright green and onions start becoming translucent.  Cut cream cheese up into chunks and add to the water.  Add the jar of gravy.  Continue cooking until all ingredients are mixed together and it starts to boil and thicken.


While gravy is cooking, make the roast beef mixture.  Cut up 4 cups of leftover roast beef and veggies into little cubes.  Mix in box of stuffing.  In a separate bowl, crack two eggs and mix.  Add to beef and stuffing mixture.  Spray a 10 x 10 deep dish casserole.  Pour beef and stuffing mix into casserole dish.  Pour gravy on top of stuffing mix.  Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.  Take out of oven and top with cheddar cheese.  Put back in the oven and cook for another 20 minutes.  Cheese should be melted and bubbly when it's done.


If you have any juice or veggies left from your original roast beef, don't forget to freeze it!  We might use it in a recipe later.

What to do with leftover ground turkey and steak?

Hi all!  I am so blessed to get to stay home with Celia and Charlie two days during the week.  Even on the craziest days, I love it.  Today was one of those days!  So when Andy walked in the door tonight, I was happy to turn our two little hoodlums over to him to start cooking.  My brother gave me a filet mignon that he had leftover from the other night when he bar-b-qued and I had some ground turkey leftover from our pizza pie.  I made these into Fajita Style Nachos.  They were delicious and would be great for a Super Bowl Party!  Comer con gusto!

Fajita Style Nachos

Ingredients:
1/2 Large Onion- Chopped
1 Large Green Pepper- Chopped
1/2 Packet Taco Seasoning
2 Cups Cooked Chopped Meat (I used 1 cup filet mignon and 1 cup ground turkey)
1 Can Beans- Drained (I used small white beans)
1 TBSP Dried Cilantro
1 TBSP Minced, Refrigerated Garlic
Tortilla Chips
1 Cup Shredded Cheese
Sliced Black Olives
Sour Cream
Salsa
Jalapenos (optional)

Spray a large frying pan with no stick cooking spray.  Add onions and green peppers to the pan.  Add 3/4 cup of water to the pan.  Next add taco seasoning and saute until peppers start to turn bright green and onions are becoming translucent.  Add meat, beans, cilantro and garlic to the pan.  Cook until very little liquid remains.  Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a large baking sheet with a rim (so the beans and meat won't fall all over your counter).  Spread out a heavy layer of tortilla chips onto the baking sheet.  Spoon meat and bean mixture all over the chips.  Sprinkle shredded cheese on top of the meat and beans.  Cook in the oven until cheese is completely melted.  Add black olives, sour cream, jalapenos and salsa when serving. 

What to do with leftover cake?

Last Saturday I turned 30!  Woohoo!  My wonderful husband and family threw me a smashing surprise party.  Friends and family from all over Missouri gathered together to celebrate my birthday.  It was wonderful!  At the party we had 3 cakes, cupcakes, a giant cupcake and a peanut butter pie.  Even with the large crowd we had leftover cake.  We took a sheet cake to church with us on Sunday, but we still had some leftover cake.  Tonight I turned some of the cake into Chocolate Covered Cake Dippers.  They were easy to make and a great use of leftover cake.


Chocolate Covered Cake Dippers


Ingredients:


Leftover Cake
Dipping Chocolate
Sprinkles (optional)


Cut cake up into 12 to 14 large cubes.  Lightly coat a baking sheet with canola or vegetable oil.  Put cake cubes on pan and cook at 350 degrees for 13 to 15 minutes.  You will need to turn them so all sides get toasty and don't burn.  Take cake out of the oven and let cool while you melt chocolate.  To make this recipe super easy, I jut bought a container of fruit dipping chocolate.  I followed the directions on the container to melt it.  When finished dip cake cubes into chocolate and lay them on parchment paper, chocolate side up.  Add sprinkles if desired.  Cool in fridge until chocolate hardens.

What to do with stale hot dog buns?

Last week I asked Andy to pick up some hotdog buns at the bread store on his way home from work.  When there, he was overcome by the cheap prices and bought a giant loaf of white bread, a 16 pack of hotdog buns, and a box of powdered sugar doughnuts.  The doughnuts were gone within 24 hours, but the bread and hotdog buns lingered longer.  I have had to think of all kinds of creative ways to cook with bread over the past week.  Tonight I made Pizza Burger Pie in memory of my grade school days.  I loved when we had pizza burgers at lunch.  In fact all the kids loved them.  They were basically a bun topped with spaghetti sauce, hamburger, and cheese.  I took that basic recipe, made it into a large dish and fancied it up.  After it was finished cooking and I placed it on the table, Charlie proclaimed, "That's my favorite- Yummy pizza!"  And sure enough, everyone in our family had two helpings.  I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine did.


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Pizza Burger Pie


Ingredients:
5 Hotdog Buns
Olive Oil
Garlic Powder


1 Cup Ground Turkey
1 1/4 Cup Spaghetti Sauce
18 Black Olives Sliced
1/2 Cup Red Onions Diced
1/2 Large Green Pepper
1/2 TBSP Dried Basil
2 1/2 Cups Shredded Mozzarella Cheese
Parmesean Cheese


Spray a round 10" to 11" baking dish with Pam.  Tear up hotdog buns and spread out over bottom of dish.  Drizzle olive oil over torn up buns and then sprinkle garlic powder on top.  Bake in the oven  at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes until toasty.  Brown ground turkey while buns are toasting in the oven.


Take the buns out of the oven.  Spread tomato sauce over toasted buns.  Next spread the browned ground turkey on top of the sauce.  Add the onions, peppers, and black olives to the top of the pie.  Sprinkle dried basil and parmesean cheese on top of veggies.  Finally top Pizza Burger Pie with shredded mozzarella.  Bake for 20 to 30 minutes at 350 degrees until cheese is melted and starting to brown around the edges.  Let cool and enjoy!