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 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 ground turkey?

What a beautiful day!  The sun's shining and I'm on Springbreak- Woohooo!  I wish everyday was Springbreak.  We've had a very exciting week.  We went to the zoo yesterday and Monday we spent the day working in the yard.  I'm hoping to start a small garden this summer, so I can create lots of fresh veggie recipes for What's for Leftovers?  Are you all planting gardens?  What kind of delicious recipes are you looking for? 

On Monday, I made these Spanish Rice meatballs for dinner.  My brother and I figured out that they have 71 calories per meatball and a serving of the greenbeans had 30 calories.  They were so easy to make, and really delicious and flavorful, in addition to being healthy for you.  In fact, Mike doesn't normally like to eat frozen green beans because he thinks they taste waxy.  If you cook them this way, they are extremely tender.  No one will complain about them!  I used a box of Spanish Basmati rice mix to make the meatballs (see Amazon add for exact type).  You can also use a box like Uncle Ben's chicken rice or wild rice mix.  The boys sprinkled Chili Powder on theirs, but I ate mine as is.  Both options are delicious!  This recipe makes 18 to 20 meatballs.

Spanish Rice Meatballs
Ingredients:
1 Pound Ground Turkey

1 Box Spanish Style Rice Mix
1 Egg
1/4 Cup Breadcrumbs
1/8 Cup Milk
1 Can Chicken Broth
1 Bag Frozen Green Beans
Chili Powder (Optional)
1.  Cook rice following the directions on box.  When finished, let cool completely.
2.  Add ground turkey, egg, milk and breadcrumbs to rice.
3.  Spray a large frying pan with non-stick cooking spray.  Roll meat mix into small to medium-sized meatballs and place in frying pan.  Pour chicken broth on top.

4.  Cook meatballs on medium heat.  When one side of meatball is finished cooking turn them.  Pour bag of green beans on top of meatballs.  Cover and continue cooking until meatballs and greenbeans are thoroughly cooked.
5. (Optional) Sprinkle a small amount of chili powder on meatballs right before serving.

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 1 fish filet?

The other day I looked in my freezer and I realized I had a single, white fish filet. I'm guessing it was Tilapia because that is what I normally buy. What was I going to do with 1 fish filet??? How did it even get in there??? I figured I probably needed to use it since I couldn't remember the last time I had bought Tilapia. So last night, we had Seafood Salad Melts for dinner. On Sunday, Andy had brought home a loaf of Rye bread from church. I cut it up into slices, piled on the seafood salad and melted cheese on top. It was a nice change from heavy, hearty meals. It was also very easy to prepare and clean up.

Seafood Salad Melts
Ingredients:
1 Pouch Tuna
 1 Package Immitation Crab Meat (8oz)
1 Filet White Fish, cooked
1/4 to 1/2 Cup Mayonnaise
1 TBSP Creme Fraiche (use sour cream if you don't have this)
1 TBSP Honey Mustard Salad Dressing
1/2 Tsp Minced, Refrigerated Garlic
1/4 Tsp Onion Powder
Pinch Salt
Fresh Bread Slices (I used rye)
Butter
Cheese Slices (I used colby and swiss)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Break up white fish into small pieces. In a mixing bowl, combine tuna, immitation crab meat, and white fish.
3. Add mayo, creme fraiche, honey mustard, garlic, onion powder and salt. Stir.

4. Cut bread into slices. Butter one side. Put in oven and melt butter.
5. When butter is melted, flip bread. Pile seafood salad on the other side, then top with slices of cheese. Put back into oven until cheese is melted.

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.

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 leftover kabob veggies?

Good Morning What's for Leftovers readers!  I hope you all remembered to change your time.  For the first time in a long time, Celia and Charlie slept in until 8:30- woohoo!

Last week, if you remember, I made some Asian Kabobs, that were delicious and tender.  Check out the recipe if you're in the mood to bbq kabobs today.  We ate all the meat kabobs, but I had a couple of vegetable kabobs left.  Last night I made them into a sweet, little corn dish that was really easy.  It paired great with the pork steaks we had for dinner.

Sweet Corn and Veggies
Ingredients:
1 Package Frozen Corn
2 Cups Chopped Kabob Veggies
1 1/2 Cups Water
2 TSP Brown Sugar
1 TSP Flour

1. Chop up leftover vegetables into small bits.
2. Put corn, veggies, water, brown sugar, and flour into a medium-sized soup pot and stir.
3. Cook over medium heat until a significant amount of liquid evaporates and thickens up a bit.

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.
 

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What to do with ham and green peppers?

Who would have thought?  This is what I asked myself when our ham and chicken kabobs turned out absolutely delicious tonight!  I love ham, but I've never bar-b-qued it.  However, we have a lot of ham.  A couple of weeks ago, hams were on sale at our local grocery store and I bought a huge one!  It was so big that I cut it in half and froze half of it.  Earlier today, I took out some chicken to cook tonight, but my thighs didn't thaw out, only the two boneless breasts did.  Needless to say, when I went to make these Asian Kabobs for dinner tonight, I had to improvise.  Lucky for us and all our What's for Leftovers' readers, they turned out to be some of the best kabobs I have ever made!  Feel free to use whatever veggies you have on hand.  I used our last turnip, which actually turned out to be really good as a kabob veggie.  I hope you can get out and enjoy the nice Spring weather and bbq these kabobs some time soon!

Asian Kabobs
Ingredients for the Kabobs:
1/2 Large Red Onion
1 Medium Yellow Onion
2 Green Peppers
2 Colored Peppers (I used red and yellow)
1 Turnip
2 Boneless, Skinless Chicken Breasts, Cut into Chunks

15 Large Chunks of Ham

1. Soak your kabob sticks in water so they won't catch on fire on the bbq pit.
2. Cut up vegetables and meat into large chunks.
3. Load up six kabobs sticks with the vegetables.  Load up four more with the meat, rotating ham and chicken. 

Ingredients for the Sauce:
1 Cup Red Sweet n' Sour Sauce
1 Cup BBQ Sauce
1/4 Cup Honey
1/4 Cup Soy Sauce
1 TBSP Minced, Refrigerated Garlic

1. Mix all ingredients together and divide into two bowls.
2. Baste both sides of veggies kabobs with sauce in one bowl.  If there is sauce left, pour over veggies.  Then baste both sides of meat kabobs with sauce in the other bowl.  If there is sauce left, pour over meat.
3. Cook kabobs on bbq grill over medium-low heat.  Make sure chicken is finished cooking before removing from heat.

What to do with tortillas? Part 2

I had five tortillas left after last night's dinner to do something with tonight.  My friend Kim said that tortillas freeze nicely, but since we only had five left, I thought I would do something desserty with them.  If you are going to freeze your tortillas, Kim said to double-bag them for freshness.  This is a great tip to have for the future!  For tonight's dessert, I fried the tortillas just like last night.  Then I sprinkled them with sugar and cinnamon and topped them with chocolate, honey and whip cream.  Mmmmm!  It was excellent.  A light, easy dessert for our families to enjoy.

Dessert Nachos
Ingredients:
5 Tortillas (or more if you have more)
Cinnamon and Sugar
Honey
Whip Cream
Chocolate Sauce

1. Cut up each tortilla into 4 triangles.
2. Heat a thin layer of oil in your frying pan.  Put tortilla triangles into pan, frying one side, then flipping and frying the other side.  Fry until they are a light brown.
3. When removing from pan, immediately sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on both sides of tortilla triangle. 
4. When finished frying all triangles, arrange on plates.  Sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar again.
5. Heat 1/3 to 1/2 cup of honey in the microwave for 10 seconds.  Drizzle honey and chocolate on top of triangles.  Top with whipped cream and enjoy!

What to do with leftover fajita fixings and tortillas?

This weekend, our good friends Mark and Danielle got married.  They had a beautiful wedding and reception.  We had a blast!  Andy and I were lucky enough to get to go to the rehearsal dinner as well.  It was at Casa Gallardo since Mark is from Texas.  They served us a fabulous meal of margaritas, queso, chips and fajitas.  There was so much food to eat and leftover.  At the end of the meal, my lovely husband had all the leftover fajita fixings and tortillas boxed up for What's for Leftovers?  Lukily we were with great friends, they just laughed at us as we left with our three boxes.  Tonight we used the leftovers to make Gigantic Nachos.  They were a perfect way to top off our fiesta filled weekend!

Gigantic Nachos
Ingredients:

6 Small Flour Tortillas
1 Can Refried Beans
4 Packets Taco Bell Sauce
2 Cups Fajita Meat and Veggies
3/4 Cup Shredded Cheese
Salsa (optional)
Sour Cream (optional)

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. Warm up refried beans in a small pot.  Mix in the four packets of Taco Bell Sauce. 
3. Chop up fajita meat and veggies into bite-sized pieces.  Warm these up in a separate frying pan.
4. Cut each flour tortilla into 4 triangles.  Heat a thin layer of oil in a large frying pan.  Fry tortilla chips in pan until golden brown on both sides.  Lay on a paper towel to drain off excess oil.

5. Spray a large baking sheet with Pam.  Apply a thin layer of refried beans to each tortilla triangle.  Put on baking sheet in a single layer.
6.  Add a layer of fajita fixings and shredded cheese to each triangle. 
7. Put in the oven and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.  Cheese should be melted when finished.  Top off with sour cream and salsa and enjoy.

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 leftover Cajun/Spanish Rice and Pork Roast?

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I love to make soup for so many reasons!  First of all, soup is really easy to make.  Plus, you can get really creative with your soup.  When you're cooking soup, your whole house smells warm and delicious.  Also, you often only have to get one big pot dirty, so clean up is really easy.  Soup makes you feel comfy and cozy when you're eating it.  It reminds me of my home.  Sometimes I even make soup in the summer on a rainy day.  Soup is great!

Last Sunday I made my husband Cajun Rice (the recipe's posted on What's for Leftovers?), which we both loved.  However, the recipe made a really big batch and we had some leftover.  I was tired of bringing it for lunch and we had a chilly, wintery day on Tuesday (hopefullly one of our last ones) so I made it into a really tasty vegetable soup.  This is a recipe for 3-4 people.  If you have more people to feed, just double it, or get creative and add what you have on hand.  You can rarely go wrong with soup!

Tomato Vegetable Soup
Ingredients:
1 Cup Cajun or Spanish Rice
1 Cup Cooked Pork Roast
1 Can Tomato Soup
1 Package Frozen Stew Vegetables
1 Can Water (use the tomato soup can)

1. Put all ingredients in your slow cooker.  Cook on high for one hour. 
2. After one hour, pull out all the big chunks of veggies that were frozen (my carrots, potatoes and onions were huge!) and cut them up into bite-size pieces.  This step can be ommitted if your veggies are a good size.
3. Cook on low for another hour and a half to two hours.

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.

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What to do with cornflakes and pancake mix?

My friend Meagan, who lives in Japan, accidentally ordered a ten pound bag of pancake mix from Costco delivery.  I wish I could have seen her face when they delivered that package!  That's a lot of pancakes!  Celia and Charlie would eat pancakes at every meal if we would let them, but that bag would still last for at least a month or two.  Meagan asked if Whats for Leftovers? could create a recipe that has pancake mix in it to use some up.  Here's the first of several pancake mix recipes (hopefully).  Up until now, I never thought about using pancake mix for anything other than pancakes, but I have to tell you, tonight's chicken strip recipe turned out great.  They were incredibly moist on the inside and crispy on the outside.  I fried them, but you could probably bake them in the oven for a healthier version.  Meagan, keep us updated on how much more pancake mix we have to go!

Breakfast Chicken Strips
Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 Cups Pancake Mix
1 and 1/2 Cups Crushed Cornflakes
4 Boneless Chicken Breasts
1/2 Cup Milk

1.  Mix together pancake mix and crushed cornflakes.  Make sure you measure your cornflakes after you have crushed them.  They need to be pretty fine. 
2. Cut up chicken breasts into strips.
3. Heat a thin layer of oil in a large frying pan.
4. Pour 1/2 cup of milk in a bowl.  Dip chicken strips into milk.  Next dip them into the pancake and cornflake mix.  Make sure you coat both sides of the strip well.

5. Put chicken strips into frying pan.  Fry on one side until golden brown and then flip and fry on the other side until chicken is cooked.  You will probably have to add oil as you cook your chicken. 

**Be careful not to get your oil too hot.  This happened to me and I had to dump my oil and start all over.