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 pork chops?

Sometimes I look in my pantry and refrigerator and think, "I have no idea what to make for dinner."  Usually if I stand there long enough, something catches my eye and voila, I know what we're having.  If you're having one of those days, here's an easy soup recipe for you to make :)  Serve it with a salad and warm garlic bread and you have a great meal.  Plus you'll probably have some leftovers to freeze for another one of those days when you're at a loss as to what to make.

3 Bean Soup
Ingredients:
1 Can Tomato Soup
4 Cans of Beans (I used red, black & butter)
Lg Can (28oz) Crushed Tomatoes
2 Cups Water
1 Cup Chopped Ham
2 Cooked Pork Chops, Chopped
1/2 Large Onion, Chopped
1 and 1/2 TBSP Minced Garlic
1 TBSP Onion Soup Mix
1 Tsp Salt
Grated Cheddar Cheese

1.  Pour all ingredients except cheese into a slow cooker.  Cook on low for 4 to 6 hours until soup thickens up.  Stir every so often, so soup won't burn.
2  When finished, top with grated cheese and serve.  Serves 6 to 8.

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 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.