By Brette Sember<\/p>\n
One of the biggest challenges of dealing with leftovers is figuring out what to do with small bits food. It seems like a waste to throw away a quarter cup of carrots or to toss that one piece of bread, but you can\u2019t actually serve them as is. Here are my tips for rescuing even the smallest bits of food, plus a recipe for incorporating leftovers into a completely new meal.<\/p>\n
Bag your veggies. <\/strong>Keep a bag in your freezer and add scraps of leftover vegetables to it each night. Add the saved-up components to your next soup or stew.<\/p>\n Stuff it.<\/strong> Keep another freezer bag for lone pieces of bread to use for stuffing.<\/p>\n Oatrageous.<\/strong> Don\u2019t dump bits of leftover oatmeal. Freeze and add it to your next batch of cookie dough.<\/p>\n Gravy Train.<\/strong> Instead of throwing out leftover gravy, freeze it. The next time you want to make gravy, use this as a starter and just add broth and some flour. You won\u2019t need pan scrapings to get gravy going ever again.<\/p>\n Dippy.<\/strong> Leftover party dip might seem useless, but you can heat it up and use it as a sauce for chicken and fish another night.<\/p>\n Juicy.<\/strong> Freeze those remaining tablespoons of juice in an ice cube tray and add them to iced tea.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll be surprised by the new things you can make when you go shopping amongst your leftovers. If you\u2019ve got leftover meatloaf and potatoes, try this recipe:<\/p>\n Meatloaf and Potato Soup<\/strong> This warm and wonderful soup uses up leftover potatoes and meatloaf. If you don\u2019t happen to have leftover potatoes, cook 2 large baking potatoes in the microwave and use those. It comes together quickly and makes a hearty complete meal, when served with a salad.<\/p>\n 4 tablespoons butter 1.\tMelt butter in a large saucepan or small soup pot. Brette Sember is the author of Leftover Love: 52 Creative Recipes for Using Your Leftovers<\/a>, The Original Muffin Tin Cookbook<\/a> and Cookie: A Love Story<\/a>. Learn more at BretteSember.com<\/a>, or follow her on Twitter<\/a>, Pinterest<\/a> or Facebook<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","class_list":["post-317","cooking-eating","type-cooking-eating","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ivaluefood.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cooking-eating\/317"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ivaluefood.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cooking-eating"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ivaluefood.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cooking-eating"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ivaluefood.com\/resources\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nServes 4
\nLeftover ingredients: meatloaf, potatoes<\/em><\/p>\n
\n1\/3 cup flour
\n4 cups skim milk
\n1\/2 teaspoon salt
\n1\/2 teaspoon pepper
\n2 cups cooked, peeled, diced potato
\n1\/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese
\n3 scallions, chopped
\n2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
\n2 tablespoons light sour cream
\n1 1\/4 cup chopped meatloaf<\/p>\n
\n2.\tStir in flour and cook for about 30 seconds.
\n3.\tWhisk in the milk and stir in salt and pepper.
\n4.\tCook over medium heat, stirring occasionally until it thickens.
\n5.\tStir in potato, cheese, scallion, yogurt and sour cream.
\n6.\tCook until it begins to bubble.
\n7.\tStir in the meatloaf and cook for about 3 minutes until heated through.<\/p>\n