My Wednesday Pantry-Made Overs Not Left Overs

      I didn't make anything new over the last few weeks as we both cooked down what we had in the refrigerator and ate simply last week when out of town. However, we really didn't eat the same meal multiple times (potato salad and coleslaw and two pizzas aside) do to eating meals using the same base, but entirely different. I sort of just made over what was on hand and in doing so, we had variety and I avoided waste. This post is sharing those ideas and maybe it will work for you f you are trying to get out of the kitchen more, but aren't excited to just reheat and eat the same meal. 

     I bought an enormous package of boneless and skinless chicken thighs, easily over two pounds. I seasoned them with olive oil, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper, and let them sit for a good hour sort of marinating before DH made them on the grill.

Meal one: Just grilled chicken with sides

Meal two: Sliced several into strips, and heated them back up in a large griddled frying pan with onions (and wished I would have bought a bell pepper or two), chili powder, more garlic, and some cumin. Served fajita style in tortillas with cheese and salsa

Meal three: There were still a couple left after the first two meals so I sliced these width wise to create thin nearly buns size pieces. These were then dusted with a bit more garlic and Italian seasoning, broiled on top of garlic buttered buns, with the top half of the bun, broiled with mozzarella, creating kind of a chicken parm sandwich wihtout the sauce. These were absolutely delicious, though I think the ciabatta buns greatly added to how delicious they turned out.

Here was my sandwich, loaded with pickles because,
 I need my pickles. 

     Last Monday DH slow grilled country style ribs. Hats off to him-this is his specialty in that he does a very light sauce/seasoning that he gets cooked on fast, then moves to a low temperature, away for the flame until tender, before adding a final layer of sauce, back on the hotter flame, to get the delicious crispiness of the BBQ, wihtout  drying out the meat.  .We had tow meals, but could have easily gotten the third.

Meal one: Just the ribs with sides

Meal two: Using two forks, pulled a the leftover ribs to shred the meat  as thick or shredded as you prefer. Add more BBQ to taste, and reheat, or put on buns and reheat on the grill for pulled pork (or beef ) sandwiches.

Meal Three: Dice any remaining ribs in bit size chucks. Make rice and cool. In a large frying pan, heat a bit of oil of your choice and start frying the rice and pork pieces together, adding as many frozen mixed vegetables as you want, with soy sauce, ginger, garlic, or other seasonings you like for fried rice. Push contents to the side leaving an open space, ad a touch more oil, heat, then crack 2-3 eggs, depending on size of pan and preference, scramble the eggs in the well, and once almost completely cooked, bring the sides back and integrate the eggs throughout the fried rice. Add more seasoning to taste. We love this fired rice and if you have leftover meat and leftover rice, it is truly the quickest  recipe imaginable. 

     I've been making hamburgers by combining chopped onion, garlic, pepper salt or the seasoning blend, before grilling. These keep the  burger snice and most, and we love onions, so works. Last week we had one more burger than DH could eat, so it was already mad up with cheese and on the bun so we rescued it as part of a snacking meal by cutting in fourths and eating as sliders. However, had it been the burger alone, it would have been perfect to crumble for a small goulash, or rice hotdish, or crumbled in some gravy for over rice or potatoes,  or really any other recipe that called for ground beef crumbles.

     I learned after the spaghetti fiasco that over cooking food doesn't mean I'm stuck eating leftovers day after day. Besides freezing portions for later, I can cut time in my kitchen by transforming the bases into something new. And by the way, we had the spaghetti pizza bake last night that I made and froze a couple weeks back. It was really delicious. Though, guess what I'll be eating for lunch today.