Don't Throw It Away!
By Alice Osborne
Did (or do) you have lots of leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner? That's the best - having lots of yummy choices waiting for ya when the "munchies" hit (especially pumpkin pie and loads of whipped cream). Thanksgiving is so great for that. But Thanksgiving is unusual in terms of leftovers. What about average life - those leftovers from the less-than-spectacular, day-to-day meals that most of us experience in any given week? What do you do with that stuff?
Do you "clean" the refrigerator and feel a smidge of guilt at tossing out those dibs and dabs of this and that? My darling hubby has a good way to deal with that guilt - we just keep stuff. A tablespoon of cottage cheese, a couple teaspoons of barbecue sauce, half a crusty roll, a half cup of green salad - you get the picture. Only until those orphaned remnants have a green, pink, gray, or purple layer of fuzziness coating them do we then "clean" the fridge. By this time, it's not just OK to toss it out (we've done the noble thing by keeping it, afterall), but it's actually the SMART thing to do. Aren't we clever!
But because of the space this dopey approach takes up in my fridge, I'm getting' real tired of it and pretty annoyed. So I've been spending time hunting for tasty ways to use up our leftovers. (I know, you're thinking, "DUH.") In my search I found an older cookbook (Everything but the Kitchen Sink) that Aunt Annie had, that talks about this very subject. The authors (Karine Eliason, Nevada Harward, and Madeline Westover) call using up leftovers a "Refrigerator Shakedown," and it has a few rules:
• It must be done weekly in order to ensure that the leftovers used are nutritious an appealing. (See above - no more colored fuzziness allowed.)
• It's best accomplished the day you make your shopping list and plan your menus. Don't you think Calli's "5 Day Meal Plan" is super for this?
• It should be done with a few basic recipes in mind - obvious ways to use the leftovers you find.
While leftovers aren't in sufficient quantity to make a second meal all by themselves, with some planning around a few basics, what the authors call the Basic Nine, we can build some delicious meals. Here are the Basic Nine (9 standard categories) that use leftovers well:
Crepes
Fried Rice
Omelets
Soup
Salads/Dressings
Quiche
Cookies
Sandwiches
Sauces
And here's the process for the "Refrigerator Shakedown:"
1. Remove all the leftovers from the refrigerator.
2. Determine which can be used as-is in your menu plans.
3. Set aside the other items - foods left in small amounts and those that are too varied or just not appealing enough to be reheated and served another time. These are the basics.
4. Depending on the other ingredients you have on hand, choose what to make from the Basic Nine list.
I can see why all the categories are called Basics. They have standard and flexible recipes that really would take dibs and dabs of this and that well. All that is, except the cookie category. Maybe that one egg yolk or some leftover oatmeal could be worked in to a cookie, but leftover cottage cheese, pasta salad, stew, steamed vegetables, green salad, or spaghetti? C'mon!
In fact, my first reaction is Yuck! Nope, it works when using the authors' Kitchen-Sink Cookies recipe. They advise draining as much of the vinaigrette dressing as you can off the salad, and perhaps avoiding very strong flavors such as chili or fish (really?). But their idea is to puree the leftovers to the consistency of thick whipped cream, and mix into the dough. I'll leave you with the recipe and new-found hope for our next fridge "cleaning" episode. Don't throw it away!
Kitchen-Sink Cookies
(Yield: about 4 dozen cookies)
3/4 C butter, room temperature
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1-2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 tsp baking powder (we prefer aluminum-free Rumford's)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 C sifted unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 C pureed leftovers (see suggestions below)
3/4 C chopped nuts
3/4 C semisweet chocolate pieces (milk chocolate work well also)
3/4 C raisins, if desired (and I do!)
3/4 C flaked coconut, if desired (and I do!)
Vanilla Buttercream Icing (recipe below)
Nut halves (pecans or walnuts)
Vanilla Buttercream Icing
(Yield: about 2 cups)
1/2 C butter
2 C sifted powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
Pinch of salt
About 2 tsp milk (or cream, or sour cream, or even thinned cream cheese)
Preheat oven to 350 degree. Grease baking sheets. In large bowl, combine butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla. Beat until fluffy. Beat in flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and cocoa powder. Add leftovers; beat well. Stir in nuts, chocolate pieces, raisins, and coconut. Mix well. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls 1 1/2-inches apart on greased baking sheets. Bake 10 min or until set. Remove from baking sheets and let cool. Prepare frosting and frost cooled cookies. Top each frosted cookie with a nut half.
Suggested leftovers:
Cooked cereal, stew, cooked vegetables, leftover tossed green salad, canned or fresh fruit, cooked macaroni or other pasta, cottage cheese, leftover pancakes, waffles or muffins. Do avoid strong-flavored foods such as cauliflower or broccoli - they'd do better in an omelet or quiche. Puree with suggested liquid below to make 1 1/2 cups. Puree should be consistency of thick whipped cream.
Suggested liquids for pureeing (if necessary):
Water, fruit juice, milk, chocolate milk, sour cream, cream, even thinned cream cheese.
Vanilla Buttercream Icing:
In medium bowl, beat butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, salt and milk until fluffy.
NOTE: Instead of individual cookies, this recipe can be baked, all at once, in a 9x13 pan. Grease it well and spread cookie dough. Bake 30-40 minutes or until knife inserted into center comes out clean. Cookies should be moist. Cool in pan on a rack. Then frost and cut into bars.
