Christmas Leftovers Recipe REmix

I just had to post on this RECIPE remix/extender.   So been getting crazy amounts of leftovers from group parties and stuff, yes this is why I always have emergency Tupperware at my desk.  You never know when some group is going to have a party and just a ton of leftovers.  Case in point, I had huge pan of leftover CHICKEN Parmesan, EGGplant Parmesan, Pasta stuff basically.  

After eating so many meals of this you do get sick of it alil so this is why I make remix recipes. 

And of course I freeze things till I'm ready to return to my leftovers.  

This holiday my

PASTA Lima Bean Chicken Parmesan 

was born!

So when I cook at home, I'm really sparse with the cheese and meat.  My leftovers were literally huge chunks of chicken and cheese, way too rich/ gluttonous for me after a few meals.  So I basically extended this recipe to include cheap and healthy fillers.

In this case, I had dried Lima Beans (originally thought they were white beans) and my free veggie pasta from couponing.  Way healthy and grease free by themselves.  I put 1/2 bag of beans in crockpot and cooked the pasta.  And of course put them in tupperware.   All in all very little work.

Then when I was ready to eat the meal, I just put my pasta, white beans, cheap Ragu sauce in microwave ( you can do oven)  and let it cook for 90 seconds.  Then added in the party leftovers cheese and chicken for another 60 seconds.

And magically I have a more healthy meal than the chicken parm I had taken home.

Beauty of this meal for me is all I paid for was the tomato sauce and I'm going to get a lot of meals out of this one original tupperware full of pasta leftovers.  What would have been 2 meals alone now I can easily stretch into 6 meals by adding cheap healthy food staples.   Not to mention I'm going to have left over beans and pasta and pasta sauce.

I'm sharing this idea because realistically everyone can usually get pasta/beans/pasta sauce for about $1 each on a regular supermarket sale.  And this is a really really recipe, you can technically make all in one pot if your lazy like me.  And for me to save money on food, key principle is to add as much cheap fillers as possible. 

Lesson: Laziness costs money

So a couple days ago, I was starving for a hearty hangover breakfast.  I was so desperate I actually went and bought breakfast, I went to a cheap place close to work but it cost me $4!!!! Ok $4 is not a lot of money but let me tell u what I got for that 4 dollars.  One egg on a roll, with 2 slices of bacon and a slice of cheap american cheese.  And one frozen hash brown patty.  All pretty bad and my bread was STALE!!!!!!! I paid $4 and my freegan food was way way better!  So that is my lesson and I am now obsessed with prepping my meals for emergency hangover breakfasts!

And to top it off, I know better.  I know my food is better and with prep and thought I could of made a weeks worth of that same breakfast for the same price.  And this stop for breakfast which was suppose to be quick and easy, made me 10 min late for work.  Which only adds to the cost of this meal.

Quinoa Omlette

My awesome super healthy breakfast!

So I had leftover, mushroom quinoa from this fancy organic place and spicy cold avocado soup.  I just stir fried the quinoa with oyster mushroom, then cracked an egg scrambled it a little , drizzled with some freegan cheese and bam! For the final touch since I usually put hot sauce on my eggs, I opened my spicy avocado soup and healthy breakfast was made.  Really surprised at how quick it was and cheap! Compared to going out for brunch.  My cost was just 10 cents for the eggs!

Yoga Summer Solstice

What I love about NYC, is the effort they make in offering FREE events in the city. Its one of the reasons I hesitate to move somewhere MUCH MUCH cheaper to live because all the extra stuff you get from being a NY'er .  We have free concerts, free plays, fitness events, product give aways etc.

The best one this summer has been the Free YOGA on summer solstice event in Times Square.

Definately an AMAZING event, I know its passed since but definately marking it in my calendar for next year!  SO FREE and SOO SOO fun.  On top of it being just so cool doing open Yoga in Times Square and being broadcast world wide, it was just nice to be around a these YOGI's in NYC.  Ok best reason to motivate your non yogi friends to go is the awesome GOODIE bags and the sponsor village. Free healthy drinks, snacks and Yoga mat.

Deluxe Sandwich

Awesome rescue, Grilled chicken,  Tomato, Avocado,  Cheese, and fancy Sprouts dang NYC is even fancy with its sandwiches! 

Cauliflower Fried Rice

BEST BEST DIET discovery ever! Why did no one tell me about this before?  And best part, is its so easy and while more expensive than most my meals cause Cauliflower is expensive, amazing meal for super low carbs and calories.  Just grate or food process Cauliflower.  Then wok cook everything peas, egg, and cauliflower for 5 min max under high heat and you done!

Falafel Cabbage Ramen

I'm always trying to find creative ways to make use of my leftovers.  And this one was because I had some OA Falafeels left over.  Basically, I just cooked my ramen as usual and then dumped in my leftovers.  It came out great the Falafel non fried of course, gave the soup an extra texture and spice level.  Of course since Ramen is so high in sodium I never add more salt, this makes me feel less guilty when eating ramen.

Since my ramen cost $.16 and the OA was a freegan find, my entire meal cost me $.16!