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. 

Dollar Veggie bag from Chinese Supermarket

Some potatoes, Zucchinni, 2 bitter melons all for $1

This is why I love chinese supermarkets, the Bitter mellon was especially good deal cause their like $2/lb normally.  I made a huge stir fry dish from zuchhini, Bittermelon tea and added bittermelon to pork dish as a meat filler.  And the potatoes I used for mashed kale potatoes.  So many dishes all for $1.

Curry Chicken Fried Rice

I had really been falling behind on cooking this past week, I was super annoyed with myself for having to run out and buy a bag of chips for an emergency lunch this week.  So I was really determined to have some easy lunches for work created hence why I've been making Fried Rice.  It's a frugal meal, super easy make a batch of and freeze and just so satisfying to my salty food cravings.  This Curry Fried rice if you know how to make Chinese Fried Rice is really just the same except you add Curry Powder too it.

Curry Chicken Fried Rice

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups White Rice (Dry)

1/2 Any Combo of leftover veggies (bell pepper, carrots, peas, brocolli)

1/4 lb Chicken Breast

1 small onion 

1 clove of garlic

2 Tablespoons of Curry Powder

1 Eggs

Cooking Oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

Cook your rice or use leftover rice (best option).

Chop onions, veggies and chicken to small bite size pieces.

Heat pan with oil.  If your using fresh chicken cook this first and put aside for later.  Then oil pan again and toss in your onions and garlic. Let basically fry for 3 minutes and stir to avoid garlic burning.  Then toss in the rest of your veggies.

Add a little more oil to recoat pan and add curry powder, then toss in your rice.  Stir frequently to break up the rice and coat rice.

Create a small space in middle of pan, coat with a little oil and crack your eggs in.

Use your spatula to mix egg while its cooking.  Add salt for egg.  Let it fully fry and break up cooked egg with spatula.  Then add in your chicken.

Stir for another 2 minutes in high heat and season to taste.

Then Serve!!!

** I can not emphasize enough how easy and convenient fried rice is for batch cooking. You just add a little more meat and veggies to prep with the other recipes your making that day.  And when you have 10 minutes of time to cook, maybe while your waiting for something on the stove or oven, and when your done you have  4 quick lunches to go.  I'm so lazy, I even did my Kimchi Fried rice in the same Wok !

Kimchi Fried Rice

OMG Kimchi Fried Rice is so addictive and yummi and cheap and quick to make.  

Kimchi Fried Rice

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups White Rice (Dry)

1/2 Cup Kimchi (cabbage) old and fermented works best

1 small onion 

2 Tablespoons of Korean Red Pepper Paste

2 Eggs

Cooking Oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

Cook your rice or use leftover rice (best option).

Chop onions and put kimchi on plate preferably with paper towel to soak liquids up.

Heat pan with oil.  Toss in your onions and Kimchi (beware if too wet will splatter).  Let basically fry for 3-5 minutes and stir to avoid onions burning.

Add a little more oil to recoat pan and then toss in your rice and Red pepper paste.  Stir frequently to break up the rice and coat rice.

Create a small space in middle of pan, coat with a little oil and crack your eggs in.

Use your spatula to mix egg while its cooking.  Add salt for egg.  And then mix everything when egg is half cooked.

Stir for another 2 minutes in high heat and season to taste.

Then Serve!!!

Note: its easiest to do this in a wok on high heat cooking will take about 10 minutes max.

This is really a leftovers kind of recipe, so you really can add whatever you want.  But traditionally Kimchi fried rice, doesn't use a fried egg like Chinese Fried Rice which is why I incorporate it into rice.  You can even add any left over chicken breast or some people use Bacon to grease the pan!

I love this recipe because it let me use up left over homemade kimchi I had that had gone really fermented.  And I always have frozen prechopped Onions in my freezer.  And white rice is so so cheap!  Anyways, recipe creates about 4 normal size servings and the rest I packed up for WORK lunches!!!!  And fried rice freezes great as well so if you want to batch cook this it's so quick and easy to just increase your ingredients.

Leftovers Pasta

One thing that constantly is spoiling in my Fridge is the Jarred Pasta Sauce, I think its because its Jarred I think it has a decent Fridge life left and since pasta is the food I freeze and batch cook the least I find its easy to forget about.  The easiest solution to avoiding waste is to freeze it but it you don't have the space in your freezer... left over pasta is a good idea.  As well as using it as a sauce for your meat dishes.

Since, I was trying to scour my fridge for meal ideas without buying more food to avoid food waste I found the below needed to be consumed.

I had left over meat, because I tend to eat meat sparingly these days so if I have more than necessary for my bowl of rice, instead of over indulging I leave as leftovers.  With the half Bell Pepper, I had laying around all did was chop.  Then put all the leftovers in the pasta sauce, and toss over cooked pasta.  And like magic a meal of leftovers was created!!!!  It's not genius or fancy but left over chicken, mushrooms and other veggies like carrots, onions could have easily been substituted.  This quick meal, eliminated a couple things I had in my lower fridge that needed to be consumed.

Fortunately for me, I still had a huge stash of Garlic Knots ready to microwave and accompany my meal.

Easy Spanish Style Meat Dish

For ages, I'd been a huge admirer of Spanish foods being a fan of Sophie's in NYC.  And I'd tried reproducing my favorite dishes but there was always a missing component to my recipes and I'd finally figured it out! You need SAZON from Goya, its basically MSG but so basic to every Spanish style meat dish.  My recipe is super easy and versatile, and great even when frozen and reheated.

Here's my Recipe its really flexible you really just need ground beef, sazon, onions and bell pepper.  It makes 6 servings for me but 4 if you eat a lot more.

Ingredients:

1/2 LB Ground Beef

1 Bell Pepper (any thing you have on hand)

1 Onion

1/2 packet of Sazon

Salt and Pepper to taste

2 TSP Soy Sauce

2 TSP Cooking Wine

1/2 Chili Pepper (if you like heat and have on hand)

Directions:

• Put your Wine and Soy Sauce into your Ground Beef and lightly distribute.  Then mix in Sazon. Store in fridge overnight.
• Chop your Onions and Bell Peppers set aside.
• Heat and Oil up your cooking pan, add in Onion and Chili Pepper (if using).  Let cook for 3 min, then add in your meat and keep moving the items in pan.  Cook till meat looks about done and add in your Bell Peppers.  Add Salt and Pepper to taste.

I love this dish because it's so yummi and the bell peppers and onions are great ways to stretch the meat use out.

Usually I serve over my Frugal Version of Spanish Rice but today I was too lazy to make a new batch of rice.