March 28, 2024

Creative cooking solves leftovers dilemma

I usually begin my meal planning for supper around noon each day. I’ll sit at my desk, doing my work while in the back of my head I’m thinking of food.

The loosely followed, rule-of-thumb in our house is the first person home usually fixes supper. Four out of five days a week, that’s me.

If I don’t begin a menu in my head early enough in the day and start cooking shortly after I get home from work, Mick and I are both sitting around all evening trying to wait each other out to determine who will make the first move and start supper. That’s usually when we resort to eating frozen pizza.

We can end up with some strange concoctions at times as far as the entree goes.

Saturday for lunch I made potato soup. It was a cold, blustery, wet day and soup seemed as though it would hit the spot. I had some macaroni and cheese left over from the night before, so I figured ... why not. It was a first for us to have macaroni in our potato soup, but I’m not sure Mick even noticed.

I find since I’m cooking for just the two of us, my dishes have become a bit eclectic. I have no issues adding left over food from a previous day’s meal to something fresh. I never understood when my grandma did it, but now I get it. I hate seeing food go to waste.

It’s been almost five years since we joined the empty nest brigade yet try as I might, I’m still having a difficult time estimating just how much food I need to prepare each meal. Spaghetti, macaroni and rice are the toughest items for me to judge. I always seem to make enough of those to feed the masses, yet I can’t convince myself when adding these items to the boiling water, they actually will expand and there most certainly will be plenty for just two people.

It never fails ... it’s one extreme or the other ... there is always way too much food remaining or we’re having to make popcorn later to help fill us up since I shorted us on our meal.

However, leftovers rarely go to waste, as we both pack a lunch to take to work. And let’s be honest, some things just taste better as leftovers than they actually did hot out of the oven.

Some of the best leftovers to me are ham and noodle casserole, liver and onions with potatoes and gravy — well, quite frankly, anything with gravy — and chicken and dumplings.

Not making the list is macaroni. But this week’s solution to that? Potato soup.

Contact Dana King at 641-792-3121 ext. 6522 or dking@shawmedia.com

Dana King

Dana King

Multitasking duties between the Newton News, PCM Explorer and the Jasper County Tribune.