Recipe: Leftovers Part Two

Wise ideas from my Aunt Haya plus a make-any-kind-of-muffin recipe

photo credit: Michael Chiara

Last week I shared how much I love leftovers and offered a number of different ways that I use up leftovers in my house in order to turn them into tasty new meals. My Aunt Haya was a leftover master. At one point in our many conversations she shared her thoughts on ways to use leftovers with me. Now I'm sharing her tips with you.

I'm also sharing a fabulous make-any-kind-of-muffin-you-want receipe. This is a blueprint for how to make either sweet or savory muffins. If you follow the proportions you'll get great muffins every time. I've used this recipe for years and created so many different flavors of muffins. This happens to also be a wonderful way to use up little bits of leftover things.

Mystery Dinners

When our children were small I used to save the empty trays from tv dinners, putting leftover entree portions in the main compartments, add some frozen vegetables, half a baked potato, leftover pie filling in the dessert compartment, etc. I would serially fill the various compartments when I'd have the appropriate leftovers. Then cover each tray with aluminum foil* – I did not mark what was inside, who had the time for nice details like that? 🙂 When Yosef and I went out to dinner, our kids had the treat of choosing a “mystery tray” – a wholesome form of gambling (but pretty safe because they were meals that they already liked anyway) and each one would be getting something different. The babysitter would heat them up and our kids had exciting meals, telling us the next morning what each one had had (I never heard about trades, though that might have been possible).

Now as an older widow with occasional guests, I often freeze part of the cooked ingredients for a recipe before assembling let's say half of the total recipe, I also freeze individual portions of stews or soups, or what will in future be pot pies or Shepherd's pies, so that they'll be ready for the crust or mashed potato topping when I am making those things for other meals.

Ed. note: These days we know that aluminum foil is not a great choice for food contact. It does happen to be, however, a great way to protect foods in the freezer. My suggestion is to put a layer of parchment paper or freezer paper on top of the food and then wrap it in aluminum foil. Remove both the paper and the foil before reheating. Or you can buy glass compartmented meal prep containers with either 2 or 3 compartments and make your own modern tv dinners.