Crouching Chicken, Hidden Leftoversby Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger 14 Nov 2007 05:14 AM Leftovers are one of the absolute best ways to save on your food bill. By planning leftovers, you'll cook less and spend less energy on clean up, too. But sometimes your family just doesn't want leftovers. Other times there just might not be enough left over to make an actual meal. You can always try saving the leftovers for freezer soup, but I bet by now that you could use some more ideas. When either of these things happen, or when you or your family get so sick of leftovers, you can try performing some slight of hand to turn those old leftovers into new meals. You don't even have to tell your family that you used a single leftover at all. They will all think that the meal is fresh and new. Here are some quick ideas for hiding those leftovers. A while back I wrote an article for the Food Blog that contained a recipe for Romans Pants. My family loved it because of the unexpected addition of using a pie crust. The recipe calls for canned chicken, but I have to confess that when I make it, I often have a lot of "crouching chicken" hidden in there. I call it crouching, because it lays in wait for my unsuspecting family. Another idea that could work for practically any type of leftover, whether it is a single slice of ham that no one wants to make into a sandwich, to steak, pork or hamburger, is to add some cheese and eggs and turn it into an omelet. Having breakfast for dinner is fun and just the distraction you need for those hidden leftovers. Or simply make it as a breakfast meal. If you do this often enough, no one will even notice that last nights dinner and that morning's breakfast have a lot in common. Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, technology in the Computing Blog, and creating a home in the Home Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here. Related Articles: 3 Meals that Feed Your Family for $1.50 or Less Learn more about Mary Ann Romans  Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat. Relevantfrugal tags User Comments jonesx6 (1606) 14 Nov 2007 05:57 AMAnother idea with leftover ham is to make mac & cheese and then throw some ham in it. I then put it into the oven, sprinkle it w/ cheese and bake for 20 minutes or so. It's very yummy but you must make homemade mac and cheese w/ it. lol Laura Oonie (65) 14 Nov 2007 10:03 AMLaura, we do the same thing with chicken breast in mac&cheese too. And I'm newly obsessed with Robin Miller on the Food Network who is all about "morphing." Making turkey breast? Make two, one with hoisin for dinner tonight, one plain for dinner in two days, chopped up and mixed with eight other things to bear no resemblance to tonight's dinner. Loving her!  Mary Ann Romans |
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