Happy Day After Thanksgiving! (otherwise known as leftovers day!)

 Today seems an appropriate day to make a post about leftovers, and how to work them into your plan for the week.

 Leftovers are great! Cooking once and eating twice makes life so much easier. Some weeks I plan leftovers. I cook enough rice for two meals or make a big pan of pasta knowing someone will pack it in their lunch for work. I make notes in my plan to remind myself.

 Other times, leftovers appear from some where else, like a holiday, or shared from a friend or family member. Often, these are random bits and amounts that don't make an obvious meal. That is what I deal with after Thanksgiving and Christmas get-togethers. When I made our plan for the week, I knew we would be bringing leftovers home, so I didn't plan for lunch on Friday, I left that space blank.

All our family know we will gladly take any and all leftovers, so this year after Thanksgiving we brought home:

• Green bean casserole (one big serving or two small servings)
• Baked beans (one big serving or two small servings)
• 6 pieces of fried chicken (had instead of turkey, 2 wings, 1 breast, 2 legs, 1 thigh)
• 2 rolls
• 2 ears of corn
• Gravy (but no potatoes, they all got eaten)
  

Looking at this collection of food, there is not enough of anything to give everyone a full plate except the chicken, so I am going to have to change the single items into something else. I am going to serve the chicken pieces and turn the rest into a casserole to serve with it.

First I cut the corn of the cob. I hold the cob standing up on a plate and run a sharp knife down the sides to scrape the corn off. Then I am going to mix it into the green bean casserole along with the leftover gravy and a can of mixed vegetables, drained. Leftover rice would be good mixed in too. This can be heated up in the microwave or baked in the oven till warm. If I had leftover stuffing, I would sprinkle that on top before heating up.

Once the casserole is warm, I will serve it with a piece of chicken and half a roll for everyone. I would then plan to send the two wings and baked beans (plus any left over casserole we just made) in someone's work lunch.

So these leftovers made a lunch for our whole family the next day, plus a lunch for one other person later in the week. If I had not had a piece of chicken for each person, I would have taken the pieces I did have, pulled the meat off the bone and mixed into the casserole before warming it up.

Making a plan to use up leftovers is a great way to stretch your food dollars and prevent food waste. Feel free to share in the comments what creative ways you have used leftovers, I am always looking for new ideas!