Tag Archives: leftovers

Quick Leftover Rice – Chicken Fried Rice

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So, I’m sitting on my back screened-in porch, watching my kids play in the sprinklers, and watching our little “home-made” terrarium filled with tadpoles…. while I food-blog. Honestly? Pretty good day! We collected tadpoles for a home-school science project to document the frog’s life-cycle. It has been so much fun! We’ve only had them almost a week, but they’ve already grown! Watching my kids want to check on them as SOON as they wake up has been really fun. It’s also been pretty cool for me! The funniest was when we went to catch them, and my daughter decided that she wanted to hold a tadpole. I said, if you can catch one, and not squish it, you can hold one. So, she sets out determined to catch one. I give her a couple of tips and she catches one! She holds out her hand SQUEALING at the top of lungs at me “I GOT ONE, I GOT ONE, I GOT ONE”, with her little hand shaking violently over the rocky ground. Out of pure thought for the poor tadpole, I told her to quickly put the tadpole back into the puddle before she drops it out of excitement onto the ground! She, luckily, properly followed instructions and the tadpole lived to see another day… at least, if a bird didn’t find that puddle later that day… 😉 My daughter doesn’t have to know that though. 🙂 I will honestly try my very best to always remember that high-pitched squeal, her excited face, and her shaking hand with that slimy little tadpole in it! Brings a smile to my face just thinking about it! So Much Fun!

So… later that night, after ALL OF THAT EXCITEMENT and trying to haul WAY to much water from the tadpole’s “home” back to our house… I did not have a lot of energy to cook dinner. BUT, I did have leftover rice from the other nights dinner. And you know what is perfect for leftover white rice? (Especially leftover from chinese takeout). Fried Rice!!!!!! This recipe is quick, easy and delicious!!!

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3-4 Servings… depending on how hungry you are!

Ingredients:

3-4 cups of leftover rice (or just cooked…)
1/2 cup of leftover chicken cut into 1/2 to 1″ cubes (rotisserie works GREAT!) or cook up a couple of chicken tenderloins and slice
1 cup frozen mixed veggies (I used the peas, carrots, corn and beans mix)
1/4 of a yellow sweet onion sliced and chopped fine
1 TB olive oil
1/2 tsp minced garlic
2 eggs
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
3 TB coconut or soy aminos (or soy sauce) (or more, depending on your preference)
2 green onions

 

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Directions:

  1. If you do not have leftover rice, go ahead and start to prepare it in your rice cooker or stove top pan now.
  2. Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium heat.
  3. Add onion, garlic, and frozen vegetables into the heated oil. Stir fry until tender.
  4. Add the rice and chicken and stir until incorporated. Add the sesame oil and stir again.
  5. Bring all of the rice to the side and crack your 2 eggs  into the pan (as you see above) and scramble the eggs. Once cooked, stir and incorporate throughout the rest of the rice dish.
  6. Add soy sauce to pan. Stir in soy sauce and remove from heat.
  7. Garnish with some sliced green onion and ENJOY!

 

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And now, for the quote of the day:

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Leftovers Skillet MishMash Meal

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One thing that I have found since I have started this food blog, is that every time I go to a restaurant… I become very… weird about food. I like, want to dissect it. I want to know the ingredients to see if I can re-create it. I want to see if I can figure out what spices they use… if I could make it better! Any other food blogger out there experience this? What happens after that, is that you go BACK after you’ve re-made the dish… and you like YOURS better. That’s what happens when you re-make a dish to suite your specific likes. I’ll have to do this with a dish soon and post it. I love restaurant make-over dishes, OR copy cats!!!!

By the end of the week do you have a fridge and freezer of very little vegetables, a couple pieces of chicken that didn’t quite get eaten and half of a jar of spaghetti sauce? Do you ever wonder WHAT DO I DO WITH THEM??? Well… you do THIS!

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Depending on how many leftovers you have: mine served 4 people

Ingredients

1 TB olive oil
1 TB butter (optional)
1/2 cup low sodium FF organic chicken broth (or water)
1 zucchini sliced and halved
2 chicken tenderloins cooked and chopped into bite size pieces
1/2 onion chopped
3 yukon gold potatoes – washed, sliced and cut into bite size pieces
3 carrots peeled and washed and chopped
1/4 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
1 TB shredded parmesan cheese
1/2 jar (or more if you have it) of Vodka Sauce (or any leftover spaghetti sauce)
1 large handful of organic spinach

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Directions:

Thaw and chop your chicken from previous meals. You can even use whatever leftover rotisserie chicken or turkey that you have! Heat the 1 TB olive oil in a large skillet. Add the onions and carrots. Sautee until the onions become translucent. Add the diced potatoes and the chicken broth (or water). Stir around and add the lid and let simmer until the potatoes become soft (test with a fork). Remove the lid and add the zucchini, chicken, butter, and spaghettis cause. Stir until well incorporated and has started to simmer again. Let this simmer until the zucchini is cooked to your liking. I like mine still a bit crunchy, but some like their’s almost to mush… Up to you! Then, right before you serve, add the spinach and the parmesan, toss and SERVE!

This was SOO good, so easy, and really great to empty out my fridge of the last few items of things right before I went grocery shopping. Then you don’t have a mixture of old with new!

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And now, for the quote of the day:

Sauteed Summer Veggies and Bacon over Cheese Grits

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Leftovers… seems to be the theme this week! I guess that’s not a bad thing, right?! Who wants to throw out the leftover bits of food in their fridge? Not me! I like to try to use it here and there before it goes bad! I freeze a lot of leftovers so I have time to use it. Sometimes on the weekend I copy what my mom used to do. I remember, when growing up, we used to have 1 day a week where all of the leftovers would come out of the fridge or freezer, be heated up, and that was our lunch or dinner. We didn’t want to waste good food! So these past few recipes have been me using up food from previous recipes this month. Works well!

This one I actually made for lunch! And I was able to whip it up really quick since I used leftovers!!

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Ingredients:

3/4 to 1 cup of leftover (or fresh!) cheesy corn grits (or leftover polenta!)
1 small zucchini
1 large carrot
1 piece of bacon
handful of chopped baby spinach
1-2 TB unsalted butter
salt and pepper to taste
optional topping of parmesan cheese
1 TB chopped onion (I used some leftover onion I had storing in my freezer)

 

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Directions:

Start out by chopping your carrots, and zucchini. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat. Add your zucchini and carrots first. After they start to cook, add the onions and bacon and let the onions caramelize. While this is cooking, heat up your grits, either by cooking from scratch, or if you have leftovers  you add 2-3 TB of water (because the grits absorbs all of the liquid when it’s stored in the fridge) and microwave for 1-2 minutes until it is smooth and creamy again. Place the grits into a small bowl or onto a small plate and set aside. At the last minute, when the veggies are slightly browned, but still have a bit of a crunch, toss the chopped spinach into the pan and let just slightly wilt. Pour the veggies over the grits and add parmesan cheese if so desired and serve (or eat!) immediately! Enjoy!

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This dish is bright, colorful, crunchy, creamy and filling! Give this quick dish a try today!

And now, for the quote of the day:

#inspirational #quotes

Quick Leftovers Chicken Quesadilla

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I’m continuing in this post with using up my leftovers. I used some leftover chicken that I had (you can even use leftover rotisserie chicken for this!!!) This was quick, easy, everything grabbed last minute and MAYBE took 15 minutes! After a busy and crazy day, what’s better than that?! It’s also kid friendly!

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I served this with some chips and salsa… you could also serve it with some spinach or some sour cream and salsa to dip it in. It’s actually quite versatile!

This is for 2 quesadillas… just double, triple etc for more!

Ingredients:

2 flour (or corn… or wheat for that matter!) tortillas
1/4 lb of diced of shredded chicken (already cooked)
2 pieces of cooked bacon – chopped
1/2 sliced avocado
3/4 to 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup diced sweet mini peppers (or 1/2 bell pepper chopped)
2-3 TB chopped sweet yellow onion
optional: a few sundried tomato pieces! You can add it in there, or use fresh tomatoes, either would be good!
optional: spinach or a bit of hot sauce

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Directions:

Start of by dicing and slicing your veggies. Get your avocado out and slice 1/2. What I do, is slice the whole thing, and ten place the 1/2 that I don’t use in a baggie (pre-sliced and not in the shell) into the freezer that I can pull out later and use in smoothies). Once all of your veggies are cut, you can pull out your chicken and bacon. I used leftovers. If you do not have leftovers, but still want to make this, just quick cook it up in a bit of olive oil with salt and pepper. I usually use pre-cooked bacon and cook it quickly in the microwave and then crumble it up.

But 1/2 TB in the bottom of the skillet and let it melt and medium to medium low temp on the stove. Once melted, place 1 of the tortillas on the skillet. Cover with desired amount of cheese, then place half of chicken, then the veggies, and ending with the avocado. Fold over the tortilla and let it brown for a minute or two, then flip it over with a large spatula. Let it continue to cook for 2-3 minutes, until the cheese is melted and starting to ooze out the side. Remove from skillet and place on a plate, and repeat with the 2nd tortilla. I usually cut each quesadilla in 2-4 pieces with a pizza cutter. Serve with some salsa, maybe some sour cream, and enjoy!!!!

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And now, for the quote of the day:

But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all might hear it. So I was rescued from the lion’s mouth. The Lord will rescue me from every evil deed and bring me safely into his heavenly kingdom. To him be the glory forever and ever. Amen. 2 Timothy‬ ‭4‬:‭17-18‬

Taco Salad with a Creamy Dressing

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What’s for lunch??? Can’t figure it out? Have a bunch of left over hodge podge foods in your fridge and freezer??? I did! So, I made Taco Salad!!!

First, I made the dressing:

Dressing Ingredients:

3 TB FF Greek Yogurt PLAIN
3 TB restaurant style salsa
1 tsp chopped dill
1 TB chopped cilantro
1/8 tsp fresh minced garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Stir up all of the above ingredients for the dressing in a 2 cup glass liquid measuring cup, and set aside.

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Salad

1/2 cucumber cut up
grape tomatoes
1/2 an avocado
1 TB cheese
Leftover taco meat (that had corn and black beans in it)
Butter Lettuce

 

Cut up all of the salad ingredients. Place into bowl, and top with taco meat. Then, drizzle with dressing and sprinkle with cheese. For a little extra, add some crushed tortilla chips (like me, I used all those chip crumbs from the bottom of a chip bag that was still for some reason in our pantry still…).

 

Enjoy!!!

And, the quote of the day:

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