"Clean Out The Frig" Augmented Soup

marilynfl

Moderator
It's a new year with a new resolution by the Hubmeister: "Let's try to use up leftover food instead of throwing so much out."

Truth be told, I'm not a leftover kind of gal. I learned to cook from my mom, who prepared large-scale meals for my father and 8 kids. We didn't even owned a pot smaller than a Dutch oven.

So while Lar and I eat well, I am guilty of cooking too much, neatly packaging the leftovers, and then ignoring them until they grow legs and walk away under their own volition.

Last night I decided to see what could be done with what I had:

Empty 2 cups of leftover boxed organic chicken broth into large sauce pan.

Augment with a 1/2 tsp of organic chicken bouillion paste.

Augment with 1/2 tsp of Chinese chili-garlic paste.

Augment with a squoosh of lemongrass paste.

Bring to simmer.

Add 3/4 C of leftover Thai Basmati rice.

Add 3/4 C of leftover cooked French green lentils with carrots.

Add 1/2 package of frozen chinese vegetables, cooked.

Shut off heat.

Add several small pieces of leftover baked halibut. Wait one minute to heat through.

Split between 2 soup bowls and top with fresh chopped cilantro and a squeeze of fresh lime. Serve with a DVD of the Gilmore Girls.

********************

It was perfect. So perfect we're having it again tonight with the remaining leftover leftovers.

This may be the first resolution ever that I might keep.

 
Did anyone else see paula deen make the quiche with shredded potatoes as the crust? I thought that

was such a great idea. I would pre-bake mine so it was crispy. Haven't had a chance to try it yet.

 
Here's what I do....I freeze leftovers: also buy rotisserie chickens, shred and freeze. Any left

overs from our dinners, brown rice, etc get added into a bag. Then when I'm ready to have soup...I empty the leftover bag first....then I decide if I want all the different meats (sometimes bacon) or just one and add some of it. Then, because my husband won't eat lentils or cooked broccoli, I add a can of progresso or Wolfgang puck lentil soup and a can of broccoli soup.

After its heated through, then I decide what seasonings to add, if I need to add carrots, celery, or onion, what kind of canned bean (or frozen bean or peas) I might want to add, or stewed tomatoes. I make a big pot...we eat some, I give some away to some needy folk.

I do this about 4 times/year.

 
I never thought about buying an extra rotisserie chicken to freeze - great idea!

I love the Costco rotisserie chicken, and have always bought one as a quickie dinner solution, but I love the idea of having one in the freezer as well.

Will definitely buy two the next time I go!

Thanks!

 
My friend saves leftover bits of cooked meats for her fried rice...

Her fried rice is so yummy. She gave me some one day, and it had bits of steak - sooo good. She said she'll save those little bits of leftover steak, Kal bi (Korean short ribs), spam, etc, and adds it to a ziploc bag in the freezer.

Then when she wants to make fried rice, she adds whatever is in that bag. Yum!

 
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