Cooking Cheap with Kelly Part II - Dealing with Leftovers

I am both a lazy and a frugal person. This combination has lead me to develop some very useful skills in the kitchen. I hate throwing out food that has gone bad, especially because we do not compost here. Since I also like to keep my trips to the supermercado to a minimum, most of the recipes for my meals are made on the spot. For this post, I'd like to share with you two meals I made to show how this cheap cooking is done.

Step 1 is always to take a tally of what you have and what is going to go bad first.

Ciabatta Pizza:
What was in my fridge: Ciabatta, Monterey Jack cheese, onion, green pepper, garlic, 1/5 can of Prego tomato sauce:

The other day I bought a loaf of ciabatta bread which ended up not being all that great. While stale isn't great for sandwiches, I thought it might serve as an excellent base for a pizza.
  - Cut the Ciabatta loaf in half of however much you want to eat (you may have to cut it down a little more to fit it in the toaster)
  - Toast the bread
While I didn't have any mozzarella, I'm not too snobby when it comes to cheese, so I loaded that toast up with the Monterey Jack I had on hand

Next, check out the vegetable drawer and see what's going bad:
That particular day was onions and green peppers.
- sauté whatever vegetables you have in a pan with olive oil and garlic
- if you want, you can include meat at this point


My roommate had just left this pan with bacon grease, adds a nice flavoring, just make sure it hasn't been out too long...

Depending on the tomato sauce you have leftover, you may want to add some seasoning to the veggies. Oregano is always a favorite of mine when it comes to tomato sauce meals.

- Cook the veggies for about 5 minutes, then add in your pre-made tomato sauce. The great thing about the jars of tomato sauce is that they still last a while and you can easily reseal them and keep in your refrigerator.

- Stir the sauce until it is hot
- Spread on your toast over the cheese, allowing the cheese to melt
- Let cool to desired temperature and enjoy!

Left-Over Chinese...Something:
What was in my fridge: leftover Chinese noodle soup, chicken breast, onions, green peppers, garlic

There is an amazing authentic Chinese restaurant that a fellow researcher likes to go to. She spent 4 years studying in China and is fluent in Mandarin. This is a vital thing as the restaurant is so authentic, the menu is entirely in Chinese and the wait staff speaks minimal, if any, Spanish. Last time we were there, we ordered their popular chicken noodle soup equivalent and had a lot left over. While it was super tasty, I found myself craving something with a little more substance the next day. But the soup provided a wonderful base that I have no idea how to make, from which I could make a new and different meal.

The soup already had chicken, but not a lot, so I pulled out that frozen chicken breast a few hours before. The soup didn't need much seasoning, but I wanted to make sure the chicken was seasoned to complement the soup, so I sautéd it with the onion, some salt, pepper and curry. Added in the green pepper and stirred until cooked.

Since I was making a meal with something already cooked, I made sure not to add the pre made food until the last second so that it wasn't overcooked. I added in the soup with the chicken and veggies and cooked just until hot.

Happy cooking!