I don’t know about you but I love leftovers! You go to all the trouble to make a nice meal for your family, get creative and pour out your expectations of a great dinner into that beautiful piece of meat, so I say, stretch it out and make it pay.
In my family, I tend to be the one happiest to eat leftovers, so after the first leftover day I don’t feel bad if they become mine alone, and I can always make more if they are clamoring.
Day One:
Crockpot takes center stage and I place in it a beautiful few pounds of pot roast (that has been coated with seasonings and seared to perfection), potatoes (got ‘em free in the fall), onions (also free), little carrots scraped of their skins (from our garden), and a couple of pieces of celery, cut artistically even though I know that none will notice… (I also seasoned and browned the veggies first in some olive oil). Add some beef broth and red wine, set the crockpot to high and leave it to its own simmering meditations.
Time to eat! Spoon out the meat and veggies and make gravy with the juices. I am low carb so I add nothing to this and don’t eat very many veggies, just the meat and gravy (made with a little corn starch to thicken). If you are not low carb, add some biscuits or rolls – also a salad. Freeze half of the leftover beef.
Is this the ultimate in good eats or what? Let’s find out what happens next.
Day Two:
Leftovers eaten warmed up and delicious as the first day.
Day Three:
Slice thin some of the roast, make a tzatziki sauce. Saute till caramelly; some onions, add the beef. Warm up a low carb tortilla and place the meat and onion mixture in the middle, add some lettuce shreds and just enough tzatziki to make it wonderfully drippy and not socially acceptable. Thaw out the leftover beef from Day 1.
Oh wow, this may not be a REAL gyro but it is close enough!
Day Four:
Saute some zucchini, onions, mushrooms (if you eat them), red peppers and add half of the thawed beef with some garlic and ginger….this is now an oriental dish. Serve hot with soy sauce alone, or if you are not low carb, with some rice or noodles. If you like it hot, add some wasabi or cayenne while heating, or pepper flakes.
Day Five:
Leftover Oriental…what could be better?
Day Six:
Hmmm am I tired of this dish? A little, but what to do?
Make a cheese sauce!
Since I didn’t spice mine up too much on the first day, I can make one new life of this seemingly eternal pot roast. Make a low carb cheese sauce (which by the way, is so easy it is ridiculous – heavy whipping cream, heated till bubbly and reduced slightly, add grated cheddar or your favorite cheese, voila!).
Warm some stir fried veggies and meat, add some frozen broccoli. Pour cheese sauce over the top……did I mention that I love cheese sauce?
That made two servings so tomorrow I will eat the last serving myself and congratulate myself on being thrifty.
Day Seven:
I feel loved (by my past self) and fed as I eat the last of the cheese covered leftovers and wonder, what else can I stretch to perfection?
by: Gayle Bonato
