Shearer - Leftover makeovers: great new meals from last nights dinner

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e-ISBN: 13: 978-1-4162-0607-1

Leftover Makeovers text copyright 2011 Victoria Shearer. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form, by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented without the express written permission of Sellers Publishing, Inc. e-books.

September 2011

For Bob, who has made my lifes journey such an incredible ride.

Y oure all familiar with those magazine makeovers, where the plain, slightly overweight woman having a bad-hair-day and sporting an ill-shapen outfit is miraculously transformed into a knockout, a virtual 10, with merely a touch of makeup, a new coif, and a slimming ensemble. Impossible!

While the above scenario may, indeed, be more fiction than fact, when it comes to food good food a total makeover is not impossible at all. In fact, it is easy, economical, and fun!

We all are faced with leftovers on a daily basis. The nagging question is, What do I do with them? Warm them up and eat them, night after night, until they are gone? Boring. Plunk them in the back of the refrigerator in a covered container until they grow a furry mold? Gross. Freeze them and forget them? Wasteful.

Many countries in the world routinely use leftovers to create new dishes, using only small portions of protein poultry, meat, seafood to flavor their main staple ingredients. Asian cuisines utilize rice and noodles. Mexicans elevate flour and corn tortillas to new heights. A plateful of Italian pasta welcomes most any leftover ingredient. The English use their leftovers in pies and pastries. Both Indian and Thai cooks spice up their leftovers in curries. Americans are partial to soups, salads, pizza, and sandwiches.

Inspired by the culinary expertise found around the globe, Leftover Makeovers shows you the way to turn last nights great dinner into a totally different, completely new meal. Youll find more than 100 recipes here for entres and their enticing leftover makeovers. You can serve the new creations the next day or freeze them for use at a later date, when you might be pressed for time.

To help you save money, youll find recipes to use up scraps, extras, and past-their-prime ingredients, such as egg whites, stale bread, overripe bananas, and spotty mushrooms.

Occasionally, you may not have time to stock up on fresh food items. Your freezer may be empty, your refrigerator nearly bare. Leftover Makeovers comes to your rescue with ideas for quick meals from staple ingredients. And to ensure that you stock these staples, at the conclusion of Leftover Makeovers youll find a helpful list of innovative culinary makeover tips as well as a complete inventory of the ingredients used in the recipes in this book.

So, say goodbye to yesterdays meal. With Leftover Makeovers youll no longer hear your family say, Leftovers? Again?

The core recipes throughout the book are highlighted on pages with a faint blue tint on them. Immediately following each core recipe, you will find one or more original recipes that incorporate that core recipes leftovers into an entirely new dish. Everything you need to know how many the core recipe serves, how much of the finished dish youll have left over, and what delicious options are available to make next are all grouped together for easy viewing and meal planning.

Look for the icon throughout the book to find great tips for being creative, efficient, and prepared in the kitchen.

The icon indicates that either a portion or the entire recipe can be made in advance, saving you time and energy on busy nights. Whether you want to get most of your meal prep done and refrigerate it for later or you need to pull a completed, homemade meal from the freezer, Leftover Makeovers offers a full range of ideas.

Dig in and enjoy!

The Star Players

Poultry

Meat

Fish and Seafood

Mexican Shredded Chicken

My son Brian perfected this Mexican shredded chicken. Use this easy recipe as a base for Giant Baked Burrito and Enchiladas Verde.

2 rotisserie chickens, wings and legs removed

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 (24-ounce) jar chunky salsa

1 bottle beer

Tomato-based hot sauce

Shred chicken by hand, discarding skin and carcasses. Place olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat and add shredded chicken. Add salsa and beer and hot sauce to taste. Add water to cover chicken. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until liquid reduces and only a little sauce remains, about 2 hours. Transfer to covered containers and refrigerate or freeze until needed.

Serve as a filling for tacos, atop a tossed green salad, or with a side of rice and vegetables.

Youll need 3 cups leftover shredded chicken for the Giant Baked Burrito and 3 cups for Enchiladas Verde.

Makes: 8 cups

For a colorful presentation, put guacamole, sour cream, salsa, and lettuce in a four-portioned serving dish. Allow diners to serve themselves a portion of the burrito from the pizza stone and add their favorite toppings.

4 large (10-inch-diameter) flour tortillas

1 cup medium-spiced commercially prepared black bean dip, like H.T. Traders

cup chopped sweet onions, like Vidalia

3 cups leftover Mexican Shredded Chicken

1 (8-ounce) package shredded taco cheese, divided

2 tomatoes, thinly sliced

1 cup guacamole

1 cup sour cream

1 cup fresh salsa

2 cups shredded lettuce

Preheat oven to 425F. Place tortillas on a pizza stone or a large baking sheet so that half of each tortilla is on the stone and overlaps the next. Half of each tortilla (4 inches) will extend off the edge (overlapping tortillas will form a 9-inch square).