Friday 7 November 2014

Word of the Week - Leftovers

Posted by Rosie


The Reading Residence

leftover

ˈlɛftəʊvə/

noun -
plural noun: leftovers
something, especially food, remaining after the rest has been used.


This week we have eaten well but we have eaten primarily on leftovers from our own Sunday roast and on food left in the gite by guests.
On Sunday Simon cooked a leg of roast mutton and being mutton rather than lamb there was a lot of meat (even more than carnivore Ben could eat) and it gave us plenty more meals:
Monday - Moroccan lamb with rice
Tuesday - Moroccan shepherd's pie based on this recipe by Janie at Hedgecomers
(we like Moroccan flavours!)
Several sandwiches and wraps
Image from Janie at Hedgecomers

Gite guests had left some sausages after deciding to eat out on the last night so on Wednesday we had sausage casserole, complete with veg they had also left and the the remaining chickpeas from one of the lamb meals.

Lurking in the freezer was some leftover pumpkin from a while ago so this got defrosted.  Half was made into a spiced pumpkin cake and the other half mixed with leftover potato and veg for a pumpkinny bubble and squeak.  Was that a case of using up left over leftovers I wonder?

In the fruit bowl there were 3 apples, also left by guests, that were a bit the worse for wear having been to England and back with the boys and me (the apples, not the guests, they were from Holland) and a bunch of overripe bananas.  How come when I buy lots of bananas no-one eats them and then when I only buy a few they get wolfed down and more are demanded?  Anyway, not wanting to waste any of this fruit I:
Cooked the apples up with some frozen blackberries which have been lovely on my breakfast porridge;
Made a banana and berry loaf;
Made banana ice cream.

After all that lot the fridge is looking pretty bare but our tummies are nice and full.   

In the UK we waste 7 million tonnes of food per year and half of this could have been eaten.  That is a frightening statistic and are more facts and figures here.

I actually enjoy cooking with leftovers.  It saves time and energy and I often come up with some new and interesting meals, although rarely manage to recreate them!  Do you have a favourite way to use up leftovers?

14 comments :

  1. I love left-overs too! There are lots of recipes out there you can use to deal with left-overs. One just needs to be creative ;) Don't like throwing food out. Then again, we don't. Our dog eats whatever needs to be thrown-away and he thanks us with a joyful little skip :) #wotw.

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    1. LOL - we have children husband, dogs, cats, chicken, dogs and pigs who are all ready to take our left-overs if needs be!

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  2. I love leftovers! They always seem to be so full of flavour. The Moroccan Shepherds Pie looks delicious x #WotW

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    1. It was delicious. I really do recommend making it. I used leftover chunks of meat rather than mince.

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  3. This is the reason why I batch cook. I dont want to waste food as we need to save as much as we can for bills esp on cold months when electricity fund will be needed a lot. Left overs if theres any goes to work with my husband as his lunch. Bless him. #wotw

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  4. I always feel quite smug when I come up with things with leftovers! Overripe bananas (though rare as my kids love them!) are never wasted here as they'll always become muffins or loaf :) Thanks for sharing with #WotW x

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    1. I'll post up the ice cream recipe one day soon - that is a wonderful way to use up ripe bananas.

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  5. I love leftovers as well. There's nothing more satisfying than making Sunday lunch last for a few more meals. As you rightly say it does save a lot of time and energy. Your leftover meals sound delicious by the way! #WotW

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  6. We do leftovers as well and there's absolutely nothing wrong with them - I like the inventiveness of them! Though I do wish MOH wouldn't say in public have we got leftovers for tea again?! (He actually means batch cooked dinners...)

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  7. Ahh! Leftovers are brilliant! It's great to spread one meal and make it last a few x

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