Transforming leftovers is something I find oddly entertaining. To me, leftovers waiting for me in the refrigerator are the greatest gift ever at the end of a busy day. I love them and have no problem eating the same meal for dinner a couple of nights in a row.
Ryan, on the other hand, isn’t a huge fan of leftovers. It’s not that he refuses to eat leftovers, but they simply aren’t his favorite. I know some people are leftover lovers while others aren’t, so I get it. But I have found a way around Ryan’s distaste for leftovers… Transforming leftovers into a seemingly “new” dish is key!
Leftover pulled pork from pulled pork sandwiches on night one becomes pulled pork quesadillas on night two. Leftover chicken thighs become chicken and rice soup. Leftover shrimp skewers becomes shrimp stir fry. You get the idea!
Throughout the years we have been ordering Blue Apron deliveries, I’ve been pleased to find myself using the recipes again and again. They’re so easy to follow thanks to the picture tutorial recipe cards and I simply tuck them into my overflowing recipe binder.
While I frequently make the recipes exactly the way I made them the first time, I will often double the recipes so we have leftovers on hand. The extra effort is minimal and I love knowing we’ll get a few dinners out of every meal I prepare.
Today I thought it might be fun to show you how I took a basic Blue Apron recipe I’ve tried and loved in the past and repurposed it into a different dish for lunch or dinner the next day. The dishes are similar, but by changing up the sides or other key components of the dish, I was able to repurpose parts of the recipe in a seemingly new way.
Using Leftovers In A New Way
- Miso Yuzu-Glazed Cod becomes Miso-Glazed Salmon
To change up this recipe, I doubled the recipe for the miso glaze we used on fresh cod filets. (I omitted the yuzu juice from the glaze since it was hard to find outside of our Blue Apron delivery and we still loved it.) When I roasted the cod, I also roasted two salmon filets in the miso glaze so we would have miso-glazed salmon ready to quickly reheat the next night for dinner.
Oh! And you guys must try this miso glaze. (It is actually what inspired me to try miso paste on chicken thighs which led me to creating the recipe for Easy Baked Miso Chicken Thighs I shared on Tuesday!) We are obsessed with this glaze in our house and use it on almost any kind of fish:
For two fish filets:
- 2 Tablespoons Red Miso Paste
- 2 Teaspoons Light Brown Sugar
- 1 1/2-Inch Piece Ginger
- 1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together until smooth.
Salt and pepper fish filets and place onto a lightly-oiled sheet pan. Top with glaze, spreading evenly to coat. Roast in a 400-degree oven for 12 to 14 minutes, or until the glaze is browned and the fish is cooked through.
- Fresh Fettuccine Pasta with Porcini Mushroom Bolognese becomes Sautéed Zoodles with Porcini Mushroom Bolognese
To change up this recipe, I simply doubled the recipe for the Porcini Mushroom Bolognese sauce so we’d have extras to enjoy the next night. On night two, I swapped out the fresh fettuccini pasta for spiralized zucchini – zoodles! – for a veggie-packed dish. Also, if I want to make this meal have a little more staying power (especially if I’m planning to serve it over zoodles), I’ll often add ground beef or turkey to the bolognese sauce as well. It’s so tasty!
- Za’atar-Roasted Broccoli Salad becomes Za’atar Sweet Potato Bowls
To change up this recipe, I doubled the amount of broccoli I roasted and also added chopped cauliflower to the roasting pan. The next night, I made Za’atar Sweet Potato Bowls by topping the Za’atar roasted veggies with mashed sweet potatoes, fried eggs, avocado, salt and pepper.
Blue Apron Discount Offer
Though Blue Apron seems to be popping up everywhere these days, for those who may be in the dark about the meal delivery service, here’s a brief rundown:
Blue Apron delivers farm-fresh ingredients to make delicious chef-designed recipes for two or four people. The ingredients arrive in a refrigerated box and include detailed recipe cards to walk you through food preparation. You may view the recipes that will be coming your way ahead of time and swap them out for meals that appeal to you so you’ll always receive something that sounds great to you!
If you would like to try Blue Apron, simply click here and the first 25 PBF readers will receive THREE free meals on their first Blue Apron order.
I really hope you enjoy the recipes as much as we do and have fun drawing inspiration from them in the meals you make at home!
Question of the Day
- Leftovers: Love them or hate them?
- What is one of your favorite meals to make that you like to use in a new way?
A go-to for me is repurposing a whole baked chicken into veggie-packed chicken quesadillas the second night!
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I love leftovers! I don’t mind eating the same thing all week if it’s something I love. My favorite way to re-purpose leftovers though is with grilling. When we grill, we like to make a bunch extra and use it for salads, sandwiches, tacos, pasta, etc., especially since setting up the grill takes some time and effort. Plus it’s so easy to throw different meats / vegetables on the grill, so it gives us lots of variety!
Agreed!! I’m so glad grilling season is back!!
Those za’atar sweet potato bowls look amazing!!! 🙂
Yum! I am a huge fan of transforming leftovers too because I am a former leftover hater myself. Now I like to see how I can give the leftovers a new “life” if you will…very dramatic haha!
I love when I have leftovers planned for dinner, it makes life so easy. Usually to make it different I always change up the carb, rice, wraps, sweet potatoes, they all make a dish totally different. And I am also a fan of putting fried eggs on just about everything!
What kind of miso paste do you buy? I’m going to look for it at my grocery store this weekend.
I totally dont mind leftovers at all and luckily neither does the husband. While we dont tend to have leftovers for dinner, he takes them to work everyday for lunch (so I just make sure to make an extra servicing each night). Makes getting things ready in the morning much faster!
Leftovers were never my thing, but my husband loves them. So, like you, we got creative! Taking one ingredient and transforming it into another meal keeps dinners fresh and cuts down on waste.
I love leftovers. Especially Italian food leftovers for some reason. However, I typically just like eating leftovers just as they were the day before, and I usually don’t even bother to heat them up. But one of my favorite meals that I like to use in a new way is any sort of chicken – grilled, baked/breaded into nuggets, sautéed, whatever. I love making different wraps or quesadillas or soups with it. Or even putting it in eggs or throwing it on top of a salad to take to work throughout the week.
I do cold leftovers ALL the time, too! For some reason, I especially LOVE cold spaghetti and have ever since I was a little girl!
Awesome ideas! My boyfriend, Felix, is the same way as Ryan. He’ll eat leftovers, but he won’t be excited. I, on the other hand, am totally fine with it, but meals are so much better when both people are thrilled about them! I’ll have to give some of these a try and eventually try Blue Apron too!
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We love leftovers! Our most used leftover is definitely chicken or ground beef – we’ll make taco salad and tacos, or poppy seed chicken casserole and sliced chicken or chicken quesadillas. So easy! And budget friendly!
Oooh! I’m intrigued by the poppy seed chicken casserole! Is the recipe on your blog?
It’s not! BUT IT CAN BE! Haha I’ll try to blog it this weekend! 🙂 It’s an old family favorite!!
Since it’s just the two of us, I don’t make more than I know we’ll eat so we don’t ever have leftovers. This has me rethinking that though because it’d be nice to have stuff ready to roll for the next night’s dinner!
love everything about this post!! with my new full-time job, having leftovers has been a saving grace for office lunches or when i come home too tired to make something new. thanks for sharing! 🙂
Such a great post!
I love finding new ways to use leftovers.
Izzy |http://www.pinchofdelight.com
I love leftovers! I hate packing lunch so I’ll often make extra of whatever we have for dinner and just pack up the leftovers for lunch the next day. Today I had leftover veggie hash + fried eggs from last night’s dinner and it was perfect 🙂
That miso glaze sounds awesome! I’ve never cooked with miso paste before, I’ll have to look for it.
Ha ha, you and your husband are just like me and my husband. I’ll eat leftovers, he rarely does. (Unless it’s my meatball recipe – he’ll eat those forever.) I mean, he WILL eat leftover food, but he kind of has to be nudged into it. lol
Anyhow, great job on all these leftover ideas! I keep wanting to try Blue Apron but haven’t yet.
Great ideas! I also like to eat leftover dinner for breakfast sometimes. Who says breakfast has to look like ‘breakfast’?! For example, my husband would make a steak sandwich for breakfast out of leftover steak and I might fry some eggs in the morning to eat with leftover sautéed kale and a sweet potato. I actually love greens in the mornings =)
These are great ideas for leftovers! Leftovers usually don’t get eaten because most people don’t want to eat the same thing. I will definitely have to go and try some of these recipes!