Do leftovers Right...another theme
I have recieved a few off line comments that having this does not help people create their family cookbook. I must beg to disaggree. You want to create a cookbook that will get used and that fits your family. We all are currently reevaluating our food budgets and I think some of these ideas will help you come up with a cookbook that fits your family!
High Cost of Food Got You Down
Do Leftovers Right!
My mother taught me to do leftovers. I know it is a strange thing to teach you kids but now in these difficult times I understand that her life lessons were ones that I am glad that I paid attention to. If you did not have a mother that taught you how to make things out of something else you might want to take some lessons.
My mother never boiled potatoes for potato salad. She did not have to. Mother would collect the left over potatoes from every meal through out the week and Saturday’s potato salad was made from those potatoes. She would cut up those potatoes; add her pickles, boiled eggs and mayo. My dad was a meat and potatoes kind of guy, which meant every night’s dinner, was accompanied by some kind of potato.
My mother made fresh chicken soup every Thursday to be served Friday night. The chicken from the soup was cut up and served in other chicken dishes and those leftovers were made in to, you guessed it, into chicken salad. The soup on Friday was wonderful but as the week progressed the leftover vegetables were added to the soup so by the following Thursday it really was vegetable soup. Each week that soup was different from the next since the vegetables served were different. It was a surprise soup every week.
My mother would make a big roast for the family so that there would be leftovers. The first part of the left over roast was cut into cubes and made into stroganoff or goulash. The second part of the left over meat was ground up and used for spaghetti or chili. Mother’s contention was that her cooked ground meat was no different than taking ground meat and browning it and she could control the quality of that meat and fat content.
Recently when I was teaching Heirloom Cookbook writing class, I brought my students lasagna, which I had made from leftover meat loaf that I had prepared. The students were told that this was an heirloom recipe from my growing up which was true and really says one person’s heirloom recipe can be really different from another’s. I guess I am my mothers daughter.
Now anyone can see why I don’t like leftovers but I will eat leftovers remade to make them another something.
Have any idea for the reuse of you own leftovers that you would like to share?
High Cost of Food Got You Down
Do Leftovers Right!
My mother taught me to do leftovers. I know it is a strange thing to teach you kids but now in these difficult times I understand that her life lessons were ones that I am glad that I paid attention to. If you did not have a mother that taught you how to make things out of something else you might want to take some lessons.
My mother never boiled potatoes for potato salad. She did not have to. Mother would collect the left over potatoes from every meal through out the week and Saturday’s potato salad was made from those potatoes. She would cut up those potatoes; add her pickles, boiled eggs and mayo. My dad was a meat and potatoes kind of guy, which meant every night’s dinner, was accompanied by some kind of potato.
My mother made fresh chicken soup every Thursday to be served Friday night. The chicken from the soup was cut up and served in other chicken dishes and those leftovers were made in to, you guessed it, into chicken salad. The soup on Friday was wonderful but as the week progressed the leftover vegetables were added to the soup so by the following Thursday it really was vegetable soup. Each week that soup was different from the next since the vegetables served were different. It was a surprise soup every week.
My mother would make a big roast for the family so that there would be leftovers. The first part of the left over roast was cut into cubes and made into stroganoff or goulash. The second part of the left over meat was ground up and used for spaghetti or chili. Mother’s contention was that her cooked ground meat was no different than taking ground meat and browning it and she could control the quality of that meat and fat content.
Recently when I was teaching Heirloom Cookbook writing class, I brought my students lasagna, which I had made from leftover meat loaf that I had prepared. The students were told that this was an heirloom recipe from my growing up which was true and really says one person’s heirloom recipe can be really different from another’s. I guess I am my mothers daughter.
Now anyone can see why I don’t like leftovers but I will eat leftovers remade to make them another something.
Have any idea for the reuse of you own leftovers that you would like to share?
When looking at recipes consider what foods were available and what was abundant. What foods were used to stretch a recipe as well. The foods that are used tell a story as well.
Growing up my mother didn't like making any food she hadn't grown up with. I loved eggplant and she refused to make it because according to her it wasn't available in Germany. When my sister and I went to Germany and saw it a market we had to find out it's German name. While my mother still doesn't know how to cook with it, she will eat it.
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