Frugal Friday: Leftover Re-do's

I haven't done a Frugal Friday post in a very long time and thought I'd talk about leftovers today. One of the best things you can do to save money in the kitchen is to make use of your leftovers. But that can be a problem because not everyone likes them. 

One of the things I like to do is to turn my leftovers into a different meal in order to make them more palatable to a few of my family members who aren't a fan of them.  It doesn't always work with everything I make, but every now and then I come up with a great idea to make a new dish.

I made a black bean stew the other night over rice and there was about 3 cups leftover.  I have a carnivore who tolerates my vegetarian dishes but he craves meat.  So tonight I took some ground beef and browned it in a cast iron skillet.  I added the leftover black bean mixture which already had diced onion, garlic, tomatoes and cilantro in it.  I added some more seasoning, as well as frozen corn I had in the freezer.  Then I mixed up some corn bread and poured the batter on top.  I popped it in the oven and baked for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.

It was very good and is gone.  That's always a good sign of a successful meal.

I made a large pot of meatballs about a week ago to go with pasta. Then we used the leftovers in meatball subs and still had some left. I decided to make meatball soup. I sautéed onion, garlic, celery and onion in a pot.  Then added diced tomatoes, the leftover meatballs, broth and seasoning.  Yum!

Leftovers don't have to be something you tolerate. They can be turned into a delicious meal of their own and you are using up every bit of what you have which saves money too. I love cooking and being creative in the kitchen and this is a great way to make that happen.