BSI Round up

Good morning my friends (and new Friends!!!)...

This was my week to host the Blogger Secret Ingredient.  I chose an ingredient near and deer to my heart, leftovers.  The goal was to make a completely different meal from last nights leftovers.  Everyone did terrific... Here we go...

Biz from My Bizzy Kitchen made Mac and cheese one night, and turned that into an incredible Mac and Cheese vegetable soup!  I have become a sucker for soups recently, and just love the looks of this.  I am still in the "follow the recipe" stage, and really admire this "toss stuff in the pot" wonderful looking and sounding leftover meal.  She even offers a great tip on keeping the macaroni fresh tasting in the soup.  Well done.

Biz' sister, Jenn from Slim Shoppin' also made a soup.  Really creative, she used the left over flavor and vitamin enhanced water from cooking cauliflower one nigh, and turned that water into a flavor filled Roasted Tri-Color Pepper Soup.  Not meaning to split hares, but the soup is actually purreed into a bisque.  The photo to the right is her son and his second helping.  It sounds wonderful, and reusing the water is exactly the spirit of leftovers.  Nothing should go to waste, and just consider the possibilities before you throw away good ingredients (in this case, the water fromt he cauliflower is better than fresh water from the tap).

Next up, near and dear to my heart is not to throw away bread.  That was my New Year's resolution this year, and I have stuck to it so far.  I got a great tip from Corina at the Searching For Spice Blog.  She makes her own bread (you go girl).  One of the advantages of homemade bread is that it has no preservatives.  One of the disadvantages is that it does not have any preservatives.  use it fast, cause it gets stale and molds in just three or four days.  Corina took her left over bread and made bread crumbs which she used to make a Lemon Sole with a Spicy Crust.  Just a quick note about Corina's blog, while she has been blogging since January, it has only been in the last two months that she has started blogging almost daily.  Take a second and check in on this "new" blogger  She tells a fine story and does family recipes.  Worth a look, keep it up Corina, I added you to my blogroll, and will be checking in (and stealing your recipes... like this fish, sounds terrific!).

Veronica from Recipe Rhapsody (Don't you just LOVE that name for a foodie blog!) took a left over ingredient from her pumpkin bagels and made pumpkin butter.  Very very timely suggestion.  I am a huge fan of flavored butter.  And, as Ronnie (can I call you Ronnie?), as Veronica says, "Don’t you hate it when a recipe calls for 1/2 cup of pumpkin, or any other measurement other than the entire can?".  Ain't that the truth.  Unless you make a habit of finding clever uses for those extra bits.  Pumpkin Butter is genius!

Next up, Christy from Frugality and Crunchiness with Christy came up with not one, but two uses for her original Crab Meat dip.  First, I loved the sound of the dip to begin with, and can't believe there was any left.  But she made extra for a party, so I understand.  She used some to make Crab Ragoon, love those!  But next, she converted the dip into a wonderful sounding crab cake.  She even used a bit of leftover stuffing for these, making a double use of a second leftover.  Wonderful job!

And yet another well done multi user of her leftovers is Debbie from Debbie Does Dinner... Healthy and Low Calorie.  Debbie made up a big pot of delicious sounding vegetables in a pumpkin sauce!  Now that alone sounds intriguing, Happy Thanksgiving side dish!  But the next day, she added some chicken (sounds like to please her carnivore husband), and the next day, she made a vegetarian wrap.

All sounds amazing.

Like I said when I announced the ingredient choice of leftovers, they are near and dear to my heart.  I am a classic empty nester, cooking most of the time for just my wife and myself.  there are so many recipes and dishes I want to try .  But I also refuse to waste food.  So, I often have enough to make lunch the next day and still have more leftover.  It's either eat boring and repetitive, or be creative.

So, much as I like everyone's dishes listed above, And I want to thank you all for playing along there has to be a winner.  I apologize that I can't announce you all as winners.  There is enough old hippie in me that hates food competitions.  It really pains me to announce a winner because I don't want anyone to think less of their efforts.

But, let's just rip the band aid off...

Here's what I think is the most creative use of her leftovers...


Christina of Dinner at Christina's created a WONDERFUL sounding dish.  She started with grilled polenta (hooray) one night as a side dish.  Next day, with a batch left over, Christina started pondering.

She made her own marinara sauce (hooray).

She used her Dad's home made sausage (hooray).

She did some layering, added some cheeses and made a dish I plan to steal very soon.  It certainly is a dish that doesn't make you think you are eating leftovers.

So, Christina, drop me a note.  I need your mailing address, and I will be sending off my leftover copy of Julie Powell's Second book, CLEAVING (actually, a book on tape (although, actually it is a book on CD).  I hope you enjoy.

Next week is the 100th week of BSI.  I am passing the hosting duties on to the starter of it all, Biz... Good luck (sorry for the short notice).



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