Monday, March 2, 2009

Don't be hatin'...

...Be appreciatin'.

Appreciatin' leftovers, that is.

Lately I've been using the crock pot a lot more, and I'm using recipes that end up giving us several servings. So, we get a yummy, home cooked dinner, plus about a week's worth of lunches for the two of us, or a couple more night's worth of dinner. Leftovers are also saving us money.

I'll choose meals with relatively cheap ingredients, and because they go so far, I spend less money on items like lunch meat and other junky lunch snacks we really don't need since we end up getting hearty, filling, healthy meals from our leftovers.

It's lovely. It really is.

Take tonight for example. I went to work and then had a few errands to run. I got home after 6, so we were all hungry and ready for dinner. I had it in my head that we could have breakfast burritos, but as soon as I asked Dennis to cook them while I cleaned up the house a bit, we realized we had a whopping two eggs left. So much for that idea.

Oooh! But we have pasta and spaghetti sauce - we'll have spaghetti! Yeah, except we always have beef in the sauce, and that would require thawing burger, cooking it, draining it, blah blah blah. Just too much work on this night.

THEN we opened up the freezer.

Lo and behold! It's a container of cheesy chicken from a couple weeks ago. It was delectable, and just enough for the two of us.

I remember when I was a kid and we'd have leftovers. I was such a whiny brat about it sometimes, I'm sure.

"Awww, but Moooo-ooooom, we just had meatballs. Waah, waah, waah."

"Macaroni again? I'm sick of that. I don't want that."

Man, if I could go back in time I'd slap my bratty little face!

Now that I juggle things like work, a family, and everything in between, just like my mom did, I have a whole new appreciation for leftovers.

They're hot, home cooked meals without the work. The work has already been done. And they can be thawed easily by husbands while wives huff and puff around the house about all the other things that need to be done.

Want the recipe for the Cheesy Chicken we had tonight? Click the picture to check it out.



I also get a lot of our crock pot recipes from The Crock Pot Lady. I highly recommend checking her out as well.




Be sure to go check out Deb and Jay for more Tuesday's Tributes.

11 comments:

AndreaLeigh said...

just stopping by from sits to say hello. that cheesy chicken looks divine!

Halftime Lessons said...

I might be totally deranged, but that plate looks pretty damn good to me...although for me, smother a foot in cheese, though, and instant fetish.

I am off to find your crock pot lady...that sounds like a site I can appreciate. As long as nothing has more than 4 ingredients.

Anonymous said...

I love the crockpot. I hate gettting it all going in the morning but I am so happy when it's dinnertime and it's all ready to go.

April said...

You are so right. Now that I am a mom, I LOVE leftovers. And microwaves.

Deb said...

i have to admit i am scared of the crockpot. do you really just put in all the ingredients in the morning and then just leave? and when you come home, the food is perfectly ready? i may need to try this.

Jenners said...

You know .. I do need to do the crock pot thing again because you are so right ... especially when it is hard to get away from the kid long enough to make dinner. I go through stages when I am all about the crock pot and then I stop. Time to get back on the bus!

Danyele Easterhaus said...

i bow in honor of the crock pot...i am a momma of 4 girlies and i don't know what i would do with out it!!!

Young Momma said...

I wish I had a crock pot!!! We do everything in large amounts too. Live on left overs most of the week after good cooking over the weekend. :)

Texasholly said...

I am inspired by this thought. I hate left-overs but part of the reason is that I don't cook well enough to have it delicious the first time. I will go check out the Crock Pot Lady!

junglemama said...

What a blessing leftovers are! The chicken looks yummy!

BTW, I was looking through your books on the left handcolumn. I love Francine Rivers!

Anonymous said...

Hey girlie,

The link to the recipe doesn't work -- not fair! I want that recipe. - Jenni

 
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