Do it again

And again.

I'm definitely getting better at it.

Wasting food, and recycling it, that is. Now there's less waste. The problem starts because I'm incapable of cooking for fewer than 4 people. When there were 3 of us, that meant there was often enough left over for 2 of us to take lunch to work the next day.

When it became just 2 of us, I could skip a night of cooking when there was enough to feed us again. Well, often that just gets old. And I do hate to waste food. Remember the nikujaga fail that turned into a save?

I've made soup out of leftover dal before, and recently did that again. I found a can of beets in the cupboard, heated it with some broth, hit it with the immersion blender and came up with a decent soup with the addition of choi sum leaves and adjusted spices.

Pork tofu is a very humble local dish made with sauteed onions, ginger, lean pork cut into strips, cooked with shoyu and a touch of sugar. Then add big cubes of firm tofu, sprigs of watercress and bean sprouts. Very satisfying served with hot rice, and I eat all the tofu I can get my hands on. I remember as a child, I could never get enough of the tofu!

There were plenty of pork tofu leftovers, and I heated some dashi and added them to create Pork Tofu Soup! Serve with lots of cilantro and green onions. I admit I'm sooo easily bored with leftovers that I have a compulsion to turn them into something else! Before we were married, I remember my father-in-law telling me I had a "sassy mouth" when I declined to eat the same thing two nights in a row. He was right. I need to at least skip a night. Or transform the leftovers into something sort of new!

A few nights ago, we ate a colorful meal of 12-grain rice with steelhead salmon simply seasoned and sauteed. To go with it, I found a slightly sprouty potato that I sliced and nearly cleared the vegetable bin of odds and ends. I sliced half a zucchini, a quarter of a red potato, onion, half a large carrot, half a red bell pepper, half a package of beautiful oyster mushrooms, a fist size hunk of red cabbage and a handful of yellow grape tomatoes. I sauteed these in olive oil plus freshly ground black pepper and sea salt.

The DH was groaning with pleasure over this! I admitted, it IS colorful, but he said, no, no, the TASTE! He can be very appreciative!

Well, this made WAY too many leftovers, which were made into a frittata tonight. I turned them into a pan and heated them, added 7 eggs (6 looked like too little!) beaten with some salt, turned several times until cooked through, then topped with shredded cheese.

Served with tomato and white nectarine wedges, The DH ate this with hot sauce and ketchup and a side of spicy poke with tobiko. I passed on the poke, and ate my frittata - naked!

But, of course, there are leftovers of this - enough for breakfast for one really  hungry person, or for two with toast and fruit!

Do you eat leftovers? Do you repurpose them, or just re-serve?