Tag: leftovers

Thanksgiving Bibimbap

I’ve wanted to make a bibimbap for the longest time, just so I can say the word bibimbap. It sounds like a hip hop dance, but it’s actually a Korean dish of warm rice topped with sauteed veggies, thinly sliced meat or tofu, a fried (or raw) egg and a spicy chili sauce. I decided to get creative with the bibimbap concept, and turn it into a a fun opportunity to use up Thanksgiving leftovers.

My Thanksgiving bibimbap includes some leftover sliced turkey, green beans, sauteed shredded pumpkin, roasted brussel sprouts, chestnuts and a fried egg. It’s finished off with a drizzle of sriracha cranberry sauce, the same one I used in this recipe. You’re welcome to adapt this dish based on your Thanksgiving leftovers, just be sure to keep things simple and not mix too many flavors.

What are some of the fun ways that you repurpose your Thanksgiving leftovers? I’d love to hear! Share them with me in the comments below!

Happy Bi Bim Bopping!

Thanksgiving Bibimbap

1-2 cups shredded pumpkin or squash
1-2 cups leftover turkey, thinly sliced
1/2 lb. green beans, blanched or leftover beans
1 tsp sesame seeds, optional
1-2 cups roasted brussel sprouts (recipe here)
4 oz. roasted chestnuts
1/2 cup whole berry cranberry sauce (not jellied)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sriracha
1 egg, fried sunny side up
oil, for sauteeing
salt and pepper, to taste

Method:

In a food processor or blender, blend the cranberry sauce, soy sauce and sriracha until completely smooth. Set aside.

Heat a wok and drizzle with oil. Saute the shredded pumpkin or squash until tender. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside. Do the same with the green beans (you may add a splash of soy sauce) and coat with sesame seeds, set aside. Add the pumpkin, turkey, green beans, brussel sprouts and chestnuts to a large shallow bowl, separating them by sections. Top with a fried egg. and drizzle with cranberry sauce.

Other Thanksgiving Leftover Ideas:

leftover turkey pot pie
pot pie croquettes (use turkey instead of chicken, flour instead of potato starch, and panko instead of ground nuts)

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Corned Beef Arancini

I love the challenge of turning leftovers into something new. Especially after a long holiday, when the last thing you want to do is eat the same food you’ve been eating for a week. I open my fridge, take out all the leftovers and spread them out on the counter. Then, like a Chopped-Champion-Wannabe, I play around with my ingredients to make something new, fresh and exciting.

In the past, I whipped up a lightened up turkey pot pie with my leftover turkey roast. When I was challenged to come up with a dish for my leftover corned beef and some delicious risotto that was too good to throw away, I knew just what to make. Arancini made the perfect light dinner, with a side of leftover vegetable soup.

If you’re not familiar with arancini, it’s a traditional Italian dish of fried rice balls made with leftover risotto. While risotto is usually made with parmesan, salty corned beef makes the perfect substitute in this meat version. If you don’t keep kosher (as I do), feel free to add a bite of gooey mozzarella in the center.

If you’ve got other leftovers from the holiday and your family is turning their noses at the idea of eating it – think outside the box. Turn your leftover chicken into chicken pot pie or your leftover mashed potatoes and brisket into shepherd’s pie. Your extra matbucha can become some breakfast shakshuka or your leftover salmon can turn into the perfect pasta dish. If you need inspiration – I’m up for the challenge! Just message me on Facebook and I’ll give you some ideas!

Corned Beef Arancini

1 1/2 cups leftover risotto (recipe follows)
1 cup leftover corned beef, diced small
1 egg, lightly whisked
1 cup Italian style bread crumbs
canola oil, for frying

Method:

Gently combine the leftover risotto and corn beef and form into balls. Dip in egg and bread crumbs.

Pour enough oil in a heavy large saucepan to reach the depth of 3 inches. Heat the oil over medium heat to 350 degrees. Deep fry the risotto balls in hot oil until golden brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and transfer to paper towels to drain.

Serve hot with marinara sauce spiked with a touch of mustard.

VARIATION: If you don’t have corned beef, you may use leftover pastrami.

Dairy-Free Saffron Risotto:

3 cups chicken stock
1 bay leaf (optional)
generous pinch of saffron
1 1/2 tbsp margarine (I prefer Smart Balance)
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 cup arborio rice
1/4 cup dry white wine
salt and pepper, to taste

Bring the chicken stock to a simmer along with the bay leaf. Remove 1/2 cup of the stock and pour over the saffron threads. Set aside.

Heat the olive oil and margarine in a skillet and add the onions. Cook until translucent, but not browned. Add rice and cook, stirring continuously, until well-coated, but not browned. Add the wine and continue to stir until completely absorbed. Season with salt and pepper.

Begin adding one ladle full of stock at a time (about 1/2 cup), stirring continuously until all the stock is absorbed. Do not add more stock until the previous addition is completely absorbed. Add the saffron-infused stock towards the end (about 15 minutes after adding the wine), and continue to add stock until the rice is tender with a little bite to it (al dente), about 25 minutes total.

Other leftover ideas:

leftover cake: quick & easy individual trifles
leftover rice: pineapple fried rice
leftover challah: perfect pareve french toast
leftover chicken: curry chicken salad or Asian chicken salad or pulled chicken sammies
leftover salmon: salmon cakes or salmon pasta salad

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10 Things to do with Leftover Challa!


So many of us are stuck with leftover challa each week, wondering what to do with it.

You can:

1. Guiltily throw it away (and think about how they would give anything for a morsel of bread during the holocaust!)
2. Feed it to the birds (whenever I do this with my kids, they start feeding themselves the challa, instead of the birds!)
3. Make French Toast on Sunday morning.
4. Use it for Sunday lunch sandwiches.
5. Save it for bread pudding/challa kugel for later in the week.
6. Make stuffing for your leftover Shabbos chicken (I love to repurpose leftovers!)
7. Make garlic bread.
8. Make home-made croutons.
9. Make home-made bread crumbs.
10. Stuff it in your freezer, only to pull it out Erev Pesach and burn it with the chometz.

This week, I really wanted to make bread crumbs with my leftover Ezekiel English Muffin. Going into summer with lots of pregnancy weight left to lose, I’m trying to watch my carbs. I absolutely love Ezekiel bread because it is low in carbs (only 35 on the GI index), it’s completely flourless and made of 100% organic sprouted whole grain making it a complete protein. You can read more about it here. I especially love the muffins because I can use them as burger buns, challa rolls, and in place of bagels. I usually take two rolls out of the freezer before shabbos, one for the Friday night meal, and one for Shabbos day. This week, I took out an extra one, and decided to use it to make healthy bread crumbs to use in meatballs and other recipes.

Making breadcrumbs is fairly easy. You’ll need day-old bread (I prefer not to use stale bread, because you’ll be left with stale bread crumbs), which has been left out to dry, or toasted at 300 degrees for 10-15 minutes (turning over in the middle). Once the bread has been dried and cooled, simply tear it into pieces and blend in the food processor until crumbly (but not too fine). If you wish, you may add oregano, basil, garlic powder and salt for seasoned bread crumbs.

Cool bread crumbs completely and store in an airtight container or freezer bag, date, and freeze. Lasts approximately 3 months.

You can find Ezekiel bread in the freezer section of many supermarkets and most health food stores.

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Perfect Pareve French Toast

If you oftentimes have leftover challah, as I do, I’m sure you couldn’t think of a better way to use it then for delicious french toast smothered in maple syrup (ok, maybe for some bread pudding with some raisins and rum!). Now since I’ve got a child who’s severely allergic to dairy, I have to come up with ways to substitute for the real thing. In this recipe, almond milk does a great job. It’s rich, sweet, and flavorful. And between the eggs and the almonds, it helps add some protein to what feels like a loaded carbohydrate meal (talk about deguiltifying comfort food!). So go ahead, whip up a batch for breakfast, brunch, or even dinner (as I did!)

Of course, if you’re able, go all out and use the real thing with whole milk and fry in good old butter!

Perfect Pareve French Toast

4 eggs
1 cup vanilla almond milk (or 1 cup almond milk + 1/4 tsp vanilla)
1 tsp sugar
pinch of salt
1 egg challa
canola oil, for frying
maple syrup or sugar, for serving
assorted berries, for serving

Method:

Slice your challah into 1/2 – 1 inch pieces (depending on how you like it). Whisk together eggs, milk, sugar and salt. Dip challah into egg mixture on both sides, making sure to fully saturate the challah (you can soak it in the mixture for a minute or so). Cook the challah in an oiled skillet on medium heat until golden on both sides (about 2 minutes per side). Serve with syrup or sugar and berries or fruit of your choice.

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Asian Chicken Salad

I love coming up with ways to repurpose my leftovers. Lets face it. Life is busy, and putting a fresh and healthy dinner on the table isn’t always possible. I’m sure you’ve had to resort to fish sticks and french fries every now and then, just as I have. Sometimes, it helps to make a double portion of chicken or pasta so you can use the leftovers the next day in a different way. When I made this dinner, my daughter came home from school with a fever, and I had to run to the doctor at the last minute. I didn’t have time to prepare dinner earlier in the day, so I was glad to have lots of leftovers from the previous night when I made teriyaki vegetable linginui with marinated chicken breast. I decided to throw together an Asian-style salad to serve alongside some of the leftover pasta. I hadn’t started with the salad yet when my husband came home saying, “I’m not in the mood for salad.” I told him to at least give it a try because he would definitely get in the mood when he tasted it! Sure enough, he loved it, and had two bowlfulls! This salad is so light and fresh-tasting. You can go ahead and add in other veggies if you’d like. I think some white cabbage or bok choy would be a great addition, I just didn’t have any.

Asian Chicken Salad

1-2 heads rommaine lettuce
2 jars mandarin oranges (reserve 1/4 cup of the juice)
1 avocado, cubed
3 scallions, sliced
1/4 c craisins
1/3 c raw cashews
Grilled or pan-fried chicken, sliced

Dressing:

1/3 c oil
1/4 c vinegar
1/4 c mandarin juice
1/4 c sugar
1 tsp salt
1 heaping tbsp black sesame seeds

Method:

Strain mandarin oranges, reserving 1/4 cup of the juice. Slice romainne lettuce. Top with oranges, avocado, chicken, scallions, craisins and cashews. Mix dressing and pour over salad before serving. (I use about 3/4 of the dressing, you don’t need to use all of it).

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