Broke Food - Quesadillas

It's down to the wire, payday's tomorrow, and you surf the fridge looking for something to eat.  The pickings might be slim.  Except.... you have a tortilla, some cheese, and a tiny package of leftover salsa from a fast food drive-through.  That's all you need!  You have all the ingredients for a quesadilla! 

I like the fold-over quesadilla method, but some like to make their quesadillas with two tortillas.  Since this is broke food (i.e., cheap, yummy, filling, and made from what you have on hand), we'll go with whatever you have in your fridge and cupboard.  Here is what I had, but see the recipe below to make a basic quesadilla: 

Basic Cheese Quesadilla

Ingredients:

Tortillas (flour or corn; both work fine, but I prefer flour)

Shredded cheese or cheese slices, any kind

Butter, oil, Pam, or nonstick surface frying pan 

Whatever condiments you have in your fridge

Place butter or oil in a frying pan and allow to heat.  Make sure the surface of the frying pan is covered with the fat of choice. (If you're using a nonstick pan, skip this step, but I do prefer some type of fat to help the quesadilla brown on the outside.)  Place tortilla in the pan and allow it to heat well for about a minute.  Place cheese on 1/2 of the tortilla and allow to heat for a minute or two more.  Fold the tortilla over the cheese and press down gently with a spatula so that the tortilla touches the cheese and the cheese smooshes.  Allow to heat through for another second or two, and then remove the quesadilla to a plate. 

Slice into triangles and serve with any extra condiments you have in your fridge. I hoard salsa and sauce packets from fast food restaurants.  The salsa served with this was from my son's order from Taco Bueno 2 days ago, but I also have a love affair with Taco Bell's Fire Sauce. (Restaurants around here have a taco fixation, apparently, because we also have a Taco Mayo!)

If you have any extra proteins or veggies, you can add those to the quesadilla.  Ideas include: 

• Leftover shredded chicken or beef
• Cut up green onions or diced onions
• Diced/sliced green peppers
• Jalapenos
• Diced bits of deli meat, such as chicken, turkey, or ham
• Olives 
• Guacamole (for a dip, or add it with the cheese if you don't mind it heated up)
• Refried beans 

These are easy to whip out, and they're filling.  This was always what my grandmother made for me if I went to her house after school because it was easy for her to fix, and they were yummy!

Using what you have on hand can also make for some interesting combinations and use up small bits of leftovers that may be languishing in the fridge.  Put them with a little cheese, tortilla, and heat, then enjoy!  

Creative Cooking - Revamping Leftovers

This is a guest post by my friend, Estelle Clements.  Thanks, Estelle!!

Wait, was that LEFT-OVERS??

Not every household has this kind of exchange, but it is an all too familiar exchange in many homes across the country.

“Mom, what’s for dinner?”

“Leftovers!”

“A-GAIN? Uuuuuugh”

Can you do anything else with leftovers other than reheating them? YES, YOU CAN!

Here are some ideas of basic meals which can be morphed into something entirely different. More times than not, that leftover food can be just the ingredient you need to go proceed with a menu instead of having to run to the store real quick. I do not have recipes in this article, but hopefully you can be inspired to find a recipe you enjoy and make this yours.

MEATLOAF

It was a tasty meatloaf, but your family is growing tired of it. Meat loaf is one of those meals that get better the longer it sits.Growing up, leftover meatloaves meant meatloaf sandwiches the next day. 

Depending on the flavor of the meatloaf, it can be chopped into another meal. If the meatloaf contains Italian seasonings and a tomato sauce, you can make quick spaghetti sauce with it.

If the meatloaf contains Tex-Mex seasoning and maybe a salsa topping, it can be chopped into taco/burrito/enchilada meat.

If the meatloaf contains a more BBQ flavor, that can be your base for sloppy joes.

For a kid-friendly little snack, why not chop them into little cubes, and let them dunk the cubes into various savory dips like marinara, Alfredo, BBQ, or even mustard?

SPAGHETTI

This is a meal that rarely lasts into leftovers at my house, but I have had it happen. Most times, I leave the noodles separate from my sauces, as I tend to make disproportionate ratios between the pasta and the sauce.

If you have more pasta noodles (spaghetti/fettuccine) than sauce, you have got a great opportunity to add the noodles to an Asian-inspired dish like lo mein or other stir-fry. You can also make Asian noodle-bowls or even cold noodle salads.

Pre-cooked pasta is also easily dumped into or served with a soup such as chicken noodle or a minestrone soup.

Speaking of pasta in soup, I have been known to make spaghetti soup simply by chopping the spaghetti and/or meatballs into bite-sized pieces, adding chicken/beef broth and more tomato product, and bumping up the Italian seasoning a little bit. Serve with Italian or French bread, and you have got an Italian lunch or light supper.

If you have more sauce than you do pasta noodles, you have got a great start for a new soup base or dip for more bread!

If you mixed your pasta and sauce together for storage, you can find directions to make spaghetti pie, a classic re-use for spaghetti in some Italian homes.

ROASTS

You can get a lot of bang for your buck when you cook a roast, especially beef or pork roasts. Personally, I do not care for much more than salt, pepper, garlic and onion seasoning the meat. This allows for more freedom to experiment with flavors beyond the original meal.

Roasts can easily transform into your Tex-Mex meat for tacos, burritos and enchiladas.

Chop your roasts into BBQ sauce and put into a slow cooker, and you have got wonderful fillings for sandwiches.

Roast beef that has been sliced, and then chopped into bite-sized squares, can enable you to make beef stew, beef stroganoff, and shepherd’s pie. 

Diced roast beef, especially with diced potatoes, makes an excellent beef hash.

Pork roasts are versatile in Tex-Mex cooking, as well. Season with Tex-Mex seasoning, shred the meat, and you have got filling for tacos, burritos and enchiladas.

Pork roast can lend itself to sweeter tastes in BBQ sauces, enhance fruits.

Pork roast can easily be substituted for poultry in virtually every menu.

These are just a couple of main meals that can get tiresome as plain leftovers but, with a little ingenuity and a little inspiration, hopefully this will spark your imagination to think beyond reheating leftovers.

                                                                                                 

Creative Cooking - Grilled Chicken with Chipotle-Bacon Aflredo Sauce and Penne Pasta

 We grilled out a couple of nights ago, and there was one chicken breast remaining. This Chipotle-Bacon Alfredo sauce over penne pasta was a great solution for using that lone leftover chicken breast.  It came together easily and consisted of items I had in my cabinets.  This made a ton of food, enough for two servings plus lunch and dinner the next day. 

GRILLED CHICKEN WITH CHIPOTLE-BACON ALFREDO SAUCE OVER PENNE PASTA

1 grilled chicken breast sliced/diced into pieces
1-2 strips of bacon
1-2 Tbsp. chopped onion
1 can diced tomatoes with Chipotle chiles (I used Red Gold Tomatoes with Chipolte seasoning, but you might have to substitute a can of diced tomatoes with about 1 tablespoon diced chipotle peppers)
1 jar alfredo sauce
About 1 cup shredded cheese (I used Colby-Jack)

4-6 servings of cooked penne pasta

In a large frying pan, fry the slices of bacon until crispy. Remove from pan. Saute chicken and onion in bacon drippings until onion begins to turn translucent. Add can of tomatoes with chipotle and stir together with chicken and onion. Allow to cook until liquid from tomatoes has reduced down. Add alfredo sauce and shredded cheese, cooking to combine and until shredded cheese melts.  Stir in crumbled bacon.  Serve over penne pasta. 

Embasa 80860 Embasa Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce- 12x7 OZ (Google Affiliate Ad)

Chili Redux - Frito Chili Pie

Hungry?  Have stuff that you need to use up in your fridge?  This is a great example of how to do that.  It's called Frito Chili Pie.  I'm sure my local friends are groaning and saying, "Really?  You're using that as a recipe of sorts?"  Well, yes.  Because I realize not everyone knows how to make this awesome stuff.  Technically, it might also be classified as what we call broke food, but sometimes broke food is the best.  (Broke food:  Anything that is yummy, filling, sometimes made from weird ingredients, and will feed you until payday.) 

I made a pot of crock pot chili a couple of days ago.  Now there's a little bit left, and we're tired of just eating straight bowls of chili.  This is our way of changing things up while still using the leftover chili.  I'll also have some things for substitutions/additions below.  

Traditional Frito Chili Pie 

A handful of crushed Frito's corn chips*

About 3/4 to 1 cup prepared chili

Shredded cheese 

Diced onions 

Additions and substitutions:   

Crumbled tortilla chips instead of Fritos 

Sour cream

Sliced black or green olives

Shredded lettuce and diced tomatoes or your little bit of leftover salad 

Wrap it all in a tortilla, and cover with salsa 

*If you want a real tailgate party, ballgame concession stand Frito chili pie, then you get an individual-size bag of Fritos (those tiny ones you get in the mlutipacks), crush the Fritos inside, slit it open lengthways, and dump your chili fixings in.  Eat straight out of the bag with a plastic spoon while wrapped in a fleece throw, sitting at a football game.

Enjoy!!