June 22, 2020 ~ To some people the best night of the week is leftovers. To other people, not so much. Our son, Sean, was not a fan of ‘old’ food growing up. He preferred fresh meals. I can’t remember what he would have instead of leftovers. I did not understand his dislike of this favorite kind of meal of mine. I still don’t. I probably blocked from my memory what I gave him in place of the leftovers.
As so many of us moms do I let him get away with some behaviors like this. Maybe I was saving up for disagreements of larger magnitudes. I had so much on my plate back then it’s beyond me to recall these kinds of details. In the end, the Army cured him of not liking leftovers. He had MRE’s (Meals Ready to Eat) on many a night while he was on deployments. My leftovers had to be better than that. Sometimes life just works itself out like that.
Day 12 dinner was all that I could find in the refrigerator from all of the previous meals of the challenge to date. There wasn’t as much as I thought there would be causing me a wee bit of anxiety that I made the wrong call for the “All In” meal. I had to toss out some stuff that was too old. Some of the ingredients I had to use or they too would be thrown out soon. Technically, they may not qualify for leftover status, so I’m calling them quasi-leftovers.
All In
Chicken from the teriyaki meal
Chicken from the chicken parm meal
Half a zucchini, uncooked – quasi leftover
Half a squash, uncooked – quasi leftover
Half an onion, uncooked – quasi leftover
Some green beans, uncooked – quasi leftover
Some peaches and pineapple from previous meals – quasi leftover
Fistfuls of fresh basil, chopped – not a leftover
Sun-dried tomatoes – not a leftover
Basmati rice – not a leftover. I bought bags of rice, including Basmati, that cooks in the microwave rather quickly and is delicious. Rice has been a challenge to get during the pandemic. I get what I can when I can get it that’s how stumbled upon these bags of rice.
I chopped up the chicken into bite-size pieces. I have to cut up Tom’s meat anyway due to the ALS so it’s helpful to do it ahead of time some nights. I added some olive oil to keep the chicken moist while I reheated it.
I chopped up all of the veggies, fruit, and basil. I cooked all of these together with some olive oil. While this was cooking I put the chicken on the low heat burner to keep them warm. The veggie mix took about 20 minutes to cook. Cook them to taste – longer for softer, shorter for crunchy. If you’ve been following the challenge you will know which way I cooked the veggies.
Total calories – I did not keep track. If I had to guess I would say no more than 500 calories per person.
As with most leftovers, it would be tough to duplicate. We all liked it and wished it was totally repeatable.
Until the next time…