Leftovers Can Be Good

Cooking for one can be a bit of a challenge sometimes, especially because you almost always end up with leftovers. Often when I am planning my meals, though, I am glad to know that I will be able to have several meals from a given dish and work those menus into days when I know I will be especially busy. Soups in winter are especially good for this reason. Summertime offers slightly different challenges. But my favorite way is to plan different kinds of main dish salads that I can make and enjoy on multiple days. I have a wonderful little machine that allows me to package and vacuum seal foods for freezing. It is probably one of my favorite kitchen appliances because it allows me to buy large packages of meats when they are on sale, and then repackage and seal and freeze them in portion sizes for later use. Last month I had a meal using grilled chicken tenders. I cooked more of them than I needed at the time, and then vacuumed sealed and froze the rest. Last night I thawed them out, chopped them up and made a delicious chicken-avocado stuffed salad, which made enough for two dinners. I will be enjoying that salad again tonight. So in a way tonight's dinner will be a leftover of a leftover. Set off with fresh vine ripe tomatoes, some butter lettuce, and topped with some of my homegrown parsley it makes a meal to look forward to again. To be honest, I am not always thrilled with a leftover dinner. Some things just don't reheat well, or weren't that good to begin with. But I was raised with the philosophy of "waste not, want not," so I will serve and eat it anyway. But what a joy when a leftover is really worth being one!