The other day my friend Michele over at It’s a Dog’s Life posted about making dinner from 3 leftover items – she turned baked potatoes, an onion, and some corn on the cob into a yummy potato and corn chowder. She’s so creative — so I, in my normal smarta$$ way, sent her a comment about the 3 items I had to use and what could I possibly do? I had a can of sardines, some cottage cheese and leftover green beans.
Infinitely wise, she told me in no uncertain terms to throw the sardines in the garbage, take the cottage cheese and add a can of tomatoes to it, toss in some spices and then add the green beans. Boil some pasta, and voila, dinner is ready. That sounded entirely too easy and I couldn’t imagine using the cottage cheese that way, but what the heck, I’m game.
I found a can of diced tomatoes in my pantry, along with some Fiori pasta, and the necessary spices. The only additions I made to her recipe were to add in some Parmesan cheese and red pepper flakes to the tomato sauce. I also had on hand some Italian breadsticks, some spinach and a few cherry tomatoes. Look what it became:
Not having any wine on hand, I substituted Coke Zero in our favorite Ohio State glasses. It was a wonderful meal – in fact even though Devoted Spouse claims to detest cottage cheese, he went back for seconds!
Thanks, Michele for giving me such a super idea and the kick in the pants I needed to start being a little more creative in the kitchen – oh yeah, I guess I better get off top dead center and buy that new oven, huh? BTW, I kept the can of sardines but promised Devoted Spouse only I would eat them and never directly in front of him. LOL
So now I’m scrounging thru the pantry and I’m seeing a can of pink salmon, some Saltines, cream of chicken soup and canned peas – I’m thinking it’s casserole time. There’s also a can of beets in there…those have me a little worried…
11 Comments
June 29, 2009 at 1:35 am
Not having any wine on hand?! What’s wrong with you, girl? Dinner looks like it came out pretty good.
Ok sue me, I hadn’t gone to the store – hence the 3 items I gave Michele to begin with. LOL
June 29, 2009 at 1:40 am
Except for the Coke Zero, looks like a pretty yummy meal!
Sometimes it’s fun to be creative in the kitchen, and other days I say “blah” and just wanna make a frozen pizza. LOL
In fact, I do believe tonight is one of those nights. I think I might just make me a drinkie, since hubster just made himself a crown and sprite.
It WAS good – I just never would have used cottage cheese that way – I learn something new every day. Crown and Sprite? Wow, that’s a humdinger. Think I’ll stick to Coke Zero or my personal fav Diet A&W Root Beer! LOL
June 29, 2009 at 1:55 am
I think if you have pasta, you can do almost anything. I always substitute cottage cheese for ricotta cheese in pasta dishes cause my stomach can’t handle the ricotta.
One of my strongest cravings sometimes is ricotta with some Splenda in it and a dash of Vanilla. Yummy. I know, there’s something wrong with me…but we all knew that anyway. LOL
June 29, 2009 at 2:43 am
Anytime I can be of help just call on me. That can salmon, soup and crackers is definite casserole material. Beets….hmmmmm….I’m going to have to give that one some thought. I do like them in a salad. A little Italian dressing and tomatoes and you’re set.
Devoted Spouse will soon be out of town visiting his family (it’s too far for me to travel yet) and I plan on making the salmon casserole while he’s gone (he doesn’t do salmon). As for the beets – when he’s gone, the can is going in the fridge to get nice and cold and then I’m going to eat the whole flippin’ can as a snack – I absolutely adore beets (another food DS refuses to eat – he’s a tad picky). I wait till he’s gone and load up on the lovelies like anchovies, salmon, beets, mushrooms, and chicken livers. Yum-Yum! Thanks for your help, sweetie, you are absolutely it!
June 29, 2009 at 3:45 pm
I love doing this with reruns. It’s a fun way to cook. Some of my favorite dishes came from these experiments.
That sounds really good to me.
I guess I’m in a rut – I’ve been so lazy after the injury – I don’t really care what we eat – and for the longest time Devoted Spouse did all the fixin’ – now I’m so out of practice it’s pitiful!
June 29, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Oh and you set a very pretty table!
Thanks – vintage Fiesta ware from an old junk store in GA, antique tablecloth, and plastic glasses – what a combination, huh? LOL
June 29, 2009 at 8:43 pm
I’m with you on snacking on cold beets. Love them! Luckly so does DH. Hmm I think I’ll slap a can of them in fridge and make a lovely salad tonight. If I boil and chill some shrimp to add to it, it can be a dinner salad…hmmmm.
MMMMM shrimp too! Devoted Spouse won’t eat those, either. I’ll be over at…what time did we decide for dinner? ROFL
BTW got lovely note from ur friend John Lamb – what a nice guy he is – I really didn’t expect a quick reply like that. He told me he’s starting a new type series and I said I was just going to have to put Amazon.com as a co-signer on my checking account I guess. All you guys are putting out such good stuff, I want my own copies, not library books. My house is filling up!!
June 30, 2009 at 4:09 am
The only problem with getting books autographed all the time is that I’ll never part with those. Even after purging my non-autographed PB collection in May, I have tons! Writers are the worst people for collecting books, pens, and notebooks….
I simply can’t throw out my favorites — the problem is I have too many favorites! You simply don’t want to know how many books, pens, and notebooks are in this house, sweetie – so, you’re in good company! Now if I could just write something with all those pens and notebooks…
June 30, 2009 at 4:31 am
Oh dear. My leftovers consist of 14 partially drank bottles of Gatorade, 2 slices of very stale bread, and a shriveled up lime.
I really need to go to the grocery store tomorrow.
I’m tellin’ ya, Michele could turn it into a gourmet meal – she’s amazing – she’d make some kind of Gatorade souffle I just know it! LOL
June 30, 2009 at 9:45 am
I eat a lot of stuff that hubby doesn’t eat while he is gone working and I am on my own. I love salmon and tuna and he hates it so I make salad out of it and eat it with crackers.
It’s tough though to plan on dinner for one person because I don’t like eating the same thing all week. We do try and make spaghetti sauce or chili on the weekend so we have leftovers for the week or BBQ extra burgers and brats to have later.
Can’t do the sardines, anchovies, and beets though!
We’re the same. He likes onion sandwiches and I shudder at the thought! I’m surprised at how many people I’ve found who also like beets. I knew you’d say something about the sardines and anchovies. Even my doctor thinks I should throw out the sardines, but he agrees with me that at least I’m eating some type of fish on a regular basis and then he makes the icky face at me and laughs.
September 25, 2009 at 2:39 am
I LoVe Fiestaware! The food looks good too;-)