So, yesterday I had advice for things you might not be upset to have left over – shrimp, cookies, and meat! And it’s possible you had those things left over, but it’s more likely that you have vegetables left over, and you’re probably wondering what on earth to do with them. Here are some ways to use a few common kinds of leftover vegetables:
Raw Veggies
You or someone you know probably decided to do the healthy thing and bring a veggie tray to the party. And everyone politely took a carrot and then left the veggie tray alone in favor of chips (or the aforementioned shrimp). Now what? Well, all of yesterday’s soup recipes call for carrots and celery, so they’re easy.
If you’ve got broccoli and peppers, turn them into a stir-fry. Get a few chicken cutlets or pieces of thin-sliced beef (I usually use one per adult, and you can use some leftover roast beef if you have any). Cut the meat into thin strips. Roughly chop 1 onion. Heat 2 tablespoons oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and whatever vegetables you’d like – besides broccoli and peppers, thinly sliced celery is nice. Season – I usually use salt, pepper, soy sauce, ginger, garlic powder and onion powder. Saute over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes and add meat. Season again with all of the above, plus 1 teaspoon sesame oil if you have it and, if you like things hot, some red chili paste or sriracha. Saute for about 7 minutes, stirring often to prevent sticking. In the meantime, combine 1 tablespoon cornstarch with 1 cup cold water (or stock if you have some open), and season again with the same ingredients you used before. When the meat is cooked, stir the cornstarch mixture into the pan. Keep an eye on it – it needs to boil, but after it boils, it will only take a few minutes to become a nicely thickened sauce, and only a few minutes more to get gloppy. If you do have some gloppiness, simply stir in more seasoned water/stock. Start with a little and go from there. Serve with rice (regular or cauliflower).
Cooked Veggies
If you have leftover steamed broccoli or string beans, you can toss them into a stir-fry as shown. Just put them in close to the end, because they obviously don’t need to soften, just get warm and add their flavor to the dish.
Another good idea for leftover steamed veggies is to give them a quick roast. Put your oven on 400 – don’t worry if you’re cooking something else in there at a different temperature, because this is a very forgiving dish. Put your veggies in a baking dish and drizzle with olive oil. Add minced garlic, salt and pepper and stir well. Check them after 15 minutes. Depending on the oven temperature and the size of the vegetable pieces (broccoli and cauliflower will take longer than green beans), you may be done then or you may need up to 15 more minutes.
Mashed Veggies
Let’s say everyone ate all the raw veggies and all the cooked veggies and left you with nothing but mashed potatoes. Why not make potato cakes? You can make these with leftover white or sweet potatoes. Take your potatoes and add 1 diced onion (less if you don’t have a lot of potatoes or don’t like onion), 1/2 as much flour as you have potato (for instance, if you have 2 cups potatoes, add 1 cup flour), salt and pepper. Mix well. Heat about 1/4″ oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. When oil is hot, form the potato mixture into round “cakes” (they should look like thicker pancakes) and slide into oil (be careful not to drop them in – that’s a good way to burn yourself as I may or may not have found out). Fry for about 5 minutes on each side or until golden brown and eat as soon as possible. You can do this with leftover mashed sweet potatoes too!
Hope you’re feeling inspired to use up those leftover vegetables from your holiday meal! And, another “leftover” – a picture of a few of my Christmas penguins!
potato cakes- yum!!!