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Nothing lasts forever, and yet the more you cook the more miscellaneous leftover items that amass in your pantry. That's why this month the Leftover Tuesdays challenge was go dig deep into your pantry (dry, cold, frozen or even the garden) and generate a culinary creation to use up what you found. The result? A couple of casseroles, two sandwiches, two salads, a stuffed flatbread, a burrito, and a stir-fry! Each a unique and appetizing creation but don't just take my word for it - read about them and decide for yourself. And perhaps you'll also find a use for that odd ingredient sitting in your pantry.... 
| Just in time for fall, Megan from "What's Cooking" has created some wonderful comfort food in her unnamed casserole creation. Megan not only used leftover macaroni & cheese but she raided the cold, dry AND frozen pantry to scrape up the components of this dish including some cheese pieces, frozen peas, frozen cooked chicken, and penne pasta. I love comfort food so it's really too bad we're having a heat wave here or I'd be trying this one out now… |  | Fiber from "28 Cooks" created Asian Grain Burgers. These vegetarian burgers have an interesting (and somewhat startling) red color that results from the addition of beets! Fiber, who admits to frequently overfilling the pantry, found a wonderful assortment of grains in the pantry raid that combined to make these nutritious and tasty burgers. | 
| While Tigerfish, who writes "teczcape", didn't provide us with a poetic saga this time (perhaps next time Tigerfish?) we did get a great pantry raid Sardine Sandwich creation from a can of sardines that needed to be used and a leftover English muffin. I can't say I'm a fan of sardines but the sandwich really does look good! | 
| From the creator of Leftover Tuesdays, David over at "Cooking Chat", we have a Mexican Bean Orzo Salad. The pantry raid couldn't have come at a better time for David who was only home for a couple of days between trips. The resulting salad was created by raiding the cold pantry for some spinach, an open jar of spaghetti sauce, an onion and a green pepper all of which were nearing the end of their lives; the frozen pantry for a roll; and the dry pantry for some beans and orzo. From my current hotspot, this salad not only sounds delicious but also nice and refreshing... | 
| Joel, who writes "FoodMonkeys", said he "wasn't really to sure about the pantry raid theme". But he joined us anyway to create a "Baked Egg in Tomato with Chicken Salad" after raiding his pantry for some spinach, ½ an ear of corn, a slice of red onion and a tomato. Glad you decided to raid the pantry for brunch Joel - the dish looks yummy! |  |
Stephanie from "Dispensing Happiness" created "Brick Red Mole Chicken Tortillas" from her pantry raid. To create this wonderful dish she used an old can of Pineapple Juice (seems I always have a can sitting in the pantry even though I rarely use them!), the remains of a roasted chicken and a container of Brick Red Mole that had been sitting in her freezer for well over a year! Clearly the pantry raid was an ideal and timely challenge for Stephanie… | | | Julie Rider, a retired, wheel-bound foodie from Santa Clara, CA submitted "Cauliflower and Ham Layered Casserole". Julie has been using this recipe (which is listed at the bottom of this post) since 1972 to use up leftover cauliflower and ham. Yum more comfort food to try! | | | Kazari who writes "I think I have a recipe for that…" created a scrumptious Gozleme out of the pantry raid. Do you know what a Gozleme is? Well, I admit I'd never heard of Gozleme before. Seems it's a Turkish flatbread that is stuffed with goodies. Hmm sounds like a Turkish version of a calzone! During the pantry raid Kazari found some leftover chili con carne, a mixture of vegetables and in the freezer some gravy which combined nicely into the pantry raid Gozleme. | 
| Finally, my entry - well actually Husband's entry was "Pantry Raid Stir-Fry". The creation used up some rice noodles from the dry pantry; eggplant, patty pan squash, 1/2 onion, 1/2 jalapeño, 2 green onions and a bit of ginger that had seen much better days from the cold pantry and some frozen chicken breast from a long forgotten meal. The result was quite tasty if I don't say so myself but better yet we've cleared out the pantry some (trust me we could probably raid it for a couple of weeks straight before we clear out all the aging products…). |
I'm always amazed by the creativity and uniqueness of everyone's Leftover Tuesdays entries and this month's pantry raid was as amazing as ever! Thank you everyone for participating. As promised one entry was randomly choose to win a cookbook! The lucky winner is.....drum roll..... Stephani from Dispensing Happines! Stephani you will soon be the proud owner of "Knife Skills Illustrated" by Peter Hertzmann just send me your address so I can get the book out to you!
As soon as the next Leftover Tuesdays host is lined up I'll announce it here… And here is the recipe for "Cauliflower and Ham Layered Casserole" provided by Julie Rider, from Santa Clara, CA
- 1 large head cauliflower
- 2 cups diced cooked ham
- 2 Tbs. butter or your choice
- 1 and ¼ cups sour cream
- 1/4 cup of chopped green onions
- 2 egg yolks, slightly beaten
- 1/4 tsp of salt
- 1/8 tsp nutmeg
- 1/8 tsp mace
- 1 and 1/2 tsps paprika
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1/2 cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese
Break cauliflower into 2 inch pieces, cook in boiling salted water until just barely tender. Drain, rinse with cold water, drain and cool. Place a layer of flowerets in a sprayed pan. Top with a layer of ham. Keep making layers until ham and caulflower are gone. Dot with butter, set aside. Combine sour cream and green onions, mix well, then add egg yolks, stir in salt, nutmeg, mace, paprika and pepper. Mix thoroughly and pour over casserole. Cover and bake in preheated 375 degree oven until mixture begins to bubble, approximately 25 to 30 minutes.
Serves 6.
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