Favorite ways to clean out the fridge?

[maciascl]

I just made a really awesome pasta salad by basically using up a bunch of leftovers. Roasted some cherry tomates that were getting really soft & tossed them with left over noodles, chopped up Tofurky sausage & mozzarella cheese & some olive oil and balsamic. Simple!

So I started wondering what are some of your favorite ways to use up leftovers & clean out the fridge?

[GoBecGo]

My DH makes something he refers to as "grim stirfry". It can be EXACTLY as it sounds, but often it isn't half bad

[mommabear]

For veggies, I'll roast them all up with some olive oil, sea salt, and this awesome 'roast chicken seasoning' (just spices -- no actual chicken!) I use. Then I'll serve them over quinoa done with a vegan boullion.

For fruit, usually a cobbler or crisp.

[mamakaikai]

I usually toss everything in a pot of water with some stock and call it a soup. Tonight it was sweet potatoes, carrots, old wilted celery, bits of leftover red bell peppers and a zucchini with ginger and onion and curry spices. I blended it with a hand blender and added some milk. I think it turned out nicely, especially for leftover bits and pieces of mostly wilted veggies!

I served it with raisin bread. Who knew we had a meal in the house that was so easy to put together!

[caiesmommy]

I do soup as well. We call it "It's Gotta Go Stew". I use leftover cans of tomatoes/pasta sauce/tomato paste, homemade stock,whatever veg is wilting, whatever leftover beans I have frm the week, nd whatever leftover rice/pasta. It's all about the seasoning, add enough garlic, onion and whatever else you love and it'll come out decent

[Jadzia]

For weekend brunch, I like to make scrambled tofu. I'll throw in whatever I have on hand: diced peppers, carrots, chopped greens, zucchini, fresh herbs.

[caiesmommy]

I just thought of fried rice, we do that too

[maciascl]

Originally Posted by caiesmommy

I just thought of fried rice, we do that too

I've tried to make fried rice before & it seems so simple, but it never tastes right. Please tell me basically what you do!!

[caiesmommy]

Originally Posted by maciascl

I've tried to make fried rice before & it seems so simple, but it never tastes right. Please tell me basically what you do!!

I use old rice, so if Im making rice on wed, I make a double batch and use the leftovers on fri.

I chop onions, garlic, ginger, whatever veg I need to use up(carrots, bok choi, celery, peas, corn, zukes, mushrooms whatever I have).

I put oil into the wok, and stir fry the veggies, adding the rice when they are partially cooked, then my stirfry sauce(usually vegetarian fish sauce(mushroom sauce), a touch of miso and broth.

I make scrambled eggs on the side and stir them in b/c Im vegan and dh/dc eat eggs

Last night I made thai pineapple rice with leftover tin pineapples. I stirfried a lot of onion, garlic, ginger, lime leaves, a thai spice mix that you grate, bok choi, red pepper, mushrooms, celery, fresh cilantro,fresh basil, fresh parsley and the pineapple and pistaschios. I added curry, tumeric and fresh herbs at the end. I had a small chunk of pepper that was going bad, 2 mushrooms, a small bit of bok choi, and a half a tin of pineapple, so it used it up really well

I also just thought that I made Tom Yum soup to clear out some things. I made the soup out of a 1/2 can of tomato paste, lime leaves, dried mushrooms, dried lime leaves, the same thai spice mixture as the fried rice, bok choi, and the fresh herbs, and dried chilis. I also added some rice noodles(I had a 1/4 package leftover frm other meals)

I think the trick to using up leftovers is having a good spice cupboard