I have tried during my 12 years of marriage to improve my ability to use up leftovers, and I think I’m finally making some headway.  There are certain things that we have no problems eating leftover for supper two or even three times.  And if there is some of everything left, then we just eat it again for supper the next day.  The problem I have is when there is not enough left for a whole meal.  What do you do when there is a little of this and a little of that?  Anyway, here are some ideas for using those leftovers:

Use cooked chicken, pork, beef, or venison with tortillas to make quesadillas or burritos.

Leftover meats are also good on sandwiches or salads.

Cut up leftover ham and put it in potato soup, scalloped potatoes, or ham and bean soup.

Put leftover vegetables into a big freezer bag, and add to it until you are ready to make soup.  I often have small amounts of corn and green beans left after meals, and I have started saving them this way for my vegetable soup.

Freeze leftover mashed potatoes and add them to soup, as well.  They add a little creaminess to it.

Freeze leftover soup, taco meat, spaghetti sauce, meatballs, chili, etc.  Even if you don’t have a lot, you may need a one serving meal one night, or a quick lunch one day.  And if you save just one serving of spaghetti sauce from  3 meals, then you’ll end up with 3 servings saved in the freezer!  That’s a whole meal that would have just been thrown out if you had not frozen a little each time.

Eat leftover chili over french fries or baked potatoes with some cheese and sour cream on top.

Freeze leftover cornbread and use it to make dressing.

Baked beans, broccoli casserole, pineapple casserole, fried potatoes…many leftover veggies make good sides to eat with sandwiches.  So, even if your main dish is all eaten at supper, save the sides for lunch the next day, or just make a fresh meat the next night and heat up those leftovers to go with it.

I still end up throwing out too much food sometimes, but I’m doing better and trying to be more efficient with our food.  These are just a few ideas that work well for us.  If you have some others, please share in the comments!

I did my vendor party last night, and it went pretty well.  We had a few technical difficulties, but overall it was OK.  I am glad to get the experience and feel better about doing some in the future.  We put everything on our Skylar’s Toys site at 30% off suggested retail prices.  I got a good order today for Bright Buddies, but it didn’t come from the party…just a good coincidence, I guess!

I have also joined the Stuff A Friend company.  They have really cute animals and dolls that you stuff yourself.  They come with birth certificates, so your child can name his or her friend.  I have trouble resisting toys, especially stuffed animals!  If you would like to see my site, click on the banner at the end of this post.

I’m really hoping some of this will turn into a little debt-reducing income from home!

Have a good day everyone!

You may remember from an earlier post that I have been planning to do an online vendor party for our online store Skylar’s Toys.  If you don’t know what an online party is, see my earlier post.  Tonight’s party is on, and my slot is 9:30 PM EST.  There are vendors scheduled to start at 7:30.  You can see the entire schedule here.

Click here for instructions for entering the chatroom, and join us for some shopping from home!

Here is an idea for a “finger food” that is great for serving as an appetizer or at a party.  I got this idea from my friend Stephanie H. who made them for a bridal shower.  I don’t remember exactly what she put in hers, but here is my version:

Take a flour tortilla and spread one side with cream cheese, your choice of flavor.  I used the whipped cream cheese, which spreads very easily.  Sprinkle with some shredded cheddar cheese, then add a thin slice of deli ham or turkey.  Roll the tortilla as tightly as you can.  Slice the rolled tortilla at about 1/2 inch intervals.  You won’t be able to serve the end pieces, but the rest will be neat circles.  If you have trouble getting them to stay together, just add a little extra smear of cream cheese to make it stick.  Don’t put too much filling in them, or they won’t roll up well.  Experiment and customize these to suit your own tastes!

Yesterday I finished a tote bag for Jacob.  He had asked for one, so I let him choose some fabric from my stores of plenty and I finally got it made.  Today I got my serger back out after having it repaired.  I am not sure what the repairman did to it, but it works now!  Hopefully it will keep working!  I am making pants for Skylar out of fleece.  I have one other pair of pants cut out for her that I hope to finish tomorrow, then I have some other projects to get started.  Now whether they actually get started this week is a whole other question…we’ll see.

I enjoy sewing and serging, especially for my family.  I think of Proverbs 31, as it describes a virtuous woman who “seeks wool and flax and works willingly with her hands,” “is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household is clothed with scarlet,” and “makes linen garments and sells them…”  I only make a few of my kids’ clothes, especially since I have generous family and friends who have given us many clothes.  But I do make sure that they have what they need, especially for cold weather so we don’t have to be afraid of the snow!  I also think of how much more complicated making clothes was for a woman at the time Proverbs was written.  I buy my fabric at a fabric shop and have an electric sewing machine and a serger to use.  I have easy to follow patterns already made, and many tools that make the job much easier than it use to be.  Sewing is still a skilled craft, however, and I’m glad Mom taught me how to do it!  Besides, I think if I can thread my serger and keep it working properly, I can do pretty much anything.

I thought I would share a counting activity that I did recently with my 3-year-old.  The objective is to count objects and match up the number of objects with the written numeral.  I took 10 styrofoam cups and wrote a number on each cup, 1 through 10.  Then I emptied several packs of Smarties candy into a bowl.  I randomly set the cups out on the table.  I told my son to look at the number on each cup and put in the correct number of Smarties.  So, if the cup has a 2 on it, you put in 2 Smarties, and so on.  He did them all correctly!  He then dumped all the Smarties back in the bowl and did it over again.  I’m not sure how many times he did this activity before he ate all the Smarties, but he loved it.  After he was finished, I stacked up the cups and set them up on a shelf.  Since that day, he has asked several times to play with those cups and some Smarties.  He will count the Smarties into the cups over and over again.  You could do this activity with any small objects, and you could use peanuts, raisins, cereal, Goldfish crackers, etc. if you wanted something edible without using candy.

Such a simple and inexpensive activity, and I never thought he would enjoy it that much!   I think I am going to make some for 11 through 20 soon so he can work on the bigger numbers.  Just a quick idea for those of you with preschoolers!

Yesterday I made chili.  Instead of using canned beans, I cooked dry beans to put in it.  A one pound bag of dry beans costs about the same as a 15 oz. can, but is the equivalent of about 4 cans.  According to the U.S. Dry Bean Council (did you know we had one of those?), here are some equivalents:

1-15 oz. can = 1 1/2 cups cooked beans, drained

1 pound dry beans = 6 cups cooked beans, drained

1 cup dry beans = 3 cups cooked beans

I put about 1/2 lb. of dry kidney beans into a pot with 5 cups of water to soak for about 6 hours, then drained and rinsed them.  I put them back into the pot with fresh water and cooked them for about 1 1/2 hours, then added them to the chili.  I also added  a little bit of the broth from the beans to the chili, but not all of it.  It turned out great!  You do have to cook the beans in water before adding them to chili.  Don’t add salt or acidic ingredients (such as tomatoes) until the beans are tender.