Score!

[SiouzQ.]

I was the recipient of MOST of the holiday leftovers from my sister's house last night, so much that it is almost overwhelming, as I am a single person. I just spent a bunch of time divying up portions of turkey, ham, and mashed potatoes for the freezer. I also have a giant bag of yummy cranberry/bacon stir-fried green beans, rolls, and three pieces of the cherry cheese cake I made. And a plate of shortbread and ginger cookies my daughter made. Plus two bags of cookies my step-nieces made. And a fancy dark chocolate raspberry bar my daughter got me. Two bottles of wine. Also a tin of Russel Stover chocolates....I AM overwhelmed. I think I will take a lot of the cookies to work tomorrow and leave them in the break room. I will freeze the rest, and I have already hidden the unopened tin of chocolates for later chocolate attacks I know I am going to have.

I am going to make a Cuban and Black Bean Stew today with part of the ham, and also use up a bunch of veggies that have been sitting in the refrigerator for a few days. There will be plenty to freeze for lunch portions for work, but I am starting to run out of room (and containers) in my freezer, because my house mate has stuff in there too.

However, none of this is a bad problem to have, as I overspent on groceries this month anyway. I will have plenty to work with for the next month and I am grateful. As we all do, I sure hate to see food go to waste, and my sister's family does not eat leftovers (which I think is really weird, but whatever); it's mine now!

[Zoe Girl]

Awesome, great ideas. I hosted and we did fondue so I have lots of chicken and shrimp left over. My son is a good cook so he will use some of it but I need a plan to not waste. I am usually vegetarian but I am not going to waste all the money I spent on the dinner so I will be eating some shrimp. The garlic mashed potatoes will be gone fast. and I love making fried rice with everything vegie and the meats I will eat so I think I will make shrimp fried rice today. The sweets I got that mom sent will be eaten a few at a time and probably won't make it through the break. I didn't even make dessert for our dinner since there were so many sweets my sister and my mom sent.

Good deal! I am also in the place where I spent a lot on food and in January I am budgeting again towards a goal. So I am looking at using all the leftovers and making my son and his girlfriend help (although they buy a lot of their own food).

Totally side note, how is your daughter doing? Last I recall she was doing very well.

[SteveinMN]

For Christmas (held at our house) my mom chose to get takeout from a local Eye-talian restaurant (that's how they pronounce it around here and an indication of the authenticity of the cuisine, but her $$ her choice); we sent everyone home with leftovers but that still left us a few servings of lasagna, some salad, and one chicken parmagiana cutlet. After a few days of party food all I want to eat is unadorned vegetables and some clean proteins, so even those leftovers will last us a while. We purposely did not indulge hugely on treats (especially sweet ones); between family and friends, there's plenty of those. I did buy a pannetone (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Panettone) when I saw a decent one at a good price; we'll probably serve it with some friends when they come over for coffee and conversation.

We're getting better at this not-overdoing for the holidays...

[iris lilies]

Ugh yes, now veggies and salads are in order. Yesterday I craved a green salad so that's what
I took to the Xmas event at my friend's house.

on Xmas day DH picked lettuce, green onions, and beet greens from his cold frames to make a salad, and he keep remarking on how good it,p was. That's because we had been consuming fats and sugars for days.

[Florence]

I thinking the same thing. I want a pan of roasted vegetables, some brown rice, and a salad!

[Zoe Girl]

How funny, I am thinking the same thing. I am going to a very simple one night retreat with the nun I study with and I know that will be simple food, usually at dinner time it is just a 'tea, like cheese and crackers or a simple soup. The monastic rules just allow a simple small amount of food in the evening. So I usually simplify my diet before visiting so my body doesn't go a little nuts. I did the same thing right after Thanksgiving and then my second day back at work I had reverted to half my junky food ways.

[Teacher Terry]

I love leftovers because it means no cooking for me! I always send some hone with people too so they can enjoy it again. I don't understand it when people don't eat leftovers but I was raised on them. My Mom probably felt the same way-a day off from cooking.

[Zoe Girl]

When the kids were younger we had an all leftover night almost every week, I would maybe make some rice or pasta to stretch it out but we would eat everything I hadn't already taken for lunch.

My funny leftover story was that my oldest hated leftovers. She was about 20 and getting ready to move out, and I kept on telling her that these were good for at least lunches. So she moved out and literally one week later was over for dinner and asking if she could take some home :)

[SiouzQ.]

Oh god, my eating of the holiday leftovers and doughnuts at work are getting totally out of hand! I too, am starting to crave simple spinach salads and the like, the way I normally eat. I'm not going to get to the grocery store for another couple of days, so I guess I'll have to eat my way through stuff in order to be able to fit new veggies into the fridge. My freezer is packed! At least I made it to the gym two days in a row; however, my right knee is really acting up today so I think I better take it easy.

@ZG: Thanks for asking, my daughter is doing very, very well. She got an "A" in both her physics and chemistry class at community college. She is thinking of transferring to the U of M once she gets a couple of core classes out of thew way. She has matured so much in the past three years, it's amazing!

[jody]

For our New Years day lunch, I had ham, blackeyed peas, roasted potatoes, turnip greens and home-made sour dough bread.
I never touched the ham. I went straight for the peas, potatoes and greens. And bread of course. Delish!