Something from "nothing"

Fried potato with eggs is one of my favourites - I will happily do 2 or 3 extra spuds the night before, then cube and fry up with a chopped onion , stir in a couple of eggs (or 1 if that is all I have got) and if it is summer add some chopped chives. Demands tommy K of course!

Just made 3 potato cakes with some left over carrot and parsnip mash from yesterday, potatoes and an egg. I will eat one for lunch with a rasher of bacon and tomato and freeze the other two for a later day.

Adding egg and potato to any left over veg and griddling means that cooked veg is rarely wasted and I usually have potato cakes of varying mixes in the freezer to be pulled out as appropriate for lunches with the addition of a fried egg, bacon, sausage, burger, or small piece of fish.

Tuna Pasta Bake
Boil some pasta twists (I like the ones with 3 colours). In a separate pan make a sauce with fried onion, plus bits you've got such as a chopped pepper, mushroom, tin of chopped tomatoes, herbs, garlic, tomato paste, stir in a drained tin of tuna chunks. Mix with the drained pasta twists, tip into Pyrex dish and top with a mixture of grated cheese and breadcrumbs. Bake in oven till top nice and browned. Serves 4 with a salad and is yummy and easy.
Any bread left in our house is blitzed into crumbs in the food processor and kept in the freezer. Always handy. Most expensive item- one tin of tuna chunks!

Tuna Pasta Bake is a real favourite here as well mrsmopp. We make it in the same way you do, onions, garlic, herbs, fridge bottom veg, tin tomatoes and squish of tomato paste - stir in the tuna just before you mix the lot with the (brown) past. I don't always pop the cheese on top -
I hadn't thought of blitzing left over bread into crumbs and freezing it, but shall do that now, what a good idea.

Thanks for your Parmesan & spinach pudding RIVERWALK. I'll try it. Hope my husband will like it =)

Yesterday we had guests for dinner so I did a small roast. I deliberately did too much mashed potato and veg, so tonight I am going to mix them together, fry them and serve them up with the little bit of meat that was left, plus lashings of the leftover gravy. Mmmm, can't wait!

And there might even be enough mash for me to save a bit for tomorrow too to make some fishcakes or something!

I love mashed potato, it's my favourite comfort food. I always do too much, as I did yesterday evening. Tonight, only me eating at home, so I'm pondering how to snazzy up my mash, whatever I do, it will be perfect for me

Mm oh does not like pasta but I could do a tuna pasta bake like that on Odd occasion he goes out! Sound lovley.

Cream doesn't like me, so I make my 'creamed' potatoes by adding some Philadelphia Light to the mash. I'd also add some chopped chives if I still had some in my herb bed. Boil and mash an onion with your spuds; this makes the Scottish dish, Stovies.

I saute very finely shredded leeks in butter and then mix with the mashed potato. It makes a good topping for Shepherds pie and gets veg into children.

Tidying the kitchen this morning I found a cookbook bought many years ago (it has a print date of 1972) called 'Waste not, Want not'. Full of ideas and recipes for how to use all sorts of leftovers. I still use it on occasions, when faced with a leftover, or more usually cooking disaster, that I cannot immediately think of a re-use for.

The last time was a recipe for pecan and maple muffins that nobody could have tested or checked before publishing in a newspaper. I ended up with a tray - and oven bottom of delicious tasting cooked cake, but not individual muffins. I looked at the pieces of centimetre thick cake I had scraped up and thought - 'I can't throw all that away'. Checked my book and turned it into a crumbly topping for stewed fruit.

Cari that sounds good enough to dish up for a meal tonight. Thanks! I've got polenta might dip it into that?

I like meatballs, and they're popular with the grandchildren, but I don't like them too 'meaty' as they can be a bit rubbery and dry. In addition to onion, seasoning, and an egg, I add a handful of chickpea flour which gives them a nice texture.

Chickpea flour is gluten and wheat-free.

It's good for coating too, being a nice yellow colour.

river years ago someone gave me this tip for moist meatballs, instead of adding an egg, simply put a nice chunky slice of bread on top of your meatball mix (mince, grated onion, seasoning), and soak the bread carefully with water that's just off the boil (being careful that you're pouring the water only on the bread, just enough to soak the slice of bread). Then mash it all in (I use my hands, very satisfying). So - no egg, just bread and boiled water. It works!

I also always put a dash of Lea & Perrins in my meatballs. Ooh that sounds like an ad.

I try not to keep 'nice chunky bread' around as I'd eat it with nice thick butter!

I'm a big fan of Lea & Perrins - love the stuff.

I used to do a variation on the cowboy pie when my boys were little and I had no money. I used to make some sort of cottage pie mix with beef or corned beef padded out with veg and lentils. if I had no potatoes we used to make pastry and cut out cow shapes with the playdough ( well washed) and stick them on top. Naturally we called it cow pie. Goodness, looking back, I remember making a pound of mince last 3 days for 5 people.

I also used to blend any scraps of chicken leftover with a bit of leftover veg, few spoonfuls of white sauce, breadcrumbs, shape into cakes and fry. Early version of chicken nuggets!
I spend far too much on food nowadays, I must look out my old frugal recipes.

storynanny I agree with you, it's too easy to pop out to the shops and spend a lot on food - I have a Waitrose across the road! It's very satisfying to use what's in the house. Husband forgot last night that it was his night to cook, took nothing out the freezer and was too lazy to go out again so he scrummaged around and made a macaroni cheese with 3 rashers of bacon and a tomato + the other ingredients of course. And it was filling and tasty.

I have a young nephew staying here at the moment, in between house shares, and he also has a cooking turn during the week, but I have to keep reminding both the men that cooking also means general kitchen duties. They seem to think okay to cook only and I still do all the rest, make tea after, stack dishwasher, wash pots etc. So last night I had feet up watching Hinterland double bill and the kitchen looked like a bomb had hit it until one of them eventually noticed...

For me, the fact that our nearest shop of any description is over three miles away means that shopping has to be done carefully, as popping out for something extra or forgotten isn't really an option.
I shop roughly weekly, and if I get it wrong and run short before the next planned shop, we just have to make do with whatever is in the freezer or growing in the garden. Vegetable pie, anyone?

Reviving this thread, our evening meal on Monday was always bubble and squeak, using all the leftover bits of veg from Sunday lunch.
For something so simple it's amazingly tasty,especially with bits of crispy bacon and topped with a fried egg. Mmmmm. I'm hungry now, just thinking of it.

Mmmm, I love it! If I hadn't just had my breakfast i would be tempted to make that right now from last night's leftovers (:

I make a savoury bread and butter pudding dish. I use any old bread made into sandwiches with anything I have, ham, tomato, tuna or cheese, buttering the outside and cutting into triangles. Soak with seasoned 1 egg:1/2 pint milk mixture (scale up if needed), sprinkle with grated cheese and bake. Puffs up nicely, and has a crunchy top.