When is a leftover not a leftover?

When it's a precooked convenience food. Let me explain. When you have extra food from a previous meal & you pull it out of the fridge & eat it cold, or reheat as is, thats a leftover. Many foods are great as leftovers. Roasted chicken, stews, chili & macaroni & cheese are all at least as good as the first time.

If you take that leftover food & make it into a new recipe, then it's precooked convenience food. An example-last night I made a stir fry with scallops-I used 1 slice of pork bacon & 2 slices of turkey bacon chopped, 1 sweet onion, 3/4lb scallops, 2 cloves of garlic & a little white wine. I served it over brown Texmati rice. It was great, but much more than 2 people could eat. Tonight, I blended 1T olive oil with 1T flour, stirred in 1 pint of fat free 1/2 & 1/2 & brought to a boil to thicken. I then dumped in the leftover rice & scallops & we had a great soup. I could have made the soup from scratch, but it was very fast & easy because I had that precooked convenience food.

Another metamorphasis that we have done several times starts with a hot cheesy crab fondue. The second night, we thin it a little with milk or ff 1/2 & 1/2 & serve it over spaghetti as a white crab sauce. The third night, I thin it a little more & it's crab bisque.