Leftover Makeover

My husband and I do not see eye to eye on a very important subject.....leftovers.  As a child, he often ate leftovers for 3 days straight (according to his memory, not his mother's!) and therefore believes that the rightful place of leftovers is the trash can.  Normally, he is not a wasteful person at all, but with the exception of pizza and hamburgers, there is little else he cares to eat a second time.

Now me, being the frugal person that I am, cannot stand to see food wasted, especially in the years since going to a single-income family.  In the past I've simply resigned to making new meals for my husband each day and eating leftovers myself for lunch in order to reduce the waste.  

Lately, however, I have embarked on a quest to Makeover our leftovers into ways that my husband will not only simply eat, but will enjoy as well.  After all, my aim each day is to please & serve him, and so I want the meals I present him to be pleasing to him as well.

One of my most successful "Leftover Makeover" ventures has been Breakfast Biscuits.  Who doesn't love a good biscuit for breakfast....especially when they're cheap & easy?!?!  Usually at least twice a week our family has Breakfast Biscuits, made with an assortment of leftover breakfast meats from our big Saturday breakfast, meats from other dinners throughout the week, chicken nuggets, and Banquet sausages.  It all depends on what's leftover and what else is needed to feed everyone.

I always start out with a cheap can of store brand biscuits, or "Hockey Pucks" as my husband lovingly refers to them.  Despite his pet name for them, they really are good this way!

Then I heat up whatever meats we have leftover.  If there isn't enough leftover meat to feed everyone, I'll add a few chicken nuggets or those Banquet Brown n' Serve sausage patties (I stock up when Kroger has them 10/$10.  These are the perfect size for a "hockey puck"!!) 

Here's leftover County Fried Steak fingers

And here's an assortment of leftover breakfast meats, chicken nuggets, and banquet sausages, with condiments

When you put it all together, it results in a delicious breakfast pleasing to everyone!

And for my little munchkin who does not like Breakfast biscuits, I cut up his meat into bite-sized pieces and  make his biscuit with jelly!

How do you makeover your leftovers?  I'd love to hear your ideas & suggestions!

Blessings from my home to yours!

~K

*I'm linking up at Feasting in Fellowship Friday over at Comfy in the Kitchen.  Hop on over there to check out some other ways to bless others from your kitchen!

Weekly Bible Lesson: Jonah & the Whale

In an effort to keep my children occupied & busy (read: out of trouble!) this summer, I've decided to focus on a bible lesson each week with them.  This week we'll be taking on Jonah and the Whale.  My boys are  5 1/2 (Bubby just finished kindergarten) and 2 1/2 (the Munchkin), so I have to plan differently for each of them.  This week some of the activities I plan on doing are:

Both Boys:
1. Reading the story from their Children's Bible.

2. Memory Verse: "This is love for God: to obey His commands." John 5:3
-Both boys will work on memorizing with the aid of hand motions.  Munchkin will probably get a few of the words, whereas Bubby should be able to memorize it.  I made flashcards containing 1 word each to help Bubby with the memorization process.

3. Coloring Sheet (on page 2 of the pdf)

4. Jonah & the Whale Song (on page 5 of the pdf)

5. Crayon & Water Color Art project: they will draw a whale/ocean scene with crayon and then paint over it with blue water color

6.  Paper Bag Whale Craft

7.  Jonah & the Whale Veggie Tales movie

Bubby Only
1. Maze

2. Word Search

3. Comprehension Questions

4.  W Word list: he will make a list of words that begin with the letter "W"

5.  Ways to Obey: I'll tie the lesson in with the importance of obeying.  He will write ways he can obey God, mom & dad this week.

6. On-line jigsaw puzzle

Munchkin Only:
1. Whale coloring sheet: we'll work on recognizing & coloring with Blue this week.

2.  "W" coloring sheet: I made a sheet with several "W"s, as well as a few other letters.  We'll work on identifying the "W"s and then color them blue.

What are you doing with your kids this week?

Blessings from my home to yours

~K

*I'm linking up to Titus Tuesdays at Time-Warp Wife and Don't Waste Your Homemaking.  

Check out some other great ways to bless your family this week!

Menu Plan Monday with Saymmm!

I recently discovered the awesome menu-planning website, Saymmm, thanks to a post by Olivia over at Her Noble Character (thanks, Olivia!)  This site is wonderful and makes meal planning a snap!  It saves all of your meals and recipes, so while it is a little time consuming in the beginning, planning repeat meals takes no time at all.  I'm still working on getting my recipes input, but I love how organized it makes me feel!


Here's my meal plan for the week.  Keep in mind I have 3 children who are all home for the summer, as well as my husband who's home for most meals, thanks to working 3 overnight 12 hour shifts on the weekends!


Monday, June 20th:
Breakfast: Assorted biscuits (made with leftover breakfast meats from Saturday and/or chicken nuggets)
Lunch: Honey-glazed pork tenderloin sliders (made with left-over tenderloin from our Father's Day meal)
Dinner: Leftovers or sandwiches (husband will take chicken salad sandwiches to work tonight)

Tuesday, June 21st:

Breakfast: Paula Dean's French Toast casserole (using up leftover bread from last week) 

Lunch: Leftovers or sandwiches

Dinner: Deep Dish Pizza

Wednesday, June 22nd:

Breakfast: eggs, fried ham, hash browns, toast 

Lunch: Corn dog muffins, mac-n-cheese

Dinner: Country Fried Steak fingers, mashed potatoes & gravy, corn, biscuits

Thursday, June 23rd:

Breakfast: steak biscuits (made with leftover country fried steak fingers) 

Lunch: Leftovers or sandwiches

Dinner: Spaghetti & meatballs, Mock Olive Garden Breadsticks

Friday, June 24th:

Breakfast: Blueberry Muffins 

Lunch: Meatball subs, pasta w/ alfredo sauce

Dinner: Popcorn Chicken, Ranch potato wedges

Saturday, June 25th:

Breakfast: Eggs, grits, sausage, bacon, toast

Lunch: Hamburgers & hot dogs, raw fries

Dinner: leftovers or sandwiches (husband will take popcorn chicken to work tonight)

Sunday, June 26th:

Breakfast: cinnamon rolls

Lunch: Chicken-n-dumplins

Dinner: Youth Group Buffet (I host our church's youth group at our home 3 Sundays a month; husband will take a hamburger to work tonight)


**I'm linking up at Menu Planning Monday over at Organized Junkie.  Check them out for some awesome meal planning ideas!




Blessings from my home to yours!
~K