Leftover Bread - Don't Throw

If you've been trying to make your own bread, perhaps you understand that a possible downside is you get lots of leftover or stale breads. This is to be expected, and since bread is food, we're suppose to not not waste it, here are some ways to use up those stale bits!

1. Thicken Soups - you will love thick hearty soups when the weather is cold, and throwing in a few chunks of stale bread is a great way to add body to your soup.

2. Breadcrumbs - you can use breadcrumbs for everything from making a crunchy topping on casseroles to breading chicken before frying.

3. Croutons - crunchy croutons are what turn a simple dinner salad into something we can't wait to dive into!

4. French Toast and Bread Pudding - your stale bread can be the perfect vehicle for custardy, eggy puddings. Make French toast or layer slices of the old bread in a casserole dish to make bread pudding.

5. Meatloaf and Meatballs - Stale bread is our preferred binder for any kind of shaped meat dishes. In meatballs, the bread absorbs any extra liquid and holds the meat together through cooking.

Bread also freezes well. If you don't have an immediate need for the stale bread, cut it into slices or cubes (or leave it whole if we're lazy), package it in a freezer container, and throw it in the freezer. It thaws in a few minutes and you can use it however we want!

What do you do with leftover bread? Try the simple recipes at Fly for a Pudding.

What to Do with Leftover Grilled Potatoes

It's the summers so probably you too have a lot of leftovers from a grilled dinner. Since we frequently toss all sorts of vegetables on the grill to go along with the meats, we seem to always have some left over. My and husband and I most of the time get headache on what to do to save the food from throwing away. The veggies are grilled with a bit of balsamic, so the taste might be difficult to mix with something new.

For leftover grilled potatoes, my husband would wrap them up in a tortilla for sandwiches and nobody knows they were potatoes from  yesterday's dinner. They also make a fantastic creamy soup. The sandwiches can even go with your kids lunchboxes. We sometimes make an omelet of of them... or top them along other ingredients in a pizza! Quesadillas, pizza, and fritattas or omelets are great ways to use up leftovers. I also use leftover potatoes to use up little dribs and drabs of leftover cheese.

So, we aren't throwing anything!