If God wanted us to cook every night, he wouldn’t have created leftovers

When my son was a newborn, we’d plop him in his swing, and he’d be content watching my husband and I eat dinner. The baby was eating every two hours, so there wasn’t a “bed time” per se. But now that he’s older and clearly starts to melt down between 7:00 and 8:00, we have established a bed time. This has given us our evenings back, but has posed a new challenge: dinner time and bed time are sometimes at the same time depending on when my son last napped and when my husband comes home from work. 


I usually have 15-20 minutes to make a healthy dinner. Hence, a lot of chicken, vegggies, and rice; pasta and red sauce; and, of course leftovers. Ah, yes, leftovers. If God wanted us to cook every night, he wouldn’t have made leftovers, right? Here are some snazzy dinner ideas that I’ve concocted with leftovers:

• Turkey loaf (or meat loaf--whatever floats your boat). Turkey loaf can be just plain turkey loaf for about two nights before it’s old news. Cut it up into cubes and add to red pasta sauce for a protein kick to an otherwise protein-deficient pasta meal. Slice it thin, slap it between two slices of bread, and add cheese for a warm panini. Dice it up and add it to leftover soup (see below). Or freeze it for when you need a quick plain-old turkey loaf dinner in the future.
• Leftover soup. My latest leftover soup creation included leftover brown rice, two zucchini that I had intended to cook for another meal but never did, tomatoes that I intended to cut up and put in sandwiches but never did, ½ pound of ground turkey (the other half will go into some red sauce and served with pasta), and garlic. The whole thing took about 20 minutes, and it has provided us with dinner for two nights and my lunch today. That’s right--leftover soup creates more leftovers! Leftover pasta, baby carrots, corn, peas, potatoes, celery, squash, rice, chicken breast, and even spinach all make great candidates for leftover soup. I use prepackaged Swanson Organic chicken broth, but if you’re a broth-making kind of mama, make copious amounts ahead of time and freeze it for easy dinners.
• Pizza. Pizza was a once-a-week meal when I was pregnant. Nothing was quite as nice as whipping up a pizza and settling down on the couch for a movie with the hubby. But I found that a pizza dinner always resulted in a pizza lunch the next day. Perfect! Pizza doesn’t have to be fattening or unhealthy. We make ours with already-made whole wheat pizza dough from our local grocery store, 50% reduced fat cheese, and spinach and broccoli sauteed with garlic. This breast feedin’ mama is dairy, soy, nut, and egg free, so I’ve been omitting the cheese lately, and it is still delicious! If I need a protein boost, I add some cubed leftover chicken.

If there is one thing I can’t stand, it’s stress, so I’ve learned to think ahead. Thursday is our busy day (breast feedin’ support group in the morning, drop Baby off at the babysitter for an afternoon of work, and then dance class at night), so I try to make it as easy as possible. Last night, I made mashed potatoes and squash and marinated chicken breasts after Baby went to bed. Granted, I would have much rather have been watching “Modern Family” while my husband massaged my shoulders, but the effort is worth it when we get to sit down to a hassle-free, healthy dinner and catch up on each other’s day.