Home is: Cooking with Leftovers

Today I'm linking up with my sweet friend Sandy at Reluctant Entertainer on her weekly Home Is... Today she's featuring cooking with leftovers. Head on over to get other yummy leftover tips.

We don't usually eat leftovers for dinner throughout the week, because my husband always packs leftovers for lunch.

But occasionally, I'm found with a bit of extra chicken, seafood (shrimp, scallops), pork or beef (skirt steak, roast or steak) that isn't enough to pack for a full lunch, or even more rarely, more meat than my husband can pack for lunch. Also, whenever I'm serving rice as a side dish, I will usually make extra rice so we can make this yummy, quick and cheap, cheap meal.

My husband came up with a wonderful way to use up the meat: "Throw It In the Pot Stir-Fried Rice." I know everyone knows how to make this, but sometimes I think it is an easily forgotten "go-to" leftover meal.

This isn't a "recipe" like you are used to seeing, with measurements ... it is mostly "toss this in" or "add a splash of that..." but there are some basics that are the back bone of this easy dish that you can toss together.

Here's the "food" part we usually put in it:

Rice (white or brown, or Jasmine)
Leftover meat
Egg -- scrambled
Finely diced carrots
Chopped onion (any kind: white, yellow, red, spring, etc)
Frozen peas
Any veggies in the refrigerator like mushrooms, broccoli, etc.
Leftover cooked vegetables (add these last)
Garlic, diced
Ginger (sometimes)

Sauces/Condiments we add:

Soy Sauce
Teriyaki Sauce
Hoisin Sauce
Sesame Oil
Fish Sauce
Oyster Sauce

We usually use two or three kinds of sauces. Always soy sauce, and then one or two of whatever else we have in the refrigerator. Don't go crazy with the sauce -- just a few tablespoons.

Basic Instructions:

Place a little oil in a large frying pan or wok. Cook or heat each ingredient separately, placing it all into the same bowl or plate when done.

In order to keep the rice from getting starchy or sticky (in a bad way), you need to cook it on a high heat. When you add the rice, let the rice sit without stirring it. When the rice is heated thoroughly, flip it over with a spatula so it doesn't break down and get sticky.

Add all your ingredients back into the large pan or wok and add your sauces, drizzling them over the rice and flipping the rice over until coated.

And that's one of the ways the Sunshine household eats leftovers!