Some years ago someone gave me this list for “Planover Recipe Ideas” — meal ideas that can be made from leftovers. I don’t know who made up the original list. But this contains several ideas of possible dishes you could make with leftover meats or potatoes from another meal. In some cases there might be just enough leftover to use some of these for lunch ideas for a couple of people, but in some cases you might have enough for a whole meal. You could also plan to make extra meat or potatoes and use the “planned leftovers” for some of the following. The list is just as I received it — I don’t have measurements or proportions. I think for many of these you could just “wing it” — for others you could search for a more specific recipe.
Roast Beef:

Hot Beef Sandwiches (meat slices with gravy over French bread)
Beef Salad Sandwiches (diced beef, celery, low-fat mayonnaise)
Beef slices in Pita Bread ( tomatoes, alfalfa sprouts, or romaine)
Beef and Peas on Baked Potatoes (beef, gravy, peas, tomato sauce)
Chili Con Carne on Rice (Beef, chili hot beans, tomato, onions)
Enchiladas (diced beef, shredded cheese in corn tortillas topped with tomato sauce and enchilada sauce mixture)
Beef Stir Fry (slivers of beef, gravy, soy sauce, sliced vegetables)
Beef Chunks and Gravy Over Noodles or Rice
Beef Barbeque with Potatoes (barbeque sauce and onions)
Beef Stew (beef, potatoes, carrots, green beans, tomatoes)
Beef Stroganoff (beef chunks, sour cream, onions, mushrooms, cream of mushroom soup)
Beef Hash (diced beef, potatoes, carrots, peas, ketchup)

Chicken:

Chicken Salad (diced chicken, salad dressing, pineapple, almonds)
Hot Chicken Salad (diced chicken, celery, nuts, salad dressing)
Chicken Almond Curry on Rice (slivered chicken, almonds, pimento, white sauce, dash of curry spice)
Creamy Chicken (chicken, sour cream, onions, white sauce)
Pepper Chicken on Rice (chicken, green peppers, onions, gravy)
Chicken Stir Fry (chicken, gravy, soy sauce, sliced vegetables)
Mexican Chicken (layer chicken, cheese, corn tortillas with sauce of onions, tomato sauce, cream of chicken soup, and chili)
Chicken Paprika (chicken, onion, broth, paprika, sour cream)
Chicken Bog (chicken, broth, rice, pepper, polska kielbasa)
Chicken and Dumplins (chicken, gravy, dumplins)
Enchiladas (shredded chicken, shredded cheese in corn tortillas topped with tomato sauce and enchilada sauce mixture)
Broiled Oriental Chicken (chicken, soy sauce, garlic salt, pepper)
Teriyaki Chicken (chicken, soy sauce, sugar, onions, broth)
Chicken Pie (diced chicken, gravy, peas, carrots, pie crust)
Chicken Barbeque (chicken, barbeque sauce)

Ham:

Ham Omelet (eggs, diced ham, onions, cheese, vegetables)
Ham Salad (diced ham, celery or relish, salad dressing)
Split Pea Soup (split peas, ham chunks, water, grated carrots)
Pinto Beans (pinto beans, ham chunks, water, garlic salt)
Quiche (pie shell, evaporated milk, diced ham, eggs, Swiss cheese, cooked chopped broccoli)
Pasta Salad (diced ham, pasta, green pepper, Italian dressing)
Swedish Rolls (rolls with ham slices and Swiss cheese topped with mixture of melted butter, mustard, onion flakes and Worcestershire sauce)
Chicken Cordon Bleu (roll ham slice with Swiss cheese slice in raw chicken breast, then dip in egg mixture and coat with bread crumb mix. Drizzle with melted butter; bake)
Ham Croquettes (chopped ham, thick white sauce, onion, chilled, formed into cones while rolling in bread crumbs)
Ham Patties (chopped ham, bread crumbs, onion, milk, egg)

Hamburger:

Spaghetti (hamburger, spaghetti sauce, spaghetti noodles)
Lasagna (hamburger, spaghetti sauce, pureed tomatoes, lasagna noodles, mozzarella cheese, ricotta cheese, Parmesan, egg — cover with plastic wrap and bake in microwave for 22 minutes)
Chili (hamburger, chili hot beans, onion, chili, catsup)
Sloppy Joes (hamburger, catsup, Worcestershire, mustard)
Stuffed Peppers (hamburger rice, tomato sauce, cheese)
Tamale Pie (hamburger, sliced canned tamales, torn corn tortillas, whole corn kernels, cheese)
Hamburger Stew (hamburger, water, potatoes, tomatoes, celery, car- rots, rosemary, thyme, onions, corn, green beans)
Hamburger Macaroni and Cheese (hamburger, mac & cheese)
Hungarian Goulash (hamburger, macaroni, tomato sauce, cheese)
Baked Bean Savory (hamburger, baked beans, sage, ketchup)
Haystacks (hamburger and baked beans placed on rice and corn chips, topped with cheese, lettuce, green pepper, and onion)
Hamburger Maindish (hamburger, cream cheese, ketchup, cream of mushroom soup, topped with biscuits)

Baked Potatoes:

Country Fried Potatoes (slice and fry on sprayed skillet)
Potato Salad (potatoes, eggs, celery, salad dressing)
Broiled Potato Wedges (wedged potatoes, oil spray, herbs)
Twice Baked Potatoes (potatoes, cheese or sour cream, herbs)
Spanish Omelet (eggs with diced potato, onion, cooked bacon)
German Potato Salad (potatoes, green pepper, onion, cooked bacon, vinegar dressing)

See more workable ideas at Rocks In My Dryer.

Shannon’s “Works For Me Wednesday” today is a themed one, asking for quick, easy meal ideas for “those nights” — like when you’re not feeling well, or errands took longer than expected and you have something to attend at church or for school that night, or you get back from baseball practice late and everyone starving, etc. I am really looking forward to getting a lot of ideas today!

I try to keep a couple of quickie meals in the freezer for those times. One is Banquet chicken nuggets and chicken tenders and Ore-Ida frozen french fries (I like the Pixie Crinkles best, but we try different kinds for variety). Pop them in the oven for about 10 minutes while you rustle up a vegetable side dish, and you’re set. I also love Contessa brand chicken fried rice — add a little oil and microwave (or stir-fry) long enough to heat through. Wonderful!

But frozen stuff can be expensive and take up a lot of room in your freezer plus increase your sodium intake exponentially. So we can’t do that too often. Though I’d have chicken fried rice once a week if I could.

Other quickie staples are:

• Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup
• Tuna sandwiches and some other kind of soup
• Wraps: tortillas with a squirt of honey mustard, topped with a slice of ham, turkey, and provolone and a little lettuce or baby spinach leaves, then rolled up.
• English muffins sliced in half, spread with Miracle Whip (or your favorite condiment), topped with tuna which has been drained and mixed with a little Miracle Whip (plus anything else you might want to add) and cheese (we like to do a few each with different kinds of cheeses. We always have American and cheddar and sometimes Swiss, provolone, or Monterrey Jack). Bake in about a 350 oven until cheese melts, serve with tomato soup or macaroni and cheese or carrot sticks or whatever
• English muffins sliced in half, spread with pizza sauce or spaghetti sauce, topped with pepperoni and provolone or mozzarella cheese, baked until cheese is melted and edges of muffin are slightly brown. (I don’t usually have pizza sauce or spaghetti sauce in hand, but I open a can of tomato sauce and add [right in the can] minced onion, garlic powder, oregano, basil, and Parmesan cheese and stir, and it works just fine. I prefer it, in fact, to the jars of sauce).
• Canned crescent roll dough unrolled and separated into wedges with pepperoni and provolone or mozzarella placed on the wide end; roll up, bake until browned, serve with pizza/spaghetti sauce or ranch dressing for dipping.
• Breakfast for dinner: scrambled eggs are pretty quick. I add ham lunch meat to mine and sprinkle with shredded cheddar cheese when it’s done.
• My kids like hot dogs cut up into tomato sauce and warmed through, served with macaroni and cheese and a vegetable.
• Fully cooked link sausage links (like kielbasa or other varieties) cut up into barbecue sauce, heated through, served with macaroni and cheese and green beans. Though I like the bottled barbecue sauce on other things, it seems a little strong or harsh for this, so I make up my own with 1 cup ketchup, 1/2 cup vinegar, minced onion, 2 Tbs Worcestershire sauce, 1 Tbs mustard, and garlic powder: mix together, add sausage, and the sauce will thicken as it cooks.

I have a friend who sometimes will brown 5 lbs. of ground beef all at one time with onion and then separate it into five portions and freeze it. Having the meat browned is half the battle: just thaw for a few minutes in the microwave (if you’re making something like a soup or casserole. you probably could just thaw it enough to break it up and let the rest of it warm through in the dish you’re cooking).

My very first works-for-me-Wednesday entry (and one of my most often searched-for posts) was about chicken tenderloins. Love those things because you can take them straight from the freezer to the oven or microwave. Several ideas for using them are here and here.

Tuna is one of those things that no one gets real excited about, but the family does enjoy it when they do eat it and it does stop hunger. 🙂 Here are my quickest tuna meals:

Quick Tuna Casserole

2 1/2 cups Minute Rice
1 can tuna, drained
1 can cream of chicken soup
Shredded cheddar cheese

Prepare rice with 2 1/2 cups water according to package directions. Mix in tuna and soup, top with cheddar cheese, and microwave for 3-4 minutes.

Tuna Tetrazzini

1 pkg. (7-8 oz.) angel-hair pasta, cooked
1/4 c. (1/2 a stick) butter or margarine
1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
1 c. chicken broth or 1 c. boiling water + 1 tsp. chicken bouillon
1 c. milk
1 T. snipped parsley (optional)
1- 1 1/2 tsp. minced onion
1 small can tuna, drained
Grated Parmesan cheese

Melt margarine in a glass casserole dish in microwave (about 1 minute). Add flour, salt, and pepper; blend well. Add broth and milk gradually, stirring constantly. Cook uncovered in microwave 4-5 minutes on high, or until thickened; stir after 2 minutes, then every minute (a wire whisk works great to make sauce smooth). Add onion, parsley, and tuna to sauce; mix well. Mix in cooked pasta. Heat uncovered in microwave 3 minutes on high. Stir mixture well and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Microwave uncovered on high 3-5 minutes. Makes 6-8 servings.

I’m one of those weird people who actually likes spam (the food, not the junk). I sometime like to cut it in slices and fry it, then make a sandwich with it. This casserole is a comfort food from my childhood:

Spam Casserole

1 can Spam or Treet
1/2 box rotini (or other) noodles
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 can cheddar cheese soup
Margarine

Cut spam into cubes and brown in melted margarine while noodles are cooking. Drain noodles, add soups and spam and stir well: Heat through.

And here’s another fairly quick favorite:

Country-Style Eggs

4 slices bacon
2 Tbs margarine
6 ounces frozen hash browns
1/4 cup chopped onion (or about a tablespoon minced onion)
6 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
Dash pepper
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded cheddar cheese

Fry or microwave bacon: crumble and set aside. Put margarine, potatoes and onion into an 8-ounce round glass cake dish or pie plate. Cook uncovered in microwave on high 6 minutes or until vegetables are tender, stirring once. Mix eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Flatten potato mixture and pour egg mixture over the top. Cover with waxed paper and microwave 6-7 minutes at medium-high or until egg mixture is almost set, stirring once. Sprinkle bacon and cheese over egg mixture: microwave uncovered 1 minute at medium-high or until cheese just starts to melt. Remove from micrwave oven and ket stand 5 minutes. Cut into wedges. Makes 4-6 servings.

Optional: you can add 1/4 cup or so of chopped green pepper to cook with the potatoes and onion mixture, though why anyone would want to do that, I don’t know… 🙂

I’m hungry already. I’m going to be drooling by the time I read the other posts…

Sometimes a child forgets to tell us he needs to bring cookies for something at school or church until the last minute, or sometimes our schedule just gets out of control and we’re short on time to bring cookies for a church fellowship or get-together with friends, or sometimes we just want a little homemade sweetness but we don’t have (or want to spend) a lot of time preparing it. These are a couple of my favorite quick, easy, simple cookie recipes.

Double Delicious Cookie Bars

(Note: These contain peanut butter chips, but they can be omitted and additional chocolate chips used instead if you’re taking this somewhere where someone might have peanut allergies)

1/2 c. margarine or butter
1 1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs
1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 12-oz. pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 c. peanut butter chips
1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 tsp. shortening

Preheat oven to 350 (325 for glass dish). In a 9 x 13-inch pan, melt margarine in oven. Sprinkle crumbs evenly over margarine. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumbs. Top with 12-ounce packages chocolate chips and peanut butter chips; press down firmly. Bake 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned. Melt 1 cup chocolate chips and shortening; drizzle over bars. Cut into bars when cool. Store loosely covered at room temperature.

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

These are a pared-down version of the originals but taste every bit as good. My son’s girlfriend got this recipe in one of her classes.

1 c. peanut butter
1 c. sugar
1 egg
Hershey’s Kisses

Thoroughly mix together peanut butter, sugar, and egg. Drop by teaspoonful or roll into 1 inch balls onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350 for about 10-11 minutes, until slightly browned. Immediately place an unwrapped Hershey’s Kiss in the center of each cookie and press down. Let sit on pan for a minute or two, then remove from pan. Let cool before storing. Makes 24-26.

For more wonderful, workable tips, go to Rocks In My Dryer.