Smalltown Mom's Leftover Challenge

In these financially frustrating times, people are stretching the food dollar ever tighter (ever more tightly? -- someone correct my grammar here because I hate it when I'm wrong.) One way is the pantry challenge. Karen at From My Noodle explained it over a year ago. Even Bossy is doing it now.

My personal challenge is LEFTOVERS. They pile up in the refrigerator. No one is willing to eat them unless I haul them out. Sometimes I call it buffet night and lay everything out on the counter for my men to forage.

Other times I try to get creative.

Tuesday night I used up these leftovers: 1/2 an onion, steak-some rather tough london broil, red wine sauce (from the steak), and chili beans. And with the addition of a few things from the pantry, made a batch of pretty good chili. And to top it off, I found 4 leftover biscuits! That's a total of 5 leftovers used.

Combining 5 leftovers at once (yes, the biscuits count!) might be a new record for me as far as numbers go. Although my personal best in taste will always be my chicken soup.

But I need new ideas.

What do you do with a pork chop? Oh, wait, give it to Frank. He will gladly gnaw on a leftover pork chop as a snack.

My leftover dilemma has grown worse as Frank has grown more independent. Sometimes he's here for dinner, sometimes he's not. So I often have unexpected leftovers.

The other night there was some salmon. And I couldn't bear to throw it away, but no one's going to eat it and I don't know what to do with it. That hurts.

What's your favorite thing to do with leftovers? Tell me. Be Creative. I need ideas!