How to Stretch Your Bacon - Leftover Ideas Revisited - Ideas for Chicken and Ham

With the price of food these days, I am finding myself being further encouraged in creating new ways and revisited ideas in stretching the food I do buy for my family.

Recently while visiting a food site I belong to, we have been discussing in a new 'sub group' I created allowing us to share recipes and ideas for leftover food, and thought I would share here with what I have learned there.

So some of you cannot stand them, leftovers that is, and if you should have leftovers from a restaurant or take out, you simply might end up throwing them out, but you might be surprised the variety of new dishes you can create from leftover food, saving you money. And isn't that the point I am making? Exactly....

So if you are those who are interested in learning some ideas on what to do with leftover cooked chicken or cooked ham, you have come to the right place. Feel free to click on any link which are simply recipes I have shared already here at my Dinner and Jam blog...

So here I go and list them for you:

Ideas for Leftover Cooked Chicken:

• Chicken Tacos
• Chicken and Cheese Quesadillas
• Chicken Pot Pie
• Pulled BBQ Chicken
• Chicken Soup
• Chicken Tetrazinni
• Open Faced Warm Chicken Sandwiches with Hot Gravy
  

Ideas for Leftover Cooked Ham:

• Ham Hash
• Fresh Corn Chowder with Ham
  
• Split Pea Soup
• Navy Bean Soup
  
• Quiche Lorraine - or Quick Quiche Leah
  
• Spaghetti Carbonara
• Penne a la Vodka
• Egg Omelettes
• Kicked Up Macaroni and Cheese
• Chef Salad
• Rice with Beans and Ham
  

Please share how you use your leftovers and create new dishes... Me and my readers would love to hear from you! Leah

Gerties Egg Special Recipe

This easy dish has its origins from Ancient Spanish Ships traversing across the seas - but for me, this dish is what my mom used to make for breakfast when I was in luck and when we had left over potatoes, whether they were boiled or oven roasted. Easy quick meal I make for myself for breakfast, lunch or dinner.

She never liked being called Gertie, but we always loved her egg special for breakfast.

Ingredients:

Left over oven roasted (preferred by me) or boiled potatoes - any kind
1-2 eggs per person
1 onion sliced thin
1 bell pepper (optional)
1 garlic clove minced (optional)
salt and pepper
red chili flakes (optional)
a few shakes of hot sauce (optional)
fresh parsley minced (for garnish when plating)
large skillet
olive oil and butter

Directions:

I have done this many times with raw potatoes which I suggest slicing and cutting very small, so that they cook up easily and quickly - though this will add at least 10 minutes to the cooking time.
Take eggs out of refrigerator to get off chill.
In skillet add a drizzle of olive oil and a little dab of butter
Cut up left over potatoes into 1-1/2 inch sized chunks and put into skillet.
Add thinly sliced or diced onions and bell pepper if using.
Let brown and turn over to brown potatoes on the other sides.
Once potatoes are nearly browned to your hearts content you can add eggs.
There are two (2) ways you can do this - my photo shows both. You can either crack an egg on a pile of potatoes so that the egg gets fried sitting on top of the potatoes and when removing from skillet, you scoop up both potatoes and fried egg.
Or - which is what my mother did - is crack the eggs over the potatoes, let cook for two minutes, then with spatula, 'break' yolks and start turning entire potatoes and eggs over each other creating a sort of fried egg/scrambled egg concoction.
Cook eggs for as long as you like - I prefer soft and slightly still runny (but that is me - and don't yell at me for adding ketchup!)
Plate eggs and potatoes and garnish dish with fresh minced parsley and serve with toast - add sausage, ham or bacon if you would like.
Photo shows both ways of cooking eggs - as both are super delicious.
Enjoy this easy way to upcycle cooked potatoes from the night before.