Here’s my deal. I love wonderful home-cooked meals.

I even love cooking them.

But I don’t always have the time to spend making our favorites to enjoy all week long.

That’s why I like shortcuts and ways to maximize my work.

Leftovers.

I like leftovers. But only if I can spruce them up and make them more enjoyable than just a rewarmed meal.

Here’s one of my favorite ways to achieve this seemingly impossible feat.

This amazing recipe for Honey Teriyaki Beef & Broccoli Salad is a great first meal. It’s delicious and I try to make more than I think my family will eat in one sitting.

Then, the next night I grill up some favorite veggies – peppers, onions – on skewers and then warm up the leftover beef from the salad. I put the beef on the skewers with the veggies and we have a reimagined meal that took very little time.

I truly, truly believe great food doesn’t have to take forever in the kitchen! Yum!

Photo courtesy of KansasCitySteaks.com.

Remember those steaks we had for Father’s Day?

Well, here’s what they turned into the next day. Beautiful, delicious steak sandwiches.

That’s just how we roll around here. (Get it? Like kaiser roll? Never mind.)

It’s an absolute miracle that there were any steaks left after our Father’s Day feast/fiesta – but we DID grill up quite a few.

Note the serious peppers and pickles. We play hardball at our house. Go big or go home.

What do YOU like to do with leftover steaks? Do you EVER have any left over? 🙂

The Christmas meal has come and gone. But you still have turkey, ham, prime rib and various and sundry sides in your fridge.

How long can we keep nibbling on them?

As you can imagine, there are many schools of thought on this. But I like Madam Trainer’s explanation here.  She makes some good arguments and I, personally, like to err on the side of caution with this one.

Check out her sage advice here and let me know what YOU think!