Earl Cooks Two Lunches From Leftovers

The first 'Lunch from Leftovers' starts with cooked broccolini. Broccolini is basically small, tender broccoli which I steamed for dinner earlier in the week, but since it is pricey, I kept the leftovers, not knowing how might use them but not wanting to waste them. I simply reheated them, added some cheese and quartered colorful tomatoes, and topped it all with capers. If you haven't discovered capers, you should! They give a nice tang to everything from steaks to sauces and are relatively inexpensive. This turned into one of the healthiest lunches I have fixed myself in quite awhile, and it was fresh and tasty!

My Second starts with my spicy 'creole' mac and cheese. I made this as a test for my friends food truck, and ended up with extra because it was too spicey for my wife. This was more simple than the first since all that was involved was heating the mac & cheese and adding some extra cheese sauce to the top. The extra sauce cut through the  creole spices nicely, and my friend now uses this as part of his food truck menu.

The reason I like to reconfigure leftovers is threefold. First, I hate waste! Second, I have watched the Food Networks "Chopped" quite a bit and am amazed what chefs can do with odd ingredients. And Third, I like to eat!