Leftovers

One Sunday night after church, a few friends asked if they could come over to hang out. I was planning to make calzones for the family, so I told them that rather than stop for fast food, if they wanted to stop by the store to pick up their favorite fillings I would make calzones for them, too. They readily agreed and showed up with Italian sausage, pepperoni, mozzarella and mushrooms.

Later in the week I knew I had to do something with the leftover pizza ingredients in the fridge! I boiled up a big pot of penne and rotini pasta, defrosted a bag of spaghetti sauce, diced the pepperoni, and cooked up the Italian sausage. I also defrosted a lone leftover (raw) chicken breast, which I diced and sauteed in the same pan I'd used for the sausage. In a large bowl, I stirred together about half of the pasta, the pepperoni and sausage, a couple of cups of sauce, and a cup or so of mozzarella. I poured that into a foil-lined baking dish, topped it with more cheese and popped it in the freezer. Once frozen, I wrapped it in another layer of foil and labeled it, placing it back in the fridge.

In the same bowl, I stirred together the rest of the pasta, the cooked chicken, a couple of cups of sauce, and more mozzarella, topping it with cheese. I froze it the same way I did the other casserole.

The mushrooms were cleaned, sliced and sauteed in a bit of olive oil. Then I placed them in a freezer container and froze them, too, for another day.

It's always a good idea to cook or freeze your leftovers like that so that they don't go to waste, languishing in the fridge. I've learned, after throwing away lots of good intentions, that the freezer is my friend! If you're not sure what freezes well, a few quick keystrokes in an internet search engine will tell you.

I'm planning a post soon on freezer tips so let me know if you have any suggestions.