Reinventing the meal

Yesterday I let my 8yr old decide what I should make for dinner and he picked meatloaf. No really, meatloaf.

I was like "Who asks for meatloaf?" but the kid said that's what he wanted so I had to deliver the goods.

I whipped up Rachael Ray's Turkey Meat Loaf minus the bacon (I know what you're thinking, but contrary to popular belief I really don't live off of a diet of cupcakes & bacon, as desirous as that is) and served it up.

The kids gobbled it and asked for seconds but we still had half a loaf left, so I wrapped it up & stuck it in the fridge, where good dinners go to die.  

I hate to admit that I used to be a total leftover snob. This might have something to do with the fact that I also never, and I mean never, used to cook.  Once something went into a plastic container in the refrigerator, it turned invisible. Until it turned green, and then it was garbage.  

Now that I have a family of my own (and a pretty sizable one at that!) and I do cook, I realize how wasteful I've been.   But I also know that nobody really wants to eat the same meal night after night, no matter how much food is left in those plastic containers.

So the solution to the problem is: Reinventing the Meal.

Take the leftover meatloaf, for example. I just cubed it up & added it to some yummy spaghetti sauce. Instant meatball! Well, meat cubes, really. But you get the picture. I boiled up some pasta, grated some Parm & voilà! 

In just under 20 minutes, and with very little effort, I had mixed things up, creating a totally different dinner than the previous night. 

Anything that can save me time, save me money, and keep me from being wasteful gets an A+ in the Croxford house.