Love your leftovers

The festive period is all about family, sharing and relaxing. Get togethers often centre around mouth-watering feasts and treats.

It's almost inevitable that you will end up with a fridge full of leftovers: cold meat cuts, half-eaten salads, unserved fruits. The big question is... what to do with them?

Here are our easy tips on converting leftovers into yummy new dishes.

Leftover cooked meats

• Cut cooked meat into slices or cubes and add a bag of salad leaves, tomato, cucumber and carrot for something light and fresh.
• Be inspired by Mexican flavours! Cook vegies in spices like coriander, chilli, cumin and paprika and add shredded meat or black beans. Add to pita chips with a sprinkle of cheese for an easy meal.
• Sang Choy Bau – cooked meat & vegies served in a fresh lettuce or cabbage leaf. Quick and fun!

Cooked prawns

• If you are lucky enough to have leftover cooked prawns, try using them together with fresh vegies to make Vietnamese rice paper rolls.
• Add prawns to rice for a spicy jambalaya. This recipe calls for uncooked prawns, so just add your cooked prawns right at the end.

Vegetables

• A brekkie omelette is an easy way to get a few serves of vegies into your day. 
• Fried rice is a quick and healthy way to use up leftover meats and vegetables.
• Mix together leftover roasted vegies to make a hearty salad: pumpkin, potatoes and beans (or whatever you have in the fridge). Add cheese, rice or quinoa to bulk it up and use fresh herbs for added flavour.
• A sneaky parent trick: slice up leftover vegies, pop them onto a pizza and watch the kids gobble them up! Use a flatbread base or make our 2 ingredient pizza base.

Fruit

• Make an easy sorbet using chopped fruit. Freeze and blend with a little juice or water. Another option is to blend the fruit, pour into icy pole moulds and freeze for healthy homemade summer treats.
• Add cut fruit to your savoury salads to add freshness and sweetness.

• Make a mix of chopped fresh and dried fruit with leftover nuts to sprinkle over your breakfast cereal or yoghurt. Yum!