Sunday night I was working on a home improvement project (not the chair, a bookshelf that I was able to breathe some new life into) and was at a loss for what to have for dinner. I had nothing prepared, so leftovers were out. It was pouring rain, so I didn’t want to go get takeout or groceries. And I HATE paying delivery costs, so that was out, too. I snooped around in my fridge and freezer and threw together a very tasty meal from from a bunch of leftover/forgotten odds and ends.
Here’s what I had:
– A frozen chicken breast
– About 1/3 of a bag of frozen shrimp
– A package of frozen spinach tortellini
– A can of diced tomatoes
– A jar of marinara sauce
– A plethora of spices (this was before the earthquake destroyed my spice collection)
Here’s how I used all that random stuff to make a meal:
– I opened a bottle of wine and took a few big sips (this step is optional)
– I defrosted the meat and baked the chicken breast at 400 for 45 minutes
– I cooked the tortellini according to package directions
– I shredded the chicken and tossed it into the tortellini with the defrosted shrimp
– I poured the sauce and half a can of tomatoes into the pot with the meat and tortellini
– I added some crushed black pepper and a ton (that’s a technical term) of crushed red pepper
– I heated and stirred
– Voila!
I ended up with a sizable pot of a sort of Italian gumbo.* Delicious! So delicious I might have hidden the leftovers from T…oops! And a really good stretch of my food dollar – I didn’t purchase a single new ingredient for this meal (actually, it turned out to be 3 meals) and was able to use up a bunch of stuff that might otherwise have been forgotten about and thrown away.
This just goes to show that creativity = frugality. Or frugality = creativity. You decide. I hate math 🙂
*FYI – If you’re doing Weight Watchers this recipe yielded three servings at 10 PointsPlus each. Not bad for a quick dinner!
