The Great Leftover Challenge: Take Two
OK, so my first attempt at The Great Leftover Challenge resulted in something that looked only slightly better than dog food. That wasn’t going to get me anywhere (or whet anyone’s appetites, for that matter), so it was time for take two!
By this time I was really running out of food. I still am. (Seriously, I’ve been awful about going to the grocery store.) But I had some fruits and veggies that had been sitting around for a little while and I wanted to use them up before they went bad. I also wanted something light, a departure from the heavy, meatloaf-laced semi-disaster that was my first attempt.
So, for my second try at the leftover challenge, I made “pantry” salad lettuce cups with homemade dressing. I’ve never made my own dressing before, but it’s so, so simple!
The dressing and the salad came only from things I’ve already opened/used, so it was truly a leftovers meal. I opened nothing new to make anything.
The dressing is super-quick and easy and takes about a minute to make. I thought, honestly, though, that it was a bit too acidic, so I’ve adjusted the recipe to what I think would make it work better:
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp soy sauce (I always use the low-sodium kind)
1 1/2-2 tbsp oil (I used extra virgin olive oil, but a lighter oil would work better. I also only used 1 tbsp, but some extra may be necessary to cut down on the acidity.)
1 tsp lime juice (I used 1 1/2 but, like I said, it ended up too acidic.)
1 1/4 tsp whole grain mustard
Drizzle of agave nectar or honey
Whisk the vinegar, soy sauce and lime juice together in a bowl. Add the mustard and whisk in. Drizzle in the oil while whisking into the dressing to incorporate. Add some agave or honey to sweeten to taste.
I poured this dressing over my “pantry” salad cups, which sounds like what it is: a salad made up of whatever I found in my fridge and pantry. This can be anything you want to add or have sitting around: fruit, vegetables, cheese, nuts, dried fruit, etc. My salad had the following:
Bibb lettuce cups
Shredded carrots
Diced Macintosh apple
Golden raisins
Craisins
Sliced almonds
This is probably not the most creative thing that will come through the leftover challenge, but I was, admittedly, a bit creatively challenged this time–mainly just hungry. But if nothing else, it is still a good way to use up produce on the verge of going bad. Also, making my own dressing is so quick and easy that I’m going to start doing this more often. I love knowing exactly what’s going into my food, unlike a lot of the bottled dressings that are riddled with sugar and chemicals.
Danny’s Kitchen is hosting the Great Leftover Challenge and there are still two days left to participate! If you are creative with leftovers, check out his blog to enter the challenge!
Related articles
- The Great Leftover Challenge: Take One (lifelibertyfood.wordpress.com)
- More salad dressings (speltforchoice.wordpress.com)
- Using The Leftovers (seekingjoyfulsimplicity.wordpress.com)
- Honey Citrus Vinaigrette & Salad Options (frugalhausfrau.wordpress.com)
- A Note on Leftovers (figerrific.wordpress.com)