Love Your Leftovers

Love your Leftovers

By Food Freedom Mentor and Yoga Teacher Darshana Weill

For many cooking can feel like a big hassle, a chore and seem to “get in the way” of all the things you either want or need to do.

So that’s why I want to introduce the concept of COOK ONCE – EAT THREE TIMES.

When I learned about this concept I become a lover of leftovers.

Now we could “argue” that leftovers don’t have the same kind of vitality and chi as fresh food, but let’s get real, they have a heck more energy than something in a box in your freezer.

Cooking once eating three times allows you to use your creativity.

It stretches you to find new and exciting things to do with rice, beans, veggies and more.

Let me give you some examples:

Right now I have left over baked squash in my fridge. Tonight I plan to sauté a fresh onion with carrots and ginger. Once cooked I will add some homemade chicken broth (or you could use vegetable broth) and the left over squash. After the carrot cooks down so that it’s soft I will blend everything in together add some salt and done….I now have fresh carrot, squash soup.

Here’s another example last week I made black-eyed peas. Originally I soaked the beans overnight, then added about 8 cups fresh water and cooked them until they were soft.

(Here’s a bean-cooking tip: Don’t use salt while cooking. Add salt at the end. The salt stops beans from opening up and getting soft.)

We used these beans one night as a side dish but I had some left over so I stored them in a glass container in the fridge.

The next night I made wild rice and we used that as our main grain.

On the third night I looked in the fridge and the dinner idea came to me instantly. I decided to sauté mushrooms, carrots, sweet potato and kale with a touch of soy sauce. Then I added the cooked wild rice and the left over black-eyed peas.  While it was cooking I added some of my broth to richen the flavor. I served it with toasted pine nuts and grated cheese.

My family loved it.

Now that you got a glimpse into my kitchen and cooking style can you see why I am lover of leftovers?

Before I leave you to your own left over experiments I want to share some left over themes to help you love leftovers too.

1-    Cook once, eat three times. Do you see how I cooked the food one time but I used it at least one other time for a new main dish? See if you can stretch the food for one more meal. It saves time and stretches your imagination.

2-    Have broth on hand. It’s really easy to make vegetable or chicken broth. Especially if you have a crock-pot, which I highly recommend. Broths help deepen the flavors and provide nutrients to your food.

3-    Add a fresh ingredient to the left over. Do you see how I added fresh food to the left overs above? This increases the vitality of the food and makes it seem like it’s a new dish instead of the same thing you ate yesterday or the day before.

I hope this article was helpful. Feel free to comment or ask questions in the comment section below.

Here’s to your food freedom!

In health and service~

Darshana

Darshana Weill is a Food Freedom Mentor and Yoga Teacher. She is the founder of the Food Freedom Programs, where women learn to feed their bodies and nourish their souls.

WORKSHOPS DARSHANA TEACHES AT THE YOGA TREE

The Yoga of Food: How is life feeding you? Nutrition 101, Sugar can be Medicine, Women’s Wellness: Treat PMS Naturally and Yoga and Food For Emotional Eating. 21 Days to Food Freedom

A cleanse for women ready to kick their crazy cravings to the curb.

To find out more about Darshana’s  FOOD FREEDOM Programs check out www.darshanaweill.com or www.findfoodfreedom.com

To contact Darshana directly call 510-423-0603 or email her at darshana@darshanaweill.com

Want more recipes? Check out Darshana’s 50 quick and easy recipes Ecookbook: http://darshanaweill.com/page/cookbook-1