Meatloaf Calzone

When our college girl came home over Labor Day weekend, she requested meatloaf.  (Of all things!)  I'm not a huge meatloaf fan, and hardly ever fixed it when she was growing up, so I was surprised.  Since she's at college where my parents live, I blamed my dad for influencing this choice! Haha!!  He's rubbing off on her :).  So, we had meatloaf....

The day she left, I had an idea for something. She really likes calzone, so I decided to combine the leftover meat with calzones.

I heated the meatloaf up, then sliced it.  Using Rhoades frozen dough (the balls, but you could use the loaf), put 5 or 6 balls together and made an oval shape, putting a slice or two of meatloaf in the middle. I should have sprinkled some cheese in there, too.  Seal up the edges of the dough, then place the calzones seam-side down on a baking sheet.  Brush with melted butter.  Sprinkle with garlic powder.

Bake at 350 degrees until browned.  I served the calzones with leftover meatloaf sauce, but not everyone liked it with the sauce.

It's fun making up things like this....when they work! :)  What have you created lately?

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Roast, Potatoes and Gravy

Posted by Lori:

While I haven't had time to make any new recipes lately, I have been trying new ways to use up leftovers.

 I've also finely gotten our roast dinners exactly like we like them.  Through the years some have been good and some have been okay.  A few have just been bad.  Some of those times I may have bought the wrong type of roast for the way I cooked it.  Not sure.

If I was in a hurry, I would skip a step and it just never turned out exactly like we liked it.  Now that we all agree this way is best (according to what we like, that is!), we've had it several times lately.....then have lots of leftovers. (I'll share the roast technique soon.)

You may remember the Roast Beef Sundaes.  They're fun!  And we use it for making roast sandwiches or mixing it with barbeque for sandwiches, but this time I decided to make a layered casserole with the leftover roast, potatoes, and gravy. 

It was a big hit with everyone!  Our mashed (creamed) potatoes are usually with the skins off, but did them differently this time.  Most everyone liked them this way just as well.  The littlest in the family did not!

So, as the pictures show....just layer potatoes, roast, gravy and then repeat.  Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until bubbly.  I had some frozen rolls (Sister Shubert's brand) that they opened up and put the casserole on top.  It was very good!  

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Mexican Food Leftovers - Quick Idea for Baked Quesadillas

Posted by Lori:

Bringing home leftovers from Mexican food from a restaurant may not be something you're accustomed to doing, but here's an idea that might make you rethink leaving what's on your plate.  Or maybe you are ordering takeout from the restaurant.  What it typically eaten by one person at the restaurant, can most often be made into two plates of food at home.  Some of that is due to huge portions, but also some place seem to send more home in the to-go boxes.  Not a bad thing at all when you're feeding your family!

For our family of six, I have made quesadillas with the Mexican food leftovers.  If the restaurant serves homemade tortillas this is especially great!  The photo above is an uncooked flour tortillas I got at Walmart.  You just cook them yourself and they are great! Sorry I can't remember the name of the company that makes them.  But, back to the quesadillas!

Basically, I take whatever is left - rice, beans, beef and chicken enchiladas, cheese sauce, and sometimes fajita meat, and heat it up.  The I spread that mixture onto flour tortillas.  Add cheddar cheese, more beans, if needed (Ranch Style beans add flavor and juice), top with another tortilla and bake/broil.  After the top tortillas are browned, I flip the quesadilla and butter the other side, allowing it to bake/broil until browned.  I bake the quesadillas because, for our family, it would take a long time to cook them all, individually.  Bake at 400 degrees and then, if desired, turn it up to broil and watch closely until the desired browning is achieved.  Repeat with the bottom side (after flipping).  Turn the oven back to 400, allow the quesadillas to cook, then broil a little bit until browned.

My family things these "restaurant leftover quesadillas" are great!  I hope you enjoy trying them yourself.
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Leftover Meatloaf Stacks

Posted by Lori:

Here is an idea for leftover meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and peas.  Stack them up on mini pizza pans.  Cover with foil.  Bake at 350 degrees until heated thouroughly.  I thought they were kind of cute and they were certainly good ways to use up leftovers without using lots of storage containers. 
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