I often have leftovers from Swings, and though the leftovers can usually stand alone as a second meal, I’m always looking for ways to revamp them a little bit. Luckily, with few ingredients and minimal work, it’s possible to build meals around the food left over from a Swings meal.
I learned three things while on the mission to turn one meal into two:
1) It’s a great way to reduce food waste because you are excited about the second way you are going to eat the meal
2) It spreads the cost of a single meal over two (or three) days: which is essential for all faced with an abundance of meals and ever-disappearing points (shout out to my fellow underclassmen).
3) Not only does reusing leftovers save money, but it saves time. It is so much more fun and easy to put together meals when you have most of the hard work — i.e the falafel-making, mac & cheese-baking — done for you.
1. Turn an Apple and Brie Salad into a Falafel Sweet Potato Salad
Before:
After:
I cut up the brie, added a microwaved sweet potato and spinach, and served it alongside some pasta with sautéed peppers, spinach, and Jed’s Simple Tomato Sauce, (It’s made locally by We Bake We Jam — a Usdan Chef’s small business!)
Another way to reuse the Apple Brie Salad is to wrap it up in a wrap or sandwich it between two slices of bread and press/microwave/toast it. Whether you need to sneak it into Usdan or bring your sandwiched salad back to Swings for them to press: it is worth it. The warm, melty brie and the crunch of the apples and walnuts embody bliss. Get seitan as your protein for the salad for another layer of flavor and crunch.
2. Turn a Garden Salad with Tofu into a Mediterranean-Inspired Pita
I added Swings honey mustard, lentils, cucumber, and hummus to the leftover tofu from my salad. It ended up being a tangy, sweet, and hand-held way to re-enjoy my salad.
3. Add a Sweet Potato to Avocado Toast
Swings upped their ante by following the ubiquitous avo toast trend. Up the ante even more with the equally trendy avocado-sweet potato combo.
4. Get A Veggie Burger over a Salad for Two Meals in One
Don’t limit yourself to just a wrap. You can get a Veggie Burger over a salad for a super healthy dinner, and save your salad leftovers for another meal (if you have any).
5. Add veggies, lemon juice, olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper, and basil to the couscous from a Mediterranean salad.
A simple grain salad is sometimes all you need to conquer that 12:00 slump.
6. Use leftover hashbrowns from the pail to make a cheesy breakfast hash.
Caramelize some onions with curry powder and a little cayenne. Sauté some peppers, and then add some cherry tomatoes, hash browns and egg in a pan. Top with cheese, and you’ve got a(nother) breakfast scramble!
7. Make full use of your Pail-a-Palooza Pail.
Only available once a year for Spring Fling, this pail is legendary. If you don’t finish this pail on the spot, there’s a lot you can do with all that food. In this pail, there’s mac and cheese, falafel, mashed potatoes, and tater tots (and that’s just one variation). Let your mind go wild:
Make Mac and Cheese Jalapeño Poppers.
You could also use the mac and cheese as a bed for barbecued pork or seitan (or just get BBQ pork or seitan with BBQ sauce in your pail).
Make a falafel sandwich with a yogurt sauce and some greens.
Make Mashed Potato Gnocchi.
Or if you want something a little simpler, top the mashed potatoes with some stewed tomatoes and tofu or chicken.
Here are some other tips on how to use leftover mashed potatoes.
Make a personal tater tot breakfast pizza.
Not feeling a whole pizza? Wrap up the tots in a wrap with sautéed veggies and eggs for the perfect hangover cure.
There’s always more to a meal than meets the eye. I’ve only scratched the surface of what you can do with leftovers from Swings (i.e. those gigantic containers of mac and cheese and penne a la vodka definitely lend themselves to further use: Mac and Cheese Meatballs or Penne alla Vodka Pizza anyone?). Try your best to make one meal into two instead of throwing away your leftovers, and your wallet and the environment will thank you.
I’d love to hear how you reuse WesWings leftovers! Email me at ewilkins@wesleyan.edu with any ideas.