FoodBlog Recipes: Here's What We Made with Leftovers In Our Fridge 😋

Every now and then, you’ll open your fridge and you’ll see a big mess. You start thinking to yourself, what am I going to do with these leftovers? 🤷

Well, yesterday was Clean Out The Fridge Day (yes, it exists). We hate waste, especially food waste. So we cleared out our fridges and with the leftovers that we had in there, we made the following dishes: 👇

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Satay Noodles with Tofu

I had some chopped up veggies that I used for dinner the day before leftover in the fridge; mainly carrots and coloured peppers. I also had an opened package of tofu in my fridge and rice noodles in my cupboard, so I combined them all together! Here’s what I used:

asian ingredients for clean out fridge day

The haul... ready to transform into an easy stir fry!

1 block firm tofu
1 small onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 carrot, sliced thin with a peeler
Half a green pepper, sliced
Half a red pepper, sliced
Soy sauce
Rice vinegar
Sesame oil
Honey
Peanut butter

One pan wonder on its way!

I marinaded the tofu for 20 minutes in a mix of soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil and some honey. You can also add some sriracha for a little extra kick. While that was happening, I placed the rice noodles in boiling water for a few minutes and cooked the onion, garlic cloves, carrot and peppers in a wok. And there you have it, a quick and easy stir fry - ready to be enjoyed! 😋

Would you smash this?

Leftover-veggie Soup

This one’s the easiest to do. When you buy more veggies than you actually need and they’re at risk of going bad, what do you do with them? You make soup. 👀

Give your veggies some TLC and turn them into a luscious soup!

I had some broccoli and zucchini that were dying to be used. I put them in a pot, added water, a Knorr vegetable stock cube, a chopped onion, chopped garlic, and seasoned with salt and pepper. 🧂

Bung all your veggies in a pot, cook them down and get your soup going!

Once everything was fully cooked and soft, I blended the mixture up and enjoyed my meal with a side of toasted Maltese bread. 🤤

We're so happy it's finally soup season!

For variety's sake, I called in extra enforcement to add some more recipes to this selection. Our Food Editor Kristina headed straight to her kitchen and created recipes with ingredients she found in her fridge, no newly bought ingredients, just the basics. Here's what she came up with.

TLT: Tofu, Lettuce & Tomato Sammie

Clearing out my fridge is my secret pet peeve, OCD quickly kicks ingredients out of their cool-box home; but waste is a big no-no in this house. When Shanice asked me to whip up 2 recipes for Clear Out the Fridge Day, I knew this TLT would be entirely possible. I first tried this recipe in Scotland, when visiting my besties before COVID struck, and since then, it's been a happy memory and a quick go-to in our house! Here's how to smash it out:

2 slices of fresh white bread (toast slightly if not super fresh)
1 block firm tofu, thinly sliced
1 small onion, sliced
½ an avocado, smashed
1 juicy tomato, sliced
a few lettuce leaves, ripped
1 tsp mustard
1 tbs Kewpie mayo
½ tsp garlic powder
1 tsp smoked habanero powder (smoked paprika will work too)
1 tbs olive oil

Fresh as it gets and all scraps from the fridge!

In a bowl, mix the garlic powder, smoked habanero powder and olive oil and marinade the tofu, rubbing the powder into the tofu gently. Heat a frying pan and fry the tofu until ultra crispy, careful... when they're done they burn super fast! 🔥

Fry up your tofu for that super crunch factor!

Prep all your raw ingredients and start building your sandwich. Mayo and mustard on one side, smashed avocado on the other, season the avo with a bit of salt and black pepper. 🥑

Avo for the creaminess, onion for that sweet tang!

Add crunchy lettuce strips to the avocado side and top the mayo mustard combo with sliced onion and sliced tomatoes. 🍅

Add some colour with tomato and lettuce.

Layer the fried tofu on the tomatoes and close your sammie. 🥪

Look at that crispy AF tofu!

Make yourself a nice cuppa and enjoy for a big breakfast or light lunch. ☕

And there she is... what a beaut!

Next up was a simple past dish, that I prepared using some lonely mushrooms, frozen asparagus, chunks of leftover pancetta, half an onion, some parm and its rind plus a heaped tablespoon of Lidl's Truffle Sauce - if they have it in store, I have at least 3 jars in the fridge. 🍄

Autumn on a plate!

I boiled up some penne and made sure to season my pasta water with salt, olive oil and some dried porcini for an added flavour pop! 💣

Layer in the flavour and season in between steps!

I cooked off all the ingredients, pancetta first then onions and lastly the mushrooms and asparagus. And added the cooked penne to the dish. 🍝

Add pasta water to build up the creaminess!

Don't chuck out your parmigiano rinds, fry them off in a frying pan and add as a topper to your pastas, soups, salads - whatever floats your boat! Grate some fresh parm onto your pasta, plate up and dig in. 🧀