So, I cooked so much over the holiday break that I had to figure ways of dealing with all of the leftovers. It’s boring to just warm them up or making a sandwich (plus I got some new kitchen toys) so I wanted to transform the leftovers. So this post is about all the things I made with the leftover roast. It was actually a really nice cut and we had a lot left so I wanted to find ways of really reusing it so we would eat it. I hate waste!

The first thing I wanted to make was roast rice. This was supposed to be white rice that I mixed some of the veggies in and put some roast slices on top. However, I started the instant pot and walked away. Next thing I know, my phone notifies me that my instant pot detected a burn (it’s a smart WiFi instant pot! I love it). So I ran back to the kitchen and realized that I’d forgotten to put the valve in the ‘sealing’ position and so pressure wasn’t able to build up, the moisture was lost, and the rice was CRUNCHY!! So I came up with plan B, roast fried rice. Fried rice is pretty much my rice fix whenever I mess it up or if it’s a couple days old. I added the rice, veggies, chunks of the roast, and some of the leftover broth from the roast pan. The rice soaked up the extra moisture and cooked enough to be perfectly edible and not just a tiny bit chewy rather than crunchy. It saved it and tasted delicious. :) I’m actually really proud of me for that dish, that I was able to save the rice, and reduce waste. Unfortunately I’m all the chaos, I did forget to take a picture of it. :(

Even though the roast fried rice wasn’t as successful as I’d hoped, I decided to switch to pasta and made bleu and white cheddar mac and cheese with roast. Plus I got to use my instant pot! I made the pasta in the instant pot using a box of shells and 4 cups of water (it was actually way too much; I need to figure out the proportions, but I was able to drain the extra). Then I switched the instant pot over to saute mode and added evaporated milk, cream cheese, grated white cheddar cheese with notes of gruyere (I got to use my new food processor to grate it; I was so much easier to grate it that way than by hand!), bleu cheese, and pepper. Once all the cheese melted, I added small Vinci’s of the roast and cooked it until the roast was hot. It was really delicious!! We ate the leftovers for lunch the next day.

I still had a lot of roast left and several of the veggies so I wanted to make something else that could really utilize both things. So I decided to make a beef tomato sauce. I caramelized onions in olive oil then sautéed in some minced garlic for a couple minutes. Then I added a can of tomato sauce, 2 cans of charred tomatoes, oregano, thyme, and a couple hunks of Parmesan rind. I brought that up to a boil then added the last of the roast and veggies cut up. Finally I turned the stove to low, covered it, and let those flavors just meld all day. I’d stir it occasionally though. When it was time to eat, I made pasta (on the stovetop; I wasn’t prepared to test ratios) and dumped it into the tomato sauce. It was a delicious way to finish off the roast.

This project also inspired my New Years resolution this year. This week has made me realize that I spend a lot of time every week making lunches, but I put very little care into dinner. Honestly I usually just make bean and cheese roll ups. So I wanted to start making dinner more often. However, I don’t know how to only make two portions for me and Sami. Therefore, expect more and more ‘leftover’ recipes for me. In fact, I’m making it an official food blog category on robot’s rations. Hope you all enjoyed these recipe ideas and the new category!