Budget Stretcher: Leftover Makeovers

Not very good photos today... I did another budget stretcher meal and wanted to share with you all.  What I had: leftover roast beef in wine reduction sauce; 1/3 of a jar of fruit cocktail, 1/2 apple, and 1 Asian pear; cooked broccoli.  I had just about enough of everything for one or two folks...and three to feed.  So I put my imagination to work.

First I made up a beef pot pie.  I chopped the leftover roast and dumped it and the wine reduction sauce into a casserole.  I took advantage of the canned foods in my pantry and added a portion of each of these to the casserole: green peas, whole kernel corn, carrots, potatoes, green beans.  I only used about 1/3 of a can of each and put the rest into a zippered freezer bag for soup making later on.  I grated some onion (more flavor less product), a dash of Worcestershire sauce and salt and pepper to season.



I needed the mixture to be more wet but didn't want it too thin.  I made a brown gravy using browned flour and beef bouillon (cubes dissolved in  hot water.  I poured the brown gravy into my casserole dish and topped with the easy biscuit topping we like: flour, milk and oil.  I used 1 cup of flour, 1/4 cup oil and 1 cup of milk.  Honestly?  It was a little too much topping on one side of my casserole dish.  Note to self, decrease to 1/2  measures next time.  This baked at 400F for about 20-25 minutes until golden brown.  If I'd had cheddar cheese I'd have added that to my biscuit topping because honestly beef pot pie and cheese go terrifically well together.

Now I had an entree, I needed side dishes.  Here's where the fruit cocktail came in.  Typically I'd prefer a simpler dish to go with a casserole that is a mix of flavors but today it was all about using what I had ready at hand.  I diced the fresh fruit and added to the drained fruit cocktail along with a handful of walnuts, a splash of pineapple juice and a spoon or two of sour cream.  Again: if I'd had marshmallows...but none were on hand...I'd have added those in as well.  My kids loved this fruit hash as it was called when they were growing up and even if they normally turned down fruit they'd eat this.

The broccoli was pieced out by steaming three little 'trees' I found in the bag that weren't cooked and the rest reheated.  It proved to be just enough for three that way.

I rounded out the meal with a roll of cookie dough baked into bars.  Yes, there is one missing in that pan in the photo.  I broke that one up badly when cutting the bars and so allowed it to be cook's treat, eaten warm.