“Best leftovers ever!”
Today’s blog aims to embrace culinary creativity to inspire YOU to turn your already-on-hand pantry staples and long-term refrigerated residents from old leftovers into new, tasty meals! We challenged ourselves to pull together simple, nutritious meals that add two things to your family’s life: gut-healthy ingredients that don’t skimp on flavor and time back into your busy schedule. These three last-minute meals are perfect for when you’re short on time in the morning or at night after a long day. Be resourceful, keep an open mind, and we hope you enjoy these high fiber meals designed to make your leftovers the best ever.
These tasty, customizable, moist banana muffins made with entirely vegan ingredients will put your overripe bananas to good use, whether you’re in the mood for a morning breakfast, an afternoon pick-me-up snack, or even an after-dinner treat. If you’re worried about dirtying a bunch of dishes during the prep phase, we’ve got some good news for you: all the ingredients are mixed together in just one bowl! With six ingredients and 25 minutes on the clock, these soft and fluffy muffins come together in no time. And because we’re leveling up on our leftovers game, it’s up to you to transform this base recipe into something even more magical. Have an extra packet of instant espresso mix? Add it to the batter for a cozy coffee flavor. Looking for a hearty breakfast muffin? Throw in a cup of fresh blueberries, chopped almonds, and a handful of crunchy granola! All that’s required is some imagination and three or four mashed up, overripe bananas to serve as the base of these soft, moist, fragrant, and totally vegan muffins!
This rustic leftovers panade is the perfect medium for stale bread, uneaten proteins, and veggies on the cusp of needing to be tossed in the wastebasket. If you’ve got a half eaten loaf of crusty bread approaching hard-as-a-rock status hanging out in the pantry, you need this panade in your life! You’ll slice up the bread into crouton-sized cubes that’ll dry out the rest of the way as they bake in the oven, leaving you time to scrounge up a filling that you’ll combine with the bread cubes. The filling is entirely composed of what you’ve got on hand at home, which is where your creativity comes into play! We should note however, that whatever you use for the filling should already be cooked before you build your panade. So if you’re using up that last half of an onion from the fridge, saute it. If you’ve got that last third pound of sausage from last weekend's brunch, brown it. Whatever you’ve got handy, cook it up while the bread cubes are baking and by the time they’re done, your filling will be ready to assemble. Stacked in layers of bread, filling, and cheese, pouring chicken or vegetable broth overtop will fill in all the gaps to tie all the flavors together in the oven. The crunchy edges and decadent, chewy middle bites make for a satisfying never-the-same-twice dish that hits all the right spots!
This delicious stuffed artichoke, tomato, and asiago focaccia flatbread may take a long time to prepare but trust us when we say the end result is fabulous. For bread makers at any skill level, this focaccia is stuffed with herbaceous artichoke and tangy tomato, topped with flecks of salt and asiago to produce this appetizing high-moisture flat bread. The majority of the time needed to bake this bread comes while the dough is resting and rising, which happens four separate times during prep. Between the tomatoes and artichokes, there’s going to be a lot of moisture in your dough, but the dough should never drip or slither away from you while mixing or rolling. The end result is a puffy, soft, aromatic focaccia topped with bits of salt and the mild nuttiness of asiago lightly browned on top. While perhaps not technically a last-minute meal, we haven’t come across a tastier or more satisfying solution for using up the last of our aging stash of artichoke hearts and sundried tomatoes.
Such a fun way to do leftovers! Now what we really love about these ideas is that when cooking and baking with Flourish high fiber flour, it really doesn’t matter what you’re making: if the recipe calls for flour, using Flourish flour will automatically add in 5x more fiber than you’d typically get using a comparable all purpose flour. So whether you’re mastering the art of leftovers or baking up a care package for someone you adore, Flourish flour can consistently be the pillar of thoughtful, healthier recipes that make it simple to share the love.