Leftover makeover
No one likes to eat the EXACT SAME MEAL multiple times in a row. We hear you and we are here to help!
Creative ways to use leftover bread and rice
We've got plenty of delicious ways to re-purpose food staples and save them from ending up in the garbage
Raise your hand if you're guilty of buying/ baking too much bread or cooking too much rice! We've got plenty of delicious ways to re-purpose these staples and save them from ending up in the garbage
Bread
- Toasties: Extra crispy bread + extra melty Puck mozzarella cheese = winner. It is that simple and that tasty!
- Make your own bread crumbs It’s easy. Just preheat your oven to 150 C, place slices of stale bread right on the oven racks, and leave them in there for 30 minutes. Remove them and toss them in a blender or a food processor to make finer breadcrumbs.
- Make croutons simply cut the bread into cubes, arrange it on a baking sheet (bonus points if you add some garlic, herbs and olive oil) toast in 150C oven for 20 minutes. (remember to turn them halfway through) these make a deluxe topping for soups and salads.
- Crusty bread salad aka Panzanella. This is a much-loved Italian bread salad that usually pairs ciabatta(but you can use any kind of stale bread really), ripe, juicy tomatoes, olive oil, olives, capers, and peppers. The bread soaks up all the wonderful juices and the fact that it is stale is actually a plus in this recipe!
- Savory bread pudding: Just take a baking dish or casserole, coat it with oil or butter to prevent sticking, and add several slices of bread. For every slice you add, beat two eggs in a bowl with a splash of Puck cooking cream along with whatever savory flavorings you’d like – diced onions, mushrooms, bell peppers, cooked sausage, and so on. Pour that mix right onto the bread, then top it with a layer of Puck mozzarella cheese.Bake in the oven until the edges are golden and irresistible and the center is done
- Pita bread quick pizza: in the mood for pizza but you don't have the time or energy to make one from scratch? Use pita bread! Top it with your favorite sauce, Puck Mozzarella cheese and off to the oven
- French Toast: stale bread is actually better than fresh bread for making french toast. It soaks up the flavors, holds its own and does not turn into mush at the mere mention of moisture!
- Use old bread as a topping for French onion soup. Another great use for old, dry bread is to simply put it on top of a bowl of French onion soup, top it with Puck mozzarella and your favorite cheese blend and place it under the broiler for a few minutes till it is hot and bubbly
- Jazz it up and bake it into bruschetta. Bruschetta is basically crusty bread with toppings, so bread that’s somewhat stale is almost perfect for this appetizer/ suhoor idea. All you have to do is brush slices of dry bread with olive oil, bake them in the oven at about 150 C for a few minutes, then top them with whatever sounds delicious on bruschetta. We like to use diced tomatoes, Puck mozzarella, or Puck Feta cheese and basil or mint, but add whatever sounds good to you. Once you’ve topped the bread, return it to the oven, place it under the broiler for a few minutes. It’ll be an amazing appetizer or side dish!
Rice
You overestimated how much rice you'll need and now you have a ton left over. What do you do with it? It’s an absolute waste of time and money to throw out rice, so instead, we find some creative uses for it.
- Freeze it: We will start with a simple one. Just measure out the amount of rice you need for a specific recipe that you might make in the future, then freeze that amount of rice in an appropriately labeled container
- Rice kibbeh: A wonderful Iraqi recipe also called Aleppo Kibbeh. It uses rice instead of bulgur for the crust which makes it gluten-free. The rice makes the crust super crunchy and you can flavor it in any way that you like, traditionally they add turmeric and curry but you can add sumac, herbs, different spice blends, let your creativity run wild.
Leftover rice is reheated with some water, for 5 cups of rice we used 3 cups water, the idea is to soften the rice to an almost overcooked point. Add 1 cup of Puck mozzarella cheese, your seasoning, 2 tablespoons of corn starch and knead the rice while it is still warm until a dough forms. Form the dough into kibbeh and fill them with cooked minced meat mixed with nuts. Freeze for 30 minutes then deep fry in hot oil. The result is a crunchy flavor bomb - Soup: If you’re making almost any kind of soup, just add a cup or so of cooked rice to it near the end of the cooking so that the rice can absorb a little of the flavor and mix in with the soup. This is actually a great economical way to stretch a pot of soup to feed a family. It also thickens the soup and adds body and texture to it. We’ll add rice to everything from chili to tortilla soup, from vegetable soups to chicken noodle soups, from lentil soups to broccoli cheese soups. You can also simply heat up Your favorite Puck sauce, add rice and a few leftover veggies for and an almost instant bowl of soup
- Rice cakes All you really have to do is take your leftover rice, season it however you’d like (soy sauce is a good one, but you can also use herbs or your favorite spice blend). Add Puck mozzarella cheese, a couple of beaten eggs as a binder, form it into cakes, bake/ shallow fry them and you're done
These make for a great, easy and convenient appetizer - Rice lasagna Looking for a gluten-free replacement for pasta in lasagna? Try leftover rice! Mix the rice with Puck mozzarella to add flavor and help it hold together, use Puck bechamel sauce as you would with regular lasagna and your gluten-free guests will thank you
- Rice pudding a great way to use up lots of leftover rice all at once, and everyone loves rice pudding, kids, and adults alike! You can add some cinnamon and nutmeg, or some raisins and dried fruit to dress up this simple dessert and no one will know that you were actually made this only to use up leftover rice!
- Burritos: mix leftover rice with beans and your favorite burrito filling and enjoy a portable filling meal. These are great for Suhoor or when you're hungry after taraweeh
- Vegetable and rice casserole:
Make weeknight dinners a breeze with a creamy, veggie-filled casserole topped with melty Puck mozzarella goodness. Just mix rice, vegetables, Bechamel sauce and place them in a pan. Top with Mozzarella cheese and off to the oven - Mini sushi pizza:
Shake up sushi night by making a quick personal pan pizza with a crispy rice crust. Mix your leftover rice with Puck mozzarella, top it with creamy avocado, crisp cucumber, green onion, and thinly sliced salmon. An impressive appetizer that took next to no time to prepare
