The Sentinel

Food & Dining |
5 simple tips to turn leftovers into new tasty meals

Photo: Andrea Piacquadio/PEXELS

BPT - No gathering would be complete without a feast. Sharing a meal with friends and family encourages conversation and bonding, not to mention the opportunity to show off your culinary skills. However, it's important to keep in mind that large meals can easily produce food waste.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Americans waste approximately 30%-40% of the food supply. When cooking for a large group — like a holiday feast — it's easy to overprepare and end up with more leftovers than you know what to do with.

During holidays, don't worry about wasting food. KitchenAid — the #1 mixer brand in the world* — is here to help you turn your holiday leftovers into new tasty meals. Try these five creative tips that can transform the dreaded leftovers into delicious dishes.

1. A hot meal to warm your bones

Gather leftover vegetables, meats and bones and throw them into a Dutch Oven. In no time, you'll have warm soup or stew to enjoy on those cold winter days. You can also make stock that you can freeze and use in dishes in the new year!

2. Easy and hearty handhelds

Leftover turkey and ham make for a great protein base for quick meals. Whether you have sandwiches, tacos or wraps on the menu, repurposing your holiday protein can be quick, easy, and delicious.

Just choose your favorite or mix and match! If you have leftover cranberry sauce or roasted sweet potatoes, these can also be great additions.

3. Taters for breakfast

Do you have loads of leftover mashed or sweet potatoes? Use these tasty spuds to create savory twists of breakfast staples like pancakes and waffles.

Grab your favorite recipe and use your KitchenAid Artisan Series 5 Quart Tilt-Head Stand Mixer to incorporate these sweet or mashed potatoes into the batter. After cooking, consider topping with chives or even cranberry sauce.

4. Whip up a decadent dessert

Eggnog on its own is a decadent seasonal treat. If you have leftover cartons of eggnog after your family get-together, use your mixer to transform that eggnog into whipped cream.

This eggnog whipped cream will add a rich, creamy and spiced flavor to leftover pie slices — especially pumpkin pies. Also, consider blending eggnog into frosting to top any leftover holiday cookies.

5. Layer leftovers into a casserole

Casseroles are the perfect format for leftovers. Simply layer meat, gravy and veggies into an oven-safe dish, refrigerate and reheat the next day. You can even simplify the process by creating the casserole when you clean up after a holiday gathering.

Bonus! To make these and other dishes with ease, gift yourself The KitchenAid 2024 Design Series Stand Mixer in Evergreen. It's the perfect holiday appliance that makes cooking and baking simple and serves as an eye-catching kitchen decoration that you can appreciate year-round.

Follow these five tips that will help you reduce your food waste and hopefully inspire you to create leftover dishes in the new year. To learn more, visit KitchenAid.com.

5 sous vide recipes that are sure to impress guests

BPT - The holiday season is the time for hosts and home chefs to shine. Of course, cooking a holiday feast for friends and family is time-consuming, and with so many moving parts, accidents do happen. However, for this year's feasts, you can perfectly cook your holiday dishes and save time using sous vide, the preferred cooking method by Michelin-starred chefs from around the world.

What is sous vide?

Sous vide (pronounced sue-veed) is French for "under vacuum." The cooking technique involves vacuum sealing food in a pouch and submerging it in water to slow-cook at a constant, precise temperature.

"Sous vide has been the go-to method in some of the world's best restaurants for years - and for good reason: it brings food to the precise temperature chefs look for and delivers perfect doneness, edge-to-edge, every time," said Signature Kitchen Suite's Executive Chef Nick Ritchie.

Are you ready to take your holiday meals to the next level? Try one (or all) of the following sous vide holiday recipes.

1. Seared sous vide scallops
Cooking scallops can be daunting. When preparing in a pan, you run the risk of overcooking them - resulting in a chewy, rubbery texture - or undercooking them, leaving the scallops raw in the middle. However, when you sous vide scallops, you can rest easy knowing they'll be cooked evenly.

Chef Ritchie's recipe uses the sous vide method to infuse scallops with tarragon, lemon, olive oil and salt. After 20 minutes in the bath, you'll quickly sear them for about 60 seconds on each side. When done, you'll have four perfectly cooked tender scallops that will melt in your mouth. You can serve them on their own as appetizers or on a bed of risotto as the main dish.

Related Sentinel articles ~

2. Sous vide poached egg salad
For a filling and protein-forward meal for lunch or dinner, mix up a batch of sous vide poached egg salad. If you've never poached an egg before, no worries. A sous vide bath will ensure you have perfectly poached eggs every time.

Chef Ritchie's mix of eggs, lettuce, radicchio, goat cheese and walnuts is well complemented by a warm bacon dressing. In addition to savory bacon, the dressing features aromatic garlic and thyme, as well as grapes!

3. Sous vide fennel-spiced pork loin chops
Pork chops are a great addition to any holiday meal, especially when they're well seasoned. Chef Ritchie's recipe for pork loin chops incorporates the licorice-like taste of fennel, the citrusy pepperiness of coriander and the earthy quality of rosemary.

By sous videing the pork loins, you don't have to worry about serving a dry piece of meat. Your guests will enjoy tender, moist and juicy pork chops that are great on their own but also pair well with sous vide braised cabbage and glazed apples.

4. Sous vide poached winter fruit
Want to make a dessert that looks impressive but is incredibly easy to prepare? Try Chef Ritchie's recipe for sous vide poached winter fruit. While this recipe calls for persimmons, it works well with most fruits, including apples, pears, quince, peaches and apricots.

You can poach fruits the traditional way on a stove, but when you sous vide fruits, the process brings out and enhances the fruit's powerful and rich flavor. It also preserves fruit's freshness and offers a longer shelf life, so you can enjoy this delicious dessert well into the new year.

5. Sous vide honey-thyme glazed turnips
Turnips aren't usually the star of the show. However, this sous vide honey-thyme glazed turnip recipe may inspire you to make more meals with the humble root vegetable.

Chef Ritchie's instructions are very simple. You'll seal the prepared turnips in a sous vide pouch with butter, seasoning and honey. After an hour in the sous vide, you'll pour the pouch contents onto a pan to quickly saute the turnips and reduce the glaze. Once garnished, you'll have a lovely plate of tasty tender turnips.

Your secret weapon this holiday season and beyond

You can sous vide this holiday season and year-round with the right appliances. Luxury kitchen appliance brand Signature Kitchen Suite features the first and only built-in sous vide right on the cooktop along with gas and induction. Get professional-level results every time and capture the full, true flavors of foods. It's the ultimate gift that meets all your hosting needs in one appliance.

To learn more about Signature Kitchen Suite and to find more recipes, visit SignatureKitchenSuite.com/en-us/.