Every Sunday evening, Gary and I host a group of  15-20 college-age students in our home. The impetus for these weekly events was a need Gary saw for creating a place for our church college-age kids. I admit, my first reaction was ‘no-way’ – yet the Holy Spirit has a way of confirming a calling to better His kingdom.

Once decided, my one desire was to provide a home-made family-style meal. My prayer, “give me the energy and margin to do this Every. Sunday. Night.  I admit, there are Sundays when I would rather not….yet most of the time, I am refreshed and blessed.

An interesting outcome – our food budget has increased only minimally. I have learned how much to prepare, and how to use any leftovers efficiently to feed the Gary and myself. So for the next few weeks, I will share what we serve, the recipes and how we use any food that is leftover.

Last night was birthday night, when the birthday individual(s) chooses their favorite meal and dessert. The July choice was Thai Bowls, Texas Sheet Cake and German Chocolate Cake.

I rarely purchase ready-made foods, but since it was the fourth of July weekend and all three of our boys were home, I opted to buy the German Chocolate Cake from our local grocer – big mistake, not worth the $12.

The kids usually have several servings of the Thai Bowls, leaving only a few leftovers. Today, I needed to use carrots, cucumber slices, red pepper, and rice.

Here is how I used up the leftover vegetables:

Carrots. I added a  bit of water to the shredded carrots, blended to make carrot juice for a Spiced Turmeric Carrot Smoothie.

Red Pepper.  Chopping the pepper slices, they were used for Omelet Sandwiches.

Rice. Mix with a bit of  leftover Mexican Bulgar and roast beef (leftover from another meal) and create Shredded Beef Burritos.

Cucumber Slices. throw into a salad or create a Garbanzo Bean Salad, by combining with drained and rinsed garbanzo beans and a small amount of salt.

It helps that I have two days off , providing some time margin to create these foods. If  not, I would simply freeze the foods and use at a later date.

If you try the recipes, let me know what you think and any adjustments you made.