When my brother divorced, I sent him some of my favorite recipes, easy enough for a new bachelor. (Yes, even him.) In return, he sent me some of his favorites. One of my favorite “recipes” from my then-bachelor, never-a-cook brother was this one written on a lovely recipe card: 

I never buy white bread except at Thanksgiving. When my mom taught me how to make Thanksgiving stuffing, she always used 1/2 a loaf of white bread. And I still make my stuffing the same way my mom did.

That leaves me with 1/2 a loaf of bread that I don’t really like to eat. But add some raisins — maybe even some apples — and leftover bread becomes delicious bread pudding. And a bonus…it’s better with stale bread too!

The lovely sweet potato. So pretty, so yummy, and so good for you. Every year for Thanksgiving, I make a large casserole dish of these potatoes, only whipped with some milk. They’re so naturally sweet that they don’t need much else.

But, alas, I’m the only lover of these potatoes in my family, so I always have lots and lots of leftovers. (And, no, I never learn to make less). Here is an easy, and tasty way to use up some of those leftovers. And these muffins, my family will eat.

Here are several quick and handy ideas for leftovers when you just don’t have time to fuss …

When I eat out, I take home all the leftovers, no matter how small. You see, I’ve always been one for not wasting food. And that’s what happens to any food that leaves the restaurant kitchen. By law, they must throw it in the trash, even if you never touched it. What a wasteful society we’ve become.

Don’t be ashamed either. You are helping your budget, the landfills, the economy, and the environment. And you’ve paid for it! Are you taking that half of a hamburger home? Then also take home the uneaten slice of onion, lettuce, and tomato from a hamburger plate. Take the lime slice home from your Mexican meal.