We’re all a bit overstuffed from the holidays, and are trying our hardest to use up leftovers. What do you do with leftover eggnog? Here are a few of my favorite things to do with the tasty treat.

Pancakes & French Toast: Substitute eggnog for the milk in your favorite pancake mix. Or dip your bread in a mixture of eggnog and eggs for French toast. It adds a sweet nutmeg-y flavor to your breakfast. You can reduce the amount of sugar to balance out the sweetness.

Eggnog Latte – Eggnog Coffee Recipe

Ingredients:
2 shots espresso OR 1/2 cup of strong coffee
2/3 cup eggnog
1/3 cup milk
sugar
*optional whipped cream and nutmeg
Variation: If you want to make this as an evening cocktail, add a shot of rum.

Directions: Pour espresso/concentrated coffee into a mug. Warm your eggnog and milk mixture in the microwave. (Approximately 2 minutes) Add steamed eggnog/milk mixture to the coffee. If you prefer your eggnog latte sweeter, add a little sugar. Top off with whipped cream and a pinch of nutmeg. Enjoy!

Eggnog Milkshake
1 cup eggnog
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1 scoop vanilla ice cream
Nutmeg

Directions: In blender combine first 3 ingredients and mix until frothy. Sprinkle with nutmeg.

Eggnog Bread
Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup dairy eggnog
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2 tsp. rum extract
1 tsp. vanilla
2-1/4 cup flour
2 tsp. baking powder

Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease bottom of loaf pan. Beat eggs; add sugar, eggnog, butter, rum, and vanilla. Blend well. Add flour, baking powder, and nutmeg. Stir until just moistened. Pour into greased pan.
Bake at 350 for 45-50 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool bread completely before slicing. This freezes beautifully.

Related posts:

1. Gluten-free Crustless Apple Pie
2. 5 Holiday Gifts for Your Gluten-Free Friends plus Recipes
3. Mississippi Mud Pie…A Favorite at Christmastime

This delicious homemade version is an economical substitute for Eagle Brand Sweetened Condensed Milk.  You’ll never run out again at the most inopportune time!

Sweetened Condensed Milk

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup boiling water
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 3/4 cup sugar (or powdered sugar)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup powdered milk

Directions:

Using an electric mixer, blend together water, butter, sugar, and vanilla.

Add powdered milk and blend until thick. Store in refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Makes about 14 ounces.

Servings: 1 can
Time: 5 Minutes Preparation Time

Related posts:

1. Gluten-Free Five Layer Crockpot Brownies
2. Caramel Apple Dip Using a Crock Pot and Canned Milk
3. Recipes for Leftover Eggnog

Now that we’ve used up our sour milk in our Sour Milk – Use or Toss? Challenge, let’s talk about how you can reuse that milk container for other purposes. Did you know that milk jugs represent one of the largest volume of plastics in landfills?

I have a pretty planter in front of my fireplace. The container was given to me by a co-worker after Christmas. It originally held a huge amount of goodies that was sent to the company. I had mentioned that I liked the container better than the goodies, and one day it showed up on my desk.

The pretty plants were also given to me, from “The Plant Lady”, as I call her at work. She is hired to come in and water and care for the plants in the building. Wouldn’t you love to have a plant lady come and take care of your plant? I would! I had told her my sob story about me killing all my plants after leaving them outside during a sudden, unexpected frost. Anyway, she kindly gave me these plants after the flowers were spent.

Free is good. Free is definitely savvy and frugal!

The plants fit perfectly in the metal container, but whenever I water, it pools in the bottom and I didn’t have any drain catchers. That’s where the milk container comes in.

By cutting the bottom off, it made a perfect catcher for the water. And as you can see (or not), you can’t even see the milk jug under the plant. I can’t wait until they flower again.

Now for the top of the container. The top of the jug, with the handle attached, makes a perfect funnel! Here I demonstrate filling a smaller container from a larger, but there are many other uses too.

How about in the garage for oil changes? Or filling shampoo and conditioner dispensers? And after using, they can be rinsed and recycled. No waste!

Of course, there are many other uses for reusing a milk jug, but these are things that I needed. Here are 35 other ideas to get you started at this great website, http://www.plantea.com/milk-jug.htm.

Continue with the Challenge!
Part 1 – Pumpkin Vanilla Pie
Part 2 – Fruit Smoothies
Part 3 – Spinach Ravioli with Alfredo Sauce
Part 4 – Pancakes with Secret Ingredient
Part 5 – Flank Steak with Mushroom Gravy

Reusing the Milk Jug Top

Related posts:

1. Slightly Sour Milk – Use or Toss? Part 4 – Pancakes with Secret Ingredient
2. Slightly Sour Milk – Use or Toss? Part 1 of the Challenge – Pumpkin Vanilla Pie
3. Slightly Sour Milk – Use or Toss? Part 3 – Spinach Ravioli with Alfredo Sauce

For those of you just joining this post series, our challenge was to cook with 1/2 gallon of milk that had slightly soured rather than waste money by pouring it down the drain, thereby supporting our goal of saving money and frugal shopping. Where many of you wouldn’t hesitate to dump sour milk down the drain, we made 5 delicious meals, and only used ingredients that were already in my pantry or refrigerator.

Wow! I had no idea that it would take 5 recipes (and 5 posts) just to use up 1/2 gallon of milk! As I mentioned in Post #3, the milk seemed to be multiplying every time I opened the refrigerator. But look at the picture! It’s finally gone.

For the last meal that finally did the trick, I made Flank Steak with Mushroom Gravy.

Here are the ingredients.

Flank Steak with Mushroom Gravy

one flank steak – mine was about 1-1/2 pounds

one can mushrooms, or 8 oz. fresh

one cup milk – the last of it!

1 Tablespoon butter

3 Tablespoons flour

spices – I used tuscan spice from Costco, and also 2 packets of Horsey Sauce from Arby’s for a little kick

This recipe was really easy and my husband loved it. I thinly sliced the flank steak across the grain. Add to a fry pan coated with Pam, and sprinkle with seasonings to taste. I also added the mushroom water from the can of mushrooms.

Cook until desired degree of doneness. My husband doesn’t like any pink, so I cooked thoroughly, but you may like it a little rarer. Add the mushrooms toward the end of the cooking time. If using fresh, add earlier.

Remove meat when done, and keep warm (the mushrooms will stay behind). Add butter and melt, then add flour and mix thoroughly, scraping up the pan bits left from the meat. Add milk slowly and stir to remove lumps. Add Horsey Sauce. Cook over medium heat until thickened. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Arrange sliced steak on platter and top with mushroom gravy.

Flank Steak with Mushroom Gravy

Carol’s Tip: You can also use a can of cream of mushroom soup thinned with a bit of milk or water for the gravy. It’s delicious too but more costly than making your own sauce.

Continue with the Challenge!
Part 1 – Pumpkin Vanilla Pie
Part 2 – Fruit Smoothies
Part 3 – Spinach Ravioli with Alfredo Sauce
Part 4 – Pancakes with Secret Ingredient
Part 6 – Wrap Up

Related posts:

1. Slightly Sour Milk – Use or Toss? Part 3 – Spinach Ravioli with Alfredo Sauce
2. Slightly Sour Milk – Use or Toss? Part 1 of the Challenge – Pumpkin Vanilla Pie
3. Slightly Sour Milk – Use or Toss? Part 4 – Pancakes with Secret Ingredient

And still we have milk! This is Day 3 of the challenge to use up 1/2 gallon of slightly sour milk so you don’t have to toss it.

This morning, I made pancakes. Nothing special about that, but wait until you hear what I did. (And don’t tell my family!)

I love using Bisquick to make pancakes. I’m too lazy to make them from scratch, even though I know it’s more frugal. (Maybe we’ll come up with our own homemade Bisquick recipe).

I served the Pie that I made on the first night for dessert last night. I’d give it 2 thumbs up, but I wish I’d added a bit of sugar. My kids wouldn’t eat it because it had “pumpkin” in it. (Son#3 asked me this morning, “Is syrup considered a vegetable?” This coming from my vegetarian! You wish! I’ll laugh about this all day!) So I had about 2/3 of the pie left over.

I made a double batch of pancakes so I could freeze the leftovers. That also used 2-1/2 cups of milk! But my secret is…I took the pie from last night, scraped the filling from it and except for the crust, added it to my pancake mix. Think about it, the pie had pumpkin, cream cheese, and pudding…all good ingredients for a pancake. I also added about 1/2 cup Malt-O-Meal to the mix, which adds vitamins and protein. (The remaining pie crust and small amount of filling can be eaten as usual)

Mix and cook the pancakes as you normally would. Every one liked them, and no one knew the wiser, except you and me. (Actually, after I wrote this post, the girlfriend of son#2 did ask me if I had added the pie to the pancakes! Smart girl!)

Freeze the leftover cooked pancakes by placing them between waxed paper and freezing them in a ziploc bag. They can easily be reheated in the microwave.

Continue with the Challenge!
Part 1 – Pumpkin Vanilla Pie
Part 2 – Fruit Smoothies
Part 3 – Spinach Ravioli with Alfredo Sauce
Part 5 – Flank Steak with Mushroom Gravy
Part 6 – Wrap Up

Related posts:

1. Slightly Sour Milk – Use or Toss? Part 1 of the Challenge – Pumpkin Vanilla Pie
2. Slightly Sour Milk – Use or Toss? Part 6 – Wrap Up
3. Slightly Sour Milk – Use or Toss? Part 5 – Flank Steak with Mushroom Gravy