Because there are only three of us in our household {the cat doesn't really count in this instance} I tend to have leftovers from most meals. Often, because my hubby works nearby, he'll come home and we'll have a hot lunch together. But I'd like to jazz things up a little, so today we're having leftover coq au vin - soup! Because I cooked the dish in the slow cooker all the meat fell into tender shreds, and it was much more liquid than if I'd cooked it in the oven, so what I'm planning on doing is adding some extra chicken stock {in fridge!} seasoning it with more salt and pepper and simmering it for 30 minutes before serving.
Another frugal tip is with leftover wine {shut up, sometimes I have some... well, cooking wine anyway...} If it's left in the bottle it oxidises and is only suitable to make salad dressing {use it in place of vinegar}. Of course, it's an option to decant it into a smaller bottle, but who has those? The best option is to freeze it in portions, well I don't know about you, but my ice cube tray is always filled with ice cubes for spontaneous vodka tonic moments - I don't have any spares for wine. But what I do have is frozen ice block makers - you know, to make ice blocks (or ice lollies) for kids. A six pack of those is just the right size for three quarters of a bottle of red, and once it's frozen, I'll slide them out and store them in a zip lock bag so I'll have 1/2 cup red wine frozen and ready to go... Just label them so your child doesn't think you've whipped up some apple and blackcurrent ice blocks!
