Hosting a New Year's Day brunch? The last thing you need, after the spending extravaganza that was
Christmas, is something more to spend money on. New Year's Day is the time for resolutions to cut
back. So how about recipes to use up holiday leftovers, particularly stale bread, rolls, muffins and
baked goods. Don't pitch stale bread. Put leftover stale bread in a bag in the fridge (separate sweet
bread from savory). Gather up holiday leftovers of meat, sausage, cheese, dried fruit, nuts and eggs
(don't forget the separated egg yolks and whites leftover from recipes). Use up leftover vegetables
from veggies trays and holiday cooking (bits of onion, green pepper, mushrooms, etc.). When you
have enough. repurpose holiday leftovers in yummy recipes that use up leftover stale bread so it
doesn't go to waste. Remember these use up recipes won't have exact measurements and maybe
not even specific ingredients. It all depends on what leftovers you have and how much you have
leftover.
Brunch bread salad. Or, said fancier, Pan Ensalada. Use up any kind of stale bread, bagels, English
muffins, hot dog buns, hamburger buns, rolls, toast, you have. The only thing you can't use are sweet
breads or raisin bread. But don't worry--there will be other brunch recipes to use up leftover sweet
breads and rolls. Mix and match flavors of bread: onion, garlic, cheese, focaccia, pumpernickel, rye,
whole wheat and white.
Tear stale bread into bite-sized pieces and place in large salad bowl or mixing bowl. Clean the fridge
and gather leftover raw vegetable scraps. Chop and add any combination of onions, scallions, green
peppers, tomato, spring mix lettuce, cilantro, herbs. romaine or leaf lettuce, baby spinach, celery,
leeks or mushrooms. Toss with leftover Greek or Italian salad dressing or vinegar and oil. Add lemon
zest, salt, cracked pepper, oregano and basil. Season with gumbo file and pepper blend for a Cajun
twist. Shred and add leftover cheese bits if desired.
Breakfast or brunch casserole: Here's a great way to use up holiday leftovers. Use any combination of stale bread, except sweet breads or bread with fruit. You can use seed or nut bread if you like. Omit the vegetables if desired. Use up leftover sausage, summer sausage, bacon or ham cubes if desired. Spray a 9x13 or 11x15 glass baking dish with olive oil. Place a layer of dried bread, broken into pieces, in the pan. Finely chop leftover onions and mince garlic and sprinkle over bread. Beat six eggs with a cup of milk until smooth and pour over bread.
Slice mushrooms and green peppers and spread over egg mixture. Use up any vegetables desired. Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, whatever sounds good. Shred leftover cheese chunks and use up leftovers from bags of shredded cheese. Sprinkle 4-8 ox shredded cheese over egg mixture. Sprinkle ground pepper on top. Bake until bubbly (about 30 minutes at 350 degrees). Top with fresh cilantro and leftover diced tomatoes or grape tomatoes.
Vegetarian brunch casserole. Make as above only swap out meat for nuts or nut bread.
Brunch bread pudding with lemon sauce. Bread pudding is the quintessential New Orleans leftover
stale bread use up recipes, perfect for brunch. Use any kind of stale bread, bagels, English muffins or
rolls except savory (onion, garlic), cheese, rye or pumpernickel bread. Use any sweet bread like Hawaiian, cinnamon or raisin bread. You could even use muffins, pancakes, waffles, rolls or unfrosted cake.
Tear bread into bite-sized pieces. Arrange in 9x13 glass pan coated with non-stick cooking spray and flour. Dot bread cubes with a half cup butter or one stick of butter or margarine. Drizzle with maple syrup, about 3/4 of a cup. Mix in any combination of chopped apples, dried fruit, figs, dates, cranberries, raisins, nuts or seeds. You can even add leftover citron or cinnamon red hots. For a super healthy brunch bread, add almonds, pecans, walnuts, pumpkin seeds and chia. Blend together 2 cups of milk, 6 eggs, half cup of brown sugar, two teaspoons each vanilla and cinnamon and half a teaspoon of nutmeg.
This is a great way to use up leftover nuts, fruits from fruit baskets, holiday leftovers of dried fruits left from baking before they get stale. You can even add in that horrible fruitcake Auntie Mildew insists on sharing every year. Toss in any leftover fruit going stale, like bananas or the cranberry sauce you made too much of. Bake 30-40 minutes at 325 degrees until bread pudding has set. Serve with lemon sauce--1 stick melted margarine, 1 cup powdered sugar, dash of salt, 2 T. lemon curd or lemon juice.
