Friday's Frugal Food: Another Dinner from Leftovers and Odds & Ends

Yesterday was one of those extra busy days - back-to-back appointments, afternoon floor duty at the office,  end-of-the-day appointment, and finally a 7 pm committee meeting. There wasn't enough time for a "real" dinner, but I hadn't eaten lunch and was really hungry. Typically when I have evening meetings, I'll just heat up something leftover and eat before I go out. But it was pretty slim pickins - or "slim chickens" as we say in our house - in the fridge.

But even with no obvious leftovers - like some roasted chicken, a pot of soup or stew, or the remains of a casserole - there are usually a few things stowed away in food savers that can up to a meal. Here's what I used:

• a package of 3 zucchinis from the past-their-prime shelf at the SuperFresh
• 1/4 large onion
• 1/3 of a box of orzo
• about a cup of left-over, home-made spaghetti sauce
• fresh parsley
• fresh thyme left over from a spectacular pork dish
• 1/2 a cucumber from the same source as the zucchini
• 1/4 of a head of iceburg lettuce, another Frugal Find at the grocery store

Here's what I did:

• sliced the zucchini and onion  (I would have added garlic, but we had run out)
• chopped about 2 tbsp. of parsley
• stripped the leaves from 4 stems of thyme
• sauteed the zucchini and onion in a little olive oil until nearly carmelized
• added the parsley and thyme
• cooked the orzo in salted water per the package instructions (about 9 minutes)
• added the cooked orzo to the sauteed onion and zucchini
• added the spaghetti sauce to the orzo-vegetable mix and heated thoroughly
• adjusted the seasoning with a little salt and pepper

Then I made a quick salad of cucumber and lettuce and topped it with a little of Nadine's Salad Success vinaigrette.

Done. My husband added some red pepper flakes and grated locatelli cheese later - he ate after I did because, really, 6:30 is just too early for dinner. The dish wasn't particularly pretty, but it was tasty. And I used up foods that might have gone too far past their usefulness if left in the fridge much longer.

Here's a break-down on how much this nutritious, filling and reasonably flavorful meal cost:

• zucchini                  .45
• onion                      .20
• orzo                        .33
• leftover sauce         .50
• olive oil                  .20
• cucumber               .20
• lettuce                   .30
• salad dressing         .25
• locatelli                  .50    
• pepper flakes          .05 
• parsley and thyme   .20
• So the whole meal - dinner for two - cost just over $3. Not bad.