When I announced I was hosting the fourth edition of Leftover Tuesdays last week, I wrote again about my love of leftovers. There is no way I could eat well and do my job without them. I also talked about how our freezer is stocked with single serving meals ready for our lunches. Almost every day, we each grab one of those and a piece of fruit before heading out for the office. At lunch time, I take mine out of the fridge and plop it in the microwave. I have a hot lunch ready in 2 to 3 minutes. Erik apparently can’t wait that long and eats his cold most of the time. He only recently admitted this to me. The only thing I have to say about that is sometimes it’s better not to confess everything to your spouse. Taking lunch is obviously much cheaper and better for us than the options available for purchase where we work. You wouldn’t believe the nasty things they sell to the people on our campus. And contrary to popular belief, professors mostly eat at their desks and not in some fancy faculty restaurant.

When we assemble our leftovers for lunch servings, we plan on about 3/4 cup of starch (rice, pasta, mashed potatoes, polenta, etc.), at least 1/2 cup vegetables, more if we have them, about 3-4 oz. protein and a little sauce or even just a splash of water or broth, nobody likes dry leftovers. Right now, we’re using Ziploc containers, because they have twist on lids and help us avoid spills. We use the 2-cup size and re-use them many times, but I don’t like using plastic, so once these have all outlived their usefulness, we’re going to invest in something stainless steel. In the last week, we’ve had a number of notable lunches. Seriously good spaghetti alla carbonara from the Silver Spoon cookbook, the last of the lamb shanks in Guiness sauce, penne with ratatouille and leftover pizza. Obviously, some things freeze better than others. I find that black beans do better than lentils or chick peas. I don’t ever put in big chunks of potatoes, but mashed potatoes do alright. For pasta, I usually try and make it really al dente if it’s going to end up in the freezer, so it won’t turn into mush when it gets reheated.

I took the lead picture of the spaghetti carbonara just before I stuck my fork in it for lunch. We made it one night when we had some eggs, spaghetti and cheese kicking around and then I found a little fatback in the freezer. You can find a review of the Silver Spoon cookbook and the carbonara recipe on the NPR website here. The freezer also had a half bag of peas leftover from some other recipe, so we had those on the side. We put the peas in with the carbonara for lunch the next day, they were mostly hiding at the bottom. Hopefully, we weren’t breaking any rules about Italian cuisine.

Below, you’ll find a round-up of the entries for this month’s Leftover Tuesdays. They are listed in the order I received them. After that, you’ll find some links to other people interested in leftovers and one to an article describing a surprising clean your plate movement in Hong Kong.

The first entry I received was from Lynn in Singapore. Her gorgeous blog is called To Short Term Memories. She used leftover frosting from an Op?ra cake to make some impressive Op?ra cupcakes.

Second, I received an entry from Glenna of Springfield, Missouri at A Fridge Full of Food for Roast to Beef Enchiladas. I’d love to have dinner at Glenna’s house.

The third person to write was Rachel from Rachel’s Bite. She lives in Tampa, Florida and hosted the second Leftover Tuesdays event. This time, she made Breakfast tacos from leftover Mongolian Beef.

Deinin, from Finland, has a blog with the ingenious name Cloudberry Quark. She used leftover syrup from making candied ginger to make a delicious-sounding ginger mead.

Next, Christine from Bloomington, Indiana of My Plate or Yours? made one of those dishes out of practically nothing that turns out so to be just the thing to satisfy a fierce hunger. Of course she posted about her spaghetti with caramelized onions and roasted pumpkin seeds with the title, “Serendipity.” When I use up leftover spaghetti from now on, I’ll think of her and call it serendipity spaghetti.

The inimitable Mimi from French Kitchen in America writes from Wisconsin. She’s clearing out her pantry to get ready for her upcoming trip to Paris. During last week’s cold spell, she made an autumnal baked apples with calvados.

Next, Megan, the host of Leftover Tuesdays number three, lives in Canada and writes What’s Cooking? She used up some odds and ends left over from a dinner party to create Asian Noodly Thing.

Ulrike over at K?chenlatein used up some leftover rice to make Bell Pepper Tomato Rice with Meatballs. She lives in Kronshagen, a small village in Northern Germany. This looks like an inside out version of stuffed peppers, one of my favorites.

The last official entry was from David of Cooking Chat in Massachusetts, founder of Leftover Tuesdays. He offered Orzo Salad with Pesto. It must have disappeared quickly, because he didn’t get a picture to show us.

Thanks for your entries, everybody.

Some of the other people I happened upon this week also recently wrote about leftovers that I thought you all would enjoy. I hope they won’t mind me including them.

Chichajo of 80 breakfasts used leftovers to make osso buco pasta.

A newer blog that I’ve found recently and like very much is Whipped. Last week, she made a leftovers rice bowl topped with what looked like a perfectly cooked fried egg. How I would have loved to poke a fork in that egg and let the gooey yolk spill out and onto the gingery, garlicky fried rice and bits of leftover vegetables and whatnot below it.

Lindy at Toast wrote about planning for leftover risotto in order to make fried risotto cakes. I have so much broth in my freezer right now, this dish is going on the menu this week. These and a salad will make for an easy weeknight supper.

Adrienne at Nosheteria made lime curd out of egg yolks leftover from making a pavlova in her “Ode to a skinny fridge.” I’ve made lime curd before, but I’ve never thought to write an ode to my refrigerator.

It seems that leftovers can be an issue for couples. Who eats them? Who doesn’t? Dial M for Moron recently wrote about the waiting game that he and his wife play with leftovers in “Game, set…salad?”

Sarah from Food and Paper admits she doesn’t like leftovers, but lucky for her, her husband does. Like ours, his lunch lives in the freezer until he’s ready for it. Unlike ours, his lunches rub elbows with luscious freezer friendly chocolate whiskey souffl? tarts.

In Hong Kong, leftovers are apparently a problem in the city’s restaurants. Diners there can be fined for leftover food on their plates. You can read this article about it. My question is, haven’t they ever heard of doggy bags? Leftovers from a restaurant make for a great lunch, right?