Who hasn’t had a recipe turn out wrong, a cake crumble or toast burn? Your first response might be to toss the offending dish in the trash and start fresh. Sometimes you find yourself with leftovers so small that you don’t think they can be saved, so you toss them. My husband is guilty of that one. Being frugal, though, means using what you have and wasting as little as possible.
Here are some simple ways to save or reuse recipes that have gone wrong or use up those little extra leftovers.
Uneven or cracked cupcakes: Spread a thick layer of icing over the cupcakes, and no one will ever know, especially kids who love icing.
Smeared frosting on cupcakes or cakes: When frosted cupcakes arrive at their destination smeared, simply dip each cupcake in sprinkles to hide the smears. The save works for cakes, although you’ll have to sprinkle the sprinkles, not dip the cake!
Lumpy mashed potatoes: Add some heavy cream or whole milk, a few tablespoons at a time and whip with a mixer.
Failed pie crust dough: Turn that fruit pie into a cobbler. Just mix brown sugar and cold butter with a pastry mixer or with two knives in a crossed technique. Add cinnamon if desired (great for apple pie). Put your filling in a pan and sprinkle your sugar-butter mixture over the top.
Crumbled cake: If your cake cracks and is beyond repair, crumble it up. You can save the crumbs later for ice cream topping, parfaits, layered deserts and more.
Cereal crumbs: That last bowl of cereal always seems to be all crumbs. Non-sugary cereals, such as corn flakes can be used as a crunchy topping for baked chicken instead of bread crumbs. Sugary cereal can be used for ice cream toppings.
Leftover fowl: Chicken or turkey to small for even one meal? Chop it up, mix it with mayo and stretch it with celery, cranberries, walnuts, anything yummy you have around for a chicken salad that could feed up to four people. Or cut the chicken or turkey into strips and serve over a green salad for a nice, healthy lunch.
And the classic burnt toast: Scrape the toast with a butter knife to remove the charred outer layer. Yes, this really works, as I proved the other day when I left a grilled cheese on too long while changing the baby’s diaper.
What are your favorite ways to save botched recipes or use up leftovers?
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