Eat Food, Save Money: Making Leftovers Less Leftover with Beef Stew Baked Potatoes

If you're learning to cook or trying to eat at home more often, that means eating leftovers. Now, I'm not opposed to leftovers. If you make something that tastes great, who wouldn't want to eat it one more time? But, leftovers can also be kind of boring. One way to get over the boredom is to use your leftovers in another dish. 

Enter beef stew baked potatoes. 

I made a big pot of beef stew in the slow cooker (I just realized I need to post that recipe). It was great and it made a lot, so we had leftovers for a couple of days. One day we ate regular leftovers, but the next night I topped a couple of baked potatoes with the beef stew. It doesn't seem like much, but even a little tweak like this can break the monotony. 

You could do this trick with pretty much any leftover stew you have. You could also do it with curry or stir fry, provided you don't have rice in either of them (that would probably be a bit too starchy). 

Ingredients:

Leftover beef stew (you need about two cups for two people, but if you have more or less, that's fine)

2 medium-sized baking potatoes 

Salt (optional)

Butter (optional)

Directions: Heat the oven to 400.

Prick the potatoes all over with a fork. Rub them with a little butter and salt (optional). Wrap them in foil and bake them for 1 hour and 15 minutes right on the oven rack. 

Right before the potatoes done, heat the leftover beef stew in a pot on the stove or in the microwave. When the potatoes are finished, slice them open and fluff the insides with a fork. Scoop the warm beef stew on top and serve. Enjoy some not-so-boring leftovers!