Are you a closet Food Network TV star?

Admit it, please.  You're kind of addicted to the Food Network.  You feel like you know all the celebrity chefs personally.  You sometimes find yourself in restaurants critiqueing the food, the service, whether or not to write to Guy about visiting the D, D, or D you're in.  You even catch yourself breaking down a dish while you're in the kitchen preparing dinner, explaining why you're adding butter to a cold pan, and why you're dicing instead of mincing.  You know you do it!  It's okay!  Somebody?  It can't just be me!

Season eight of "The Next Food Network TV Star" just started, and the format is interestingly different.  I'm not going to go into detail, in case you've got it on DVR and haven't watched it yet, yet one thing remains the same...what's your foodie style?  I give Kudos to last season's winner...the self-proclaimed "Sandwich King."  He knew his niche in the kitchen and remained true, whatever challenges were thrown at him.  Every season, the show begins, and every season I wonder to myself...."what's my focus?"  Can 'I like to Eat' be mine?!

Ask my husband and daughter, and they'd probably have a really quick answer - "She'll put a fried egg on it!"  Yeah, maybe.  I can admit, my thought process on that usually begins as we're wrapping up dinner, and I can see what kind of leftovers I'll be working with.  A little rice and chicken...it'll make a great breakfast, with a fried egg on it!  Mashed potatoes and corn...potatoe pancakes, with a fried egg on it! 

Sometimes, leftovers don't make the breakfast cut.  That's when they become the "do-overs."  Which would be my other foodie talent.  Using leftovers in a creative way doesn't exactly work in a restaurant setting, but it could be a tv show, right?  Maybe?  It's at least a cookbook, I think.  My husband, the real cook in this household, creates elaborate meals for dinner, often with leftovers.  When they don't make the breakfast plate (with a fried egg on it!), I attempt to turn them into another meal a night or two later.

Not content to merely re-heat and re-serve, I try to create a new dish.  I suppose that's how soups and stews got their humble beginnings.  It's a challenge I welcome.  Got leftovers you're not sure how to do-over?  Try me!  I'll bet with your leftovers and a few basic staple items, we can (re)create something yummy.  Not only will you cut down on food waste, you may find yourself cutting down your weekly food bill, too.  One roasted chicken, could become two dinners and lunch (provided you aren't harboring an NFL team or a group of runaway slaves!). 

Are you wondering what I had for breakfast today?  Leftover garlic fries, chopped and pan-fried, smothered in leftover sausage gravy, accompanied by...yup!  a fried egg.  And half an leftover avocado.  Yum!