What can you make with leftover bread?

What can you make for a family of three if you have only 3-4 pieces of bread left?  

If you have eggs and any of the following ingredients to make pizza fillings, it should be a filling enough snack to make:

-pepperoni
-mushrooms
-bell peppers
-tomato
-mozzarella and different cheeses
-basil
-sausage
-bacon
-chicken
-onions
-olives
-spinach
-pineapple
-anchovies

 This video will give you an idea how you can go about it

These are the ingredients you need to make it:

Sardine Sandwich

 Every morning your dad makes breakfast for us.  This morning, it is sardine sandwich make with our non-stick electric sandwich maker.

To make the sandwich taste better, he spread butter on each piece of bread before spreading the sardine. This is how how the sardine sandwich will turn out.

If you are able to get up early enough to make this sandwich for us, this is my recipe for the sardine.

I like to add Worcestershire sauce because its vinegar and tamarind content make my sardine taste more sourish, which is the way I like it. If I run out of it, I will use white vinegar.

I am very particular about the can of sardine I use. Currently, my go to brand is from Lotus as the sardine is still flaky when it is being mashed up with a fork.

Don't buy the other house brand under Value, they also carry. It is too mushy for my liking, 

One can of sardine cooked with onion can be stored in my 420ml glass container which I received as a gift from Signature Market.

It is safe to store the cooked sardine in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days in an airtight container. It can be eaten with rice too. This is what is left of the sardine after the sandwiches have been made.

Whether or not you make use of an electric sandwich maker, these are other ingredients you can add to enhance the flavour of your sandwich:

-sliced tomatoes.
-sliced cucumber.
-fresh produce like coriander, lettuce, celery or avocado.
-pickles.
-sliced or chopped hard-boiled eggs.
-cheese.
-sauces like mayonnaise or chilli sauce.

This is how you use an electric sandwich maker to make your sandwich.

If you do not want to use the electric sandwich maker, you can toast my home made bread with sardine spread over it in the airfryer.  It will taste even better if you roll the sardine up in puff pastry to airfry. Making your own puff pastry takes time. You can buy them ready made. This is my go to brand.  

You can learn ways to roll or fold up your pastry puff with sardine or any other ingredients you would like to try using by watching this video.

Cooking on a budget

If you are on a budget, try to cook dishes with ingredients that you commonly have in your kitchen.  Following are the most common stocked ingredients in any household whether Western or Asian dishes are often cook: 

-eggs
-salt
-pepper
-butter
-cheese
-bread

So let us work on making egg sandwiches without adding any fish or meat in it to make it budget friendly.

1st variation:

-Boil 2 eggs

-Mashed it up with the seasonings to taste.

-Spread butter on 2 slices of bread.

-Top 1 slice of bread with the mashed eggs.

-Place second slice of bread over it to eat.

2nd variation:

-Beat 2 eggs with seasonings.

-Heat butter in pan till it melts.

-Pour eggs in to scramble and cook it to your liking, ie, still runny or well cooked.

-Spread butter on 2 slices of bread.

-Top 1 slice of bread with the scramble eggs.

-Place second slice of bread over it to eat.

3rd variation:

-Heat butter in pan till it melts.

-Break an egg in to fry with seasonings.

-Cook it to your liking, ie, well cooked with crispy edges or sunny side up.

-Spread butter on a slice of bread.

-Top it with the egg.

-Fold to eat.

4th variation:

-cook based on variation 1 or 2 or 3.

-toast bread before adding eggs.

-add a slice of cheese.

5th variation:

You can change the flavour of your sandwich by adding what you have in your kitchen. If you often cook, the most common ingredients you are likely to stock is cucumber and tomato. Other greens you can add to your sandwiches without first cooking them are:

-Lettuce

-Onions (I prefer them fried till soft)

-Peppers

-Sprouts

You can also add fruits like these:

-Bananas

-Apples

-Pears

-Strawberries

-Peaches

-Avocado

-Pickles like olives

Check out this link to Fruits and Veggies to see if there are any fruits or vegetables that you can experiment with to make your sandwiches creatively.  

I shared a very good example in an earlier posting of a deep fried sandwich creatively made with commonly used ingredients in Asian and Western dishes:

-Mashed potato

-Mashed eggs

-Mixed veggies (carrots, corn, green peas)

-Minced onion

-Relish

It is actually a popular Korean street food. If I make it on a budget, I will not include sasame seeds and relish since they are not common ingredients in my kitchen. The sausage or other meat of my choice can be added as an option. Since cornstarch and flour are used in making the batter, it will turn out crispy even without coating the sandwich with panko bread crumbs to deep fry.

Also check out the kind of condiments that you can add to your sandwiches to make them tastier too.  Some of them may already be in your kitchen:

-Yellow mustard

-Relish

-Vinegar

-Wasabi

-Hot sauce

-Dijon mustard

-Mayonnaise

-Ketchup

-Barbecue sauce

-Soy sauce

You can watch this video for ideas on how some of the above condiments can be used to make your egg sandwiches more flavourful.

These are the ingredients and steps used for making them:

1st variation:

2 Boiled Eggs (mashed with fork)

Season eggs with:

2 Tbsp Mayonnaise

Pinch of Salt

1/4 Tsp Pepper

1 Tsp White Vinegar

To serve:

Spread mashed eggs on 1 slice of white bread before topping with the other.

2nd variation:

2 Eggs (Scrambled with 1 1/2 Tsp butter)

Season eggs with:

Pinch of Salt

1 Tsp Butter

To serve:

Toast 2 slices of bread.

Spread mayonnaise on both slices of bread before adding scrambled eggs on 1 slice.

Add Pepper to scrambled eggs.

Top that with a few slices of cucumber.

Spread hot sauce on second slice of bread before topping it over first slice of bread.

3rd variation:

2 Eggs (boiled and mashed)

Season eggs with:

2 Tbsp Mayonnaise

1 Tbsp Onion (chopped)

2 Tbsp Coriander (minced)

1/4 Tsp Pepper

1 Tsp Lemon Juice

1/4 Tsp Garlic

To serve:

Spread butter on 2 slices of bread and top 1 slice with eggs.

Sprinkle chili flakes over eggs.

Top with second slice of bread.

Toast one side of bread on pan and spread butter on the other side.

Turn over to toast buttered side.

When you have a budget to meet, always find ways to make use of ingredients before they reach their expiry date.  This bread and eggs topped with cheese breakfast should be an easy meal to cook if you have bread that you have kept in the fridge because it is going stale.  It is also a great way to get rid of overripe tomatoes.

Pan Bread Pizza

Since I bake my own bread, I am never short of bread but I am short of ideas of how to serve it till I came across this recipe for Pan Bread Pizza.  Check out how it is make by watching this video.

I have also seen how it is made on Facebook.  The cook turned the bread over to brown the other side before adding the tomato sauce and toppings.  As I prefer my bread fried crispier, I have decided to change the instruction as follows:

I should be able to figure out what other kind of toppings I can use to make my Pan Bread Pizza.

Airfry 2-Ingredient Milk Bread

Yes, you can bake a bread in the airfryer too.  What I like about this bread recipe which I found on Tik Tok is that I require only two ingredients to make it.

You can learn to change the flavour of this bread by watching this video. 

Braised or Pulled Pork to the Rescue

As I boil soup almost on a daily basis, now and then, there are meat on leftover soup bone that no one wants to eat.  I will use them to make a braised pork dish with the following ingredients:

I discovered that it is alright to even use the soup bone from boiling Lotus Root soup.  Do not discard the sauce from braising this dish.  You can add the soup bone from the soup that you will be boiling the following day to continue braising it.  Just add additional sauces to taste if you have to add more water to cover the meat to braise.

Here is another way I made use of the meat from the soup bone. I remove the meat from the bone and break it up with a fork.

I used that to cook my own version of pulled pork:

I can serve it by topping it over my Baby Zhong Cheng, which I buy from Lotus on a weekly basis.  I usually receive them in the condition as shown on their website.

I prepare it by cutting each bunch in half after washing them.  I then cook it in one of the following methods:

-in a pot of boiling water (my preferred choice). 

-placed on a plate with 1 to 2 tablespoons of water to microwave for 1-2 minutes.

-steam over a pot of soup I am boiling for the day.

You know they are ready when the leaves are limp and have turned dark green. Removed them from the receptable and drain as much of the water as you can before mixing them with the above Asian flavour sauce mixture.  As the vegetable is already wet from steaming or boiling, I do not have to add water or soup to the sauce: 

1/2 Tbsp Sugar

1 Tbsp Soya Sauce
1/2 Tsp Oyster Sauce

Dash of White Pepper

However, if you have been too heavy handed with the sauces, you can dilute it by adding a tablespoon of hot water/ABC soup. 

From the following article I read, I discovered other ways I can serve my pulled pork:

36 Ways With Leftover Pulled Pork

I also learn from it other ways to flavour and cook pulled pork.  These are some that I would like to try making one day:

I found this recipe for pulled pork that I can cook with a slow cooker a day ahead.  It is great for days when I have to leave the house earlier than usual.

I like eating Banh Mi so I am glad to find Lemongrass Pulled Meat recipe to go with it.

I actually have a shortcut for preparing the pork to go with it.  I will prepare and marinate the meat the way I have shared earlier for making my sweet and sour pork. Once they are pan fried, I will cut them into strips to eat with the bread.

Do you have a breadmaker?  If you look at your manual, you will discover that you can make meat floss with it.   This is the instructions for making meat floss with my breadmaker.

Meat floss being a dried product can be stored in an airtight jar. You can read how you can store and make use of it by reading Chinese Pork Floss is the Salty-Sweet Addition Your Pantry Needs shared on Foodnetwork.  But I think Beryl Shereshewsky taste test of dishes made with pork floss will help you to decide if this is something that you would like to try.

Knead your Dough with a Ziplock Bag

If you do not have a hand or stand mixer or a breadmaker and you do not like the idea of using your hands to knead sticky dough, you can prepare it in a ziplock bag.  I agree with Left Brain Craft Brain that it is a fun way to initiate a kid to cook anything that requires dough prepared. 

Watch this video for making Fried Dough Balls" and you will get an idea. 

You can also use the same method to prepare dough for baking bread.  This baker is able to shorten the resting time of the dough by microwing a glass of water for 2 minutes.  She then put the dough in the ziplock bag to rest for 30 minutes in the microwave oven with the glass of heated water.

 

I first came across this idea on Cookrate Facebook page for making Ham and Cheese Bun.  If you are going to use a breadmaker to prepare the dough, you can add the ingredients "3" to "10" in the order I have written it in the following table. 

Cheese Naan and Cheese Bread

I love eating anything with cheese in it.  

I first discovered cheese naan at a Mamak stall, near SMJK Yu Hua Kajang and the MPKj office.  I did not like it as much when I tried it at other stalls.  I think it has to do with the cheese used.

I found a recipe for it on KL Foodie done local mamak stall style and I wonder if I can make it just the way I like it.  This is the recipe.

I found another recipe on Youtube.  

It requires 12 ingredients.  I think I should be able to use my breadmaker to prepare the dough if I use the method shown in the video.

This is a simpler version which requires only 6 ingredients.  It is called Cheese Bread.

Baking powder is used instead of yeast.

Korean Street Food Bell Peppers Dish

I shared before how I cooked my Korean Street Food Inspired Bell Peppers Dish.  I cooked them so that my husband can eat them with bread for breakfast.

Recently, I discovered that I can make fried rice with this dish too.  I beat an egg or two into it to cook scrambled egg before adding cooked rice to the mixture to cook.

The dish can also be used to make a pan sheet meal with wraps.  You can see how it is made by watching this video.

Breakfast Expectations in the Family

We used to go out for breakfast every morning.  So, we have a wide variety of food to choose from depending on whether we eat at a kopitiam or at the mamak shop.  We stopped doing that during Covid-19 pandemic.

  

This is the kind of breakfast I would like to make for my family.  Quick and easy. All the easier if I can make it in the airfryer.

This is the kind of breakfast my daughter wish I can make.  Preferbly buns with ingredients she enjoys eating incorporated.

I have to rush to the bike shop after cooking lunch and dinner for the family.  So, this is how she will be geting her bread.  Easy with the breadmaker or store bought buns.

Life After the Covid-19 Pandemic

When I stopped cooking after we started the bike shop in 2012, we used to go out as a family for breakfast and dinner.  It was a great time to bond and the children enjoyed eating out.  I started cooking again when the Covid-19 Pandemic was reported in 2020.

To avoid the crowd I started buying my groceries online from Tesco.  I continue to shop there after it was taken over by Lotus. My family members like thier coffee buns (Roti Kopi) and Cheese Onion Buns. So I buy them on a weekly basis for breakfast.  They are available in packs of 4. 

Since last November I have not been able to buy their Cheese Onion Buns online. I found out from Hafiz, a very friendly Store Manager at its Kajang branch where I collect my orders, that not all outlets sell this bun.  That is why it is no longer listed online. Most of the time the Cheese Onion Buns will have been sold out when I get there to collect my order.

So, that started my quest to look for Cheese Onion Bun recipe to bake in my breadmaker.  I bought it from Cosway during the pandemic, when they had a promotion running.

My favourite bread to make is the Milky Loaf.  

This is the recipe for it. 

As you can see, I can choose the "dough setting" on my breadmaker to make the dinner rolls with the same ingredients.  If I make dinner rolls, I can top them with onion and cheese to bake in the oven.  But I prefer the lazy way.  Once my loaf is baked, I cut it in half horizontally.  I then slice the top half of it 3/4 way through so that I can slip in my fried sliced onion and cheese to airfry.  If you watch this video, you will get an idea of what I did.  You will also discover from it other ingredients you can shove into the cuts to flavour your bread or buns.

Did that but I still prefer the ones from Lotus as it did not turn out cheesy enough.  

Then I found this Cheese Bread recipe. 

It requires 1 cup of sredded cheese which is 120g.  I used a 200g pack of Emborg Shredded Mozzarella Cheese to bake it.   But I am still not happy at how it turned out and decided to modify the recipe. I used the ingredients for the Milky Loaf and added 125g pack of shredded Parmesan cheese, as it was on offer at Lotus. I like it better baked this way as it tasted cheesier.  

However, eating it with peanut butter, which I like eating, will kill the cheese flavour.

After all my trouble, I found out recently from Hafiz that if I call Lotus with the number he gave me, the staff at their "Self Collect" counter will keep the Cheese Onion Buns for my next collection.

The other bakery that I will buy from Lotus is their Croissant which is also available in packs of 4 pieces.

I usually serve it with sardine which I have cooked and stored in the fridge.  This is the recipe for cooking it:

I am usually wary about buying house brand food item but I am happy with the canned Sardine with Tomato supplied by Lotus.  

Other than the airfryer, bread and sardine kept in the fridge can also be heated up with a sandwich toaster.

I have a reason for cutting my loaf in half horizontally. The containers I have, large enough to store my bread are shallow. After I cut it up horizontally, I will slice it to store in the fridge. This is the top half section of my Milky Cheese Loaf with 2 peices of Milky Loaf leftover from an earlier bake.

This is the bottom half section of my Milky Cheese Loaf.  Though I chose "light" colour setting, it turned out darker than my Milky Loaf baked at "medium" colour setting.

I save soiled tissues. Don't you?

I usually keep my store bought buns and homemade bread in the fridge. 

I can easily heat them up in my airfryer when we want to eat it. 

Are you aware that you should place a piece of tissue or kitchen towel on the plate in which you will be serving your heated bread, pastries or pizza? If you don't place a piece of tissue or kitchen towel under your heated food, vapours will form on the plate which will make your food soggy. Most of the time, the tissue used is still good enough to be reuse. So, I have been saving them in a plastic container after making sure that all crumbs sticking to it have been removed.  I started this habit after discovering Vinda kitchen towel. The paper is so thick that it is such a waste to discard if it can still be re-use.

When I need to clean my stove after cooking, I will use these tissues instead of a cloth. Though soiled, they are still good for absorbing oils and any drips on the stove. In doing that, I now no longer have to wash my table cloth as often. 

In the long run, that saves me time and water as I can just discard the tissue or kitchen towel once I am done with them. 

You can also consider keeping your used tissue or kitchen towel if you have only used it:

-to wipe your hands dry
-to wipe your mouth
-to dry up containers, pots or pans

It is best to save your soiled tissue or kitchen towel in an airtight container. That will prevent any ants from getting to them if there are still crumbs or residue from food left that you have missed removing.

Here is another good reason for you to save soiled tissue or kitchen towel. It is also handy for wiping off sauce and stains on your table before you wipe it with your table cloth.

I would have had a hard time washing such stains off my table cloth if I had not use a piece of tissue first.

I also re-use soiled tissues to wipe sauces and residues off my plates, containers, pots and pans before I wash them.  

By doing that, I can save the water for rinsing them for other purposes. I will share how I store and re-use such water in my next posting.

Fried Toast Sandwich

Do you know that sandwiches can be deepfried?  See how it is made in Korea.  It is a popular street food that you can find at traditional markets there.

These are the ingredients and steps to make nine sandwiches.

Can pick up some tricks on how to make the work easier if you watch how it is made at a stall in high quantity.

Fast food? Can't beat them? Join them!

I love my children and I hate it when I have to object to the kind of stuff they love to eat. And, that is, if it is not instant then its deep fried meals that they are always on the look out for at fast food chains.

I managed to work out an idea for their love of instant noodle with leftover sauce but with deep fried food, it is more difficult.

Since they love eating fried food, I decided to use this method to cook stuff they do not like to eat or are bore of eating in its usual manner. Here are a list of stuff I have tried that the children love to eat:


1) Bitter gourd marinate with magic sauce before dipping it in tempura flour batter to deep fry.

2) French toast with leftover bread fried in batter of plain four, rice flour and an egg with salt and sugar to taste. Use a ratio of 1:2 for flour, that is, 1 Tbsp rice flour to 2 Tbsp plain flour.



Any leftover batter can be used to fry pan cake.



3) Pan fried potato toast. I meshed potato from a soup I have boiled for the day. Mixed that with batter for making French Toast. Add sugar and salt to taste and more rice and plain flour, at ratio of 1:2, if the mixture will not hold together for frying. Cut the bread into quarters (half and half again) and spread that on bread on one side and pan fry the potato spread side first.



If you have more bread to fry and the potato batter is low, just prepare more batter with just rice flour and plain flour at ratio of 1:2 and add to it. Dip the cut bread into the batter and deep fry it.



Any leftover batter can be used to fry pancake.



Like the leftover potato recipes? I have more ways with that. Watch out for it in my next posting.