“Leftovers? Ugh!”

Not in my house. I serve only fresh-made entrees and side dishes. I, too, say “ugh” to typical leftovers. Nuked, saved from the trash, most leftovers can have seasonings and sauces refreshed, but . . . they’re still leftovers.

When I look in my overstuffed fridge I see raw materials for whole new creations. So my lunch offering to niece Sherry, tomorrow, is new. I like it, and think she will.

So there’s repurposing of readily available ingredients. Judy works for food vendors at the Sonoma County Fair for a couple of weeks most summers. They have to toss out leftover food each day. She rescues some of it, explaining the boxes of corn dogs in our fridge..

Okay, what’re they good for, maybe?

I love cornbread. Rip off the already-fried batter, chop it up, mix in small cubes of pepper jack cheese and some Cholula hot sauce, and there’s the topping for a mix of finely-diced hot dogs, canned yellow whole-kernel corn, tomato paste, generous taco seasonings, sauteed onions, and enough ale or leftover coffee to moisten it all.

This kind of mixture can be very tasty when express-zapped in the microwave and immediately treated to a light layer of shredded pepper jack cheese.

Most folks would celebrate this creation with beer, but I’m a wino and I find the spirit of this whole endeavor calling for a bracing kick of Charles Shaw Shiraz. Yummy! –Bob Cramer, The Fearless Taster.