Leftover Stuffing and Friends

Apple Pork Chops with Stuffing is a recipe that I have been meaning to try for a while.  I have lots of leftover stuffing from my Christmas turkey, and I looked at a lot of recipes for using up stuffing.  We like it just plain, but that gets old after a little while.

I love pork chops and I am always able to get a couple more meals out of them, so here we go!

First night - Apple Pork Chops with Stuffing.  These were fantastic!  I was a little skeptical about the apple pie filling - I used some that my mother in law had canned last fall- but it was really good.  Also, instead of the stuffing from a box (I avoid boxes if at all possible), I of course used leftover stuffing from the freezer.  If I can get my in-laws to agree, I will post the super-secret stuffing recipe sometime.  Please guys?  Anyway - it turned out wonderfully. 

Second night:  Pork Fried Rice.  This is my go-to recipe for leftover pork.  It is a family favorite.  I usually omit the scallions and use a chopped medium onion and a couple of chopped carrots instead.  I saute the carrots, onions and pork until the vegetables are soft (you probably don't need to add any oil for this - the pork fat just from the pork will be enough), then I remove them and cook the rice and eggs according to the directions.  Remember to heat the oil BEFORE adding your rice.  Otherwise the rice soaks up the oil and tastes greasy. 

The third night:  Soup.  What else?  It seems to be the inevitable end of most of my meals.  For this one I took all of the leftover bones from the pork chops, placed them in a stockpot and barely covered them with water.  I brought the whole thing to a boil and then reduced the heat to a simmer for a few hours.  This could be done in your crockpot too - just put them in the morning and let them simmer away all day.  I then strained the stock into a bowl, put it back into the stock pot and added all of the leftover stuffing and sauce from night #1.  I then picked all of the meat off of the bones and added it back to the stockpot too.  This was a pretty good soup, but it was a little sweet for me - probably because of the apple pie filling.  I think that next time I will add some extra celery and maybe some bread to damp the sweetness.  Or maybe I will just cook the pork chops over regular sliced apples.  Hmmm.  We'll see.  Sorry I forgot to take a picture!  Maybe next time.  :o)

Happy cooking!