This post is going to be the beginning of a new series of posts called MOLO Monday. On the first Monday of each month, I’ll be sharing a basic meal with creative ways of making over the leftovers into a brand new meal. This is a really great way to save money, time, and reduce wasted food. If you like to meal-plan, or if you’re on a tight grocery budget, I hope these ideas will help. And to make things even easier for you, I’ll include a printable shopping list for all the ingredients you’ll need.
So let’s start with the base meal. Generally I make a big dinner on the weekend and I purposely make more food than my family can eat in one meal so that I have lots of leftovers to work with.
This time we had baked salmon, rice and asparagus. The salmon is really simple – place the fillet in foil with some slices of onion an lemon, then sprinkle with salt, pepper, and dill. Wrap if up in the foil and bake it at 400F for about 25 min, until the fish flakes apart.
The rice is straightforward, you can use whatever rice you like, and cook it according to package directions. Just be sure to make enough so that you have a couple of cups of cooked rice left over after dinner.
For the asparagus, I like to use the recipe I shared in this previous post. It calls for chopped almonds but I usually leave those out, since I find they just slide to the bottom of the dish.
The next day, you can use the leftover salmon, rice and asparagus to make this creamy casserole. It’s perfect comfort food.
Ingredients
- 2 tsp olive oil
- 1 onion
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 2 celery stalks, sliced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 1 green bell pepper, diced
- 1 tsp dried dill
- 1 tsp lemon zest
- 2 tbsp. flour
- 1 cup chicken stock
- 1 cup milk
- 1/4 cup greek yogurt
- 2 cups cooked salmon
- 2 cups cooked rice
- 1/2 cup chopped cooked asparagus
- 1/2 cup grated cheese
- salt, to taste
Instructions
- In a large non-stick skillet, heat oil over medium heat.
- Add onion and garlic, and cook for 3 minutes, until softened.
- Add celery, peppers, dill and lemon, then cook for another 5 minutes.
- Sprinkle with flour, then whisk in chicken stock and milk. Heat to boiling, continuing to whisk until the sauce thickens.
- Reduce heat and mix in yogurt, salmon, rice, and asparagus.
- Add salt to taste.
- Transfer to a casserole dish and sprinkle with cheese.
- Bake at 350 F for 20 minutes.
https://foodwhine.com/2014/11/molo-monday-salmon-asparagus-rice-casserole.html
I feel like the boys’ tastes are shifting lately. Cole used fo be the pickier eater, but now Bennett seems to be a bit more fussy about his food. Bdnnett wasn’t too interested in this casserole and yet Cole cleared his plate. Just when I thought I had them figured out, they go and mix things up! Ayla was somewhere in the middle on this one. She didn’t really love it or hate it.
I loved how easy it was to put together, because a lot of the preparation was eliminated by using leftovers that were already cooked. It’s so good for you, too, with all of the omega-3-rich salmon and nutritious asparagus.
To download the shopping list for these meals, click below:
If you still have more salmon left over, here are a couple other ideas you may want to try.
My kids like to whine, especially when it comes to the food they eat, but that doesn’t stop me from trying to make tasty and healthy meals for them. Follow along as I share family-friendly recipes and reviews from my picky family members, who I lovingly call “The Whine Critics.” 
