Gourmet Leftovers

My sister wrote me a letter recently, in which she described the difference between having goals and having plans. I have lots of goals for thrifty living, but I have yet to develop a real plan (thus the reason for this blog). So in the meantime, we're eating leftovers: both the typical, "we ate this for dinner last night" kind and the "I didn't use all of this last month, so I have some left this month" kind.

Anyway, that's what I've been cooking with this week.

Last night it took the form of sweet and sour beef stir-fry, with the best sauce I've ever made--really! I didn't measure, unfortunately, but here are my approximations:

1/2 lb ground beef, browned

2 T olive oil

2 carrots, chopped

1/2 large onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

1/4 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped

1/4-1/2 cup pineapple juice

1 can condensed tomato soup

2 T brown sugar

1 tsp garlic

1/2 tsp ginger

My beef was already browned and in the freezer, but you could brown yours and then use the drippings rather than olive oil...not sure what that would do to the flavor, though.

Saute vegetables in oil. Stir in beef. Add juice, soup, brown sugar, garlic and ginger; simmer until thickened. Serve over rice.

*I served ours over the leftover rice from the night before, which was seasoned with French Onion soup mix.