Christmas Leftovers Recipes

Hold on a sec, don't throw out that baked ham bone or turkey carcass yet! It's leftovers time at the Cheaps$kate Chateau so read on for flavorful recipes I like to make which uses up every tasty morsel of your holiday meal.

 (And click on any recipe name to be directed to my blog post with all the delish recipe text and yummy photo illustrations.)

If you are the Christmas Baked Ham type, soup the best way to use up any ham pieces and the ham bone too. New Year's Day is right around the corner so it's time for traditional Black-eyed Peas made my cheap$kate way using the leftover Christmas ham bone for extra flavor.

What I especially like about a pot of Black-eyed Peas is they cook in half the time of regular pinto, red or white beans. So you can serve them in just a couple of hours.

Do check out my recipe video below to see how quick and easy you can make your own and ring in the New Year with a fragrant bowl of legumes, and don't forget to make some rice too, for a Hoppin' John version.



Green Split Pea Soup is next up, and it cooks quickly as well. I like to add a lot of extra veggies to my version including carrot, celery and onion. Cook it with a few extra chunks of ham and even your most picky kid will go for this recipe.

Other legume recipes you can ham bone-ize are: Pinto Beans, Cuban-style Black Beans, Mexican Charro Beans andTexas-style Beans.

Adding a slab of ham is always a welcome addition to any sandwich. One of my favorites is called a Cuban Sandwich which is comprised of ham, roast pork, Swiss cheese and a slice of pickle. And it's served pressed, hot off the grill, all melty and warm.

Cuban Sandwich

A French Ham Sandwich is simply made with ham slices, real butter and crunchy French Bread. It's perfect for a picnic. I did one once, but cheaply, with margarine instead of butter. If you have the extra bucks do use real butter if you are bringing them to a picnic party.

French Ham Sandwich

Ham with pasta? You bet, just try out my Ham, Peas and Cream with Penne. And lately, I've been adding cubed ham, instead of sausage, to my Mom's Jambalaya recipe.

Mom's Jambalaya

I grew up with ham added to my plate of fried eggs with Breakfast Potatoes. Diced ham adds heft and flavor to a Cheese Omelet.

A McDonald's Egg McMuffin uses Canadian Bacon, which is very similar to ham. I am so cheap that I've come up with an inexpensive homemade one. Check out the video below to see what I mean.



When I'm on a roll, that is with dice, I head for the Vegas buffet table for a gambler's Eggs Benedict, made with poached eggs, ham and creamy Hollandaise sauce over a toasted English muffin. You've hit the jackpot when you try my cheap$kate version.

Eggs Benedict

The easiest and quickest use of a Leftover Christmas Turkey is to just pile them between 2 slices of bread or bread roll. I like mine with stuffing, cranberry sauce, warm gravy and turkey.

Click on any photo to see larger.

But to kick the sandwich up to an Ultimate Turkey Sandwich, just crisp-up in the frying pan some of that uneaten soggy turkey skin.

It is a decadent and tasty addition to a classic Turkey Sandwich. Check out my recipe video below for a little culinary decadence.


A most popular leftover for the coldest days of winter is a warm and soothing Turkey Soup. I hope you saved the poultry carcass?

For the tastiest soup, it's best to boil leftover roasted turkey bones and turkey bits in a pot of seasoned water. Once the water is simmering on low, just step away for an hour, and meanwhile, do a little veggie and leftover turkey chopping to add with strained turkey broth.

My Turkey Soup recipe link here is based on a typical Chicken Soup, so just substitute with cooked leftover turkey.

My Chicken Soup recipe starts with uncooked chicken, so this Turkey Soup spin-off will be done in less time -- just simmer long enough to tenderize the chopped carrot, onion and celery. This soup is easier with cooked turkey.

If you feel a bit more ambitious, then rustle up a Cajun classic Chicken and Sausage Gumbo, but with leftover turkey instead of chicken.

My Mom lives in Louisiana and she sure knows how to do a Gumbo. This is another cold weather dish. Serve Mom's Turkey and Sausage Gumbo over rice. Again you can reduce the prep time because the leftover turkey is already cooked. And another shortcut is using a pre-made Gumbo base called a roux, that is often stocked in regular grocery stores.

Check out my video below for all the tasty details.

A pot pie is the most soothing of winter meals, and my Turkey Pot Pie made with Christmas leftovers will have you returning for seconds and thirds!

For my simple recipe, I used a grocery store frozen pie crust that covers the leftovers. And all you do is load up a deep baking dish like you would a lasagna - layering mashed potatoes or yams, veggies, stuffing, turkey and gravy.

My video below lays it on thick, that is, with plenty of delish leftovers.

I hope you had a great gathering of family and some friends for Christmas. And do check back for more 99 cent cheap$kate deliciousness.

National Taco Day - Recipes & Reviews

Today is National Taco Day, the most hallowed of culinary days in my cocina (kitchen.) I can have tacos morning, noon and night. So read on and you'll know what I mean - just click on any taco name, or highlighted text, to see all the tasty details from my blogpost recipe or review.

In the morning it's spicy Mexican chorizo with scrambled eggs and refried beans nestled into a warm corn tortilla.

Breakfast Tacos

And my Chorizo & Egg Taco is about as cheap as you can get. I get Mexican chorizo from the 99c only Store natch, and all kinds too, like beef, pork and even soy (which is a recent favorite.) Eggs still show up at my local Dollar Tree.

The simplest breakfast taco to make is one made of Scrambled Eggs & Refried Beans. You can used canned refried beans or make my Homemade Mexican-style Pinto Beans.

And for Breakfast Tacos, it all about the salsa toppings. I like salsa from a jar, but sometime I just gotta go for it and make my own Homemade Salsa, and it's easy to do.

My Mango Salsa recipe with yummy photos and tasty text is right here, but you can check out the video below:


I'm ready to party on this auspicious day, and when this cheap$kate does it you can bet pennies will be pinched without a sacrifice in flavor. For my backyard soirée it's my favorite taco: a slow-cooked pork Carnitas. Just check out my video below to see what I'm writing about.



I buy a 5 to 6 pound budget pork shoulder, and I can get a couple dozen tacos out of it, too.

 And boy it's the perfect budget recipe that your friends and neighbors will line up for. You let them do most of the work -- they get to build each taco to suit their taste. I like to set out some chopped onion and cilantro. You can make your taco bar any way you like, go ahead and add a bowl of shredded cheese, chopped lettuce and tomato, and a cheap jar of salsa, too.

Chicken is one cheap protein. My Chicken Tinga recipe will have your guest coming back for seconds...and thirds! Chicken Tinga is a stew simmered in tomato sauce with a can of spicy chipotle peppers, but you can make a mild version with a can of enchilada sauce.

 Chicken Tinga

One of my most unique tacos came about one summer while on vacation at our spectacular national parks in Utah. I stopped to eat and had an Indian Frybread Taco. Frybread is flour dough that's rolled out and deep fried. You top the frybread with chili beans, lettuce, tomato and cheese.

Frybread Taco

Carne Asada, or grilled steak, is a favorite taco of mine. Just make my marinade for thin sliced steak, let it set for an hour, then slap it on the grill. After the Carne Asada is done you chop it up and serve on a corn tortilla

Carne Asada Taco

The marinade is a simple mix of lime juice, oil, cilantro, cumin, garlic, salt and pepper.

Drive anywhere in Los Angeles and you will see taco trucks, sidewalk taco vendors, and taquerias on almost every street. And I've stopped at most of them. What follows are a few of my faves - with a few recipes I cribbed from them, too.

When I moved to Los Angeles over 40 years ago, I discovered the taco truck. Boy, have they evolved over the years. In the beginning it was just hamburgers and tacos made with ground beef. Well, that all changed about 9 years ago when a hotel chef named Roy Choi, who was down but not out, rebounded from couch surfing to start Kogi Taco Truck.

A fellow co-conspirator came up with the idea of a Korean taco, and Roy Choi assembled the taco ingredients of Korean barbecue short ribs with an kimchi-style coleslaw, served on corn tortillas. His truck was an instant hit, and Kogi jump-started the ongoing nouveau taco truck renaissance.

Kogi is still around and I still love them. Check out my video below, where I hang out night and day, for L.A.'s most uniquely mouthwatering taco.



Inspired by Kogi's mashup of Korean BBQ and Mexican Tacos, I came up with the Loxaco, that combines Jewish and Mexican cuisines.

A Loxaco is comprised of homemade lox (cured salmon) in a fast food crunchy taco shell topped with cream cheese and thin sliced red onion. I introduced this preposterous concoction at a book signing in Libros Schmibros, a lending library in East Los Angeles. How did it go over with book lovers? The following video is a twofer, you get a recipe plus a literary happening scene.



After a double feature at my fave art house cinematheque like the Egyptian or New Beverly Theater, on the way home I swing by Leo's Taco for a few al pastor pork tacos. They just cost a $1.25, and the line can be long, now that the word is out.

This is porcine perfection on a paper plate. It's tender and flavorful grilled marinated pork, that's cooked in front of a gas grill called a trompo. A cook manning the grill slices off thin slivers, finishing the taco with flare: a flying slice of pineapple. Check out the yummy action below.



I've followed the Two Hot Tamales from the beginning, when the Border Grill was in a storefront with half a dozen tables on Melrose Avenue. Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken are fixtures on the L.A. dining scene who jumped on the taco truck train, bringing their neuvo take on Mexican cuisine to four wheels. They primarily park their taco truck in the environs of Silicon Valley West Coast, Santa Monica.



My Tacos El Primo video review has gone viral. That means this YouTube video gets thousands of views per month - right now it is pushing half a million. Why? I'm not sure. Let's see... in this video I review Buche and Tripas tacos, or tacos made from slow-cooked stomach and intestine. Gross right? One thing I noticed is half my visitors are from Mexico, so maybe half my audience is curious how gringos react to offal.

That doesn't seem interesting enough really, but hey, what do I know, I'll take it. I did the taco review because Tacos El Primo was a midnight munchies stop on my return home from various Hollywood treks.

When you have a neighborhood food stop, you eventually dive deeper and try eats you would not normally taste.

Tripas (intestine) Taco

Well, join the multitudes and check out my Cheap$kate video review of Tacos El Primo.



Deep fried Fish Tacos are one of L.A.'s great culinary contributions. These battered depth charges of crunchy perfection are based on the street food of Baja Mexico and other coastal communities. If you like British Fish & Chips, you will love Fried Fish Tacos.

Fish Taco

The battered fillets of fish are typically served on corn tortillas and topped with a white crema and chopped cabbage. I have my own recipe for Fish Tacos you can see by clicking on the recipe name.

And this is the best taco deal in town: Today (Wednesdays) is $1 Fish Taco day at Tacos Baja! Yeah, that's what you heard - don't believe me? Just watch the video below and see it for yourself.



Celebrate National Taco Day with me today. Hey, celebrate it any day now that I've shown you a slew of taco recipes you can make easily and cheaply.

And I'll end with a queasy taco review, from of all places, Jack In The Box's 2 for 99 cent tacos...ugh, watch it with a barf bag.

Football Cuisine Battle Royale: Los Angeles Rams vs New Orleans Saints

It's the perfect culinary storm this Sunday when the Los Angeles Rams battle the New Orleans Saints in the football playoffs for a berth at the Super Bowl.

Which local cuisine will be the winner? Recipes from Los Angeles will shake and rattle your taste buds like an 8 point earthquake. Or a category 5 hurricane of spicy Cajun Cuisine swamping your tongue. Well, it's time to take sides!

I went to high school in Louisiana so grew up with the New Orlean Saints football team on the tv.  I grew to love Cajun Cuisine as it became a part of my culinary DNA. My Mom, nephews Zakk and Matt, have made a slew of video recipes with this Cheap$kate Chef. Everything from Blackened Fish to Mom's Jambalaya, I even have a Red Beans and Rice recipe from good vegan friend Miss Patti.

After graduation, I knocked around a bit then heading to Los Angeles to pursue a career in the L.A. dream machine. First off Los Angeles is the Taco Capital of America. I've eaten my way from bustling Downtown LA to scenic Santa Monica bordering the Pacific Ocean. And I have the recipes to prove it!

 So my loyalty is divided, oh boy.

Will it be an LA Street Hot Dog or deep-fried cornmeal crusted Alligator that spikes your taste buds? Well read on and cast your vote for the winning recipes and local eateries -- and go Saints, I mean go Rams!! Oh forget it!

The playoff game starts early so might as well have a Los Angeles pastry from DK's Donuts in Santa Monica. Okay, New Orleans let's see you top a Rainbow Donut!

Just as colorful, plus topped with a baby Fève figurine, is a New Orleans King Cake...hmmm I might have to have a huddle to determine the winner of this dessert scrimmage.

For the opening coin toss, heads it's a Tommy Burger from Los Angeles, and tails it's a New Orleans Shrimp and Oyster Po'Boy.

Let's hit the neon-lit streets of Los Angeles for, some would argue, the best fast food burger in town (sorry In-n-Out,) a classic Tommy Burger. It's all about the chili and a fat tomato slice. And I chow it down at one of the most visited landmarks in town, Uban Light located at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA.) Check it out and give the video extra points!



The Big Easy is all about the food and my Po'Boy Sandwich Tasting Tour is so good that even fans in the nosebleed stadium seats will get up and cheer!



Saints Purple or Rams Gold, spicy boiled orange Crayfish, or green Avocado Toast? Can you tackle peeling a Crawfish? If you have ever looked at a pileup of boiled Crawfish and wonder how to get through them, just check out the next video and you'll learn how I peel and eat 'em.



Hup one, hup two, hike a peeled avocado onto warm toast for the tastiest two-point ingredient conversion of an appetizer. Avocado Toast is my fave sack, I mean snack. It's as easy to make as a ten-yard extra point field goal.



Should I call Mom during the Sunday game? I'm sure to get my rear chewed out - nothing comes between her and her favorite football team, the New Orleans Saints - don't even think about getting her off her easy chair once the game starts.

Best to just throw in the towel when it comes to Mom's Cajun cooking. She wrote the rule book and let's see if L.A. can come back once she unloads her recipe of Jambalaya.



Whew, that recipe should be penalized for deliciousness. Well, Los Angeles has a reverse flea flicker of a recipe called, Carnitas. Hours of braising reduce a pork shoulder to a tender and succulent Mexican-style taco filling. I even throw in the pigskin for extra flavor. Carnitas are what I order for late night noshing at a taco truck.



Boy, all this tasty cuisine has me thirsty, and not for Gatorade either! But I know how to fix that - with a frosty Daiquiri from a local Louisiana Drive-Thru Daiquiri shop and make mine a White Russian! If that sounds too good to be true just take a gander here.



My recipe for a LA Street Dog is a freeway pileup of flavors that make an end run around any hot dog out there.



In Louisiana, I shop at the Dollar Tree and back home in Los Angeles I shop at 99c only Store. If you are too busy to cook then hit those dollar stores during halftime for some cheap ready-to-eat treats, like these right here.

Liver Cheese from a Los Angeles 99c only Store

Cream Puffs from a Louisiana Dollar Tree

A Los Angeles fan favorite is a California Roll. Like a stadium wave, this California spin on Japanese sushi has traveled to grocery deli cases all around the country. And it uses cheap imitation crab, so you will save big bucks on usually expensive seafood - hey, now you can afford an extra keg for your tailgate party!



New Orleans is right on the Gulf Coast so they know how to spike a seafood dish, and my nephew Zakk has a Blackened Fish recipe that will move the chain poles 10 yards for a first down!



For my vegan visitors, it's Legume Touchdown time! You'll want to pass around Gas-X or turn the fan to high in the dugout. Mexican-style Pinto Beans are stuffed into every Los Angeles Burrito and believe me I've had my share and here is how I make them out here.



Miss Patti, my good friend from New Orleans, is vegan and knows her Red Beans and Rice. She even came out to Los Angeles one time to show me how Cajuns cook them.



Okay, let's call a truce, listen up here to the menu from Little Jewel, a replica of a New Orleans deli market located right on the edge of Downtown Los Angeles, in of all places, Chinatown. You see, we can all get along after all, at least until kickoff time!

Christmas Leftovers Recipes

Hold on a sec, don't throw out that baked ham bone or turkey carcass yet! It's leftovers time at the Cheaps$kate Chateau so read on for flavorful recipes I like to make which uses up every tasty morsel of your holiday meal.

 (And click on any recipe name to be directed to my blog post with all the delish recipe text and yummy photo illustrations.)

If you are the Christmas Baked Ham type, soup the best way to use up any ham pieces and the ham bone too. New Year's Day is right around the corner so it's time for traditional Black-eyed Peas made my cheap$kate way using the leftover Christmas ham bone for extra flavor.

What I especially like about a pot of Black-eyed Peas is they cook in half the time of regular pinto, red or white beans. So you can serve them in just a couple of hours.

Do check out my recipe video below to see how quick and easy you can make your own and ring in the New Year with a fragrant bowl of legumes, and don't forget to make some rice too, for a Hoppin' John version.



Green Split Pea Soup is next up, and it cooks quickly as well. I like to add a lot of extra veggies to my version including carrot, celery and onion. Cook it with a few extra chunks of ham and even your most picky kid will go for this recipe.

Other legume recipes you can ham bone-ize are: Pinto Beans, Cuban-style Black Beans, Mexican Charro Beans andTexas-style Beans.

Adding a slab of ham is always a welcome addition to any sandwich. One of my favorites is called a Cuban Sandwich which is comprised of ham, roast pork, Swiss cheese and a slice of pickle. And it's served pressed, hot off the grill, all melty and warm.

Cuban Sandwich

A French Ham Sandwich is simply made with ham slices, real butter and crunchy French Bread. It's perfect for a picnic. I did one once, but cheaply, with margarine instead of butter. If you have the extra bucks do use real butter if you are bringing them to a picnic party.

French Ham Sandwich

Ham with pasta? You bet, just try out my Ham, Peas and Cream with Penne. And lately, I've been adding cubed ham, instead of sausage, to my Mom's Jambalaya recipe.

Mom's Jambalaya

I grew up with ham added to my plate of fried eggs with Breakfast Potatoes. Diced ham adds heft and flavor to a Cheese Omelet.

A McDonald's Egg McMuffin uses Canadian Bacon, which is very similar to ham. I am so cheap that I've come up with an inexpensive homemade one. Check out the video below to see what I mean.



When I'm on a roll, that is with dice, I head for the Vegas buffet table for a gambler's Eggs Benedict, made with poached eggs, ham and creamy Hollandaise sauce over a toasted English muffin. You've hit the jackpot when you try my cheap$kate version.

Eggs Benedict

The easiest and quickest use of a Leftover Christmas Turkey is to just pile them between 2 slices of bread or bread roll. I like mine with stuffing, cranberry sauce, warm gravy and turkey.

Click on any photo to see larger.

But to kick the sandwich up to an Ultimate Turkey Sandwich, just crisp-up in the frying pan some of that uneaten soggy turkey skin.

It is a decadent and tasty addition to a classic Turkey Sandwich. Check out my recipe video below for a little culinary decadence.


A most popular leftover for the coldest days of winter is a warm and soothing Turkey Soup. I hope you saved the poultry carcass?

For the tastiest soup, it's best to boil leftover roasted turkey bones and turkey bits in a pot of seasoned water. Once the water is simmering on low, just step away for an hour, and meanwhile, do a little veggie and leftover turkey chopping to add with strained turkey broth.

My Turkey Soup recipe link here is based on a typical Chicken Soup, so just substitute with cooked leftover turkey.

My Chicken Soup recipe starts with uncooked chicken, so this Turkey Soup spin-off will be done in less time -- just simmer long enough to tenderize the chopped carrot, onion and celery. This soup is easier with cooked turkey.

If you feel a bit more ambitious, then rustle up a Cajun classic Chicken and Sausage Gumbo, but with leftover turkey instead of chicken.

My Mom lives in Louisiana and she sure knows how to do a Gumbo. This is another cold weather dish. Serve Mom's Turkey and Sausage Gumbo over rice. Again you can reduce the prep time because the leftover turkey is already cooked. And another shortcut is using a pre-made Gumbo base called a roux, that is often stocked in regular grocery stores.

Check out my video below for all the tasty details.

A pot pie is the most soothing of winter meals, and my Turkey Pot Pie made with Christmas leftovers will have you returning for seconds and thirds!

For my simple recipe, I used a grocery store frozen pie crust that covers the leftovers. And all you do is load up a deep baking dish like you would a lasagna - layering mashed potatoes or yams, veggies, stuffing, turkey and gravy.

My video below lays it on thick, that is, with plenty of delish leftovers.

I hope you had a great gathering of family and some friends for Christmas. And do check back for more 99 cent cheap$kate deliciousness.