Go ahead: Make a plate of leftovers

This Greek extra-virgin olive oil from Cyprus turned out to be unusually thick and fruity for such a good value, but extending the turtle-like plastic spout wasn't as easy as it looked, below. A 3-liter can was on sale for $14.99 at the International Food, Wine & Liquor Warehouse in Lodi until Feb. 26.

I had to grasp two sharp, plastic semicircles and pull hard to get the spout to extend fully, front. Even when extended, pouring the oil into a smaller container for use in cooking or to dress salads is a challenge without spilling some.

Putting a meal on the table is much easier when you have a lot of leftovers to work with.

Making 2 cups of organic brown rice or 1 pound of whole-wheat pasta with sardines takes about as much time as lesser amounts.

Make a 10-inch frittata, not an 8-inch one, leaving some for quickly reheating in the microwave for another meal.

You can also make mashed sweet potatoes in a large batch.

We usually get 2 pounds or less of fresh, wild-caught fish fillets from Costco, and even with four fish-lovers to feed, we have leftovers for another day.

Leftovers for breakfast this morning included a frittata with pesto, Chinese takeout vegetables, sauteed cabbage with sweet peppers and Kabocha squash drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil.

Leftover organic brown rice with diced organic tomatoes made a great foundation for two organic eggs with sun-dried tomato and shredded low-fat cheese.

I added leftover Mexican green salsa and tomatoes as a sauce for organic brown rice, and plated them with pan-fried Pacific cod from Costco Wholesale in Hackensack.

I have leftover black beans with organic diced tomatoes, left, that would go great with leftover brown rice, and all I need to do to complete the meal is to make a salad from pre-washed Earthbound Farm Organic Spring Mix, which goes straight from the package to the bowl.