When you are a home cook, creating leftovers is inevitable.  But on our homestead, waste cannot be an option for us--food is one of our most valuable resources, and we're putting TONS of work into obtaining it.  After spending literally _months_ tending a garden, raising an animal, or processing foraged food, the idea of wasting it is absolutely criminal.  So we get creative with making sure that leftover food never knows the sight of the garbage or compost pile.

My secret weapon?  The "Health Patty."  The name is intentionally unpalatable--when I first made them as an experiment, Andrew christened them with a somewhat wry grin, as their appearance wasn't the prettiest.  But they were so good we kept making them, and the name stuck.  We forget how bad it sounds!

The basic premise was this--I make a lot of various bean and rice dishes, especially during the winter.  It's a wonderful comfort food, it's made of whole ingredients, and we pretty much always have the materials on hand.  The inevitable leftovers were combined, mashed by hand, mixed with whole-wheat flour until they formed a dough, shaped into hamburger-sized patties, and fried in a cast-iron skillet until nicely browned.

![IMG_5315.JPG](https://steemitimages.com/DQmUoDcVNdMfPHr4wx34sFu1guAoEi49C1JY8m3YERfvdYh/IMG_5315.JPG)

Sounds simple, but it's so adaptable, and so accommodating with so many different leftovers!  I made these today, actually--the mushrooms, onions, rice and beans from last night's tacos were mixed with the lentil sloppy joes and eggplant bruschetta from two days before, seasoned lightly, mixed with flour, and eaten for lunch.  They are great dipped in mustard, ketchup, chimchurri sauce--basically any sauce you want. 

These also can be intentionally made as a decent bean-burger, too.  Just mix in some salt and pepper, minced garlic, and a dash of soy sauce, and you're good to go!  Want it sausage-flavored?  Add oregano, red pepper flakes, minced garlic, and fennel seeds.  My vegan brother in law even approved of these!

Do you have any creative ways of repurposing leftovers so that they don't go bad, forlorn and forgotten in the back of the fridge?  I'd love to hear!

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