On today’s podcast, we’re giving leftover meals a delicious and creative makeover. My guest is Cassy Joy Garcia, author of the game-changing new cookbook, Cook Once Dinner Fix. Flip through the pages for chicken, beef, pork, seafood and vegetarian recipes, and discover strategies for turning tonight’s leftovers into tomorrow’s feast. This show is perfect for meal planners and meal planner wannabes, and the recipes are guaranteed to wow your family.
Cassie Joy Garcia is a busy mom, meal planner and prepper extraordinaire, and healthy recipe guru. She’s the founder of Fed + Fit, and her new book is a game changer at dinner. Here’s how the book works: One night, for example, you can make Cassy’s Roasted Chicken and Potatoes with Fresh Arugula Salad and then the next night or a few nights later, you can turn the leftover chicken into Butter Chicken Bowls with White Rice.
With every recipe, you’ll also find tips for ingredient tweaks and ways to customize the recipes to your preferences and dietary needs.
[Tweet “On this week’s Liz’s Healthy Table #podcast, my guest is Cassy Joy Garcia from @fedandfit and together we’re sharing news about her new cookbook, Cook Once Dinner Fix and sharing recipes that turn tonight’s leftovers into tomorrow’s feast. Get healthy meal inspiration!]
Cookbook Giveaway:
We’re giving away a copy of Cook Once Dinner Fix: Quick and Exciting Ways to Transform Tonight’s Dinner into Tomorrow’s Feast (Simon & Schuster) to one lucky U.S. winner. Leave a comment in the comments section below telling me about your biggest dinnertime challenge or dilemma and/or why you want to win this book. I’ll pick the winner at random on November 3rd at noon. (U.S. only giveaway, please.) Good luck!
Show Highlights:
- Cassie’s life in San Antonio, where she started her healthy living blog and became a holistic nutritionist; she makes her home with two young daughters (and a third due in a few months), her husband, and two large dogs
- How Cassie’s Fed and Fit blog came to being during her personal journey of yo-yo dieting and discovering the science of inflammatory foods
- An overview of Cook Once Dinner Fix, which gives the benefits of a prep day without having to have a prep day!
- How Chicken Sloppy Joes with Ginger Carrot Slaw can be turned into a dinner of White Chicken Enchilada Casserole with Tomato-Avocado Salad
- Cassie’s goal is to lessen the burden of getting an efficient meal on the table
- How repurposing the meal’s protein allows you to focus on side dishes to differentiate the meals
- How Cassie’s system allows her to “plate dinner with a more joyful heart”
- An example of a beef recipe is Garlic Peppercorn Beef Roast, which is slow-roasted in the oven with carrots and served with a horseradish cream sauce; it’s then used in Shredded Beef Ragout over Pappardelle Pasta with a rich tomato sauce
- How Cassie is raising adventurous eaters by encouraging her young children to choose meals and prep with her
- Cassie’s favorite seafood recipe from the book: Dill Aioli Salmon Bake. It’s a salmon fillet topped with a lemon dill aioli mixture served with roasted potatoes; leftover salmon is made into Salmon Cakes, which Cassie serves with pan-seared green beans
Resources:
Link to Cassie’s cookbook on Amazon:
Instagram: @fedandfit
Twitter: @fedandfit
Liz’s Links:
Author, Color, Cook, Eat! coloring book series
Website: Liz’s Healthy Table
Listen to my Podcast
Read my Blog
We love to cook and we love fresh cooked food, but that takes time and that is our biggest challenge. I love the idea of cooking extra and using it in whole new way for another meal!
I always need more recipe ideas! I would love to win this cookbook!
My biggest dinner challenge is getting a balanced meal that I can also modify for my 9 month old to eat, on the table in 30 minutes or less! She doesn’t nap much at daycare so early bedtime is key. I have followed Cassie on Instructions and appreciate her Whole Foods, realistic approach to eating.
My biggest issue with dinner time is trying to fix something EVERY single night. I love the idea of utilizing leftovers and look forward to this book!
My biggest problem right now is being pregnant and I don’t know what I want to eat each day. I know I do better with a plan though so I need to get back at it. This book would be helpful for when the baby comes too.
My biggest challenge is deciding on the side dishes. I usually roast a veggie from the freezer. I need to plan ahead to use fresh produce and find some nice combinations to go with the main dishes.
Unfortunately it’s just my teenage daughter and me. She’ll get up from a nap and basically a cheese quesadilla. I’ll make gnocchi with some more kale but when it’s in the fridge too long it’s in the trash. And curtido. So good but so much leftovers. I even forgot and got papusas for my daughter and me-curtido (cabbage salad) perfect. The best make again meal is boiled chicken for my sweet dog and marinated some chicken breast, wrapped in foil and cooking in air fryer. Next day meals with my four legged baby.
Variety is our biggest challenge. My busy teen is excited to try this book!
My biggest dinnertime challenge is that my two kids each have different protein and veggie likes and dislikes – someone’s usually happy and someone’s dissapointed!
Love this concept! My biggest challenge is that I love leftovers but my family is less enthusiastic. I want to share a wide range of textures and colors of foods with my family yet we are falling into a rut with what options make everyone happy. Looking forward to these ideas!
Our family’s biggest challenge is finding healthy food everyone will eat that can be eaten in shifts or as leftovers. Throw in a cancer patient’s specific dietary needs, a vege hating high schooler, a meat hating middle schooler, and a mom in school with a couple part time jobs and some planning would go a long way.
I love Cassy’s first book and use it a lot. I would love to have her second book as well. My biggest challenge is feeding different eating styles at once-my daughter is vegetarian, my son is a meat and potato eater and I am low carb. I try to make easily adaptable meals so we all have something to eat without having to cook separate meals. Liz, when and where will you post the winner?
Actually, I think I have her second book called “cook once, eat all week” and not her first one.
Love the idea of cooking once and having enough for the next day!
My biggest challenge is having the prep work done ahead of time so that dinner time isn’t stressful.
My biggest challenge is trying to eat healthier and lose some weight while also trying to satisfy a hungry, teenage boy!I am also very busy at night going to my son’s sporting events so I don’t always have several hours to prep, cook, and cleanup a meal. I am excited about the concept of cooking extra so on those. busy nights I can put together a meal very quickly.
Time! I love to cook, but we don’t have time to cook, eat, and do the clean up everyday! I currently try to do our takeout/restaurant night during the busy week instead of the weekend, and try to plan a leftover day as well to cut back on these tasks each and every busy weeknight (when I often don’t get home til 7pm!), and try to plan time (and pot/bakeware) intensive for the weekend.
My biggest challenge is trying to cook for a family of 6, all of which have different tastes, and one has an egg allergy! I’d love to win this cookbook to get new ideas and simplify my life!
My biggest challenge is cooking for two, now that our son is on his own, without eating the same thing for four nights! It sounds like this cookbook would really help with that!
Our biggest dining dilemma is using leftovers in a tasteful way. We often use tortillas and eggs as a base to carry leftovers, which has gotten kind of tiresome in our household. This cookbook is exactly what we are looking for.
My biggest challenge is buying lots of produce and not having a plan for it all. My goal this year has been to reduce food waste but it’s been a drag having no set plan and cooking every single night. I’m also starting to share meals with two friends with broken ankles(!) so I am cooking for 4-5 now every single day. I would love to cook once and have easier days during the week.
It is challenging to cook for just me and my husband and to keep it tasty and healthy!
My biggest dinnertime dilemma is planning ahead! I love the idea of “reinventing” leftovers so I definitely could use this cookbook.
Our biggest challenge is the dreaded daily ‘usual question’ i.e. what do you want for dinner. Hopefully this book will provide lots of interesting options.
My biggest challenge is finding recipes that were enjoy as much leftover as the first time. In a household of two, there are a lot of leftovers.
My hardest dinner time problem is fixing something they will all eat. Seems like I am making 2 meals some days because of picky eaters. Dread mealtime lately.
My biggest dinnertime challenge is cooking for one and I want to win this book for ideas of what to do with leftovers.
I loved this podcast episode!! My biggest dinnertime challenge is getting one meal on the table that everyone enjoys. I prefer to be vegetarian, my husband loves meat and my kids food preferences seem to change daily!
I would love to win this book to try out the technique of cooking once and using same food a second time to see if this helps cut down on time in the kitchen!
Liz I look forward to each episode. I love this idea of making leftovers into an entire other meal! Thank you for all your great episodes! Lisa Curry
My biggest challenge is that my two young boys don’t eat anything I make for dinner- especially if I serve leftovers, which I do several times a week. It would be great to use the recipes in the cookbook to turn our leftovers into something new so that I have a hope that they boys might actually try it!
My biggest struggle is cooking with two toddlers under my feet! If I could cook once then utilize leftovers, it would definitely decrease the stress level around dinner time!
I teach nutrition education and food resource management to low income adults. Utilizing leftovers is important so food does not go to waste. I would love to have new ideas from this cookbook to share with my clients.