Favorite "Make a big pot of something and have leftovers" recipes

[Emma Peel]

This is maybe more useful for actual meal planning! :)

I have so many of these, but here are a few of my standbys to make, freeze, take for lunch with leftovers, etc.

Lentils with bacon from Amateur Gourmet

Braised coconut spinach and chickpeas with lemon from The Kitchn (I make a few changes to this, mostly cubing a sweet potato or two and throwing it in, which stretches the recipe EVEN FURTHER if you can believe that. I also use light coconut milk and next time I'm going to double the spices.)

Chana masala from Smitten Kitchen, which is the best argument I know of to "spend money to save money" and stock a bunch of Indian spices.

Chard and white bean stew from Smitten Kitchen. I use kale instead of chard, because I like kale.

Baked chipotle beans with queso fresco from 101 Cookbooks. This was my favorite recipe I made in 2012.

Spinach and chickpeas from Smitten Kitchen. With a poached egg on top, this is maybe my favorite recipe everrrrr.

[Rosebud]

Mmmmm, I am excited to try the Lentils with Bacon!

I also love the Smitten Kitchen Chana Masala.  Sooo tasty and pretty simple to make. 

[Lauren Messina]

These are my favorite freezer-able, leftover-friendly meals:

I like to make doro wat (Ethiopian chicken) using this recipe, served over rice. 

These stuffed peppers (with bulghur substituted for some of the turkey because bulghur is cheap and vaguely meaty) are super tasty. 

Shakshuka is also really yummy - just cook the number of eggs you need for the first night and refrigerate/freeze the rest of the tomato goop for later egg-cooking. 

I also make a pasta dish that's a lot like this one, with a whole pound of penne instead of the measly amount of pasta she puts in. 

And sometimes I'll make pasta sauce (like this or this) to keep in the freezer for later. 

[Amanda]

On my last article everyone gave good recommendations for the chana masala, so I got all the ingredients to make it - can't wait! 

[Rosebud]

I also like to make Chili as my big pot of something and eat the leftovers of.  I usually also try to freeze enough for one meal for me and my fiance for foodmergenices (i.e. nights I do not want to cook).  I do not have a chili recipe though, because that is one of those things my mommy taught me to make by guesstimating. 

[Emily Steed]

We like to make veggie-loaded taco pasta. It's flexible, and easy, and makes a ton of food and is a good leftover. 

Ingredients: 

1 lb ground meat (beef, turkey, veggie burger crumbles, whatever) 

1 lb whole wheat penne pasta

1 onion

minced or pressed garlic

bell peppers, diced

carrots, diced

1 lb greens (spinach, baby kale, chard, whatever) 

a few tomatoes, diced

green onions, sliced

1 packet taco seasoning (we like the Rick Bayless Frontera taco sauce stuff) 

4 cups chicken broth

1 stick butter

1/2 cup flour

cheese (grated) 

Cook the pasta. Reserve a cup of the cooking water before draining. Toss with some oil and set aside. 

While the pasta is cooking, make the sauce. 

Cook the ground meat in a skillet with the onion, draining the fat off. When it's cooked, throw in the garlic. Cook for another 30 seconds or minute until it smells good, then put the meat mixture into a bowl. Cook the bell pepper, the carrots, and whatever other veggies you have on hand in the skillet. When they're nearly done, toss in the greens and slap a lid on it so that they'll wilt. When the veggies are cooked, put them in the bowl with the meat mixture. In the empty skillet, melt the butter. When it's melted, dump in the flour. Whisk it until it's homogenous. Put in the taco seasoning. Whisk until combined. Whisk in the chicken broth, a little at a time, until it's all whisked in. Add a handful or two of grated cheese (cheddar? mozzarella? Whatever you happen to have on hand is probably fine.) and stir until it's melted in. 

Dump the pasta into the sauce. Add the meat mixture and veggies. Mix it all up. Add in the diced tomatoes and sliced green onions, then serve with a little cheese on top. 

Makes about 8 servings. I don't know how well it freezes, but it's a great leftover. Before you put the leftovers away, stir in some of the pasta cooking water. The pasta will absorb liquid as it sits in the fridge, so adding some extra liquid will keep the pasta nice and saucy instead of too dry when you re-heat it. 

[Lindsay Gordon]

The lentils with bacon is incredible.  Made it yesterday, I deserve a medal. 

[Katie]

I just tried Homesick Texan's frijoles a la charra for the first time last night, and oh my. Best new recipe I've tried in months.

http://homesicktexan.blogspot.com/2008/11/pinto-beans-three-ways.html

[Jenn Hubbs]

I make a huge pan of these guys once every two weeks or so, and will continue to do so until I get tired of them: Sweet Potato & Chorizo Enchiladas
I actually don't make them with chorizo but with whatever ground meat I have on hand (turkey, beef, pork sausage). And I've taken to shredding the sweet potatoes so they cook faster. And I put in whatever veggies I have on hand - definitely some leafy greens every time. I'm planning to make them with black beans instead of meat this week, though actually this thread is making me think about lentils and how good they would probably be in this, too.
I have the Billfold to thank for the recipe - someone awesomely shared that link when I said I had too many sweet potatoes. I am thinking maybe I need to learn to make my own tortillas, as they are almost the largest single cost in this and also produce the most packaging waste for me.

I am excited to try some of the rest of these! We have fallen into a bit of a beef stirfry/barley stew/pork enchiladas rut lately to use up all our veggies, and while I love all three of those, it'd be nice to mix it up, too.

Oh, we also make our own burgers once every few months, with beef and beer and spices, and freeze them with two pieces of parchment or wax paper between them - because it's easy to pull those out from frozen and immediately cook them, which is useful for those "I didn't plan" nights. We're planning to make some of our own veggie/black bean burgers to do the same with, soon.

[Emma Peel]

Beans are my favorite thing. I'm going to have to try those right away. Other favorite bean recipes?!

[Kaitlin Jacobson]

Ahh I recently made these too! So good. Although I am not texan and no one that I cooked for understood what category of food these counted as, I got lots of, are these soup? Are they baked beans? And from my sister who is insane, I don't like beans, can I just eat the liquid?