Are you looking forward to Thanksgiving leftovers this week? Let’s discuss how to properly reheat your leftovers that doesn’t involve a microwave.

After a really good meal we often put it in the fridge looking forward to it the next day.  But what happens when the food has been in the fridge after even 1 day?  It tends to dry out leaving less tasty than it was on the original day it was made.  You might be saying, “well I just throw it in the microwave and heat it up!“.  Microwaves tend to dry out your food as they don’t utilize moist heat needed to make your food as moist as the first time.

There’s a remedy for that!

What You’ll Need

• Pasta Strainer/Colander Insert (this can be bought as part of a set as well)
• Matching stock pot (as long as the pot fits in and hovers over the base of the stock pot you’re fine)
• 1/2-1 cup water
• Leftovers

Fill the stock pot with about 1/2-1 cup of water and let it come to a boil.  Make sure the water under the strainer in the pot does not fill the strainer in any way.  You don’t want water inside the strainer soaking your food making it soggy.  The water should come just under the strainer so that when it comes to a boil, the food is steamed with moist heat.

Once the water begins to boil, put your leftovers inside and cover the pot.  This works especially well for macaroni and cheese, turkey, rice and anything else that may tend to get dried out on the inside.  You can choose to put everything in at once or just put similar foods together like meats, rice, pastas, cornbread, stuffing etc.

Let it “steam” for at least 5-8 minutes with the lid on top.  This keeps the steam and moisture needed to bring leftovers back to life!  If you have denser food then you can let it steam for a longer period of time until your desired temperature.

Voila!  Leftovers that taste just as good as the first time!