I had just organized a New Year party at my residence, and the party spirit rung with the fervor of good food and togetherness. The party spirits ebbed, I was pondering over how to use leftover rice in a healthy way, as the huge vessel of steamed rice(I usually keep steamed rice in excess for a last minute addition, to add variety to the dinner menu, just in case) seemed to stare blankly at me. One can’t  afford to dispose of it and I had a ‘limited edition of healthy ideas for leftover rice’. So I explored and gathered a few more tips, which I am going to share with you.

•    Rice salad : Salads are a great way to add health and fulsomeness to your diet and here is way to do it with leftover rice in a healthy way. This comes in handy especially if you have  a large leftover. Get your veggies ready by dicing it and toss your rice in a salad dressing such as vinaigrette or any other to your taste, along with the veggies. Sprinkle it with fresh herbs, and here goes the rice salad into your health-fit.
•    Rice and bean burritos : Now, your burritos can pack up with rice as well and this recipe idea is indeed a healthy way to use leftover rice. Get a bowl of beans nicely steamed; mix it up with your rice and top it up with a sauce such as guacamole, or salsa and that would indeed be a nice wrap up of rice and bean burritos, with proteins of legumes and vital energy from rice.
•    Rice Soup : Soups have always been a delightful appetizer and you can make it a wholesome meal by using leftover rice for it. Get your soup ready, add some veggies if you like (broccoli, cauliflower florets, or diced carrots etc). Stir in your leftover rice into the soup, spice it with cinnamon, salt and pepper, and you have a wonderfully healthy wonder from the use of leftover rice.
•    Vegetarian lentil and rice quiche : Quiche for breakfast is simply scrumptious and healthy when baked with rice and lentils. Here is how you do it. With the usual combination of cheese, eggs and veggies, the gluten-free crust, the rice and lentils, and the sprinkling of fresh parsley herbs, make the quiche a resourceful outcome of making good use of leftover rice.
•    Stuffed tomatoes with leftover rice :  The “cherry red” of tomatoes blooming in full health… and your search for the uses of leftover rice simply ends here. The leftover rice seasoned with allspice, pepper, in a base of sautéed onions, are used to stuff scooped out tomatoes. The ‘filled-up’ cherry-reds brushed with olive oil then go into the oven for baking.
•    Leftover rice pudding:  Favored and savored by all, rice pudding makes good use of leftover rice especially if it's there in large quantities. With eggs, cinnamon, raisins, vanilla extract, added to the milk and rice mixture, the mix goes into a casserole for baking. Rice pudding are a tasty treat and healthy as well.

Now when you have a huge pile of leftovers especially ones such as rice, eclipsing the afterglow of the party spirit, you simply need to take a peek at our ideas on how to use leftover rice in a healthy way and glow with the knowledge of resources put to healthy use!

Photo Courtesy :  ecurry.com