Fun Leftovers With Mystery Dinners

Here's a great way to use leftovers that is a lot of fun for kids. When our kids were young, every so often we'd have a Mystery Dinner. The older kids were allowed to use whatever was in the refrigerator or pantry. They could also cook simple things--hard-boiled eggs, etc. They made up 'menus' to order from; but each item had a disguised name. Those of us not preparing the food sat at the table and ordered 3 or 4 things from the menu.

When our food arrived, we started comparing what each person had ordered, trying to figure out what the disguised name was so we could order our favorites for seconds.

Sometimes our sneaky kids informed us that the only thing that was a given was plate or bowl. We had to try to figure out which things on the menu were eating utensils. A person trying to eat soup with a knife provided a good many laughs.

Mystery Dinners were not only a fun way to use leftovers, but were sometimes used as a way to get out of cooking when I'd had a really busy day!

By Judy from northern Michigan