Left Over Dance

Author: Christine Gerber Rut

It was a particularly frustrating day, as most rainy days spent alone with a 2 year-old are. My daughter was hyper and I was grumpy. We were both hungry.

When I looked in the refrigerator, all I saw were the leftovers of leftovers. The day before I'd already turned the leftover rice and carrots into stir-fry by adding frozen peas and soy sauce. The green beans were a mushy mess from re-heating. The kidney beans didn't seem to go with anything and I couldn't even remember what mystery ingredients I had used to make the gooey, green sauce. "Blah," I said, sticking my tongue out in the refrigerator. "Blah!" my daughter repeated.

I had just made a landmark mistake. I had suggested that our lunch might not be the equivalent of a fine dining experience at, oh, say, Grandma's House. In the manner of a compost bin, my daughter usually ate anything that presented itself on the table, or the floor for that matter. The only times she didn't was when dining at Grandma's House and grandma whispered, as loud as an elephant bull, "She wouldn't like it. It has mustard in it." If I showed dissatisfaction with the food, my daughter would never eat it. The next moments were critical.

I reluctantly took the peas, the carrots, the beans, the kidney beans and the Mystery Sauce out of the refrigerator. Attempting to cover up my former mistake, I lifted the containers in the air and sang, "Beans, beans! They won't make you mean! Carrots, carrots! They'll turn you to a parrot! Peas, peas. Can I have some please? Beans and peas and carrots! Yeah!"

Uninspired though it seemed to me, our Leftover Dance had begun. My daughter stomped her feet, waved her arms and flapped her elbows as we poured everything into a frying pan. After it was warm, I danced the plates and forks to the table. The grand finale—the frying pan! Naturally, singing and dancing across the kitchen. The final, sparkly flourish was a small bowl of nutritional yeast. To my daughter's immeasurable delight I let her, gasp, spoon some sprinkles on top of her food by herself. She ate. And she asked for more sprinkles.

The next week it rained again, she came running to the kitchen and shouted, "Peas, peas! I please? Carrots, Parrots! Carrots, Parrots!" She flapped her elbows, waved her arms and stomped her feet."

And so we did the Leftover Dance. We squawked around the kitchen, flung open the refrigerator door. Uh-oh. We only had some leftover carrots, a seriously deficient meal.

After rummaging through the freezer I found some spinach and peas. I scoured the refrigerator again and found some tofu. Lifting my arms in the air I shouted, "Spinach turns you green! Carrots make you clean! Mix some tofu in the pot and then we all scream, Yea-a-ah!"

The leftover dance is still swaying. Sometimes with carrots, sometimes with beans but always with a generous helping of By-Myself-Sprinkles.

Leftover Dance Recipe

Ingredients

½ C tofu, cubed
2 Tsp soy sauce
1 C vegetables or grains, pre-cooked
1 Tb nutritional yeast
Pepper to taste

Instructions

Cube tofu and sprinkle it with soy sauce.
Spray pan with cooking spray or small amount of oil.
Brown tofu over medium heat until lightly browned, stirring occasionally.
Add vegetables. Cook until warm.
Serve immediately.
Let child sprinkle nutritional yeast, a.k.a. "sprinkles", on top.

Variation

This can be adapted to virtually anything you have in the refrigerator or freezer.

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