leftovers: Re-purposed delicacies

This is definitely  a mom -advice post but to be fair I've included a picture to illustrate (or at least remind those of you who live with me) just how committed I am to recycling.

 So in praise of leftovers I will begin.
 Leftovers make dinner easy. They provide for happy discoveries of unexpected techniques and combinations. They force creativity. They make lunch easy. Turing them into something even better than they first were let's you feel brilliant and virtuous. They make breakfast exciting (oh the omelettes!)

In general:
 -Most anything can be reheated but how you do it makes a big difference.
- Flavors can change overnight but that's not always bad, you just need to work with it.
- A good long boil, or high heat in a frying pan really will kill most anything, if not enough to store it still enough to eat it for dinner.
- On the other hand if it tastes or smells funny toss it. You could cover it up with spices of course since that's what spices came into the kitchen for in the first place (I've been told) but that's really a waste of good spices.
-Go ahead. Call your mom and ask if chicken is still good that many days later. She may no know but she can reassure you it never did you any harm.

Some specifics:
- When reheating pastas or rice add a little water and cover, whether in a pan or the microwave. Toss in a little olive oil and grate on cheese.
-If there's enough spaghetti put half in a casserole type dish. Layer in some cheddar, slices of sweet onion. Cover with remaining spaghetti and put on more cheese and onion slices -you can experiment with any left over cheeses (feta, mozzarella, goudas -but nothing blue!) and then pour in some milk. Bake at some reasonable heat (350F ?) for about 40 minutes (yes it really does take that long). If the baking dish is on the shallow side cover at first. You can end with some time under the broiler uncovered, but in any case you want some time uncovered to crisp the cheese on top (but not so much the actual spaghetti).
-leftover meats, especially on the bone go for soup
- or if there is a little more meat and the bones can be removed easily ... and there is some leftover potato in there put it in a deep baking dish, add frozen peas, then smoosh that bisuit dough on top. Bake as you would biscuits and you have shepherd's pie. Everything but the peas and biscuits needs to only  need  warming up (i.e. no raw carrots or green beans) and some juices are good but not too much (i.e. not soupy)

That's enough for now...