Hello Mike,
I agree, the second time around of a meal heated up next day has better flavour, especially homemade soup. I use lots of potatoes as they make a wonderful base and the soup is self thickening.
I do not usually have spaghetti left over, James loves this dish so will go back for more. I make this with hamburger meat and spaghetti sauce I usually have on hand but the few times I haven't I make with tomatoe sauce, add an onion and anything else I have e.g. mushrooms, seasonings. Last night I made spaghetti and made half hamburger and half sausage meat which was a change.
I do not always have sausage meat on hand but we were out and about last week at http://www.nogoatsnogloryfarm.com/ and bought some meat, eggs after walking around their farm meeting the animals. We have chickens but not laying yet. I am thinking about getting a nanny in milk so I can have my own unpasteurized healthy milk and perhaps even learn how to make cheese as I love cheese and it is skyrocketing in price. We will have to wait until springtime. We are trying to be more self sufficient.
I bought a brick of Amish butter, much cheaper than in the stores and cut into pieces and froze it. We have been finding several farms raising animals, quail, chickens etc for sale as well as meat, veges all fairly close to us.
My mother use to buy a lot of beef mince (hamburger meat here) which I also always have plenty on hand, because you do so much with it.
I use to love mince on toast the next day for lunch. My mother would cook the mince in about quarter of the saucepan of water, then leave it to go cold and scoop the hardened fat (grease) off the top. Reheat with carrots and onions added and when the veges were cooked thinken with flour and water into a paste and added in slowly until it thickens.
Back in New Zealand we would go out about March / April to pick mushrooms - the button sized are similar looking to cultivated. But mostly we would gather the bigger ones that have a flatter top. Often I would eat them raw. You could see the white dots growing out on hillsides and knew where to stop and go pick with your bucket. As NZ does not have the worry of poisonous mushrooms and they are easy to spot the difference to toadstools or puffballs. Wild mushrooms are so much tastier than cultivated, but still tasty
Amanda
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 Hi Amanda,
Yes, when you peel the skin off the potatoes, you are throwing out the most nutricious part of the meal. I try not to throw out anything. My mother had what she called a stock pot. After each meal she would drain the juice from the vegetables into the pot and place the vegetables in an airtight container. She would do the same with the left-over meat. The pot was placed on a shelf in the pantry which remained cool. Around Wednesday or Thursday she would mix everything together and make a stew, possibly with the addition of home made dumplings. Although through the week each meal was good, I looked forward to Stew night because that was usually the best tasting meal of the week. For the longest time, Shirley would not eat my homemade soup, but one day for lunch she found a bowl of soup in the refrigerator and heated up about half of it. I also sometime ad beans. When she finished it, she said that it was delicious. She asked me what I put in it. I thought for a second and said "Everything." Also, did you know that left-over spaghetti taste better the second and third time around? The first time you cook it, you boil the spaghetti and you heat the sauce. The second time you fry it in butter, margarine, or whatever which brings out the flavor of the spices and the tomato sauce that were first boiled. I do remember that my mother you to call her stews Depression Stews because until my brothers and sisters married and moves on she had to always cook meals that would stretch like pasta, rice, beans, all of which expanded upon cooking. If I could just get Shirley to like beans and rice I would never have a problem on meals because we have plenty on hand. I also have frozen celery because every so often I will throw a handful in whatever I'm cooking, to give it that extra flavor. Another time saver is Scallions. These grow wild in most places and you can pick as much as you want, wash them out good and freeze them for when they are needed. I love mushrooms, however I am not about to pick wild ones. With my luck I would pick all the poison ones and leave the edible ones where they are.
GOD BLESS YOU
~Mike~
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