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I was raised not to waste food so I do my best to make the most of leftovers. Lately I've been eating a lot of baked sweet potatoes which means I have a lot of leftovers. Besides using the leftovers in quick bread, I've also used them to stir into soups and into oatmeal. Sometimes I add a little cumin and chili powder to it and use it as a "spread" in a veggie sandwich.

I usually end up with just a few spoonfuls of pesto. I use it to add quick flavor to soups. I also like to mix it into cream cheese, yogurt, or mayo for a dip or a sandwich spread. One of my favorites things is to mix it with hard boiled eggs for egg salad or deviled eggs.

After eating rich holiday food, both sweet and savory, I usually crave foods that have a high water content.

For breakfast: a nice bowl of fresh fruit salad with Greek yogurt and a sprinkle of nuts.

For lunch and/or dinner: some type of brothy soup made with legumes and veggies and a mixed salad with a bit of cheese

For snacks: a piece of fresh fruit, a hard boiled egg, a small container of yogurt, or nuts

My breakfast and snack choices are standard for me. I will probably grow tired of the soup/salad combo after 3-5 days and revert back to my usual eating habits.

Sounds corny but my husband and I have a SOUPer Bowl party with our friends. Each couple/person brings a homemade soup, bread, and dessert. Over the years it seems that we all end up making our favorites: chilli with cornbread, chicken tortilla soup with cheese quesadillas, broccoli cheese soup with crusty rolls, and clam chowder with oyster crackers. For dessert there are usually brownies, chocolate chip cookies, Texas Sheet Cake, and ice cream. Don't think our party would exactly blow people away but at least no one is responsible for preparing the bulk of the meal and there is a good variety of food for everyone.

I like to mix leftover couscous with sauteed chopped onions and carrots, sliced almonds or pine nuts, sultanas, chickpeas, salt, pepper, cinnamon, and a dash of olive oil. I prefer it without meat but I have added cooked minced lamb to it. You can serve the couscous hot or cold. My favorite way to serve this dish is to stuff it into a variety of bell peppers and bake it until the peppers are done.

In addition to black-eyed peas and collard greens, I've also heard that cooked sliced carrots symbolize "copper pennies" and therefore prosperity in the New Year.

I used to love to eat it on occasion fried with an over-easy egg or in fried rice. That all changed this summer when I went on a 5-day hiking trip with my husband and my in-laws. My MIL (God love her) discovered Costco and bought a month's worth of SPAM for a week's worth of hiking. We had a RAW SPAM sandwich everyday for lunch and sometimes for dinner. I had never had raw SPAM so that totally freaked me out. Then I realized that all the additives, fillers, preservatives, etc. were probably more harmful to my health that eating uncooked SPAM. I felt like I needed to detox after that trip. Don't care to even look at SPAM for a long time.

NO WAY especially during Christmas. I would rather spend the holiday cooking and dining with my family in the comfort of one of our homes. However, my birthday is Christmas Eve and my family had a long-standing tradition of attending Christmas Eve services and then going out to eat. I didn't really care for the dining out part of that tradition because 1) my parents made such a big deal of it, and 2) we usually ate somewhere my sister liked because, well, there was just less drama that way. When I turned 30, I put my foot down and refused to go out to eat. Man, you would have thought I had told them I was becoming a nun (no offense to nuns but my parents are dying for some grandchildren). Nine years later, they still get a little mopey after church when they have to go back home instead of a restaurant.

I can only remember one time when I truly enjoyed eating out on a holiday. I was 11 or 12 years old and my family moved to another state during Christmas. We all had to sleep in our sleeping bags by a nice roaring fire in the living room because we didn't have our furniture and, for some reason, any electricity. Since we didn't have electricity, we ended up eating at the local Chinese restaurant for Christmas. I remember that was my first experience eating Peking duck. The chef was so pleased to have patrons that he kept making special dishes for us. Whenever I watch "Christmas Story", I get a good chuckle -- fa, ra, ra, ra, ra!

My husband and I got married about two weeks before we were scheduled to move from Texas to England. We wanted to keep our ceremony and reception very simple and intimate -- no elaborate cakes, no dinner, no dancing, etc. We decided to have a big bon voyage party before we left for England so we could spend quality time visiting with our family and friends (something most brides and grooms rarely have time to do at the reception or if they do, it's one big blur). We intentionally chose to have our ceremony in the chapel because it only sat 50 people which meant only immediate family and very close friends were invited. Extended family and other friends were invited to our bon voyage party.

Our reception was more of a "high tea". We had platters of grilled herb veggies and fresh fruit, a trio of deviled eggs (traditional, pesto, truffled), smoked salmon and beef tenderloin canapes, a continental cheese platter with assorted crackers and breads, and a miniature patisserie selection (cream puffs, chocolate decadence cakes, key lime tarts, cannoli, fresh fruit tarts). Whole Foods catered the event so the food and service were outstanding. They were even nice enough to provide small take-away containers for the guests so they could bring some goodies home with them. We had so much food left over, most of our guests left with at least two boxes of goodies.

I've heard of it but I've never tried it. I just know you make a flan base, pour it into a pan, then make a cake batter, pour it on top, and then bake it. I Googled the recipe and I keep coming up with versions that use a cake mix for the cake layer. I found a few Filipino versions that have a chiffon/sponge type cake batter:

http://www.allfavoriterecipe.com/RecipeDetailCakeFlan.aspx

http://www.recipezaar.com/Rum-Flan-Cake-14064

Perhaps there are Mexican and/or Spanish versions that suit what you are looking for. Good luck on your search.

Since I live in an international dorm, I would love my fellow residents to bake cookies that are traditional treats in their country. I would enjoy trying nanaimo bars, pfeffernuessse, kourabiedes, and maamoul as well as adding the recipes to my own Christmas cookie collection. As a Filipina born and raised in America, I would contribute Food for the Gods (Filipino date/walnut bar) and Chocolate Chip (quintessential American).

@rockymountainmarta - Yum, CoW made with chicken broth! Sounds like it would be a perfect way to feed a fever. Reminds me of arroz caldo which is a Filipino rice porriage made with chicken, onions, garlic, and sliced ginger. Must try that with CoW.

@dbcurrie is right on the money. Hard to add to those suggestions and I'll probably reiterate a lot of @dbcurrie's points but here goes:

I'm not a proponent of "sneaking" fruits/veg into food just to get children to eat them, especially young children whose tastes are still developing. I would rather have children try different fruits/veg and hopefully learn to enjoy eating them because they like the taste and they know it is good for them. However, I will resort to underhandedness if their diet is lacking. If you are concerned that your teenagers are not getting enough fruit/veg and they cringe at the sight of produce, I say sneak 'em in. Add some finely grated carrot or chopped spinach to your tomato sauce. They probably won't notice it especially if it is in a lasagne or casserole. Go heavier on the veggies in stews, soups, casseroles that naturally call for veggies in the recipe. Taco salads, fajita salads, and the like are healthy meals if you don't drown them in guac, sour cream, and full fat cheeses. Just go lighter on the accompaniments.

Gradually introduce your family into healthier choices or versions of their favorite foods. If your family likes sandwiches, start using a combo white/ wheat bread first then transition to whole wheat. Or why not try a whole wheat tortilla as a sandwich wrap. If your family likes pasta, start with a durham/whole wheat blend then transition into 100% whole wheat pasta. Same idea with rice. If you are accustomed to white rice, try mixing white and brown rice first before switiching over to brown rice. As for grated cheese, mix regular cheese with 2% cheese, then go to 2% cheese, and then onto fat free if you like. I've tried fat free versions and I didn't like the taste or texture. If your family usually drinks whole milk, try 2% before going all the way to skim milk. I remember when my mom introduced me to skim milk in my teens. I thought it was horrible. So she mixed whole milk with skim, then went down to 1%, then skim. I've been drinking skim milk for 20+ years now. When on vacation, I tried to drink a glass of whole milk (all the restaurant had) and it was like drinking glue.

If your family likes french fries, try oven baking them instead. Also try sweet potatoe fries, you'll either love them or hate them. They might be a harder sell but if they cover their fries in ketchup anyway it's worth a try.

For snacks, try to make them yourself if possible. That way you can control the amount/type of sugar, fat, and salt. For crunchy snacks make your own popcorn, snack mix (like Chex - they have a reduced fat/salt version online), or trail mix. Snack mix and trail mix can be high in calories and fat because of the nuts but at least you are gettting nutritional value and "good" fats instead of empty calories and transfats that are in junk food. Tortilla wraps cut into slices are a good afternoon snack. Try to fill them with lean meats, lowfat cheese, and veggies like lettuce, tomatoes and bell peppers. Watch the condiments though. Mayo has a lot of calories and fat. Hummus with pita and veggies (raw or grilled) is another option.

For sweet snacks, there are several websites that have lower fat/lower sugar recipes of your favorite cookies, cakes, quick breads that still use "real" ingredients like butter and sugar. I don't like sugar subs in anything. Homemade fruit smoothies are good for snack, dessert, or breakfast on the go. No need to add any additional sugar because you'll get enough from any fruit/juice that you use. And stick to lowfat/fatfree yogurt/milk if possible.

Watch the portion size in snacks and meals because calories can add up quickly. Just because something has healthier ingredients doesn't necessarily mean it will have fewer calories. @dbcurrie is right by saying that there's a limit to what you can do for your family if your family members aren't interested in eating better food or losing weight. BTW, I also like the suggestion that if they want junk food, then they buy it with their own money.