Great recipe using leftovers

Here's what I made for dinner just now, and it tasted great!

Earlier this week I had made shrimp salad sandwiches, where I had mixed some mayonnaise with tiny shrimp drained from a 6 ounce can. It was not this brand, but here is a photo of what a can of tiny shrimp looks like. http://www.eastpointseafood.com/shrimp.html?gclid=CJG3086moJYCFQ0xawodm3917A I used half the shrimp/mayonnaise mixture and refrigerated the rest as leftovers.

Earlier this week I microwaved a Stouffer's package of six manicotti (that's the family size of this product line). http://www.stouffers.com/Products/ProductDetails.aspx?ProductId=10861&ServingSizeId=0&ProductGroupId=0&SearchText=Easy%20express&ServingSize=&ProductGroup=&cP=1&isPOn=True The package contains a generous amount of flavorable Italian tomato sauce that has a garlicky flavor, so after I ate my portions of the manicotti using only a few spoons of the sauce, I saved the rest of the sauce in the refrigerator for use on leftovers.

Tonight I boiled a serving of Full Circle 100% Organic Penne Rigate pasta. I buy this brand because I really like a 100% organic pasta that is also 100% Italian durum wheat based. When the pasta was fully cooked (I like it softer, not al dente) I drained the water but left the pasta in the hot cooking pot on the stove, adding the leftover tomato sauce and the shrimp. I stirred while the sauce and shrimp heated to the same temperature as the cooked pasta. Right before turning off the heat I took one piece of mozzarella "string cheese" and dropped stringy pealed-off pieces of the cheese on top of the pasta mix so it would melt. Immediately take it from the heat and serve.

I must say the results were great and had such a good restaurant or authentic homemade taste, so I thought I'd share it. So when you have like I did a lot of Italian sauce left over from one convenience food, don't just toss it in the garbage or down the sink, but save it for use in a really good leftover combination.