Some people avoid having leftovers. Wesley Lassen loves leftovers!
And she intentionally makes more food than can be eaten at one meal in order to serve leftovers.

“Leftovers make life easy,” Lassen describes. “I have only my husband and myself to cook for, but I love to cook. So from the leftovers of each meal, we have either another lunch or dinner.” Today’s dish is a goat cheese and leek tart. She had a simple salad with it for one meal and plans to add fruit for another.

Lassen has always loved to cook. “I grew up cooking. My mom (Bette Powell) loves to cook, and I was her little sous chef,” she recalls.
Ten years ago in April 1999, Wesley bought The Cook Store in Mountain Brook. “At that point, my life just fell into place.”

Lassen’s husband, Hal, also loves to cook. And in the fridge is a large pot of his leftover, beef vegetable soup. Soup, spaghetti sauce, lasagna, and a hot, Italian penne pasta dish are among Lassen’s favorite leftovers because the flavors meld together over time.

“Rice also makes a great leftover. You can add other ingredients, such as sautéed shrimp to it and have a new dish,” says Lassen.

Lassen freezes many leftovers in containers labeled with the name of the dish and the date it was frozen. Curious I suggest we should take a look into and get a picture of her freezer, too. “I will let you in my fridge, but never in my freezer,” she laughs.