Have you ever had bits of potato chips, cereal or pretzels left over after a night of munching? Maybe the chips have been pulverized into crumbs or are partially stale, or there isn’t enough cereal for a full serving. There’s no need to toss the foods or feed them to the birds. Put them to good use in creative and frugal recipes. Add leftover cereal and chips to meatloaf, muffins, bread, desserts, yogurt and ice cream. Here are a few recipes to get you started.
Layered Pineapple Pretzel Dessert
tutorial follows article
2 cups pretzels, crushed
1 cup butter, melted
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese
1 cup granulated sugar
1 (8-ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed
2 (20-ounce) cans crushed pineapple (reserve juices–will equal just shy of 2 cups of juice)
2 (3.4-ounce) packages instant vanilla-pudding mix
1 (20-ounce) can pineapple rings, optional
1 (12-ounce) jar maraschino cherries, optional
Preheat oven to 350 F. Place crushed pretzels in the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Evenly pour melted butter over entire top of crushed pretzels. Set aside to cool. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool. Cream together cream cheese and sugar. Fold in whipped topping. Spread over cooled pretzel crust. Combine reserved pineapple juice and pudding mixes. Mix in crushed pineapple. Spread over whipped topping layer. Refrigerate until ready to serve.Optional: Garnish with pineapple rings and maraschino cherries placed in the center.
Potato-Chip Cookies
1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
6 ounces butterscotch chips
2 cups potato chips, crushed
Preheat oven to 350 F. Cream butter, sugars and eggs. Mix in remaining ingredients in order. Drop by teaspoonfuls on greased cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
Cornflake Chicken
1 cup cornflake crumbs
1/4 cup fresh grated Parmesan
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
6 to 8 chicken legs (with skin)
Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray baking pan with cooking-oil spray. Using a rolling pin, crush cornflakes in a plastic zipper-type bag. In a large bowl, mix cornflake crumbs, Parmesan, salt and pepper, and mix well. Lightly beat eggs and milk in a bowl. Dip each chicken leg into egg mixture and roll in cornflake mixture until well coated. Place chicken in baking pan. Lightly spray cooking-oil spray over the chicken legs. Bake for 1 hour.
Optional: cayenne pepper or poultry seasoning, to taste.
Toasted O’s Cookies
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
1/2 cup quick-cooking oatmeal
1-1/2 cups Toasted O’s cereal (or Cheerios-type cereal)
1 cup butterscotch chips
Preheat oven to 375 F. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars. Stir in the peanut butter, egg and vanilla. In a separate small bowl, stir together the baking powder, baking soda, salt and flour. Fold the flour mixture into the first mixture in the large bowl. Add the oatmeal, cereal and butterscotch chips. Mix to combine. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 10 minutes.
Cereal Muffins
1-3/4 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
1-1/2 cups Fruit Loops or Apple Jacks cereal, whole
For topping:
1/2 cup Fruit Loops or Apple Jacks cereal, crushed
1 tablespoon butter, melted
Preheat oven to 400 F. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add melted butter, egg, milk and 1-1/2 cups whole cereal. For topping, mix crushed cereal with melted butter. Spoon muffin batter into paper-lined muffin tins. Sprinkle crumb topping on batter. Bake for 20 minutes.
Pineapple pretzel dessert tutorial
Make sure your oven is preheated to 350 degrees F.
Using a rolling pin, I crush my pretzels in a zipper lock plastic baggie.
My pretzels are in the baking pan. I melt 2 sticks of butter in a glass measuring cup in the microwave. And I slowly pour melted butter over the crushed pretzels. I let it cool. Meanwhile my oven is preheating.
Without grabbing a handful of pretzels to munch on, I place my pretzel crust into the oven.
I place my block of cream cheese into my mixer.
I add my cup of sugar.
I cream the sugar and cream cheese together.
I didn’t feel like grabbing a rubber spatula to fold the whipped topping in. So I just tossed it into the mixing bowl.
And on low speed, I mixed.
And mixed more until combined. Looks good huh? It needed a taste test. yum. One more taste. Perfecto.
I remove the pretzel crust from the oven and let it cool. Confession time. I could have crushed the pretzels better. But I made this at 1am. My husband tried to stay up to taste it. He’ll have to wait until tomorrow.
I drain my pineapple juice from 1 can. I set the drained pineapple left in the can aside for a moment. I then decide to add the drained juice from the second can of pineapple, so I don’t waste it. But this means I need to add another box of pudding, so it’s thick enough. So just under 2 cups of drained juice added to two packages of pudding. If you want, you can use the drained juice from 1 can of pineapple and you’ll still drain the juice from the 2nd can of pineapple, but it won’t be used in the recipe. So, you either want just shy of 1 cup of juice, two cans of drained pineapple, 1 box of pudding. OR you can use like I did in this tutorial and drain the juice of both cans of pineapple, which gives just under 2 cups of pineapple juice and combine that with 2 boxes of pudding. Clear as mud?
I add my 2 boxes of instant pudding mix to the almost 2 cups of drained pineapple juice. I whisk to combine it.
I add my 2 cans of crushed pineapple that is left in the cans to the pudding mixture. And I whisk it together. It’s going to have a custard like consistency. I set the bowl aside.
I resist eating the pineapple pudding mixture. I add the cream cheese mixture to the top of the cooled pretzel crust. I just sorta dollop it evenly on the top.
Then I evenly spread the cream cheese mixture. And lick the spoon and scrape the bowl and lick the spoon again like I haven’t eaten in a month. Then quick look to see if my husband saw me. Nope. He’s sleeping.
I spread the pineapple mixture on top.
Then I garnish with pineapple rings and cherries.
Note to newspaper column readers. The recipe printed in the paper said 2 cans of pineapple and reserved juice from one can and one package of pudding. This would leave an extra cup of drained juice that you can drink or save for whatever reason. You drain both cans. To clarify, it can be made with 2 cans of drained pineapple and one slightly less than 1 cup of pineapple juice that you drained. I didn’t want to waste a cup of juice in this tutorial, so I mixed drained juice from two cans of pineapple and two pudding mixes. I updated my changes in the recipe up above to match what I did. Some column readers didn’t have any directions for where the drained pineapple was added. My apologies. The crushed pineapple is added after the juice and pudding mix are combined. I hope this clears that up. 
译文:
如何变碎屑为美味甜点
你曾有过前天晚上吃剩下的马铃薯，谷物，或者脆饼的碎片吗？或许你已把这些碎片磨成粉状的碎屑，或许它们有些已经变质，或许剩下的食物已不够了。没必要把食物扔掉或喂鸟。可以创新一下，好好利用，做一顿便餐。可以把谷物和碎片添加到肉饼，松饼，面包，甜点，酸奶和冰淇淋中。这里有些食谱可供参考。
分层菠萝椒盐脆饼甜点
方法如下
准备2杯椒盐脆饼，并粉碎
1杯黄油，并融化
1包（ 8盎司）奶油乳酪
1杯砂糖
1 容器（ 8盎司）冷冻的人造黄油，并解冻
2 罐（ 20盎司）碎菠萝罐头（储备果汁，各略低于2杯果汁）
2 包（ 3.4盎司）即食香草布丁组合
1 罐（ 20盎司）菠萝圈，任选
1 坛（ 12盎司）野樱桃酒味的糖水樱桃，任选
把烤箱预热到华氏350度(约177摄氏度）。把磨好的脆饼放进底部9 × 13英寸的烤盘里。把融化的黄油均匀地涂在松饼上。放在一边冷却。再烘烤10分钟。再冷却。把奶油乳酪和糖制成奶油。把奶油制成折叠状。涂在冷却的松饼表皮上。把准备好的菠萝汁和布丁组合混在一起。冷藏到可以食用为止。任选: 用菠萝圈装点甜点并把野樱桃酒味的糖水樱桃置于中间。
马铃薯片曲奇
1 杯黄油
1 杯红糖
1 杯砂糖
2 只鸡蛋
1 茶匙小苏打
2 杯面粉
1 茶匙香草
1 杯切碎的核桃或胡桃
6 盎司奶油糖果碎片
2 杯马铃薯片，粉碎
把烤箱预热到华氏350度(约177摄氏度）。把黄油，糖，和鸡蛋制成奶油。依次混入剩下的材料。把奶油曲奇一茶匙一茶匙地包进羊皮纸。烘烤10到12分钟。
玉米鸡
1 杯玉米屑
1/4杯新鲜碎巴马乳酪
1 茶匙盐
1/2 茶匙黑胡椒
2 只鸡蛋
2 汤匙牛奶
6 到 8 只鸡腿 (有皮的)
把烤箱预热到华氏350度(约177摄氏度）。 把食用油喷涂在烤盘上。用滚动的针碾碎塑料拉链式袋中的玉米片。取一大碗，把玉米粉，巴马，盐和胡椒粉放入其中，搅拌混合。取一碗，轻轻打一鸡蛋，混入牛奶。在鸡腿上涂蛋液，然后在玉米粒混合物中滚几圈直到完全粘满玉米粉。把鸡腿置于烤盘之上。轻轻地喷上食用油。烘烤1个小时。
任选: 根据口味，可选辣椒粉或其它肉的佐料。
烤o形曲奇
8 汤匙新鲜黄油，并软化
1 / 2杯砂糖
1 / 2杯红糖
1 / 4杯奶油花生酱
1个大鸡蛋
1/2 茶匙香草
1/2 茶匙发粉
1/2 茶匙小苏打
1/4 茶匙盐
1 杯面粉
1/2 杯快速烹饪燕麦
1-1/2 杯烤o形曲奇用的谷物(或切里奥斯型的谷物)
1 杯奶油糖果片
把烤箱预热到华氏375度(约191摄氏度）。取一大碗，将黄油和糖制成奶油。再放入 花生酱，鸡蛋和香草，搅拌。另取一小碗，放入发粉，小苏打，盐和面粉，搅拌。 把面状混合物倒进先前的大碗中。添加燕麦片，谷物和奶油糖果片。搅拌混合。舀去满满一汤勺一汤勺生面糊，倒入未加油的曲奇板中。烘烤10分钟。
谷物松饼
1 -3/4杯面粉
1 / 4杯糖
1 汤匙发粉
1 / 2茶匙盐
3 汤匙黄油，并融化
1 只鸡蛋, 打好
1 杯牛奶
1-1/2 杯水果圈或苹果杰葛斯牌谷类，完整的
至于糕点上的装饰配料：
1/2 杯水果圈或苹果杰葛斯牌谷类，并碾碎
1 汤匙黄油，并融化
把烤箱预热到华氏400度(约204摄氏度）。将面粉，糖，发粉和盐混合在一起。加入酥油，鸡蛋，牛奶和1-1/2杯谷物。把谷物粉与酥油混在一起装饰糕点。将松饼面糊一勺一勺地舀入纸衬的松饼罐中。撒上面包屑。烘烤20分钟。
菠萝椒盐脆饼甜点的做法
确认一下，你已把烤箱预热到华氏350度(约177摄氏度）。
用滚动的针碾碎塑料拉链式袋中的椒盐脆饼。
把椒盐脆饼粒放入烤盘。然后，把2条黄油放进量杯，置入微波炉内加热融化。再把酥油慢慢地倒在椒盐脆饼粒上，冷却，同时预热烤盘。
把椒盐脆饼粒放进烤炉，切忌不要先抓把尝尝口味。
把一块奶油乳酪放进混铁炉。
加一杯糖。
把糖和奶油乳酪制成奶油。
我并不想把那人造奶油加进去。所以我把它放入搅拌碗中。
慢慢搅拌。
多搅拌几次知道完全融合。它看上去不错吧？测一下它的味道。棒极了。另一种口味。雪茄味。
打开烤炉，取出椒盐脆饼粒，冷却。掌控好时间。我本来可以把椒盐脆饼粒磨得更细，但我在凌晨1点做的。我老公等着吃，不然他就得等到明天。
我取出一个菠萝罐头，倒出菠萝汁，并榨干菠萝。我把榨干的菠萝放回罐头，待会儿再用。然后，从第二个罐头倒出一点汁液，这样就不浪费了。但这意味着我要多加一盒布丁，这样才够浓够稠。这样两杯榨汁中加了两盒布丁。如果想的话，可以再用1罐菠萝榨汁并榨干第二罐菠萝，但这不会在制作中使用。所以，你可选择要略低于1罐的菠萝汁，2罐榨干的菠萝，1盒布丁。也可选择像我一样榨干2罐菠萝，这样就有略低于2杯的菠萝汁，再加入2盒布丁搅拌。明白了吗？
我加了2盒即食布丁与将近2杯的菠萝汁混合搅拌，挥动搅拌器搅拌。
我在布丁面糊中加了2罐剩下的碎菠萝。再搅拌。这样就成了奶油冻。把碗放在一边。
我咽着口水，在已经冷却的椒盐脆饼的表皮上加了奶油乳酪。一团一团均匀地挤在上面。
然后，均匀地涂开。舔了下调羹，刮下碗边的奶油舔着吃，看上去像是1个月没吃过似的。接着看看有没有被老公发现。不。他睡着了。
我把菠萝面糊均匀地涂在上面。
然后用菠萝圈和樱桃装点。
给报纸专栏读者的建议。报纸上的食谱上写道，要用2罐菠萝，从中留出1罐汁水，还要1袋布丁。 这样就可留下1杯榨汁供饮用，或以备他用。你也可将2罐榨干。阐明一点，可用2罐菠萝，略少于1杯的菠萝榨汁。在本食谱中，我不想浪费汁水，所以我在从2罐中榨出来的汁水里混入了布丁组合。为了需要，我更改了食谱。一些专栏读者可能不知道在什么时候加榨干的菠萝 。我对此道歉。碎菠萝应在搅拌好菠萝汁和普丁组合后加。我希望这能消除您的疑问。