You come home famished at the end of a long day at work with a hankering to finish off last night's spaghetti and meatballs. After you warm up a bowl and fix a quick side salad, your mind immediately turns to those leftover garlic knots sitting on the countertop at room temperature. Yummy, you say to yourself. But then the woeful thought crosses your mind -- how am I going to reheat them to their original goodness?

We've all been there. Re-cooking breadsticks, biscuits, or any other soft-baked appetizer as a side for your entrée can be tricky. A feat that (depending on your culinary skills and blood-alcohol content at the time) can feel as intricate and precarious as plucking a thorn out of a finger with a pair of tweezers. If you reheat them for too long, they become rock-hard crust cruds that taste like toasted bricks. Not long enough and they come out stale and crumbly on your taste buds. It's one of the many classic mistakes people make with leftovers.

But wipe the sweat off your brow and breathe easy. It's not quite open-heart surgery. You can breathe new life into your leftover croissants by simply nuking them. For a second go-round just as moist and crispy as the first, microwave those delicious dinner rolls slowly and methodically. We know, counterintuitive, right? The microwave is the last place you'd probably think to give your bread a good re-cook. But trust us, this technique works.