Sunday, January 16, 2011

Chicken Leftovers

This week's task is to use all my roasted chicken before it goes bad.  As a single person, it is pretty difficult to eat a whole chicken, but I am becoming resourceful.  The first day I used some of the shredded chicken breast in a quesadilla.  This is my favorite fast food.  I took one large wheat tortilla, heated it in a large skillet, put shredded cheese, shredded chicken, and chili powder on half, folded over the tortilla, and cooked it on both sides until the cheese was melted and the tortilla toasted.  I sometimes add tomatoes, olives, peppers, or anything else I have on hand to mix up the flavors.  Plus, the great thing about quesadillas is that they do not have to be Mexican-influenced in flavors.  Swap the chili powder for italian seasoning and dip in marinara sauce, and you have an Italian quesadilla!


Another meal I made was a chicken wrap.  I wanted to add a little Asian flair to my lunch, so to my toppings of lettuce, carrots, and chicken I drizzled a sesame ginger dressing on top.  To punch the flavor up even more, I dipped the wrap in some sweet chili sauce.  I have basically become addicted to this sauce and it is great when making all types of Asian cuisine!


Wraps are great because you can really change what you fill them with to suit your mood.  But there are so many other possibilities to create with leftover chicken.  Make some soup (chicken tortilla, noodle, chili, or even chicken & dumplings), mix up some chicken salad, or just heat and eat as is!  By using simple ingredients and creative thinking, I was able to create something original out of my base of roast chicken while saving money in the process!

2 comments:

  1. So the real question is what do you do with all of this fabulous money you've saved by cooking cheap?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well, this month I will be spending it on restocking my fridge since it just died...but I'm saving up to buy more "fancy" ingredients to experiment with.

    ReplyDelete