Earlier this week I had roasted a whole chicken for dinner. We had more left over than normal and events conspired such that it wasn’t eaten up at lunch either. I’ve done two quick dinners with some of it that were both big hits.

Chicken Burritos
leftover cooked chicken, skin removed
green salsa
taco seasoning
refried beans
chopped tomatoes
grated cheese
sour cream
flour tortillas

I took some of the chicken and heated it with half a jar of green salsa and a bit of taco seasoning. I had bought a mix in a jar from Costco and it is nice for quick stuff like this, although I prefer to just mix up my own and probably won’t buy it again. If you don’t have a mix, sprinkle on a bit of chili powder, cumin, and garlic powder. Add some water if you’re salsa is more chunky than liquid so you can simmer the chicken. Pull it apart with two forks once it’s warmed (or cooked through if you start with a raw chicken breast, which also works well), and let it simmer in the sauce while you grate some cheese, heat up some beans and tortillas, and get the table set.

Chicken King Ranch Casserole
My youngest daughter loves the King Ranch Casserole. Typically I make a full recipe in two 9×9 pans and freeze one for later, but tonight I just roughly halved the recipe. I didn’t actually halve the whole thing though, since I didn’t’ want half a can of tomatoes or chilies left. I didn’t have the Rotel tomatoes that make this so good but can testify that a can of diced tomatoes and a can of chilies works great! I used a can of cream of mushroom soup because that’s what I had.

1 leftover chicken breast, skin removed, chopped
1/4 cup of chopped onion
1 tsp oil
1 can of cream of something soup (or make your own of course!)
1 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes
1 4 ounce can diced green chilies
1 cup grated Cheddar cheese
6-9 corn tortillas, torn into pieces

Saute the onion in a bit of oil until soft, 5 minutes or so. Stir in the can of soup, the chicken, the tomatoes and chilies (or a can of Rotel tomatoes). Stir and heat through.

In a 9×9 pan, lay 1/3 of the torn tortillas, spoon 1/3 of the chicken mix over the top, and sprinkle 1/3 of the cheese. Repeat two more layers: tortillas, chicken mix, cheese. Bake at 350 for 40 minutes.

You can freeze this after mixing and before baking, but the corn tortillas get a bit mushy. We don’t mind them that way but others might.