A dinner of leftovers tonight. I can hardly cook when the doorbell keeps ringing!

First, I had some leftover Sort of Mexican Chicken Soup.  I added a large spoonful of this avocado pico del gallo and some crushed tortilla chips. Mmm!

I also used the last of the cooked chicken to make a chicken salad sandwich.  I am totally guessing at the measurements just to give any new cooks a starting place. You must taste and adjust!

• 1 cup diced cooked chicken
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 1-2 Tbs sweet pickle relish
• 2-3 Tbs mayonnaise
• 1-2 tsp Dijon mustard
• a dash of sweet curry powder
• a dash of salt

I toasted up some sliced sourdough for the sandwich part. Had I wanted a salad without the bread I might have added some diced apples and/or diced grapes.  I kept the curry powder very light. I just wanted a hint of it.  Really quite nice!\

Oh, and I don’t mean to imply this only made one sandwich!  There is more chicken salad for tomorrow!

Mexican Inspired Chicken Soup

I wanted some soup for lunches later in the week so cooked this up to go with the carne asada soft tacos I was making for dinner. I wanted something Mexican oriented and with some vegetables so played around a bit and came up with this soup. I used some corn I had frozen after we had leftover corn on the cob. I just sliced it off the cob and froze it. I liked it in the soup because it was larger chunks of corn rather than just individual kernels.

• 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 1 stalk celery, diced
• 1 tsp taco seasoning (optional)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt (depending on your broth)
• 6 cups homemade chicken broth
• 1 cup cooked chicken, diced
• 1 cup corn (I used frozen)
• 1 tomato, seeded and chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro for garnish

This could have gone any number of directions depending on what I had found while rooting through the freezer and vegetable bin.  If I’d wanted a lighter soup, I’d have left out the chicken but I was thinking this would make a nice lunch for me later. If I’d wanted a heavier soup I would have added some cooked beans and maybe some potatoes or rice. Also, if I’d had extra salsa without the avocados I would have added that instead of or in addition to the fresh tomato from my garden.

Heat the oil and cook the onion and celery until softened. Sprinkle with the taco seasoning, cumin and salt and cook a minute. Add the rest of the ingredient except for the fresh cilantro and simmer 30 minutes, stirring now and then. Garnish with the cilantro and serve.

Mmm!  Could also add some diced avocado, grated cheese and crushed tortilla chips if you wanted a heartier soup.

Meatball sandwich

In truth, there’s hardly a recipe for a meatball sandwich. At its simplest, you take a French or hoagie roll, put a few meatballs on it, ladle some spaghetti sauce on it and eat.

If you want to get a bit fancier, you’d use your own homemade meatballs. My favorite recipe uses ground pork and ground beef, plus cheese.  But if ground pork is hard to find or too expensive, just use all ground beef. These days I prefer to bake them rather than fry them. I make a lot, then flash freeze what i don’t need so I have a handy stash in the freezer.

The other night we had company and I went all out and made Sunday Gravy a la the Soprano’s. I made double the meatballs though and froze the extra sauce and meatballs, plus sent some sauce and sausage and meat home with a guest plus sent some over to the neighbor with a broken leg. The recipe makes a lot!

My youngest has been loving having spaghetti and meatballs for lunch every day this week, although she took a break today. Then she came home and asked if we could have meatball sandwiches for dinner! Ha!  Sure…

I put some meatballs and sauce on the stove to heat up, then took the French rolls and opened them up, spread with some butter, sprinkled with some garlic powder and broiled until crispy.   By then the meatballs and sauce were warmed through. I put 3 meatballs on each French roll, ladled some sauce on top, then put some grated Mozzarella over it and put the sandwiches back under the broiler for a bit.

Mmmm.  We broke with tradition and ate dinner while watching Glee on TV.  Served the sandwiches with a green salad and it was a lovely dinner.  What a great way to use up leftovers.

Wow, check out this comprehensive list of recipes for leftover chicken!

I’ll add a few favorites of my own:

• Chinese Chicken Salad #1
• Chinese Chicken Salad #2
• Chicken and Corn Chowder
• Chicken Curry Salad
• Chicken Pot Pie
• Chicken Quesadillas
• Chili Chicken Casserole
• Creamed Chicken on Rice
• Creole Chicken
• Enchiladas
• Fried Rice
• Leftover Turkey or Chicken Sandwich Spread
• Middle East Chicken Soup
• Pasta with Chicken and Artichoke Sauce
• Turkey Casserole
• Turkey Shepherd’s Pie
• Turkey Skillet

I

Cold Chicken Sesame Noodles with Cucumbers

pretty much followed Mark Bittman’s recipe here for Cold Noodles with Sesame Sauce, Chicken and Cucumers.

I had simmered a whole chicken the other night to make King Ranch Chicken Casserole, which we had for dinner and then my daughter took for lunch a few times and I had for lunch as well.  It is good at room temperature or heated a bit in a microwave.

Some of the chicken I turned into this nice rice, chicken and artichoke salad. The rest I used tonight for this fantastic sesame no0dle and chicken dish.  The dressing, made with peanut butter was fantastic!  Next time, and there will be a next time, I will chop the cucumber rather than grate it. Even grating it, I did squeeze out all the water, which he doesn’t mention but I think was crucial. Next time I might salt the cucumber, rinse and dry, then chop rather rather than grate. That was the only improvement I could think of, one of texture rather than flavor. Caveat: I have never ordered this in a restaurant, so have no idea what this is “supposed” to taste like. I can tell you that we thought it was great!

Dressing:

• 2 Tbs sesame oil
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 2 Tbs sugar
• 3 Tbs soy sauce
• 1 tsp fresh ginger, minced (I always use frozen!)
• 1 Tbs rice vinegar
• a few splashes of Tabasco sauce
• freshly ground pepper to taste

Salad

• 12 ounces fettucine
• 1 -2 cups cooked chicken, diced or shredded
• 1 long cucumber, seeded and diced
• 1/2 cup fresh scallions or green onions, minced

Heat a pot of water to boiling, season with a spoonful of salt and cook the fettucini (or Chinese egg noodles) until done, usually about 10-12 minutes. Drain and rinse.

Dice the cucumbers, shred the chicken, chop the green onion.

Whisk together the dressing of sesame oil, peanut butter, sugar, soy sauce, ginger, rice vinegar, Tabasco sauce and pepper.

Toss the salad ingredients together (noodles, chicken, cucumber, and scallions. Dress with the dressing and toss together, then serve.

Delicious next day for lunch!

The tomatoes are so good this time of the year!  And I could eat this sauce on practically anything. Serve it with tortilla chips for an appetizer or with quesadillas. Spoon on some black bean soup. Serve with grilled chicken or fish… the possibilities are nearly endless!

Tonight we used it on some burritos made with some leftover bbq’d steak, black beans, and sliced avocados.

• 2 large beefsteak tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 1/2 small onion, diced
• a handful of fresh cilantro, chopped
• a few good squirts of lime juice
• 2 small cloves of garlic, minced
• salt to taste

Stir and mix, taste and adjust seasonings as per your tastes.

Since neither of us were starving tonight but we still needed to eat dinner, I opted for a sandwich. One of us had had a chicken taco salad for lunch so I didn’t want to do another “salad with meat” thing.  I had these fantastic breaded chicken cutlets from the other night so went for those and pulled some hamburger buns out of the freezer.

I heated the cutlets in the oven at 350 and put the hamburger buns by the vent outlet (where the hot air comes out) to defrost. Not sure all ovens have those but my gas one sure does and it comes in handy for keeping things warm or defrosting.

I sliced up some mozzarella cheese and melted it on top of the leftover chicken cutlets after they were warm. Then I sliced a tomato and some lettuce.  I made the hot sauce recipe from here but was frankly less than impressed. So next time I’ll just skip it or dump some hot sauce on the chicken directly. I mixed up a bit of blue cheese dressing from here, but again was less than impressed.  I had mine with the both the hot sauce and the blue cheese dressing, plus the lettuce and tomato and cheese.  The sandwich was good but I think it would have been just as good without either the hot sauce or the blue cheese dressing.  My daughter ate hers with just ketchup and had some carrot sticks on the side.

I never make taco meat just to have a taco salad but it sure is a great way to use up the leftovers a day or so after having tacos.  I like to use a little Catalina salad dressing on mine for a Catalina Taco Salad. It just adds a nice sweet touch. My kids leave theirs plain, without dressing. Much healthier, I’m sure.

• leftover taco meat
• homemade salsa if it’s summer or bottled if not
• chopped lettuce
• grated Cheddar cheese or a Mexican blend
• refried beans or black beans or whole pinto beans
• sliced olives if you’d like
• chopped avocado if you have some
• chopped fresh tomato
• chopped green onions or yellow onions
• tortilla chips or broke up leftover taco shells

If you’ve got a vegetarian in the family, this is a great dish because you can serve everything in small bowls and let everyone build their own taco salad, with or without meat.  You could also substitute leftover cooked chicken for the ground beef. It’s very flexible.

Sometimes the simplest dinners are so good!  I had barbecued some chicken leg quarters the other night, after marinating them in the best chicken marinade.  We had one leg quarter left over.  Last night for dinner I turned it into chicken salad for some great sandwiches.

Pull the skin off the chicken and pull the meat away from the bones, watching for gristle or fat.  Dice it up finely. You should get about a cup of chicken. Add enough mayonnaise to moisten, then stir in some diced dill pickles. (Or sweet pickle relish if you’d like.)  If it was just me, I’d add some diced celery as well but the kids gripe about that so I left it out. Depending on the chicken, you may or may not need to add some salt and/or pepper.

• 1 cup diced cooked chicken
• 1/4 cup or so of mayonnaise
• 1/4 cup or so of diced dill pickle
• salt and pepper to taste

I toasted some whole wheat bread and spread this out for 3 healthy sandwiches.

Served with a simple green salad of:

• 2  cups chopped red leaf lettuce
• 1/2 an avocado, chopped
• 1 tomato, chopped
• oil and vinegar dressing to taste

Now if it had been just me, I would have added some garbanzo beans and sliced red onion and maybe some sunflower seeds or dried cranberries to the salad.  But I kept it simple, for one night at least.

We had a wonderful suprise birthday party barbecue here last weekend. It left me with some surplus hot dog and hamburger buns. Some I made room for in the freezer.  Here are a few other ideas if you find yourself in the same situation. These are things I’ve done in the past that worked out great.

Bread Crumbs

These are a bit obvious perhaps but if you’ve not made your own before, here’s how. Let them air dry a bit or speed them up in a low oven. Then grind them up in your blender or food processor. Freeze them in a freezer bag and you can easily pull out just what you need later.

Croutons

Nearly as obvious but still…. Cube them and toss with some olive oil and the seasonings of your choices. I like some garlic powder and parsley at the least.

Bread Pudding

Anything you can do with leftover bread,  you can do with leftover hamburger and hotdog buns.  Use this recipe for bread pudding as a starting point.

Frankfurter Circles

Okay, leftover hamburger buns with hot dogs. Talk about using up the odd mix?!  A childhood favorite of mine that my grandma used to make.  I really need to get a picture on here as it’s definitely worth a thousand words!

Sloppy Joes, Meatball Subs, Tuna Melts, etc.

Make your favorite “food on bread” recipe but use your leftover hot dog or hamburger buns instead of whatever you normally use.   Make your own “Quizno” melts at home.  Smaller sized buns are perfect for smaller appetites rather than wasting a whole french roll.

Garlic Bread

I prefer to mix some butter with minced garlic, spread on the bread of choice and broil. But we also like “cheater” garlic bread in a pinch. Spread with butter (or margarine), sprinkle with garlic powder and broil. Sprinkle with some grated cheese first if you like.

French Toast

Cut into sticks and make French toast sticks with them using your favorite recipe.  Here’s my normal mode of French toast.

Need some more ideas?

Peruse these:

• Real Simple’s Take on Leftover Buns
• Thifty Fun’s Forum with lots of ideas
• Chowhound’s Forum thread
• Yahoo Answer’s forum thread

These are all based upon using it up within your family, of course. You can always share with neighbors or your local food pantry or homeless shelter.