Creative Cooking Using Leftovers: Chicken Casserole

chicken casserole

I am enjoying Mimi’s challenge of cooking with whatever she has in the house. As food manager of a large family I have had to learn to keep well-stocked, but when I run low I try not to run across the street. We shop at a large grocery every three weeks or so, the shuk for produce once a week, and daily at the makolet (corner store) for bread and milk . I’ve talked with my husband about buying produce once in two weeks, but he fears we don’t have enough room.

We are enjoying the variety of inexpensive vegetables post-shmitah and I had put up a couple of batches of marinara sauce. I don’t know why fresh tomatoes are so cheap while canned tomato products shrunk in size and grew in cost.  Last time I bought fresh chickens I cut off and cooked the white meat and saved the broth for soup, since most of the family prefers dark meat.

We usually eat Shabbat leftovers on Sunday and dairy the rest of the week, creating a problem when there is meaty food left over after Sunday. Sometimes I freeze it to add to soup or combine with other leftovers for a day I don’t feel like cooking.

This week I solved the problem by adding leftovers to a meat meal I prepared Tuesday.  I chopped a large mushroom and some vegetables that never made it onto last night’s pizza.  Then I added chicken breast cut in bite-sized pieces, marinara sauce, the last few tablespoons of cholent, two pieces of leftover cooked potato with the cooking water and voila, chicken casserole, served on top of plain rice.  I would have added the roasted vegetables I’ve been making since Abbi mentioned it here, but some family members would have rejected the dish had they found bits of beet or turnip. So I served those separately.

Related posts:

The Day is Short and The Work is Great: Easy Shabbat Preparations

What’s There to Eat? Saving Time in the Kitchen

Rosh Hashanah Menus and Meatball Recipe

What’s for Dinner?

Comments

  1. Hmm, I think you’d have to have a real eagle eye or super sensative palate to spot a roasted beet or turnip in that sauce! You could always play dumb if they would ask- “Beet? Turnip? I have no idea what you’re talking about!” Sounds delish.

    Roasted veggies rule! I’ve been eating them all week with brown rice and techina. ( i put a few in this pttitim/lentil concoction i made too)

  2. I pick up staples when I’m shopping and have places I like to buy certain staples. I would love to be able to pick up produce only every other week, but we eat a lot of produce and besides lack of space, my kids love bannanas and they don’t hold that long.

  3. Feels good to know that we’re not the only ones eating leftover chamin (cholent) on Sunday…

  4. I am the queen of making something yummy out of leftovers!! I keep thinking I should make a cookbook or something.

    I cook less lately, and that saddends me, because it means more waste.

    I try to make things that I would like eating, but every once in a while something gets in that I don’t like.

    Recently, someone made us a dish with peas; I HATE PEAS. So when too many leftover bits and pieces were in my fridge, I made this delicious stew our of all our leftovers, including the peas. The stew smelled amazing, but all of a sudden no one wanted stew with peas.

    I did not want it to go bad, so motza”sh I decided that was what we were having for dinner. No substitutes. My finicky eaters finished it all. (it really was very good)

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