Skip to main content

Re-purposing leftovers

If you know me well at all, you probably already know that I HATE eating leftovers. With the exception of soups and stews, leftovers never taste better the second time around. Either you don't have all the necessary components, or the breading gets soggy, or the sauce separates, or the meat gets dry, or any other number of potential pitfalls and maladies. So rather than putting things away to eat as leftovers, in our house we prefer to re-purpose. For example, a dinner of Pot Roast with roasted veggies will get re-purposed into 2 completely different dinners. First the leftover roast gets shredded and seasoned with Mexican spices so they can be made into beef enchiladas. The leftover mushroom gravy and roasted veggies will take a spin with the immersion blender and some beef broth to become a killer vegetable soup.

Over the last 2 weekends, we have enjoyed some great meals courtesy of the grill or smoker. Last weekend, while camping with friends, we grilled up some quite large and tasty burgers. With more patties than necessary, we made it home with leftovers. We re-purposed some of the grilled patties on Friday when Brenda crumbled up a couple of patties and used them on a pizza. The grilled flavor of the hamburger really added a nice touch to otherwise pretty plain hamburger. Tonight, the last 2 patties were crumbled up, mixed with some of my Daddy's Rub spice blend to turn into some awesome taco meat.

Later this week we will have tortilla soup, which is one of my all-time favorite re-purposed meals. For the chicken, I am going to re-purpose the barbecue jerk chicken we ate last night. Since the skin will be removed when I pull the chicken from the bone, the sauce on the grilled chicken is of no consequence to me. I have posted the tortilla soup recipe before, and I am posting it again below. Some of you are cooking novices, and you may write down every ingredient, go to the store to pick up the perfect quantity and brand names. And that is perfectly okay. This recipe is a classic restaurant style recipe because it came about while I was rummaging through my pantry and fridge. I literally used ingredients that remained in my pantry after we stocked up before a hurricane scare. I have used canned chicken, rotisserie chicken, barbecue chicken, jerk chicken, "fajita" chicken (you do know that there is no such thing as fajita chicken, right?), smoked turkey, and leftover roasted Thanksgiving turkey. I have often wondered how it would taste with leftover deep fried turkey, but honestly, I have never had leftover deep fried turkey to try it with!

Often, when a chef is interviewing for a head kitchen position, the restaurateur will take the chef candidate into the kitchen and challenge them to create a tasty, savory soup with the "leftovers" in the fridge. So my hope is that some of you will take the recipe and use it as a launch pad for you to see your fridge and pantry in a different light. Got some leftover corn on the cob? Perfect in soup. Leftover roasted veggies? A natural in soup of any shade. No cream of chicken? Just about any "cream of..." soup will work. Or better yet, forget the canned soup and make a roux. The most important ingredients in any re-purposed soup are creativity and love. So whatever you do, don't just reheat your leftovers and bear through a weak encore of last night's dinner, make it something special.

Here's the recipe:

TORTILLA SOUP



1 lb diced or shredded chicken
1 medium onion (diced)
1-2 tablespoons garlic (diced)
1 tablespoon of Cumin
2 teaspoons Chili Powder
2 teaspoons of Black Pepper
1 teaspoon of salt
1 jar of picante sauce or Salsa (you pick the heat level)
1 can of corn
1 cans of Cream of Chicken
1 carton of beef broth (32 oz)


In a large dutch oven or stew pot, sauté the onions until translucent.
Add the garlic to the onions and sauté until it just starts to color.
Add the seasonings and salsa (don’t get carried away with salt – the broth will add some as well)
Add the canned chicken (including the water that the chicken is packaged in), stir frequently until heated throughout and the water begins boil lightly.
Add the canned corn (once again, include the water), stir frequently until the water returns to a boil.
Add broth to thin the soup. (I recommend the beef broth over chicken broth because it deepens the flavor. Chicken is fine, beef is better).
Let the soup return to a light boil and add the cream of chicken soup to thicken to desired consistency.

The soup is ready to eat once the cream of chicken is fully incorporated into the soup. However, if you have an hour to let it simmer, it will taste better… if you have several hours it would be even better.

Serve with shredded cheese and crushed tortillas chips (stale tortilla chips really works better than fresh if you have some).

If you like more heat to it, add a can of green chilies or chipotle peppers.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

C'mon Mom, it's just PB and J!

When Mommy makes Grace a sandwich, she takes lots of time to cut the sandwich in small, manageable pieces for Grace. Mommy also has a thing for clean fingers, clean hair and hopefully clean ears. There is certainly nothing wrong with this approach. I applaud her enthusiasm for Grace's manners. However, sometimes... well, come on... really. It is just peanut butter and jelly. At this point, I should probably take a moment to thank the sponsors of this particular blog entry, Peter Pan Peanut Butter and Gramma's Strawberry Preserves. Gramma's Strawberry Preserves and Peach Butter is only available at a small pantry in Tyler, TX. She doesn't advertise, she doesn't sell her products online, heck, she doesn't even sell her products period... But those in the know, know where to go to get their jelly fix. Since I am down to my last jar of Strawberry Preserves, and I am completely out of Peach Butter, it must be about time for another journey to East Texas. Since Gramm...

Type 2 Diabetes - An Inconvenient Journey

I wish I wasn't the type of person that needed to get hit in the head with a 2x4 before I take action.  I really do want to be the type of person who heeds the warning signs that appear when someone else is walking through a challenge and is able to apply them to my own life.  I am 44 years old and I have a literal lifetime of warning signs, sounds, flags, banners, smoke signals and alerts that have been going off all around me. It isn't a news flash that obesity causes a variety of health-related issues.  I took health in junior high and high school.  I have been told many times by teachers, trainers, coaches, doctors, and nurses that I cannot outrun or outlive poor choices in diet and exercise.  As an adult, I have read many books on topics of health and self-improvement that encourage healthy habits and stress the importance of using daily exercise to reduce stress, improve cardiovascular health and increase energy.  I have read about the importance of...

Learning to make things grow

Grace is Granddad's girl when he is not at work. Given a choice, she would rather be with Granddad than just about anyone, especially if he is going to be outside! With the warm temperatures in Texas this week (it is supposed to be about 75 degrees today), it is a good time to be working in the yard. Granddad built a raised bed this winter and now it is time to get the bed ready for planting. There is something truly special about watching a toddler as they explore their new world. Today, she may just be playing in the dirt, but as the year progresses, she is going to get to see the planting of seeds and bulbs, followed by the sprouting of new plants and hopefully, the harvest of fresh veggies and herbs! Best of all, she will be able to share all of this with her Granddad. That is something absolutely priceless. I can think back to my childhood, spending weekends and summers with Pa, there were a lot of weekends that we worked really, really hard. Whether it was planting seedling...