More Left Over Maddness

So still dealing with roast beef left overs and the other night I made some mushroom ravioli and after they cook I added a cup of beef broth to some Alfredo sauce threw in some cooked mushrooms, some beef and what do you know a new meal. I also used some meat that was rarer than other pieces and threw that into a some salsa verde, simmered it for about 5 minutes, and used it as taco meat. Yummy! I think that today's left over meal will be a variation on this great (I really do mean great) beef stew. I will let you know how that turns out. I am also getting ready for tomorrow night's little party and putting together a great cheese platter that will have over ten different types of cheese. More to follow on that and on the best things to eat with Champagne.

Enchiladas

My family and I are huge fans of chicken enchiladas. I love it because it is an easy meal to make ahead and it is a great use of left over chicken. My kids like all the gooey cheese, and my husband just likes eating some kind of Mexican food. Without further ado, here is the super simple recipe....

2 chicken breasts, shredded
1 or 2 chopped Serranos
2 cans of enchilada sauce
1 brick of Colby jack, shredded
1 package of corn tortillas
1 tomato, diced
2 green onions, chopped
sour cream

Take your shredded chicken and place in a bowl, add in serranos, and pour about 3/4 of can of enchilada sauce over chicken and peppers. Mix and set aside. In a small pan, heat up about 1/4 teaspoon of oil. Pour remaining 1/4 can of sauce into a shallow baking dish (depending on how many enchiladas I am making I use 9x13 or 8x8). Take one tortilla and dip both sides in sauce and place in heated pan until sauce is fired in to tortilla. When the tortilla is fried up, take about 1 tablespoon of chicken mixture, some cheese, and roll up in the tortilla, like making a wrap. Place prepared enchilada back in baking dish and repeat until chicken mixture is gone or baking dish is full. Open the other can of sauce and pour over the top of enchiladas, cover with more cheese and either cover and place in the refrigerator until ready to cook, or cook at 350 for around 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Garnish with sour cream, tomatoes, green onions.

Potato Salad

OK, so you died the Easter eggs and now are stuck with a dozen hard boiled eggs, what do you do with them? There are the simple things like egg salad (which I am not a fan of), deviled eggs (another thing I do not enjoy unless my husband is making them), and hard boiled egg sandwiches, but you can only eat so many of those. I decided to add some eggs to my potato salad. I have no idea what measurements I use so use your taste buds to figure out what you like. Here is my pithy Potato Salad recipe...

6 small red potatoes, cut into quarters

1 tablespoon of vinegar

some mayo, not very much, I hate the stuff

some mustard, I use more than the mayo amount

some dill relish

some chopped roasted red peppers, drained

some chopped red onion

some chopped chives

and a 3 cut up hard boiled eggs

Boil potatoes until fork tender, about 10 minutes. Place potatoes in a large bowl and sprinkle with vinegar. Place potatoes in the fridge and cool. When potatoes are cold, add other ingredients to bowl, mix and serve.

Stuffing Stufted Chicken

I have a problem figuring out how to use leftovers. I used to make my husband a lunch that was made up of the leftovers from the night before, but that doesn't work anymore. John doesn't get packed lunches quite yet, and I tend to eat sandwiches for lunch, so I felt it was time to get creative and came up with this recipe using the left over stuffing from our pork chop dinner the other night. This meal was a big hit, next time I will add some more yummy things to the stuffing, but this worked for the first time making this recipe.

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

2 granny smith or other tart green apples, peeled and diced

1 1/2 cups of cooked stuffing

1/3 cup of diced onion

a pinch of dried sage and parsley

salt and pepper to season

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat a medium sized pan to medium high, add onions and apples and cook for about 5 minutes or until apples are soft. Remove apples and onions from skillet and mix with cooked stuffing. Butterfly cut chicken breasts, and place 1/4 of stuffing mixture inside, season breasts with sage, parsley, salt, and pepper and place in a shallow baking dish. Cook in the oven for about 30 minutes. Serve with a salad of blue cheese, apples, dried cranberries, and walnuts.