Thrifty

Alexis had a scrimmage game against another softball team today so I had the whole house to myself.  I blogged earlier about my the game hens I cooked for dinner on the 27th.  Well, 4 Cornish Game Hens for 3 people left us with a lot of leftover chicken. So today I spent a lot of time in the kitchen being THRIFTY!

As I was looking in my cupboards for inspiration two little, magical chefs appeared on my shoulders.  I bet you'd like to know what kinda stuff I have in my cupboard, right?! I promise there are no magic mushrooms or anything of the sort in there.  Anyway, these two little chefs...okay, there were no chefs.  But those two chefs represent what I was pondering for the chicken!  On one hand I knew I could make the old standard, Chicken Salad!  It's always great to have a light sandwich for lunch and it couldn't be easier!  But the other "shoulder" had a different idea.  Chicken Tortilla Soup.  My mind started to reel!  What should I do?  I decided to take the chicken out of the fridge and have a look at what I had to work with.  You know what I found?  I found I had enough chicken to do both!  I felt those little chefs dancing for joy as I hopped around the kitchen gathering the ingredients for my first meal.

I decided to start with the chicken tortilla soup.  I figured that Alexis and Chad would be wore out from sitting in the hot sun and would be in need of some comforting food. Soup might not be the best for a hot day, so I turned a couple fans on and put the air down to 74 to set the mood.

Chicken Tortilla Soup: Okay, I admit that I make this often.  But never the same way twice.  I like to scavenge through the kitchen and just throw stuff together.

1 box of Spanish rice (I usually use this as a base for the soup, it has a great spice and I LOVE rice)
8 cups chicken broth (from bouillon cubes..if I had been thinking ahead I could have boiled down some the chicken parts a couple days ago for the broth)
1 onion
1/2 red pepper
1 can of diced tomatoes with zesty jalapenos
1 can of diced tomatoes with green peppers and onions
pepper
cumin
black beans (leftover from a southwestern salad I made a couple nights ago)
About 3 cups leftover chicken, cubed

There's not really much to this one.  I kinda just throw it all together.  Today I started with the rice and broth and let it cook until the rice was about done.  Then I threw in the onion, red pepper, tomatoes and spices.  I let all that stuff cook for about 15 minutes on medium heat and then I threw in the beans and chicken.  I ended up adding more pepper after I tasted the juice, but oh my it was tasty!! 

I then moved onto my Chicken Salad! 

Chicken Salad: This took only a few minutes!  I absolutely love my Cuisinart Smart Stick.  This baby has been with me for awhile now and has made my life so much easier.

rest of leftover chicken (maybe 2 cups)
1-1/2 stalks of celery
1/2 small onion
1/4 cup mayo

I put the leftover chicken into the food processor attachment on my Cuisinart Smart Stick and chopped it up pretty fine and emptied it all out into a bowl.  I then put the stalks of celery and the small onion into the processor and did the same thing to them.  From there I put everything in the bowl and mixed it up!  No rocket science here! 

I finished a little after noon and started to feel pretty proud of myself!  I decided to let the soup simmer until Chad and Alexis got here...

...ring
ring...
...ring

Me: "Hello"
Alexis: "Hey.  We are at Taco Bell, what do you want"
Me: *sighs*  "I made lunch for us."
Alexis: *silence*
Me: "Get me a Burrito Supreme."

Tonight's menu:
Leftover Chicken Tortilla Soup