Hi all! I hope everyone is well and I am loving these comments!
Someone told of how they make numerous dishes out of the leftovers of one dish and I say, “BRAVO” ! It is economical and creative to take some leftover chicken from one night’s dinner, throw it into a stir fry with a few other ingredients and make a whole new dish for another night. Yes, it is just that easy. If you shop planning to do that, it is so much less stressful-you have just planned for 2 meals, not just one. Eventually, some of you will get to the point where you plan a whole week’s menu with just one shop (but we won’t overwhelm you, let’s start small, remember?).
If I make a whole chicken or even buy a roasted chicken, we eat it for dinner and the next day I cut the chicken from the bone, chop it up and make chicken with rice or curried chicken salad. Check me out! Then I can invite a few friends over for lunch and we can socialize in a leisurely fashion.
O.K., I have let the cat out of the bag! I have many small children and it can sometimes be hard for me to leave the house (I can also be quite lazy…). I often luuuuuuuuuure friends to my house with my tasty lunches so that I don’t have to pack all the kids up in the car and go to their house. Is that so wrong? I consider it a win-win.
Here is my Spanish Leftover Chicken with Rice Dish:
4 cups of COOKed brown rice ( you can even use leftover Chinese food take out rice instead of throwing it away)
Approx. 2 cups of shredded or chopped cooked chicken
A Handful of pitted green olives, chopped into quarters
3 cloves of peeled, minced garrlic
2-3 TBS olive oil
2 tsp Adobo seasoning (if you don’t have it, just go to the store and buy it)
salt and pepper to taste (trust your judgement, close your eyes and taste to see if you need to add more)
In a large, non-stick skillet,heat a tsp. of oil and fry up minced garlic. Don’t let it burn! Keep the flame low and turn the heat off if garlic cooks too quickly and starts to brown too fast.
When garlic is cooked, add oil, about one-two TBS and add rice. Stir while cooking for a few minutes until rice is coated with oil. Add cooked chicken and adobo seasoning and stir until seasoned. Adobo is salty so only add a bit of salt at a time if you want more saltiness.
Add a few grindings of fresh black pepper. Taste, see if you like it. Add olives and stir. Check seasonings by tasting again and add the rest of the oil if it seems dry. I like mine a bit greasy. Serve with a green salad and you are done. Enjoy!
P.S. To answer a comment that was posted, always use kosher salt when cooking because it is easier to pinch. Fleur de Sel is delicious , expensive salt that is really great to put on salads. Generic black pepper can be used for most dishes and more exotic ones can be fun depending on the region of your dish-there are many kinds of pepper.