A Safeway Rotisserie Chicken and Store-Bought Pasta Sauce - how can they be recreated?

I didn’t feel like cooking last night, so we had a rotisserie chicken from Safeway. GASP! I know... How horrible of me, not cooking. There you have it, it happens.

We had the chicken and I also made tri-coloured rotini and heated some bottled pasta sauce (again, GASP!) to which I added sautéed onions and mushrooms, with garlic cheese buns on the side.

There were leftovers: pasta, pasta sauce, chicken; there were also some peas and carrots from the previous night’s supper.

How will the leftovers be twisted and turned?  Stay tuned...

For more tips and tricks, please visit: http://www.moms-stay-at-home.com/

Dumplings

I have never tried to make dumplings before, because my memory of dumplings are of my mother's pasty bits of glue. 

The Simplest Dumpling

My husband, though always asks for dumplings.  So, I decided to try my hand at them.  You know what?  They're yummy!

I went with the simplest recipe I could find:

Dumplings
1 Cup      50/50 flour*
1 T          baking powder
1 t           white sugar
1/2 t        salt
1 T          margarine
1/2 C       milk

In a bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.  Cut margarine into this mixture until it is crumbly, then stir in milk to make a soft dough.

Drop by the teaspoonful into the simmering chowder (or stew, or soup, etc.) until the dumplings are barely touching (or you've run out of dough). 

Cover the pot and simmer for 15 minutes without lifting the lid of the pot.

Since my experiment into dumplings went well this first time, I'm going to now experiment with other delectable varieties!

* I mix our flour using equal parts whole wheat and non-bleached white to make what I call 50/50 flour.

Until next time ... eat your leftovers!

For more tips and tricks, please visit: http://www.moms-stay-at-home.com/

Creamy Chicken Chowder

With two chicken thighs, about two cups of mashed potatoes, the same amount of boiled carrots and peas, and mushroom sauce, and four cups of cooking water from the potatoes, carrots and peas - I created a Creamy Chicken Chowder to die for!

And not only that, but it had dumplings in it too!

I chopped the chicken thighs into small bite-sized pieces, and cut the slices of carrots into quarters, just to make them easier to scoop up into our spoons.

In a large pot I placed the potatoes and the cooking water, and turned it on medium heat. While it heated, I re-mashed the potatoes - again, just to make it easier to scoop up with our spoons.

The rest of the ingredients, along with a tablespoon of dried parsley, then went in the pot as well to heat through and simmer until dumpling*-dropping time.

I didn't feel the need to add any other flavourings than the ones that were already in the mushroom sauce, which were - onion, sage, garlic, salt, and pepper.  I did add an extra pinch of salt while it was simmering

Until next time ... eat your leftovers!

*I'll post the recipe for dumplings in a separate post.  Watch for it!

For more tips and tricks, please visit: http://www.moms-stay-at-home.com/

What Will This Become?

Tonight for supper we had chicken thighs in a mushroom sauce, mashed potatoes, and boiled peas and carrots.

We have some leftovers...what will they become?

For more tips and tricks, please visit: http://www.moms-stay-at-home.com/

Apples, Apples, and More Apples!

With fall comes an abundance of apples.

So good!  Apple Muffins

With fall comes an abundance of apple-ly goodies! Apple pie, apple crisp, apple cookies, apple chomppers (my own invention), apple streusel cake, apple tart, apple popover, and …

Apple Muffins !

I have my own apple muffin recipe, but I decided to try something new. The recipe below was based on one found at http://www.forthebodyandsoul.blogspot.com/.

3 Cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp nutmeg
3 Tbsp sugar
½ Cup + 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
3 Tbsp honey
2 eggs
170 ml milk (approximately ¾ cup)
2 apples

First, preheat your oven to 390⁰F. Then grease your muffin tin, or line it with papers.

Peel and core the apples, and chop them into bite-sized pieces.

Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl and make a well in the centre.

Heat the butter and honey over low heat until they are melted. Be careful not to burn the butter!

In a separate bowl, measure the milk and eggs, then beat them slightly.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredient well. Add the chopped apples and mix until no dry remains.

Spoon the mixture into the greased muffin tin, filling each to about ¾ full.


Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
Remove from oven and let the muffins cool a few minutes before removing them from the muffin tin.


As an extra special touch, I sprinkled cinnamon sugar over the top of them and then drizzled it with a bit of extra melted butter after removing them from the oven. Delish!


You could serve these warm or cold. Warm with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce drizzled over top; cold in your young one’s lunch bag, or for your grab-and-go breakfast.

Until next time ... eat your abundance (leftovers)!

For more tips and tricks, please visit: http://www.moms-stay-at-home.com/


 

Thanksgiving Feast Leftovers

Thanksgiving Day Feast

On our Thanksgiving Day Menu we had Turkey (of course), mashed taters, boiled carrots and beets, and yummy stuffing. None of us enjoy cranberry sauce so the only time we ever include that is if we have guests.

We always have our Thanksgiving Day Dinner on Sunday, so that we have leftovers on Monday. Usually Monday we just re-heat and eat, or make hot (or cold) turkey sandwiches.

Tuesday we have a casserole and then the rest gets frozen for other meals such as soup or Turkey Tetrazzini.

Today, I’m going to share my easy-peasy and delish Turkey Casserole recipe with you!

Keep an eye out for it ...

For more tips and tricks, please visit: http://www.moms-stay-at-home.com/

Holidays Over

We’ve just arrived back from holiday.
Had a great time but now I’m ready to dive back into our leftovers!

Look for new posts soon...