dinner leftovers remix

after the volley of cooking last week, i had quite a bit of leftovers that needed to be eaten before going bad. with ingredients and extras from my casero cremini stuffed pork chops, french chicken in a pot, and macaroni and cheese, i asked myself, what the hell am i gonna do with all this stuff? how am i gonna create a tasty dinner from tired leftovers? christien was quite skeptical. well check this out.

i chopped up leftover mushrooms and garlic from the pork chop recipe...

shredded the remaining thigh and leg meat from the chicken dinner...

and sauteed everything together with olive oil, some lemon juice, salt, pepper, and the leftover chicken sauce that had gelatinized in the fridge.

for a side salad, i combined some cherry tomatoes with the chopped queso casero from the pork chop dinner and tossed them with chopped fresh basil, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt and pepper.

the leftover macaroni and cheese just needed reheating in the microwave so when that was done, i plated everything up. quick and easy.

looks intentional and from scratch eh? the "chicken stir fry" was meaty, hearty and flavorful. the mushrooms and garlic gave the chicken a slight twist from the simple french chicken in a pot recipe and helped what little meat i had go further.

the "caprese salad" was fresh and light, a nice contrast to the heartier flavors of the chicken and mac n cheese. the casero doesn't quite have the same flavor as mozzerella would in this salad though.

the mac n cheese was good and cheesy of course. nothing had to be done to that.

everything went great together. and christien was quite impressed indeed and probably won't ever look down on leftovers the same way again. be creative and the only person who will know that was leftovers will be you.