Growing up there were two certainties about my daily meals. One was that we had soup every day. The second was that we ate chicken every day. With so much chicken in my diet, one could think that I would despise it as an adult. To the contrary, I still love it. So much so that we usually eat chicken about 4 times a week. While my family embraces my obsession most days, the one thing that we don’t always agree on is leftovers. Personally, I’m fond of leftovers – mostly because it means that I don’t need to cook again. However, my kids really dislike eating leftovers (“we just had that yesterday!”). Which means I DO have to cook again. But rather than wasting food, I need to start being creative with my leftovers and using my leftover chicken in new and unique dishes.
If you’re in the same boat as me, you’re not alone. Loblaw identified Leftovers Revival as one of the Loblaw 2018 Canadian Food Trends. Not only are Canadians looking for simple and fun ideas to repurpose their leftovers, but they also want to reduce their food waste and help the environment.
If you’re a chicken lover like me and often end up with leftovers, then you’ll want to read on. I’m sharing three recipes for leftover chicken that are easy to make, require mostly vegetables that you probably already have in your fridge and are delicious. The recipes are: Chicken Buddha bowl, Tom Yum chicken soup, and a Greek chicken wrap. For more tips on how to reduce food waste in the kitchen, and other recipes, videos and other inspiring food content, visit Loblaws.ca/TasteTheNewNext.
Chicken Buddha Bowl
I know that typical Buddha bowls don’t contain meat, but chicken is such a great protein option that I thought it would be great to merge the two together. Beautiful colourful vegetables mixed in with some delicious (leftover) chicken. This recipe is super easy to make and you can easily substitute any of the ingredients for whatever you have in your fridge or from your favorite Asian groceries. You can also add nuts or other beans (black beans and chickpeas are my other favourite options) and you can make your dressing whether you like it simple (like olive oil with lemon juice) or fancy (like Asian sesame). This meal works great for lunch or dinner.
Ingredients:
Salad: Packed baby spinach (but you can substitute with any green lettuce). Spiralized beets. Spiralized zucchini. Shredded carrots. Cooked lentils. Avocados. Cherry tomatoes. Leftover chicken, sliced.
Dressing: 2 Tbsp Olive oil & half a lemon squeezed.
Tom Yum Chicken Soup
Just like chicken, my love for soup has lasted into adulthood. While chicken soup is my favourite kind of soup, this week I tried to make a new kind of soup that I’ve never made before – Tom Yum soup. Traditionally made with shrimp, I changed it up (because we don’t eat shell fish) and threw in my leftover chicken instead. Here’s the recipe, which I found on the back of the President’s Choice Tom Yum Broth box.
Ingredients:
115g Vermicelli Noodles. 1 ctn Tom Yum Broth. Left-over chicken (approx 1 chicken breast, sliced). 2 cups Oyster mushrooms. 1/2 cup Cherry tomatoes, halved. 2 cups baby spinach. 2 green onions thinly sliced. 1 lime, cut into wedges. 1/4 cup fresh cilantro.
Directions:
- In a large pot, bring broth to a simmer. Add chicken, mushrooms and tomatoes. Cook for approximately 4 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in spinach.
- Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and add noodles. Let stand for 3 – 4 minutes, stirring once to separate noodles. Drain and rinse under cold water. Drain well.
- Add noodles, broth mixture, lime wedges, green onions and cilantro in even parts to serving bowls. Enjoy!
Greek Chicken Wrap
If there’s one thing my kids love to eat, it’s wraps. I can pretty much put anything in a wrap and my kids will eat it. While traditionally Greek gyros should be eaten in a Greek Pita Flatbread, I went for “what’s in my fridge right now?” Same for the dressing. Ideally you would use Tzatziki sauce, but I didn’t have any and I didn’t feel like making it from scratch. So instead, I just used Greek Yogurt. It does the trick!
Ingredients:
Leftover chicken (approx 1 chicken breast sliced). 1 Cup Greek Yogurt (or Tzatziki sauce). Wraps. 2 baby cucumbers, thinly sliced. 1 cup cherry tomatoes, thinly sliced. 1/2 cup red onion, thinly sliced. 1/2 cup feta cheese, small chunks. Fresh parsley, chopped (approx 1 Tbsp). Lemon, cut in half. PC lemon infused extra virgin olive oil.
Directions:
In a small bowl, mix together cucumbers, tomatoes, onion, feta cheese and parsley. Drizzle the olive oil and squeeze in the juice from half a lemon. Assemble wrap by adding chicken, salad, and top with Greek Yogurt. Wrap & serve!
Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Loblaw as part of their Loblaw 2018 Canadian Food Trends campaign. In exchange for this post I have received perks in the form of product and compensation. All opinions on this blog are my own.