Left-over Chicken to Soup and Salad

I was sent home from Christmas Eve dinner with a bag of delicious lemon chicken, home-made by my Aunt.  I already had ideas for a delicious sandwich I could make with some additional left over brie and cranberries.

Sunday we made some delicious sandwiches with the left over chicken.  I toasted some ciabatta bread, sliced up my remaining brie cheese, and some chicken, and spooned cranberry relish over the whole thing.  I grilled this sandwich to melt the cheese, then opened it up to add a layer of crisp mixed greens.  With a side of sweet potato chips, this was a delightful weekend lunch.

Tonight I wanted to make some chicken noodle soup with what I had left over.  Usually, I just cook the chicken in the soup to make the broth, this chicken is already cooked.  I could have used boxed chicken broth, or the turkey broth that is currently in my freezer, but I wanted to try something new.  I sliced the chicken off of the bones, and browned the bones before tossing in the onions, carrots, and celery.

Chicken Soup Recipe ( a variation on Mom’s old stand-by)

• 3-4 drumsticks, or other chicken pieces
• half onion, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, smashed
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper
• 2 cups whole wheat egg noodles
• water

Remove meat from bones. Brown bones in a 3 qt pot.  Once bones have browned on all sides, drizzle some olive oil to loosen up the brown bits on the bottom.  Add chopped onions, celery, carrots, garlic and bay leaf.  Dust with salt and pepper, and saute until fragrant. Add egg noodles and chicken meat, and cover with water.  Bring to a boil, lower heat and simmer for about 10 minutes, until noodles are al dente, and chicken is warmed through.  Good to pair with a slice of garlic toast, or top with seasoned croutons.

P.S. Aunt Shari, I would LOVE the original chicken recipe 🙂

Sweet Potato and Goat Cheese Sandwich

I was having a conversation (about food of course) with a coworker the other day, and she mentioned this sandwich that she really enjoys: boiled slices of sweet potato, goat cheese, red onions, and cilantro.  Needless to say, I thought this sounded amazing and couldn’t wait to try it.  I was even pretty sure I had everything to make it at home.

I started by slicing the sweet potatoes, tossing them in olive oil, salt, pepper, and roasting them in the oven.  In general I prefer roasting veggies to boiling them, they seem to be more flavorful.  I then toasted some Italian sandwich bread for a nice crunch.  I spread goat cheese on both sides of the bread (can’t get enough!), and layered slices of roasted sweet potato with thin slices of raw red onion.  Turns out I did not have cilantro, but topped the sandwich off with parsley the first time, and spinach leaves the second.  The result: delicious!  I loved the sweetness of the potatoes combined with the tart cheese, and the crisp red onions.  I’m so excited because this is a very nutrient rich sandwich created from things I almost always have on hand. Which is more than I can say for slices of deli meat…

I do intend to try this sandwich with the original intent of cilantro, and I’ll let you know how that turns out.