Using Up Leftovers

A couple nights ago, we had chicken for dinner (see my post http://simplymekimberlymarie.blogspot.com/2013/04/crockpot-chicken-dinner.html ) and I made gravy from the broth. We had a nice bit of leftovers. I also had some peas from dinner the previous night. 

Today for lunch, since it was just me, I wanted something quick and easy from what we already had. Toast with peas and gravy sounded kind of promising....similar to creamed tuna and peas on toast, minus the tuna, of course! So, I toasted and buttered 2 pieces of bread, and seasoned them with my favorite creole seasoning (see my post http://simplymekimberlymarie.blogspot.com/2013/03/product-rave.html ). Then I heated a bit of the gravy and peas together. I poured half over the one piece of seasoned toast, and the rest of the gravy and peas over the other.Then I topped it off with a bit of fresh ground pepper. This is what the finished results looked like:

And I have to say that the bit of creole seasoning on the buttered bread, the flavorful gravy, sweet peas and freshly ground pepper all blended so nicely together to make one tasty, quick and easy meal!

Crockpot Chicken Dinner

My daughter has her girlfriend over and I wanted to make something easy for a low-key, but tasty meal. I opted for something in the crockpot since it would only require a bit of early afternoon preparation, and less to do at dinnertime. 

I started with 2 cups of chicken broth.

 Then I poured it into the crockpot, added boneless, 

skinless chicken thighs and sprinkled seasoning over all.

I laid out two pieces of aluminum foil (criss-crossed

over each other) and placed 3/4 of a bag of

frozen carrots in the center of them. I drizzled the 

carrots with extra virgin olive oil and seasoned them.

  

I wrapped the aluminum foil up tightly, making a

nice little pouch for the carrots to steam in. Then I 

placed the pouch on top of the chicken in the crockpot.

I covered and set the crockpot to high, letting it cook for 3 1/2 hours. Then I turned it off. While it was resting, I peeled and diced up some potatoes to boil for mashing. Once they were done, I took out a new saucepan, and melted a few tablespoons of butter. I added enough flour to make a thick paste (called a rue). I carefully scooped out several large ladelfuls of broth from the crockpot and added it to the butter and flour paste. This was seasoned and whisked until the broth thickened to a gravy over medium heat. 

Now the meal was ready to plate up. 

With gravy....

......and without.

Either way, it was moist, tasty and oh, so filling!

Dinner was a hit. ☺