So this past week I tried a recipe I had found on pinterest. I know! I actually pinned it, AND made it. And it was A.W.E.S.O.M.E. I made the crockpot chicken tacos (from this chick...http://mychocolatetherapy.blogspot.com/2012/01/crockpot-chicken-tacos.html) with three chicken breasts, a jar of homemade salsa (Thank you Elizabeth Kirkwood!), and what might have been the equivalent of a taco seasoning packet. It cooked all day, then shredded the chicken in the juice thinking there was just too much for this to work (there wasn't,it was perfect) and made the soft tacos 30-45 loud Gunner-screaming minutes later. All three kids ate it! But I had a TON leftover. So we had leftovers two days later. Still good! Then the next day I tried another pinterest-discovered recipe (I'm on a roll!!), the Chicken Roll Ups (find it here! http://jennasjourneyblog.blogspot.com/2010/09/chicken-roll-ups.html) but instead of making more chicken, I chopped up my leftover chicken taco meat and threw it in. Again the kids loved it! They didn't even know it was the same food and I didn't have to hear the inevitable "again?!" from Skylar or the ear-drum-bursting "not again!" from Gunner. I made 8 of them I believe, however many crescent rolls are in a tube, but I had some filling left over still! It was like the meat that just wouldn't quit! Surprising since it was from only 3 boneless skinless chicken breasts! So you know what this culinary genius did? (lmao....genius might be a little bit of a stretch). I took the leftover tortillas from the soft taco night, spread the leftover chicken roll up filling, and made.....wait for it.......southwestern chicken tortilla roll-ups! And let me say again, they were SO good! THEN I was inspired. I smeared it between to lightly buttered tortillas and threw it on the pizza stone with the crescent roll roll-ups and made a quesadilla. Success!
Here's why I feel like a culinary genius....or atleast like I might be in the normal range of cook-smarts now. I used an estimated $4 worth of chicken breasts in three meals to feed myself, a 9 y/o piggy, a 4 y/o banshee, and a 14 month old princess. Adding in the things I had to actually buy for these meals (chicken, cheese, tortillas, crescent rolls, cream cheese) and not the staples I already had on hand (salsa, ranch seasoning, taco seasoning, salt pepper, lettuce), I made THREE meals for less than $15. Screw the gold star this week. I get a platinum star!
