This month I popped in to visit ABC 612 Brisbane’s Tim Cox for a chat on what to do to Revamp your leftover chicken. Why you may ask? Well did you know chicken is one of the most commonly eaten meats in Australia – ahead of beef, pork and lamb? Chances are you’ve got some chicken in your fridge right now!
As many of you know I am mad keen on sharing tips and creative ideas on how to reduce your food waste by using your leftovers. Each year Australians throw away almost $8 billion in leftovers – in Queensland alone that figure equates to over $600 a year. Do you know why? The most common reason cited is they don’t know what to do with it.
When you aren’t sure what to do with leftovers, just remember these four principles to create great Revamps. Remember the Revamps philosophy is all about transforming ‘leftovers’ from a boring re-run to an exciting sequel by adjusting one or more of the following:
- Ingredients
- Flavour
- Cooking Method
- Texture
Revamps in Action: Learning what to do with Leftovers
The best way to see how revamps really work is to see them in action! We have used the principles in different ways to come up with easy dinner ideas for leftover chicken.
Use Chicken on your:
- Stir fry (adding new flavour, ingredients)
- Chicken and mustard pie (adding flavour, ingredients – with butter puff pastry – less additives, texture – with a creamy sauce via sour cream)
- Chicken and cheese pie (new ingredients and cooking method) https://www.mealplanningyourway.com/2014/01/02/chicken-and-cheese-open-pie/
- Chicken Pasta (adding new ingredients – tomato based, cream sauce; texture)
- Pizza
- Chicken Fajitas
- Asian Salad (adjust flavour – using fish sauce, lime juice, sweet chilli sauce; and ingredients using coriander, noodles, sprouts and cabbage)
- Chicken Fajitas – Laksa using all the principles: cooking method (simmering using liquid), flavour (using coconut milk and laksa paste), texture (soup and vegetables are tender to bite) and ingredients (noodles, tofu, carrot, prawns) and convert it into a fabulous laksa.
- Chicken Fajitas – Indian Chicken and Rocket Pizza (cooking method (oven baked), flavour (Indian Tomato Chutney/ curry paste for the pizza base) and ingredients (pizza base – watch additives or make your own; cheese then once cooked, dress with rocket and drizzle with yoghurt) to convert it into a fresh and flavoursome gourmet pizza.
These examples help to show just how easy it can be to solve the what’s for dinner challenge by converting our next night’s meal into an exciting sequel that takes very little time to prepare.
Now I’d love to hear from you! In the comments box below tell me what are some of your favourite ways to revamp your chicken?
Listen to the Podcast here:
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