One of the problems with cooking for one or even two is that you have so much left over if you buy in bulk. When I go to Winco to get my chicken breasts I know I'm going to come out with 10 breasts for just over $12.00, which is amazing! It's an amazing price, and yes, that's why I go. It takes a minute to cook it all, but it will be cooked. I cook for two right now, myself and my daughter Laura who I can't seem to convince it's time to fly the coop. She's one of those daughters. She's almost 34, but she knows a good thing when she has it, so yeah, she's still clinging to the apron strings and this Mama bear is about to take off the apron; let me tell you.
LOVE YOU, but you gotta go, and if you don't go girl, I'm leaving. It's just a matter of time before that actually happens, but until it does we can talk about food. Over the weekend I made an awesome chicken dinner in the slow cooker. It was something like an Italian Marsala dish, but I didn't add the mushrooms. I should have; I had them. I don't know what I was thinking. It was just simply fantastic, and since there were several pieces left over (I only used two large breasts and cut them in half) I decided to let them sit in the pot (in the fridge) and soak up all the sauce and cream cheese. That happened and then I did something really cool.
I shred the chicken into very thin pulls, making the mix really soft and gooey. Chicken, cheese, cream cheese, and veggies kind of gooey, and after another hour in the fridge, I had a perfect blend to make toasted chicken wraps, adding a bit more cheese (hope you like cheese) and toasted it on the George Foreman (panini) grill. It really does make an excellent sandwich. I only eat 1/2 of the larger-sized tortilla wrap, so you guessed it, I had to call in Laura to do the cleanup. She had no problem doing that. I added grapes, olives, and pretzels to mine. She wasn't nearly as snazzy, preferring just to eat the wrap as is. I hardly ever eat any meal without fruit these days.
The point is if you're going to make something, and you know you'll have leftovers, get yourself an artisan loaf of several-grains bread or a package of good large tortillas and make wraps and panini for the next couple of days. We've had the same thing for about four meals now, to be honest. I had NO idea the chicken breasts were that big, but they were...are, I have 6 more. This week I'll have to throw in a few beef, pork, and even shrimp dinners, but I have to wait until I can get the rest of the chicken eaten. I could give it to the dogs I suppose; that's always an option, and they don't mind helping. My dogs love me.
Pinterest hit a home run on this one. I think I spent less than $12.00 total on the chicken, cream cheese, regular cheese, Italian dressing, celery, and diced tomatoes and we're talking a full dinner for two, then three more meals of sandwiches! Yes, this is a good family-type meal maker that can be easily made, easily devoured, and easily cleaned, and it won't break the budget. You can't say that about the same thing you would buy at the fancy schmancy restaurant. The same meal I made over the weekend for one would have been $14-22 depending on where you go and what sides you have with your meal. I'm not going to open up any cafes or restaurants any time soon, but if I did, the Italian Chicken wrap would be on the menu. It's cheap to make and I could make BANK on it.
I just handed the last bite or two of the wrap to Ginger; she was patiently waiting by my side. She knows me. One of the ways I stay so fit is to feed some of (if not 1/2) of my food to the dogs. I tend to think about it first, wondering if they'll be able to eat it without having digestive issues. Then I remember that I'm really old and have owned dogs my entire life. I've been "abusing" them I suppose, for about 60 years if you think about it. Damn. So far, not one single dog has ever complained or died from my table-scrap supplements to their diet. Sorry fancy schmancy vets out there claiming otherwise. I'm gonna have to go with good old-fashioned good sense and a track record to beat the band. My dogs love me. (unlike my kid, I won't kick the dogs out of the house.)
Photo Credit: Me. Yuuki is the old boy, he's almost 16. Ginger is the brown one. (Tawny if you must know)
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