leftovers

Once the fall/winter hits, I like to make a lot of soup. And I've learned that the best soup is soup made from homemade stock/broth. So I end up making homemade chicken stock probably every other weekend or sometimes more often. It's a really enjoyable process for me. So super simple, super cheap, and I get about 12~16 C of stock out of one chicken, and a whole poached chicken to use in anything and everything. Problem is last time I made it I ended up with a ton of chicken meat that I ended up throwing away because I forgot to use it. So this week I was determined to make good use of my chicken. Tonight, we had one of our favorites, black bean pie, but I changed things up a bit. I made the portions smaller and made 2 small ones instead of 1 big one (my theory is if there's a whole one left over, I won't want to cut into it, but if there's half of a big one left over, I'll be more tempted to get seconds) so we could have a good lunch when we get home from church tomorrow. And of course, this time I added chicken. And honestly, I only used 1 shredded chicken breast for the whole meal and I felt like there was plenty. Might have something to do with all of the black beans in the dish, but I didn't feel like it was missing any meaty-ness. So give this a try at home. Our whole family loved it! And, like I said, I have a whole one waiting for me to eat it when I get home from church tomorrow:)

*of course, if you don't have small baking dishes like these, make one large one in a 9-inch spring form pan. You'll need flour tortillas, though, since you'll never find corn tortillas big enough.

Black Bean and Chicken Pie
makes 2 2-person servings (2 for dinner tonight, and 2 for your lunch tomorrow)

2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can corn, drained, or 1 10 oz package frozen corn
8 corn tortillas, trimmed to the size of the baking dish
2 C cheddar cheese
4 scallions, sliced thin
1 onions, coarsely chopped
bunch of cilantro, chopped
1 poached chicken breast, shredded (you could use a rotisserie chicken, of course)
2 t cumin
1 t chili powder
canola oil
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 C ~ 1/2 C chicken stock

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
   
2. In a deep skillet, cook onions, cumin, chili powder, and salt and pepper to taste in 1 T oil. Cook, stirring often, until soft. Add black beans and stock and simmer for about 5 minutes. Add chicken and corn and heat through. Set aside.
3. Place one tortilla on the bottom of each baking dish, and place about 1/4 C ~ 1/3 C of the black bean mixture on top and smooth out. Sprinkle with 1/2 T scallions, as much or as little cilantro as you like, and about 3 T of cheese. Place another tortilla on top, and repeat until all 4 tortillas are layered in each dish. I topped mine with the tortilla trimmings, just for fun.
4. Bake in the oven for 10~15 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly and browned. Sprinkle with extra scallions and cilantro before serving.

Serve with salsa, sour cream (or greek yogurt), and/or avocados