White Trash Transformed

This is going to give you 2 nights of meals along with leftovers from night #2.

You know those cooking shows where the contestants are given a basket of random white trash ingredients and they have to make something wonderful out of them? Well, since we are sort of on a budget these days and since I've just been buying stuff for my pantry for the past year with no rhyme or reason, I've been trying to pretend I was on one of those shows and make dinner based on random ingredients in my house. This week, I came up with a total winner of an idea for super dooper cheap.

Night #1 - Chicken and Rice

Rotisserie Chicken from Costco or grocery store (stick in your fridge til' you are ready)
1 packet of McCormick chicken gravy mix (the kind you mix with water)
2 cans cream of mushroom soup
Milk (about 1 1/2 cups or 2 cups)
2 carrots
2 ribs of celery and some of the curly celery leaves
1/2 onion
2 TB butter
4 cups of cooked white rice

Make a mirepoix. Mirepoix (pronounced mirahpwah) is a fancy french word for a mixture of finely diced onion, celery and carrots sauteed in butter. And when I say finely dice, I mean FINE. When veggies are soft, add your soup, milk and mix with the gravy packet whisked into the mixture. Quarter the cold chicken and lay it in a 9x13 pan. Lay the rice in between the chicken. Once the sauce is hot and bubbly, spoon the sauce all over the chicken and the rice, cover with foil and bake at 325 until the whole thing is hot and bubbly and starting to brown at the edges. (I started baking my chicken ahead of time so the pan and chicken was warm when I added my hot rice and hot sauce so I only had to bake the whole thing for like 20 minutes) Serve in bowls with some black pepper.

Night #2 - Cream of Chicken and Rice and Potato "Stoup"

Ingredients
Leftovers from night #1
2 potatoes peeled and chopped into the size of pieces you would want in a chowder
2 carrots sliced into bite sized pieces
2 ribs celery sliced into bite sized pieces
1/2 onion coarsely chopped
3 small boxes of Kitchen Basics Chicken Stock or good quality chicken stock
1 TB butter
Milk (amount depends on consistency desired in soup, I would plan on at least a cup)

Make another mirepoix just with bigger pieces. When butter is starting to brown, add the onions, celery and carrots. Add the potatoes and the stock. De bone and take skin off of all the leftover chicken. Add to pot. Simmer until vegetables are tender but not mushy. Add rest of the pan of leftovers which include the cream sauce and rice. Add milk until you have the right consistency of the soup you want. Remember, the rice will absorb a lot of the liquid so keep adding milk and maybe even a splash of cream until you have a chowder like consistency. Add plenty of salt and pepper to taste. I made mine the consistency of what Rachel Ray would call a "stoup" which is a 1/2 soup 1/2 stew. It was thick and hearty and yummy. I guess it was a chicken and rice chowder? Maybe it was a cream of chicken, rice and vegetable soup. (Optional, add frozen corn and this would make an excellent chicken corn chowder)

Notes: you don't really notice the rice all that much. It ends up being more like a thickening agent instead of using flour. My parents came over and my Dad thought the stoup was excellent and so did both the girls. I think I liked night #2 over night #1 but Mike liked night #1 better.