Some of my favorite meals are the leftover creations I enjoy at lunchtime. In fact, leftovers are a staple and become the basis of almost every lunch that the kids and I eat. That’s the beauty of cooking real food at dinner time — it generally always provides you with another meal. And these meals are quick — the meat is already cooked, many of the veggies are prepped and washed — which leaves you only a few minutes away from a lunch (or a soccer night dinner) that’s ten times better than anything you can find in a restaurant. For a heck of a lot less money, too.
So last night, we had a simple and delicious dinner of my husband’s “world famous” (he has deemed it so) barbecue chicken and cucumber salad. We always try to grill a little extra meat to have for leftovers — in this case we had boneless chicken thighs with some awesome barbecue sauce that we found on vacation in South Carolina. Also in the fridge were a wedge of purple cabbage from the other night, some corn tortillas, and some cheese. So, my first grader got a nice chopped salad made of purple cabbage and barbecued chicken with some olive oil and spices on it. (She also got a banana and a cookie).  My two year old only wanted the chicken and a rice cake. That was easy.
I was left with one chicken thigh and my brain obsessing about barbecued chicken tacos with slaw. You could just as easily make a chicken quesadilla or chicken soft taco with a flour tortilla. These kinds of things aren’t really recipes as much as methods — so get creative. I should also add that a head of cabbage is on my farmer’s market or grocery store list every week. It is perfect for quick family dinners because it’s easy to wash and prep (remove some of the outer leaves and give it a rinse, cut it into quarters, remove the core, and slice thinly), you don’t have to spin it dry like salad, a half of a head easily makes enough cole slaw for 4-6 people, and the remainder stores in the fridge very well for a long time. Try it lightly sauteed with butter and a bit of beer or wine served with mashed potatoes — my kids love it. And certainly feel free to use pre-sliced, bagged cole slaw mix if you like — but it is more expensive, much less flavorful — and I trust my own kitchen a lot more than the “salmonella spinach farms.” It takes all of five minutes to prep the whole head.
Barbecued Chicken Tacos with Slaw
- Make a quick slaw with sliced purple cabbage, a handful of chopped cilantro, some olive oil, salt and pepper, and lime juice.
- Slice leftover chicken and shred some cheddar cheese (or grab a bag of preshredded like I did).
- Heat a splash of oil in a saute pan over medium heat and place one small corn tortilla in the oil. Spin it around a bit until it softens (so you can bend it without it breaking — important for corn tortillas, flour ones aren’t as fragile). Quickly add sliced chicken, a bit of slaw, and some cheese and fold the tortilla in half. When lightly brown on one side, flip and brown the other side. Remove to a paper towel to soak up any extra oil and repeat with remaining ingredients until you’re done!
- Serve with additional slaw and sour cream, guacamole, or salsa if you like.
*If you or your kids have access to a microwave at school/work, this would make a great lunch with a flour tortilla heated for a bit just to melt the cheese. Wrap it in parchment paper to keep it safe for microwaving (plastic wraps and containers leach chemicals into your food in the microwave and obviously foil causes a little fireworks show — something the lunch lady might not be so pleased about).
