Does your family groan when you say we’re having leftovers??  Well…I’m about to slap those leftovers upside the head with one heck of a pick me up!  The other great news…TACOS!!

Y’all know that I breathe tacos and you definitely know that I love to ‘up cycle’ my leftovers to create what I like to call a TWOFER!!  (If you are new around here, a TWOFER is when you transform one dish in to another one…giving you twofer-the price of one!!

Since I love making whole chickens on my bbq, I often have left overs (on purpose) so I can create something simple during the week when i’m working.  On Sunday night, we had some friends over for a BBQ and since i had quite a bit of chicken left over, I decided I wanted to do something for Taco Tuesday using that chicken.  I wanted a chicken taco with maximum flavour so I created a Chicken Tinga Taco.

So first shred up your left over chicken.  *If you don’t have left over chicken but still want an easy weeknight meal, pick up a rotisserie chicken on the way home from the grocery store.  Seriously those things saved my life when I needed an easy meal and I could avoid fast food.  Get the rest of your ingredients ready to go (spices, garlic cloves, onions, broth, chipotle peppers)

First off, sauté your onions in a skillet with an Oil of your choice (EVOO, Avocado) for about 1 minute.  Next add your minced garlic and sauté again for a few seconds until incorporated.  Now add the spices and chipotle pepper and cook for about 30 seconds letting the spices toast and release their aroma.

Now add the can of tomatoes and the broth and stir.  Let simmer together for about 5-7 minutes.  If you want the sauce to be smooth (incase you have picky eaters that don’t like onions or chunks in their food), I would recommend transferring to a blender cuz then you can hide that stuff (insert evil laugh).  The sauce is perfectly okay with chunks in it and is still super delicious but I do enjoy it blended because everything is incorporated and the taco meat just looks better in my opinion.

Add the sauce back in to your skillet and then add the chicken to it.  Let the flavours mix together by allowing the chicken to simmer in the sauce for a few minutes.

Serve with corn tortillas and all of your favourite toppings and fixings!!  I personally love onion, cilantro, cabbage and avocado.

I think you can agree that no one would suspect that these little flavour bombs were made using leftovers!!  You are now a master of disguises and some kind of taco magician…No big deal!

Chicken Tinga Tacos

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp Oil
• 3 garlic cloves miniced
• 1 small vidalia onion diced
• 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce chopped
• 1/2 tsp each ground cumin, ground coriander and smoked paprika
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 small can (or 1 cup) of diced tomatoes
• 1/4 chicken or veggie broth
• 3 cups shredded cooked chicken

Directions

1. Heat Skillet to medium heat.  Add Oil and then sauté the onions for 1 minute
2. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds
3. Add dried spices and chipotle pepper to allow the spices to toast, gently sautéing for about 30 seconds
4. Pour in the can of tomatoes and the broth and let simmer for about 5-7 minutes
5. Transfer the mixture to a blender and blend until smooth
6. Place Sauce back in to the skillet and then add the chicken and combine thoroughly, allowing the flavours to mix through.
7. Serve with corn tortillas and desired taco toppings