More Ways To Use Leftovers

Once I heard the statistic that we throw away about 28% of the good food we buy, I tried to find ways to use up my food rather than throw it away.  Homemade vegetable soup usually takes care of leftover vegetables, but here's another recipe I recently made to use up leftover chicken, and much more.

A group to which I belong had a big end of the year party recently.  There was a lot of food leftover.  We had tons of shredded cooked chicken  and cubed cooked carne asada, in addition to little corn tortillas left for us to take home.  I took some chicken and about a dozen tortillas.  Here's  the casserole I made using them and several items I had in the refrigerator that needed to be used up.

                                    Susie's Chicken Tortilla Casserole

1/2 lb. shredded chicken, cooked (could use beef or pork)
8 corn tortillas
1/4 container Philadelphia cream (new product used in cooking, mostly for casseroles.  I had a little of this that needed to be used up)
1/2 lb. shredded cheddar cheese (any hard cheese will do)
12 green olives, chopped (I had a can of olives in the refrigerator that had to be used up)
1 can red kidney beans, drained (could use white beans or corn instead)
1 bottle green salsa (this is what I needed to use up, but you could just as well use red salsa)
3 fresh tomatoes, chopped (I needed to use these up, but it would have been better with canned tomatoes)

Mix the Philadelphia cream cheese mixture into the shredded chicken.  Then start to layer all the ingredients in a pyrex pan.  Start with tortillas, then chicken, olives, beans or corn, tomatoes, salsa, and cheese.  Repeat with another layer.  Cook for 45 minutes at 350 degrees until everything is bubbly.  Let the casserole rest for 10-15 minutes so everything isn't runny, then cut into squares.  Serve with a green salad for a delicious, complete meal.  Leftovers can be frozen in individual servings for those nights when you don't have anything for dinner.  Ron loved it, and he doesn't often rave about casseroles.  I hope you enjoy it.