Saturday: Leftover Chicken Parm, the Chicken Stick Verdict & Beef Stew at Mom’s

We got up this morning and used some of the fresh bacon I made yesterday. And this is officially the last package of bacon in my fridge.

This is a problem.

If you’ve been following along for any amount of time, you know I have certain kids who eat bacon basically every morning, and I’m completely fine with that. It’s an easy protein they reliably eat, and I can cook a bunch at once and reheat it throughout the week.

So Costco is absolutely happening ASAP.

Breakfast: Chick-fil-A Leftovers Get a Second Life

Yesterday, two of my kiddos went to Mass and breakfast with my parents, and they came home with some Chick-fil-A breakfast leftovers.

So this morning I warmed up the biscuits, chicken bites (just a sheet pan in the oven at 350ºF) and those little crispy potato crowns, added our bacon, some fruit and a couple yogurts, and breakfast was done.

Another reminder that breakfast does not need to start from scratch every morning.

Leftover Crispy Chicken = Chicken Parmesan

For lunch, I had quite a bit of crispy chicken left from our dinner at Silver Spring House last night.

And this is exactly the kind of leftover I love because it can become something completely different the next day.

I put the crispy chicken in the oven to reheat, boiled a pot of pasta and opened a jar of Rao’s marinara.

Chicken Parmesan.

Or at least chicken Parmesan-adjacent, depending on who’s eating it.

Some of my kids wanted pasta, chicken and sauce all separate. My teen wanted the full layered chicken Parmesan situation. Add some fruit and veggies, and that was lunch.

My husband had brought home some of his half chicken from dinner last night, so I put that with pasta and marinara for him—no cheese because he’s living the dairy-free life with me.

And I finished off the very last of the grilled chicken from earlier this week.

That protein officially made it through its entire three-day rotation.

The Chicken Stick Verdict

And then it was time for the experiment.

Yesterday I told you I was testing whether my homemade beef sticks could be made with ground chicken.

The first thing I noticed yesterday was how much stickier the chicken was than the beef.

Today I pulled it out and went back over all my score marks with the bench scraper before baking. I wanted those individual sticks to separate easily once they were cooked.

I baked them at 275°F, checked them at 45 minutes and ultimately let them go for about 60 minutes.

Then I let them cool and peeled everything off the parchment.

And here’s my verdict:

It works. But don’t roll the chicken as thin as the beef.

Which is funny because when I was developing the beef version, I kept thinking I wanted it thinner. With the chicken, I think I went too far.

Ground chicken is so lean that those really thin edges got tough. The pieces toward the center, where the meat was slightly thicker, had a much better texture.

The flavor, though? Really good.

So I absolutely think the recipe is worth sharing for those of you who specifically want a chicken option. I would just roll it a little thicker than I did this time.

Would I personally pick the chicken sticks over the beef sticks?

Nope.

I’m still Team Beef Stick.

But I also started this experiment by telling you I don’t particularly love ground chicken, so perhaps I am not an unbiased judge.

For those of you who’ve been asking whether it can be done: yes, it can. And now I have the notes to make the next batch even better.

Saturday Night at My Parents’

Then we headed to Mass, and afterward we went to my parents’ house for dinner.

We normally do our family dinner there on Sunday, but tomorrow night we have a big family picnic with our homeschool co-op, so we moved Sunday dinner to Saturday this week.

My mom made beef stew, which was delicious, and of course we came home with leftovers.

So overall, a very easy-breezy Saturday. Lots of leftovers, a successful kitchen experiment, dinner cooked by my mom, and now tomorrow…

Costco.

Because we cannot begin another week with no bacon. I ended the night with a little peanut butter, banana, apple, chocolate treat.