Friday: Leftover Pizza Platters, Loaded Cookie Bars & Using Up the Grilled Chicken

Got up this morning and sent two of my kiddos out the door with my parents to go to Mass and breakfast.

For everyone still at home, I kept breakfast really simple: cereal and leftover bacon.

Then we got to work on homeschool.

Eventually the other two came home with my parents, and—as tends to happen on Friday mornings—they brought some leftover Chick-fil-A breakfast with them.

So everyone got a little mid-morning brunch boost.

Very kind of my parents. Very popular with my children.

The End-of-the-Week Lunch Platter

For lunch today, I pulled out a bunch of the leftover focaccia pizza from last night.

I sliced it into strips and reheated it in the oven, and then I basically emptied out the bottom of the produce situation from this week.

You know what I mean.

A little of this vegetable. A handful of that fruit. Not enough of any one thing to make it feel like a plan.

Put it all on platters.

Suddenly it looks intentional.

So the kids had warm focaccia pizza strips with platters of fresh fruit and vegetables, and we cleared out a bunch of odds and ends from the refrigerator at the same time.

I used some of the grilled chicken breasts I made Tuesday night to make myself a quick barbecue chicken salad.

After lunch my teen had some friends over to do some school work and then head to our neighborhood pool. I made them a snack tray with watermelon, some Trader Joe’s cookies, chips, and a ham/cheese quesadilla….if you come to my house…especially if you’re a teen..I’m for sure feeding you!

My 13-Year-Old Needed a Project

This afternoon, my 13-year-old needed something to do.

We were staying home for a while because I needed to get some things done before we could head anywhere like the pool, so I suggested he bake.

He decided on egg-free chocolate chip cookie bars, but then made them significantly more exciting with his mix-ins:

• Chopped Oreos
• Pretzels
• Chocolate chips
• Sprinkles

Basically, clean-out-the-snack-cabinet cookie bars.

This recipe is very forgiving and super easy.

You need:

• 1 cup melted butter (2 sticks)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Spray or butter a 9×13 pan.
3. Melt the butter in a big bowl.
4. Add:
   • brown sugar
   • white sugar
   • milk
   • vanilla
   Stir until smooth.
5. Add:
   • flour
   • baking soda
   • salt
   Mix until combined. Don’t overthink it.
6. Stir in chocolate chips.
7. Press dough into the pan.
   (If it feels sticky, slightly wet your hands.)
8. Bake for 22–28 minutes.

Halfway through, my four-year-old wandered over and decided she also needed to bake.

My son was very sweet and let her join him.

At one point, while she was literally holding the spoon and stirring, she asked:

“When’s my turn?”

You’re having your turn.

That’s cooking with a four-year-old.

My Trick for Spreading Sticky Cookie Bar Dough

I also taught my son one of my favorite tricks for making cookie bars.

Instead of putting one giant mound of sticky cookie dough in the middle of the pan and then fighting with it to spread it all the way to the edges, drop little balls of dough all over the pan first.

Cover the entire surface with little mounds.

Then go back and press them together.

It’s so much easier to get an even layer because you’ve already distributed the dough across the pan instead of trying to shove one giant sticky blob from the center to every corner.

They baked the bars off, and they turned out great.

My 11-Year-Old Sous Chef

Then it was my 11-year-old’s turn in the kitchen.

She LOVES chopping.

Give this child a cutting board, a knife and a pile of vegetables, and she’s thrilled.

So tonight she went through and chopped all of our vegetables for dinner, which meant that when I was ready to cook, a huge portion of my prep was already done.

I spread all those diced vegetables onto a sheet pan and roasted them in the oven.

Meanwhile, I pulled out the very last of Tuesday’s grilled chicken breasts.

How I Reheat Chicken Breast Without Drying It Out

Chicken breast is one leftover protein where I really don’t want to just throw it into a dry pan and cook it again.

It’s already cooked. My goal is simply to get it hot without removing every remaining drop of moisture.

So I diced the chicken and put it into a pan with a little fat and a small splash of chicken broth.

Water works too.

Then I put a lid on the pan and let it warm gently.

That little bit of liquid plus the trapped steam makes such a difference.

Another Adaptable Dinner

I cooked some pasta and made a fresh vinaigrette to go with everything.

Then dinner was:

Roasted vegetables.

Warm grilled chicken.

Pasta.

Vinaigrette.

You could pile the whole thing into a bowl, drizzle the vinaigrette over it and toss it together.

Or you could have plain pasta, chicken and whichever vegetables you’re willing to tolerate sitting near one another.

Same dinner. Different arrangement.

And with that, the giant batch of grilled chicken I made Tuesday is officially gone.

That’s exactly what I want. I cooked it once, we used it in different ways throughout the week, and then we finished it before everyone got completely sick of looking at grilled chicken.

Going Into Saturday

Our cooked-protein supply is getting pretty low now, which is fine because we’re heading into the weekend.

I’m planning to use some Costco brat bites for lunch tomorrow, and then we’re having dinner at my parents’ house tomorrow night.

So we’re covered.

And, perhaps more importantly, we have a pan of Oreo-pretzel-chocolate-chip-sprinkle cookie bars sitting in the kitchen.

I think we’ll survive.