Food 911, Again?

Last night I put a couple of pieces of chicken in the crockpot to cook until bedtime. I forgot about it, went to bed and woke this morning to the delicious smell of cooked chicken, very cooked chicken that is. After taking it off the bone I was left with about a cup of baby food consistency chicken. Super flavorful baby food, but chicken mush just the same.  Once again I refused to toss it out, so I started thinking of ways to make it palatable.  (Do you notice a recurring theme here?)

My first thought was to chop some scallions, mince ginger and garlic and do some kind of Thai rescue, but the thought of wrapping and steaming everything was more time consuming than I was willing to give to mushy chicken.  Then I thought about stuffing large pasta shells with the mix, but decided the noodles would be too thick for the balanced Thai flavor profile. Instead I monkeyed with a little bolder more forgiving taste that would overpower the noodles rather than the other way around.

                                                            Buffalo Chicken Shells

2 large chicken breasts, cooked and minced or shredded  (Don't overcook like I did)
6 asparagus spears chopped finely (these were loose in the crisper)
1 medium onion chopped fine
2 large carrots, grated (less than stellar carrots but fine for grating)
2 tablespoons Chulula (or your favorite hot sauce)
1/2 cup monteray jack cheese, shredded
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
12 cooked large pasta shells

In a large bowl mix everything but the pasta shells together.  Stuff the shells and bake in a 9x9 pan in a 350 degree oven until everything is bubbly (about 20 minutes)
Serve hot with a salad and call it a night.  Promise yourself you will never leave anything in the crockpot overnight again.  Know yourself well enough to know if that is the truth or (as in my case) probably an empty promise.

Believe it or not this was pretty darn good and did not even look like a rescue attempt, even though before the first bite TheHub thought I had lost my mind and cooked tuna stuffed shells.  The chulula colored it a bit and it did look like tuna, but it tasted like nice peppery chicken. The vegetables gave it some much needed texture.  When I make this again I will add zucchini and spinach (I had neither today) just to amp up the veggie count.

Sometimes I feel like I need a food ambulance to resurrect food I screw up.  I might do something novel and start planning my meals in advance__or not. But I do seem to be playing Russian roulette with our dinners a lot lately and I am getting tired of it.