I know a lot of people who won't eat leftovers, but I've never understood why they have such an aversion. Not only do many foods taste better the next day or even two days later, after the flavors have had more of an opportunity to blend; but you can make entirely new meals out of leftovers, too, and enjoy them in a completely different way.

When Hiller's has rump roasts on sale, for example, I always buy my limit of three; two go into the freezer for later use, and one goes into my biggest crockpot. Some garlic cloves, a little tomato sauce, some salt and pepper, and a day's cooking ... and I have shredded beef to make hot sandwiches with on the first night. And to use for making enchiladas, maybe, the next night. And perhaps chopped into pasta sauce the third night. You get the idea.

So having leftover chicken legs in the summer prompted me to make a Mediterranean Chicken Salad, even though it's not really warm enough to prohibit cooking right now. (And frankly, even when it's 90 degrees out I'll cook -- air conditioning can be a wonderful thing, every so often!) I had already marinated the chicken in lemon juice, extra-virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, and herbes de Provence before cooking it yesterday; so it was ready and waiting for some colorful and flavorful accompaniments -- sundried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, ripe olives, pimiento. But rather than binding it with mayonnaise -- which would be perfectly appropriate for other combinations, but which was too blase and pedestrian for this idea -- I used some leftover hummus instead.

A few grapes on the side, and that was it! A quick, easy dinner that can be served "as is," scooped into tomatoes or pita bread, packed in a picnic basket, offered at a party, brought for lunch the next day ... the possibilities are endless!

Mediterranean Chicken Salad

6 cups chopped prepared chicken juice of 1 lemon 1/2 cup chopped pimiento, drained 1/2 cup marinated artichoke hearts, drained, chopped 1/4 cup sundried tomatoes packed in oil, drained, chopped 1 cup Kalamata olives, chopped 1 teaspoon kosher salt 3/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1/2 cup lemon hummus 1/2 cup red pepper hummus

Place the chicken into a large mixing bowl; add the pimiento, artichoke hearts, sundried tomatoes, Kalamata olives, salt and pepper. Stir in both flavors of hummus. That's it -- enjoy!

The stone pictured at the top of this post was a gift from a very dear friend who took a recent trip to Israel. The Hebrew lettering is a verse from Deuteronomy 16:15 -- “You Should Always Be Happy.” As explained in my very first post, that seemed a fitting sentiment for a blog about passion for food!