Pulled BBQ Chicken Sandwich Ala Leah

Easy to do dinner/lunch idea with left over chicken or w/ one of those rotisserie chickens from the store - use your own BBQ sauce or already pre-made, add your cheese on toasted heart bread - its a quick winner with wow taste your family will love.

Ingredients

Cooking time is mentioned if using to make your own BBQ sauce.
**************
1/2 cup cooked chicken or more pulled apart with hands per person
1 ounce or more of cheese of your choosing per person (I used fresh mozzarella for its oozing melting factor)
Hearty slices of Italian Bread toasted or rolls toasted slightly. (I used my honey lavender bread I had made and froze a few weeks ago.)
1 clove garlic
*********
For a version of my Super Tangy BBQ Sauce yields 1-1/2 cup BBQ sauce:
1 small onion, chopped fine
2 garlic cloves minced
Juice of 2 limes
3 tablespoons lite mayonnaise
2 tablespoons molasses
2 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons spicy mustard
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
2 or 3 tablespoons worcestershire sauce
3/4 cup ketchup
1/4 cup water or vinegar (try apple cider vinegar)
microwave or broiler to heat chicken through and to melt cheese

Directions

Shred chicken with fingers like you would if making pulled pork and place into bowl and set aside.
If using pre-made BBQ sauce, add 2 tablespoons per 1/2 cup cooked shredded chicken to bowl.
If making your own BBQ sauce or doing mine:
Add olive oil to pan, add onions, let saute till yellow, then add garlic and allow to cook for one minute.
Add remaining ingredients, stir till combined and let cook for 15 minutes on a low simmer or longer.
Add a little of the BBQ sauce to chicken and stir so that each piece of chicken is coated - don't over do it, you will want to save sauce for dipping...as I did - lol
Toast rolls or bread slices, then rub garlic on insides of bread for extra flavor.
Assemble chicken onto one side of toasted roll/bread then add sliced cheese of your choice - great choices include cheddar, goat, gouda, swiss, etc.
Place on safe broiling pan or microwavable plate and heat through till cheese has melted.
If using the microwave, you will do better to heat at 50% power for a longer period, so that the cheese gets the chance to melt slowly versus just bubble down away from the chicken.
Add additional sauce on top of melted cheese, add the top of the roll or slice of bread - and serve with your fave side.
Recipe adapted from one I saw on foodnetwork last week.
I served mine up last night with NotYourMommas' Garlic Rosemary Oven FF's - oh yeah - and oh no, I did not tell my doctor!

Leahs Ole Chicken Quesadillas Recipe

Make this for lunch, dinner or apps - super quick and always liked by all. Another great recipes for 'what to do with leftovers' easy dish - can be 'cooked' in skillet, oven, grilled - you name it. I particularly loved the caramelized onions with the goat cheese and mozzarella with the fresh homemade salsa on the inside of this crispy quesadilla all done on one skillet - less mess!

Ingredients:

Cooking time includes time needed to caramelize onions.
1 onion halved, then sliced thin.
1 cup cooked chicken cut up into bite sizes.
4 slices of fresh mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup or more of crumbled goat cheese
You can easily substitute your favorite cheese here of course.
Little olive oil and butter
salt & pepper
1/2 cup salsa - I used 'Leahs oh so sexy salsa' (posted) which is a very bright tasting salsa filled with fresh sweet bell peppers and lime juice and drained it of its juices slightly.
1 skillet large enough to handle 8-9 inch quesadilla

Directions:

Halve and skin good size onion, then slice thin strips.
Place sliced onions in skillet with a drizzle of olive oil and a little of butter, sprinkle with salt. This will be the most time consuming part of the entire dish.
You will want to cook the onions slowly on a medium-low heat to allow the natural sugars to come out from the onions, moving them around in the pan every so often - you want to allow them to caramelize and get gently browned and 'soggy' so to speak. Once cooked, take out of skillet and set aside.
While onions are cooking, start to assemble your quesadillas.
***Note You can either keep them in a round shape then fold over to have a half circle, or pile two together like a sandwich and cook them as a circle - either way - you can stuff more in them if they are compiled as a circle.
Keep in mind to put cheeses on the outside layers, so that the cheeses melt easier.
For example, I added the ingredients in this order: crumbled goat cheese, then some chicken, cooked onions, then some salsa, added a little salt and pepper, then some strips of the fresh mozzarella then folded the quesadilla over to create a half circle.
**To Cook them in same skillet: heat back skillet, add a little butter, and place quesadilla in - let brown on one side, then with spatula, carefully flip over and allow to cook on the other side. This took maybe 7 minutes total time, if that.
**To bake in oven: Placed on parchment paper lined cookie sheet, place quesadilla in preheated oven at 375 and let bake for 15-20 minutes until cheese has melted.
**To Grill: I would suggest using the 'circled' method of creating your quesadillas, then place them on the upper shelf of your grill. Turn over after 4 minutes - maybe less and allow to cook on the other side.
Serve up at once with a dollop of sour cream if you wish or added salsa. If making them for apps, slice them up with a pizza cutter for that 'easy picker-upper with one hand way' of eating them!
Enjoy Leah's Ole Chicken Quesadillas!