Sunday, February 13, 2011

a few ideas on what to do with...a whole chicken

Ok,  here's a post for the "Frugal" minded people.  We all know, that it's cheaper to buy one whole roasting chicken, than a package of chicken breasts or two, for the same amount of meat.  (as in the cost per pound is less)


But here you are, with a whole chicken.  You are like "Ok how the heck can that feed me for not one..but three days, if not more" (depends on the size of the chicken and how many people..if you're like a single person, or just a couple, then it will feed you for a decent amount of time)


1: Roast chicken meal.  Here's the most "Fancy" of the whole thing.  Sprinkle some seasoning salt on the skin, toss in a 400 degree oven for about 2 hours.  That's it.  Serve with mashed potatoes/veggies/can of gravy..or if you're a Canadian like me, fries and St. Hubert sauce.  (Swiss Chalet is ok...but St. Hubert is better)


now for the leftovers.  After your roast chicken dinner, make sure you save all the bones  TRUST ME...strip the meat from the remaining bird,  and put in bags/containers and freeze.


Recipe1:




Of course instead of using the chicken breasts, I used some of the leftover roast chicken.
Now here's a quicker/easyer way.  Instead of doing the slow cooker,  grab a skillet,  and use a drained can of chick peas.  everything else is the same,  but the result is a meal in like 10 minutes.


Chickpea/chicken slow cooker curry.  I got this from a $5 meal site..
Curried chickpeas and chicken




Slow Cooker Curried Chickpeas and Chicken

Ingredients

  • 1 lb. dried chickpeas ($1.75)
  • 2 cups vegetable or chicken broth (free to $1)
  • 1 8 oz. can tomato sauce ($.33)
  • 1 Tbsp curry powder ($.20)
  • 2 chicken breasts, diced ($1.75)
  • Couple dashes of garlic salt
  • Couple dashes of pepper
  • 1 cup white rice ($.20)
  • 1 box frozen spinach ($.50)
  • Cilantro, an optional garnish

Directions

  1. Soak the dried chickpeas overnight.  Drain and rinse, then add to the base of the slow cooker.  Add the broth, tomato sauce and curry powder. Stir together. (At this point you could add the cooked or uncooked chicken pieces and let them cook with the chickpeas.) Season with a few dashes of garlic salt and pepper.  Set on high and cook for 4 hours, or until chickpeas are soft and chicken is cooked, if using raw chicken at the start. Let sit on warm, until ready to serve.
  2. Prepare rice as directed on the package.
  3. Cook the spinach as directed on the box.
  4. Serve Curried Chickpeas and Chicken over rice with side of spinach, or other vegetable.
It kinda looks like this:  this is the leftovers that I'm eating for lunch right now.  Yeah it kinda looks like puke but it tastes pretty good.  Of course most curries look like puke anyway.


Chicken broth:

you take the bones of your chicken,  put in a big pot with about 3 peeled/chopped carrots 3 stalks of chopped celery, a chopped onion, and a whole buttload of garlic cloves, along with some cold water to cover and some vinegar.  Roughly 3tbsp or so.  Bring to a boil, then lower the temp to around 3 on your stove, and simmer for 24hrs.  Strain, and chill and the fat will come right off.  You'll need this for further recipes.

Recipe 2:  Chicken Pot Pie.

Pie Crust:  1 cup shortning,  cut in with 2 cups of flour and a pinch of salt.  Just mash it together with a fork, don't touch with your hands until you need to.  Add enough ice cold water to form a dough, stick in the fridge till you are ready to roll it out. (That's when you start handling it, when you roll it out

Now,  For the filling you'll need 
Chicken meat, 
 two peeled and diced potatoes,
  1/2 cup of frozen peas,
 2 peeled and diced carrots,
 2 finely chopped stalks of celery, 
and 1/2 a minced onion.
1tsp poultry seasoning
1tsp sage
1tsp summer savory
1tsp salt
 Ok,  take the veggies,  and put them in about 2 cups of chicken stock, and the seasonings. Simmer until the potatoes are barely fork tender...add chicken and about 1/4 cup of flour to thicken it up...cool the filling in the fridge while you roll out your pie crust.

Line your pie plate with one layer of pie crust.  Pour cooled filling in it, then top with another rolled out pie crust, pinch together, then poke holes in the top crust for steam escape.  Brush with milk for a nice color.
cook for about 45min at 350f




Now,  for the last bit:  Chicken Noodle Soup.

Chicken stock
Potatoes
Carrots
chicken
noodles!
garlic
onions
Cut the veggies up small,  toss in the pot with the stock and meat, bring to a boil then lower heat and simmer till the veggies are cooked.  Voila done.

Next post will be about how to stretch a roast beef.

20 comments:

  1. the best thing to do with a chicken is eating it raw.

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  2. These ideas are helpful, as I recently have been making my own meals now that I'm out of mum's house. =) Thanks!

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  3. This food is starting to look very rich and fatty. Is portion control important if you're on a particular diet? Can you give us a sense on how health each meal is?

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  4. Always portion control. See, to stretch the chicken, you don't eat alot of it at once. That way you can make it last for more meals.

    Chicken stock, if left to chill, you can remove most of the fat that way since it'll be hardened.

    The previous, fish recipes come from a cookbook published in 1959, in a little fishing community, so when the women made the food for their husbands, it was rich and fatty because they spent very long days on the cold seas fishing. (Using up lots of calories in the process) Even today those that live there eat a very rich diet because of the hard physical labour they do. Not joking, even the women work down there.

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  5. Damn another recipe i will be taking and trying on my own.

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  6. cool post but have you ever made beer can chicken? Its super good

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  7. That chicken pie looks interesting.

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  8. Yes i've made it on my BBQ in the summer. Unfortunately it's winter here, and I can't BBQ. There's 3 feet of snow outside...my BBQ is completely covered.

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  9. Cannot believe the amount of time you put into each and every one of your posts! Gonna try some of your tips tonight.

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  10. Creak of chicken with a bunch of spices. Add vegies and baked chicken on a bed of rice. Thats some good eating.

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  11. Now this get's me hungry (unlike the bacon waffles ;))

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  12. Sounds tasty and easy, throw it in the oven and done. Thanks for sharinggg!

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  13. No cream of chicken soup? Not really a big fan of noodle soup.

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  14. You should sometime make grilled chicken from the oven. Marinade some wings with garlic, olive oil and peppers and put them under your grill in the oven. That the best chicken there is.

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  15. With a whole chicken, i would just roast it and enjoy with a few friends. However I personally am not a fan of left overs, so i try to get rid of the meal in one sitting.

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  16. mmmhhh.... im hungry now... :-P Gonna make it!

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  17. Chicken is my favourite meat food!

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  18. im going to try the chicken pot pie

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