June 2010 - Poultry Ponderings

So June, yeah I know but at least I posted (and you know who you are).

For some reason chicken has become our most frequent meal. I'm not sure why since I love beef. But I have to say that you really can't beat it for flexibility. It's easy to use and so very tasty. Especially now that the markets have given us boneless, skinless, yank it out of the freezer one at a time, breasts. Throw some sauce or seasonings on there and an hour later, easy goodness. Or better yet, a Crock-pot if I've planned a couple hours ahead.

I've rhapsodized before about how easy it is to get fairly cheap cooked chicken meat, but bear with me while I repeat myself (again).

How easy is it to find a whole chicken on sale and throw it in the crock-pot? This is how easy: Buy a whole chicken (on sale), take out the guts and throw them away (I know, I know, but I really don't like them), put the chicken in the crock-pot, cover with water and put some chicken bouillon in there, turn it on. You can put it on High for 6 or 7 hours or so, but I like the ease of putting it on low before I go to bed and then it's all done when I get around to it sometime the next morning. Cool (as in stick it in the fridge for a while), skin and bone.

OR, you can skip the water altogether and just season it like you would for a roast chicken. You might need to watch it a little better than "when I get around to it the next morning" though.

My favorite part is that you can even put the thing in the Crock-pot frozen solid. (I would recommend that you take the guts out before you freeze it. Trust me on this. You can cook it still stuffed but it flavors the broth too much for me. And if you are not into guts then you have to fish them out and seriously, just pull them out first, okay?)

How wonderfully easy is that? Then you have cooked chicken meat (and broth if you want it) for much less money than if you boiled skinnless, boneless, breasts. One chicken usually yields around 5 cups of meat, depending on the size of the chicken. If I don't need that much chicken I use the extras for another recipe or make chicken salad. You can also cut it up and store it in cup portions in baggies in the freezer for a few weeks.

Chicken is my friend.

I would love some new recipes (hint hint, that would be you family) so share and share alike.

Ranch Chicken with Gravy
Chicken Delight Casserole
Creamy Italian Chicken (Crock-Pot)
Sunday Chicken with Variations