Chicken is on sale!!

     Wanted to send out a quick post to let all know in the area that Price Chopper has chicken leg and/or thighs on SALE for 69 Cents a pound!!!  How very ironic!!!  SO, get out there and buy some chicken and get cookin!!  Blessings!
Go to Price Choppers circular here:
http://pricechopper.shoptocook.com/circular/clickable.jsp

Cooking LOTS of chicken

     A few days ago I decided to cook a bunch of chicken and when I was all done I decided this might be a good thing to share on the blog! 

     A few months back there was this GREAT sale on chicken leg quarters (where the leg and thigh are still attached to each other).  They were selling this 10 lb. bag of chicken leg quarters for... I think it was  maybe 69 cents a pound!! CHEAP!  So I bought it thinking I would cook it someday I had time.  Well a few days ago I finally did!

     The first thing I did was rinse and dry all the chicken.  Then I put them all on foiled lined and oil sprayed cookie sheets ( easier clean up).  After that I salted and peppered both sides of each leg and then roasted them for around 50m to 1hr. at 350 degrees.  When they were all done we each had one for dinner with some peas and potatoes!! :)  But after that, I took all the skin and bones and put them in a stock pot and put all the chicken in another bowl ( I pulled it apart as I went so I didn't have to chop it up later).  I covered the bones and skin with water ( DON'T FORGET to add 1-2 tablespoons of vinegar, it gets the really good gelatiny stuff out of the bones) and let them boil for a very long time, ( I would normally do this in a crock pot up to 24 hours, then to the stock pot to condense the broth, but there was to many bones etc. to fit in my big crock this time!)  I let it boil/simmer for a long while, then I strained out the big bones and stuff into another bowl, then I used a even finer strainer one more time for some of the tiny stuff.  I put that bowl in the fridge over night so the fat would rise and somewhat harden.  This makes it easier to remove in my opinion.  What is left over is this rich almost gelatin chicken broth full of nutritional goodness!!!

     After you've got all the fat scraped off, ladle this into the smaller sized freezer ziplock bags ( don't forget to label the bags first, much easier this way:).   I used four cups for each bag.  You can push the bag down into a cup to make it easier to fill if your doing this alone.  Then I put them on a cookie sheet and froze them in the deep freeze.  And there you have it, homemade chicken broth!

     Then as you can see above, I separated out the chicken into 6 two cup bags and froze them too!!  Now I have some great items ready to make my life easier for meal for the next few weeks!  I have already done chicken noodle soup!  I used left over noodles from last nights dinner that I just put in a ziplock with alittle olive oil to keep them from gumming up.  Then I added a can of green beans, some pre-cut carrots that I froze this fall,  my broth and chicken alittle salt and pepper!  Instant YUMO!!  Hope you give this a try, it's been a blessing for this house!!





Soda Farm Art

Ok, so I know this looks alittle bit cookie, but I kinda live in cookie ville and really dig this! I have been really having possibley to much fun with Soda Can's lately. So, I came up with this idea to make a fun little farm scene! I used a round card board piece from some frozen pizza. I mounted it on a old record, painted a landscape type background and used a stencile, scissors, hot glue and ALOT of time and patience to make the farm animals and grass! Enjoy!

Left over Chicken Casserole!

We love chicken around these parts and I had 3 left over chicken breasts from chicken salad a few nights ago. Sooo , I decided to make up a casserole! Before going into it, I wanted to share a tip. ALWAYS roast more chicken then you need!!! This makes things LOADS easier the rest of the week!! I roasted 6 good size chicken breast Friday or Saturday last week. I used 3 for a nice summer chicken salad ( we have alot of these during the real hot months), and put the other three in the fridge for something later on. Now is the time! The oven would have been on forever today if I had to roast these then cook the casserole! So, I guess I'm saving on gas too! yippee! Ok, now for tutorial time!

First things first. Shred those carrots. I used two medium ones.

I cute my carrots in half and then in half again and then in small cube-ish shapes. The smaller they are, the faster they cook!

Then cut up some onions. However much you like will do. If you hate them you could just put in a teaspoon more or less of onion powder.

Now for the celery. Wash, and cut up. I used the heart of the celery. I think its the best for soups and casseroles, leaves and all. Next time I will use green beans instead I think. This is more of a chicken soup casserole. With green beans it would be more of a chicken pot pie casserole! Add what veggies you like!

Now, get your pot on medium hi and take some olive oil and give it a few turns around the pot... maybe a tbsp or 2. As your veggies soften, they will soak up the oil, so if it looks to dry, just add alittle bit more! Stir here or there for awhile till they soften.

Now for the garlic!! YUMMO! After the vegetables have softened a bit... maybe 6 minutes or so, add the garlic. I use a good amount, probably 2-3 big cloves ( about a heaping tablespoon of minced), but use as much as you would like. TURN DOWN the heat now so the garlic doesn't burn and taste bitter. Keep stirring here and there.

Salt and pepper to taste. I'm a bit of a pepper monkey, but you add as much as you like. REMEMBER, you can always add more so go slow.... a bit hard to pick out the pepper and salt later!!

Now I added a can of cream of chicken soup. After that, I filled that can up again with milk and added that!

stir the yumminess!! Let it bubble slightly!

Now for good measure, I added a tablespoonish pat of butter. So yummy butter is!

Now comes herbs.... I happen to have some fresh rosemary which goes GREAT with chicken, so I added a spring ( or 1/4 to half a teaspoon of dry). You can add whatever you like, or omit it all together!! Don't you just love cooking!!! FUN FUN!

Now, if using fresh rosemary, grab the tip, pull the leaves off the twig and chop chop chop! I don't like HUGE pieces of rosemary floating around in my food, so I get these pretty tiny. Leave that aside.

Now time for the chicken. When I roast a big batch, I usually add salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder to them. If you can, buy bone on. More flavor and still real easy to prepare. Plus , always cheaper!

Rip off the chicken from the bone.

Chop all up in cub-ish pieces.

Poor into the yummy bubbley goodness!

Add the herbage.

Stir it all up!

Now, grab a big handful of your fave cheese ( this is colby and jack shreaded mix), and dump in. Stir it up!

Now, spray your favorite casserole dish to make things a bit easyer for your kiddos to clean! OH yes, they do the dishes!!

Poor in the mixture!

Fun part! Grab a package of bisquits ( we got these for 30 cents on sale at price chopper!!)

Lay them out. Now I chopped these into four pieces each. Just makes it stretch a bit and fits all the spots on the dish. You can leave them whole if you like.

Now I squished them a bit, and placed them all over the top of the dish.

Well...ofcourse....more cheese! One more handful!

Place in the oven ( pre-heated to whatever temp the bisquits require), and cook for as long as the bisquits need or till the top is browned a bit!

It's done!!

But wait!!! For some fun.... grab some chives from your garden if you have some and snip your way to the fancy finish!

Ta da!!! And what does the family say?
Ya or Nah?
This one is DEFINETLY a keeper!! I just love making things up on the fly... the risk is, sometimes it's good and sometimes , not so much!
This time everyone really loved it, even my hubby who is feeling icky right now, ate a big bowl and actually loved it and wanted more!!
Play around with this one, I can see alot of versions that could come from the basics here.
ENJOY!!