Friday, February 20, 2009

How Many Meals out of a Chicken Roaster

One of my favorite things to do as the main cook in our home is to see how many different meals I can get out of a single meat entree. An easy one to stretch is chicken. I'm a novice cook really when it comes to "made-from-scratch" cooking, so this is probably old news to a lot of you. However, this is my usual method for "stretching" that chicken:

The first night I sprinkle the chicken all over with spices and stuff with an onion and more spices, put it in the oven or crock pot and forget about it. (Well, almost!) I add mashed potatoes and gravy, a vegetable or two and sometimes bread. This is one of our favorite meals.

If there is enough white meat left, I add it to fettuccine alfredo with broccoli or a salad and sometimes bread.

We usually have dark meat left over, so I will put this into chicken fajitas. (I use Crystal's recipe.)
I usually make homemade tortilla chips out of the leftover tortillas (we don't eat all 10 in a pack) to round out the meal.

When the meat is almost all picked over, I use this recipe to make Chicken Noodle Soup. I often use store-bought noodles, though I sometimes get ambitious and make homemade ones.

If there is meat left over, I'll make Chicken Salad Sandwiches for lunch, but unless I get a very big roaster, I don't get all of these meals out of the same chicken. I intersperse other meals on in-between nights so we don't have chicken every night.

What are some meals you get out of a chicken roaster? Any tips for "stretching" it even further?

5 comments:

  1. Try
    pizza chicken
    Southern Chicken salad
    Avgolemono (Greek Lemon Chicken Soup)
    Lemon Chicken
    BBQ Chicken Chunks
    Chicken and Dumplings

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  2. Oh please share recipes, Judy! Esp. for pizza chicken, southern chicken salad and bbq chicken chunks. I'm intriqued.

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  3. Hi Jen Pizza chicken is so easy and very delicious. We use white meat chicken but any will do. Lightly Spray a 9X13 pan (or smaller depending upon the amount you're making) with Pam lay your chicken in the pan salt and pepper to taste. Cover with good spaghetti sauce bake at 350 degrees 15 minutes then top with parmesan and mozzarella cheese and return to oven. Bake until cheese is melted and golden brown.

    Southern Chicken salad
    Cube chicken meat
    Cooked elbow macaroni
    Pecans
    Grapes
    Celery
    Mayonnaise
    Mix all together serve on a bed of lettuce. Can also add any other salad veggies you'd like

    BBQ Chicken Chunks
    Cube chicken meat lightly flour
    In skillet brown chicken meat until lightly golden add good BBQ sauce (I use Sweet Baby Ray's) and enough water so sauce is thin enough to coat all chicken. Cook until liquid is thick and reduced.
    (You can also do the same thing with teriyaki Sauce instead of BBQ and serve it over rice)

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  4. Sounds delicious! I will try these next time I do a roast chicken.

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  5. I second the Avgolemono! Absolutely love this soup, and VERY easy to make :)

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