Chicken, Meaty, or Cheese Enchiladas

How's that for a deal!  You can make these enchiladas several ways and they're good any way you do it!  This is also a great way to use up leftover chicken or taco meat.  There are so many variations that are possible on this, so you can use what you have or what you can obtain the cheapest!

Yup, this is a pretty terrible picture, I know.  Can't really tell what it is, besides possibly something involving melty cheese.  I figured that, in this age of Pinterest "cookbooks" where people tend to file recipes they want to try, I needed to have some sort of image for people to Pin, and a crappy picture is better than no picture for that purpose!

Enchiladas

12 6-inch corn or flour tortillas (I find the corn ones have a tendency to break, so I end up with more of a lasagna looking dish)

2 cups tomato sauce (or 1 15-oz can)

1 tbsp chili powder

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/2-1 cup taco meat, unseasoned browned ground meat, shredded chicken, or sour cream

1 cup shredded cheddar cheese, divided

1 cup shredded Monteray jack cheese, divided

1/2 cup fresh cilantro or parsley (optional)

cooking spray or olive oil

Preheat oven to 425.  Warm the tortillas according to package directions.  Grease a 9x13 baking pan.  Combine tomato sauce, chili powder, oregano, cumin, and garlic powder.  Set aside one cup of tomato sauce mixture.  Add meat, chicken, or sour cream.  Stir in 1/2 cup of each cheese and cilantro or parsley (if using).  Spoon some of the meat mixture onto each tortilla and roll up; place seam side down in baking pan.  Lightly spray enchiladas with cooking spray or brush on olive oil with a pastry brush.  Bake 8-10 minutes.  Reduce heat to 400; pour remaining sauce on top of enchiladas and sprinkle with remaining cheese.  Cover and bake for 20 minutes.  Remove cover and bake for 5-10 minutes.  Let stand 5-10 minutes before serving.

Chicken Lemon Rice Soup

The cold, cold weather is back.  With it, comes the need for soup.  Chicken lemon rice soup has long been one of my favorite soups.  When I made it the other day, I actually used some of the leftover Christmas turkey that I never froze instead (I canned it.  It was fine, it just sounds funny to me to mention that I never froze it) of the chicken and turkey broth instead of chicken, but either works fine.  This recipe could also be made vegetarian by omitting the meat and using vegetable stock instead of poultry.

Chicken Lemon Rice Soup

7 cups chicken stock
1-2 cups of cooked chicken pieces
1/2 cup white rice
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 eggs, lightly beaten
4 tbsp fresh, chopped parsley
salt, to taste
white pepper, to taste
black pepper, to taste

Heat stock to boiling.  Add chicken, rice, and garlic.  Cover and reduce heat to simmering; simmer until rice is tender, about 25 minutes.  Mix together lemon juice and egg and slowly add to soup.  Stir in parsley, salt, and pepper.

X-Treme Food Stamp Challenge--Cheesy Chicken & Rice Casserole and more

Yesterday, I decided to fake it until I make it and get my butt in gear in order to make me feel like getting my butt in gear.  Of course, I didn't decide this until the afternoon, so my husband and I didn't have our breakfast of blueberry muffins (I had a Diet Coke, he had water, the kids had milk) until about 3 in the afternoon.  The kids had cereal for breakfast several hours before that.

I spent much of the afternoon and early evening rounding up recipes to make groceries from the basic ingredients I either have on hand or can afford, as well as coming up with a recipe for last night's dinner of cheesy chicken and rice casserole.  I was quite pleased with the recipe I came up with, which was loosely based on a recipe that apparently was based on a recipe from the book The Best Make-Ahead Recipe, so it was something that could be frozen as well and had a option of eating some now and freezing some for later:  my kind of deal!  I only used about half of the same ingredients, cut out a lot of the work, and made it a heck of a lot cheaper than the original recipe though, especially since I used leftover Thanksgiving turkey I had frozen instead of chicken, chicken stock I made instead of store bought chicken broth, milk instead of cream, and veggies gleaned from my mom's garden.  Oh, and I used mild cheddar that I bought in bulk instead of the sharp cheddar the recipe I was working from, so I only paid about $2.50 for the entire recipe, which yielded two casseroles to be eaten on different nights, not a bad deal!

Cheesy Chicken & Rice Casserole

1/4 cup butter

1 medium onion, diced

1 tsp salt

3/4 tsp garlic powder

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

4 cups chicken stock

2 cups water

1 cup milk

1 cup cooked chicken or turkey, shredded 

1 1/2 cups uncooked white rice

1 1/2 cup carrots, sliced or diced

1 1/2 cup peas

2 cups Cheddar cheese

2 tbsp lemon juice

black pepper and salt, to taste

2 cups Italian bread crumbs

1/4 cup melted butter

Melt the butter in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat.  Add the onion and salt and cook until softened, about 5 minutes.  Stir in the garlic and cayenne.  Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, about 1 minute.  Slowly whisk in the stock, water, and milk.  Bring to a boil and boil uncovered for about 10 minutes.  Stir in rice; cover.  Simmer 20 to 25 minutes, stirring frequently, until rice is just tender.  While rice is cooking, preheat oven to 400 degrees.  When the rice is done, remove from heat and stir in chicken, peas, carrots, Cheddar, and lemon juice.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Pour mixture into 2 casserole dishes.  Mix together bread crumbs and melted butter until it becomes crumbly.  Spread over the 2 casseroles.  Cover one with plastic wrap and foil.  The other, bake for 20 to 25 minutes.  Label the covered one with instructions for serving:  "Let thaw in refrigerator for 24 hours before baking.  Bake, covered, at 400 degrees for 40-50 minutes, until hot and bubbly.  Uncover and bake 15-20 minutes until crumbs are crisp."  The second casserole can be stored in the refrigerator for 2 days or frozen for up to a month.

So now I have a yummy, homecooked meal in the freezer for another night.  Yay!

After dinner (we had milk to drink with dinner, except my husband, who had water), I tried to make blueberry bagels, but apparently there is a reason I couldn't find a recipe for blueberry bagels using frozen blueberries, because it turned into a gooey mess that couldn't hold a bagel shape.  Since bagel dough and bread dough are basically the same thing, just cooked differently, I just plopped that gooey mess into an oiled breadpan, let it rise and baked it like I would a loaf of bread, so it wouldn't got to waste and we could have blueberry bread for breakfast today.  While the bread was rising, I made popcorn on the stovetop for the family to snack on. 

When the bread came out of the oven, I was just starting to work on making some homemade pretzels, when I got a call from a relative who needed me to come over right away and help out with some things, so I grabbed a couple cans of Diet Coke for the road, since it was the middle of the night and I needed to make sure I stayed awake and alert.

Thrifty's Fried Chicken Bowl

I admit, I love the taste of KFC's food.  I'm especially fond of those mashed potato bowls, filled with those tasty layers.  I hate that I love it, as overpriced and drenched in chemicals as it is, but what can you do?  Well, in my case, I knock it off and make my best imitation at home.  Sure, it tastes almost nothing like the real thing, since mine is completely free of MSG and low in salt and I have yet to figure out the other ingredients in their chicken breading or gravy (and why is the gravy so brown?), but I can pretend!  Another huge advantage of mine: you can make it entirely out of leftovers!

Mine

Theirs (they clearly can afford a better photographer...or at least a better quality camera than my phone has!)

Thrifty's Not-so-famous Mashed Potato Bowl

a few tablespoons or less of milk

leftover mashed poatoes

leftover kernel corn

leftover popcorn chicken

leftover gravy

sprinkling of Cheddar, colby, and/or Monterey jack cheese

If needed to make the mashed potatoes extra creamy, add milk and mix with an electric mixer until desired consistency.  Top with kernel corn and popcorn chicken and drizzle gravy over everything.  Heat in microwave or oven until warm through.  Top with cheese(s) and serve.

Popcorn Chicken

Yes, I know this isn't the healthiest thing I've ever posted (and I'm kind of embarrassed by all the fried food I've posted), but it is tasty--and still healthier than buying the stuff you'd get if you eat out or buy the processed junk at the store.  If you try to avoid factory farmed meats (the meat pictured here was purchased at a farmers market), this also lets you do that and still enjoy the guilty pleasures you might otherwise enjoy.

At first, I was planning on making chicken tenders or strips, but then I realized that the meat would go farther in smaller pieces...and I had an interesting idea with what to do with leftovers (which I will try to post later in the week.  The recipe calls for 2 pounds of meat, but in my house that means I either halve the recipe or make planned leftovers.  I don't think we ever eat more than a pound of meat for one family meal!

Popcorn Chicken

1/2 cup finely ground whole wheat flour (stone ground will not work in this recipe)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp paprika

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp black pepper

2 lbs chicken, cut to desired size

vegetable oil for frying

Mix flour, salt, paprika, onion powder, and pepper in a plastic baggy.  Add a few little pieces of chicken at a time, close bag, and shake to coat chicken.  Set coated pieces aside until they are all coated.  

Heat oil. 1/4 inch deep, in a large skillet.  Cook chicken until light brown, anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes depending on size of pieces.  Turn as needed to make sure they are evenly cooked.  Remove from heat and drain on paper towel before serving.

Mouthwatering Burritos--a new take on leftovers

I'm always on the lookout for new recipes.  Two kinds of recipes that especially appeal are super quick, easy recipes that still use real food, not a bunch of prepackaged convenience "food", and recipes that use random bits of leftovers in a new and delicious way.

Burritos fit both of these criteria.  The other night when I didn't feel like cooking, I came up with this to use some leftover rice, some salsa that no one was eating and I was worried it would go bad soon, and a partial can of refried beans.  It is good enough that I might consider making up fresh rice, opening a jar of salsa specifically for it, and opening a can of refried beans as well! 

Burritos

cooked rice

salsa

refried beans

large flour tortillas

Cheddar, Monteray jack, colby or a "Mexican" cheese blend

sour cream (optional)

other fillings such as guacamole, seasoned meat, lettuce, etc (optional)

2 tbsp olive oil

Combine the rice with the salsa in desired proportions and heat through.  Spread a thin layer of refried beans on each tortilla.  Layer seasoned rice, cheese, and any other toppings onto the burrito and fold.  Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium heat.  Place burrito on skillet and gently brown each side before serving.

Chicken Pot Pie

This cool weather we've been having has been giving me a serious hankering for pot pie. Fortunately, I know how to make them!

 Of course, my pot pies aren't this pretty.  My mom actually made this one about a year and a half ago and it looked so nice, I took a picture of it even though I didn't make it.   Mine might not look so lovely, but they sure are tasty!

Oh, and even though I make these as chicken pot pies, it can just as easily be made with turkey meat and you can easily omit the chicken stock and flour and just use leftover gravy, thinking ahead a bit to Thanksgiving and the OMG-what-do-I-with-all-these-leftovers syndrome that some people (not me!) seem to face.

Chicken Pot Pie

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup cold butter

1/2 cup cold water

2 tbsp butter

1 small onion, diced

2 carrots, sliced

1/3 cup fresh parsley

1 tsp dried oregano 

salt & pepper to tast

2 cups chicken stock

3 potatoes, peeled and cubed

2 tbsp butter

1 cup cooked chicken, diced

3 tbsp all-purpose flour

Combine 2 1/2 cups flour and 1/2 tsp salt in a small bowl.  Cut in 1 cup butter with a pastry blender until mixture resembles fine crumbs.  Drizzle in water and mix together until it is forms a dough.  Cover and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Melt 2 tbsp butter in a large saucepan.  Add onion, carrots, parsley, oregano, salt, and pepper.  Cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables soften.  Add chicken stock and potatoes.  Bring to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes.

In a medium skillet, melt the remaining 2 tbsp butter.  Add chicken and remaining flour.  Add milk and heat through.  Stir chicken mixture into the vegetable mixture; cook until thickened.  

Remove pie crust dough from refrigerator and divide in half.  Roll out half the dough and press into a pie pan.  Pour filling mixture into pie pan.  Roll out the other half of dough to form top crust and place on top of the filling.  Press together edges and cut a few slits in the top crust to let out steam.  Bake for 15 minutes, reduce temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 20 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Buttery Harvest Chicken & Rice

The zucchini fairy dropped off a number of lemon squash in addition to a zucchini the other day, so now I'm experimenting with different ways to use it.  Apparently, it is used just like any other summer squash, but since I didn't really have any summer squash recipes (other than zucchini recipes), I'm still doing some experimenting.  Here is the result of one such successful experiment.  With onions from my garden, carrots from my mom's, summer squash from the zucchini fairy, and homemade chicken stock, this only cost a couple bucks or so to feed the family!

Buttery Harvest Chicken Rice

2 tbsp butter
1 cup sliced carrots
1 medium onion, diced
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup water
2/3 cup uncooked white rice
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 small summer squash
3/4 cup cooked chicken pieces

Melt butter in a large saucepan.  Add carrots and onion and cook until tender.  Stir in chicken stock, water, rice, salt, and garlic powder.  Bring to a boil.  Cover and reduce heat; simmer for 13 minutes.  Stir in squash and chicken.  Cover and simmer 10 minutes longer or until rice and vegetables are tender.

Super-Duper Easy, Quick Fried Rice

I love fried rice because it is easy, quick, cheap (since we use homegrown veggies, eggs from a relative, and venison sausage that my husband hunted up, about the only things we are paying for are the tiny bit of chicken, soy sauce, and rice, which is, of course, cheap as heck as well!) and a great way to use leftover rice and meat.  This meal can be whipped up in about 10 minutes as long as the rice and meat were already cooked!  We really like it with chicken and sausage, but you can switch out the meats, maybe use fish instead of chicken, or leave it out altogether to suit your needs.  I always try to make extra so my husband can take it to work for lunches, but I never seem to make that much extra, it disappears so fast!  It freezes pretty well as is, but freezes even better without the egg, so if you were to make a large batch of this to freeze, for future meals, you might want to set apart the part to freeze before adding the egg and just cook the egg when it is ready to be served, or skip the egg altogether.

Chicken & Sausage Fried Rice

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 cup frozen peas
1 cup frozen carrots
2 eggs (optional)
2-3 cups cooked rice
1/4 cup soy sauce (adjust to taste)
1/2 cup cooked chicken pieces
1/2 cup cooked sausage pieces

Heat oil in a large pan or wok.  Saute onion, peas, and carrots about 5 minutes.  Add rice, soy sauce, and meats.  Heat while stirring until rice reaches desired color and everything is heated through.  While it is heating, scramble eggs and fry in a separate frying pan.  Add cut eggs into small pieces and add to rice right before serving. 

Egg Rolls

I grew cabbage this year for one reason and one reason only--chicken egg rolls!  Sure, I could cheat and buy some cole slaw mix at the store and save myself some growing, harvesting, and chopping and/or shredding of veggies, but what's the fun of that!  Last night, I had my first egg rolls with all homegrown veggies (the carrots were actually homegrown by my mom, but close enough).  With the homegrown veggies, the cost of the whole meal, about 21 egg rolls in total (3 or 4 makes a nice sized meal.  Serve them with rice to make them go even farther, but my family won't eat the rice when it is competing with these egg rolls), is under $4!  I could make it even cheaper by baking them in the oven rather than frying them in the vegetable oil, but they don't taste nearly as good that way.  To do that, lightly spray egg rolls with cooking spray, place on a baking sheet and bake at 425 degrees for 10-15 minutes.

Nothing says these absolutely have to be chicken egg rolls.  If you want, you could easily substitute pork or shrimp...or leave out meat all together for a vegetarian version!  I use chicken though, since it is cheap, tasty, and is a great way to use the bits that might otherwise go to waste when boiling a chicken for stock.

These egg rolls reheat well in the oven.  They can be reheated in the microwave (my husband does it all the time at work), but the texture gets really wonky, so being the food snob that I am, I'll only eat them out of the oven anymore.  Hey, what's the point of being a great cook if you have to eat mediocre food, right?

Chicken Egg Rolls

Homegrown veggie mix!

1 small cabbage, chopped
3-5 carrots, shredded
1 onion, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp garlic powder (adjust to taste)
1 tsp ground ginger (adjust to taste)
1 cup cooked chicken piece
1 pkg egg roll wrappers
oil for frying

Combine cabbage, carrots, and onion in a large bowl.  Heat olive oil in a wok or large skillet.  Saute the vegetable combination until volume reduced by about half.  Add seasonings and chicken pieces.  Mix thoroughly then remove from heat.

Place about 2 tbsp of  mixture into the center of an egg roll wrapper. Use a spoon, basting brush, or your clean finger to moisten the corners of the egg roll wrapper with water. Fold the bottom corner of the wrapper tightly over the mixture, then fold in the sides, then the top corner. Repeat with the rest of the egg roll wrappers.  If there is leftover filling when you are out of wrappers, it can be frozen for future use (just thaw and use).

Pour vegetable oil into a deep frying pan to a depth of 3 or 4 inches or use a deep fryer. Heat to 350 degrees (or until a wooden chopstick stuck into it boils almost immediately). Carefully place egg rolls into the hot oil and fry until golden brown. When removed from oil, let drain on paper towels.

Nachos

Back before I knew how to cook, I'd frequently order nachos at restaurants when I'd eat out.  How silly was that?  Now, nachos is one of my go-to quick and easy meals when I don't really feel like cooking or don't have a lot of time to put something together.  It is a great way to use up partial onions, peppers, and tomatoes, as well as being versatile to suit a number of picky eaters with one meal or able to adjust to what you have on hand.

The picture above actually demonstrates the flexibility of this tasty treat to some extent.  My boys love olives, but my husband, my daughter, and I don't care for them.  When putting this together tonight, I just put olives on half of it to accommodate this varying tastes.  I also put onions and green peppers on the half that didn't have the olives, since my husband, daughter, and I like those veggies.  When serving it, my husband and I got one end, my 6 year old got the far side, and my oldest and youngest boys, as well as my daughter ate more from the middle, so no one got upset if a veggie wandered some place it shouldn't have when the cheese was melting.

Nachos

Tortilla chips
cheese:  monterey jack, cheddar, colby, or some combination
other toppings:  refried beans, ground meat (seasoned or unseasoned), shredded chicken (seasoned or unseasonded), peppers (green, jalapeno or other), onions, olives, green onions, tomatoes, or anything else that sounds good.
condiments:  salsa, sour cream (or plain yogurt), guacamole, taco sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spread the tortilla chips on the bottom of a baking pan (9x13 is a good size for a family).  Dollop refried beans on top of the chips.  Spread cheese over beans.  Distribute other toppings over the cheese as desired.  Bake for 10 minutes and serve with condiments of choice.

Dressing Up

Cranberry walnut salad

 Ever since Michael Nolan posted his salad dressing recipe on this blog as a guest post last month, I'd been looking for an excuse to try it.  It felt kind of weird having a post on here that I'd never had!  I can now vouch for its goodliness (you know one of the things I love about having my own blog?  I can make up words whenever I want, and no one can stop me!  MUHAHAHA!).  The blog post was titled "Double Duty Salad Dressing in a Flash", so it seemed fitting that I try it out a couple ways before sharing. 

The first thing I tried it on was a chicken spinach wrap.  I used some of the chicken leftover from my husband's grilling on Memorial Day, so it had a wonderful smoky flavor to it.  I simply piled spinach from the garden and cut up chicken on a tortilla, dribbled some of the salad dressing on it, wrapped it up and gobbled it up!  It would have been good with mozzarella on it too, I bet, but I didn't have any and didn't feel like making fresh mozzarella for what otherwise was an extremely simple meal.

The second salad dressing adventure was super simple as well.  I made a salad from the mixed baby lettuces in my garden, dried cranberries and walnuts from the farmers market, and the magic dressing.  Oh my goodness, that was good!  I seriously considered braving the thunderstorm that was going on to pick more lettuce to have seconds.  The combination of sweet cranberries, spicyish salad dressing, and crunchy nuts was a-maz-ing!  Maybe I'll have that again for lunch today!  I certainly still have plenty of lettuce!

Baked Chicken on Rice (or how to make 1 chicken breast feed a whole family)

During my last freezer cleaning expedition, I found a couple of frozen chicken breast halves.  They weren't even big ones.  Just tiny little ones.  But, using my powers of thriftiness (and invoking some of my homemade cream of mushroom soup), I managed to feed the whole family with them in a super tasty way.

I thought about posting this recipe the other day, on my anniversary, because it was supposed to be served at my wedding reception, but because of electrical problems (my mother-in-law didn't make it ahead of time like she was supposed to and shorted something out at the old farmhouse that we had the wedding and reception at, so it didn't cook right), it didn't end up being served, so I decided to hold the recipe for another day.  Appropriate, since we had the failed leftovers from our wedding for many, many other days!

Baked Chicken on Rice

2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves

1 cup cream of mushroom soup*

1 1/2 cup milk

3/4 cup uncooked white rice

1 cup fresh mushrooms

Cut the chicken into chunks.  Mix all ingredients in a casserole dish.  Cover tightly and bake at 350 (don't need to preheat the oven) for 1 hour.  Remove the cover and bake for an additional 15 minutes.  Let cool 10 minutes before serving.

This pairs well with green beans and/or peaches.

*if using canned cream of mushroom soup, you can adjust the amount of soup to use it up rather than letting it go to waste.  Just reduce the amount of milk to maintain the same amount of liquid. You can also reduce the amount of cream of mushroom soup if your homemade stuff is a stronger flavor than you'd like in this.  Just add more milk to compensate.

Pasties

I think I'm finally overcoming my phobia of crust-like things!  First, I made my last quiche (a quiche lorraine, in case you care) with a homemade pie crust, the first one I've ever successfully made.  Then, I just made a large batch of pasties!  These have long been a favorite of mine, but I've always been too afraid to make them before, so this is quite an accomplishment.  Apparently, you can also buy them some places in Michigan, but I don't think I've ever been to such an establishment and have only had homemade ones.  Now that I've successfully made these, I'm seriously considering growing some rutabagas, so I only have to buy the butter, flour, and salt to make these, since the veggies can all be homegrown and venison works well for the meat.

These are a bit time consuming to make, since there is a lot of cutting things into little pieces, but they do freeze well, so it is possible to make a huge batch that you'll get at least a couple family meals out of the deal.  And they are so yummy that it is totally worth it!  This is a base recipe as well, so you may want to play with seasonings, especially chicken ones (my mom makes super awesome chicken pasties.  I really need to find out what she uses to make them taste so good!  And I just looked at the recipe she gave me and it says "for chicken, garlic, chopped parsley, paprika, salt, thyme, rosemary to taste," so I guess that answers that question!), but even without seasoning, they are fantastic.  I always like them with ketchup on them, but my mom seems to think this is an atrocity and possibly an insult to the chef.  I just see it as the finishing brushstrokes on a culinary work of art!

My mom, who I got this recipe from, says this should yield 13 pasties, but I made most of mine smaller, so I ended up getting about 20 out of this today.  I like to make smaller ones so the kids have some their sizes and it also allows me and my husband more flexibility on portion size, depending on how hungry we are.

Pasties

2 cups rutabaga, diced

3 cups carrots, diced

1 cup onions, diced

4 cups potatoes, diced

4 cups meat, diced

4 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup butter

up to 1 1/2 cups water

Mix together meat and vegetables in an enormous bowl and set aside.  Combine flour and salt in a separate bowl.  Cut in butter until it resembles fine crumbs.  Slowly add water until the dough becomes right texture.  Sprinkle flour onto the work surface and rolling pin and roll dough out into pieces about 6"x9".  Fill with 1/2 cup to 1 cup of the meat and vegetable mixture.  Pull dough over the mixture and pinch the edges to seal.  

Place on ungreased baking trays.  To eat immediately, bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes.  To freeze, bake at 350 for 35 minutes and reheat the frozen pasties by baking at 350 for 40 minutes.

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I want to know what you think:

Is it okay to put ketchup on pasties?

 

"Foil-wrapped" Dinners

I put "foil-wrapped" in quotes because I've just discovered an alternative version of this that has the same ingredients, but is made with bone-in (and therefore cheaper) chicken and without the foil!  I've always just called the base recipe foil-wrapped dinners though, so I'm not sure what to call this new version yet!  I'm still presenting the foil-wrapped version here though, since A) it's still really good and B) betcha you could cook it outside in an open fire or grill, even though I've never tried it that way.  Might be worth a shot!  If you try it that way, let me know how it turned out please!

Foil-wrapped Dinners

 1 to 1 1/2 pounds boneless chicken breasts

4 medium carrots, sliced

4 medium potatoes, peeled & quartered

1 onion, thinly sliced

1 1/2 cup cream of mushroom soup

2 cups frozen peas

Heat oven to 450 degrees.   Cut meat into 1-inch pieces.  Tear off 4 pieces of aluminum foil, each approximately 18x15 inches.  On the center of each piece, place 1/4 of the carrot slices, 1 potato, 1/4 of the chicken, and 1/4 of the onion slices.  Pour cream of mushroom soup over each pile.  Top with peas.  Wrap securely in the foil.  Place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 50 minutes or until chicken is cooked completely and vegetables are tender.  Garnish with cherry tomatoes if desired.

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Easy-peasy crockpot version

Use the same ingredients, except bone-in pieces of chicken can be substituted for the chicken breasts, and whole "baby" carrots can be used in place of the carrot slices.  Put all ingredients in a crock pot, stir, and cook on high 4 hours or until chicken is cooked through and veggies are soft or 8-10 hours on low.

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(featured in the linky at Real Food, Whole Health)

How to Stretch a Chicken (Part 4)--chicken & rice recipes

Chicken Broccoli Cheese Casserole

This is such a great flavor combination!  Here's a way to combine them without needing a bunch of stock.  This is also

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups milk

2 cups cheese

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp onion powder

salt and pepper to taste

1 cup frozen or fresh broccoli

1 cup cooked chicken

3 cups cooked rice

Preheat oven to 350.  Melt the butter in a medium saucepan.  Add butter and stir until hot and bubbly.  Add milk, stir constantly until thickened.  Add cheese, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper and stir until the cheese is melted.  Remove from heat and stir in broccoli, chicken, and rice.  Pour into an ungreased 2-quart casserole dish.  Bake for 30 minutes.

Chili Rice with Chicken

This can be served as an entree or as a burrito filling.  Either way, it's good! 

1 tbsp olive oil

1 green pepper, diced

1 onion, diced

1/2 tsp garlic powder

1/8 tsp cayenne, or to taste

1 tsp chili powder, or to taste

1/2 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp ground cumin

3 cups cooked rice

1 14 1/2 oz can diced tomatoes, with juice (about 1 pint jar, home-canned )

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 cup frozen corn, thawed

1 cup cooked chicken

1/2 tsp black pepper, or to taste

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the green pepper, onion, garlic, cayenne, chili powder, oregano, and cumin.  Cook, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes, or until the vegetables are tender.  Reduce heat to medium.  Stir in the rice, tomatoes with juice, black beans, corn, and black pepper.  Heat through, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.  Garnish with sour cream if desired.

How to Stretch a Chicken (Part 3)--soup recipes

Part three of my "How to Stretch a Chicken" series is about soups.  I don't generally care for a lot of soups, so I don't have a lot of recipes for soups to share.  I tend to like thicker brews when I do, like a stew or chowder, so the chicken soup/stew recipes I have to share reflect that as well.

Chicken Stew with Dumplings

I love this recipe!  Since it is composed almost entirely of things from my garden (or my mom's garden) and leftovers, I can feed the whole family (usually with some leftovers) for about a dollar!

 2 tbsp butter

1 small onion, diced

2 carrots, sliced

1/4 cup fresh parsley

1 tbsp fresh oregano

salt and pepper to taste

5-6 cups chicken stock
1 cup peas (optional)

3 potatoes, peeled and cubed

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2 tbsp butter

approximately 1 cup cooked chicken

3 tbsp all-purpose flour

1/2 cup milk

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3 tbsp butter

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup milk

Melt first 2 tbsp of better in a large saucepan or stew pot over medium heat.  Add onion, carrots, parsley, oregano, salt, and pepper.  Cook and stir until the vegetables are soft.  Stir in the chicken stock and bring to a boil.  Add the potatoes and cook until tender but still firm.

In a separate saucepan, melt 2 tbsp butter.  Stir in the chicken and 3 tbsp flour.  Add the 1/2 cup milk and heat through.  Stir the chicken mixture into the vegetable mixture and cook until thickened.

Cut the remaining butter into the remaining flour, baking powder and salt with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles fine crumbs.  Stir in the remaining milk.  Drop dough by spoonfuls onto the hot chicken or vegetables in the boiling stew; do not drop directly into the liquid.  Cook uncovered 10 minutes, then cover and cook for 10 minutes longer.

Broccoli, Cheddar, Chicken, and Potato Soup

1/4 cup butter

1 onion, diced

2 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp ground white powder

2 cups broccoli (fresh or frozen, thawed)

4 cups chicken stock

2-3 potatoes, cubed

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cup milk

approximately 1 cup chicken

8 oz cheddar cheese, shredded

salt to taste

Melt butter over medium heat in a stockpot or large saucepan.  Cook onion in butter until softened.  Add garlic and pepper; cook for 1 minute then stir in broccoli.  Stir in chicken stock and potatoes.  Bring to a boil until the broccoli is tender and the potatoes are soft, about 10-15 minutes

Meanwhile, whisk flour into milk until dissolved.  Stir into soup, stirring frequently until thickened.  Add chicken.  Reduce heat and stir in cheese until melted.  Season to taste with salt.

How to Stretch a Chicken (Part 2)--non-soup recipes involving stock

Well, if you cooked up a chicken after my last How to Stretch a Chicken post, and you have any pieces left (I'm assuming you cooked your chicken stock overnight, so they were separated out on the 14th), you'll need to use them up today or freeze them, since like I mentioned before, if you let them sit in your fridge too long, you'll be inviting Salmonella to dinner too, and she's not very friendly so I wouldn't suggest welcoming her into your home! (Holy run-on sentence, Batman!)  Anyhoo, since I'm sure you have a couple cups of chicken pieces and a lot of stock laying around, I figured I probably should give you some nice recipes to use them in (getting out my great big blue personal cookbook...).  There are no soups in this post because Blogger ate them after I got them typed up, so I took that as a sign I should save them for another day.  Bon appetit!

Chicken Asparagus Stir-fry

This is actually the recipe that the picture of my cookbook is open to in my post about my personal cookbook, so now you don't have to try to figure out how to magnify the tiny picture to swipe the recipe!

1 tbsp vegetable oil

2 lbs fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into bite sized pieces

1 cup chicken stock

2 tbsp water

4 tbsp soy sauce 

2 tbsp cornstarch

1/2 tsp sugar

1/4 tsp dry mustard

1/4 tsp salt

1-2 cups cooked chicken pieces

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Add the asparagus, stirring to coat with the oil.  Cook and stir 5 minutes, until tender but firm.  While the asparagus is cooking, whisk together the chicken stock, water, soy sauce, cornstarch, sugar, mustard, and salt in a small bowl.  Pour the broth mixture over the cooked asparagus and cook for about 3 minutes or until it thickens.  Add the chicken and continue cooking until it is heated through.  Serve over cooked rice.

"Chickenherder's" Pie

I call it this because it is very much like a shepherd's pie, but with chicken.  If you have leftover gravy (also made from your homemade chicken stock, I presume), you can substitute that for the butter, flour, and stock in the recipe.

4 tbsp butter

4 tbsp flour

salt and pepper

2 cups chicken stock

1 cups frozen peas

1 cups frozen sliced carrots

1 cups frozen corn

1 cup chicken pieces

3 cups mashed potatoes

1/2 cup cheddar cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Melt butter in a saucepan.  Stir in the flour.  Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until mixture is smooth and bubbly; add salt and pepper to taste.  Stir in chicken stock.  Heat to boiling, stirring constantly; boil and stir one minute or until thickened.  Add vegetables and chicken and heat through.  Pour vegetable mixture into an ungreased 2-quart casserole dish.  Cover with mashed potatoes.  Sprinkle with the cheese.  Bake for 30 minutes.

Jambalaya

1/2 lb sausage (I like venison or turkey sausage, to keep it a tad lower fat)
1 onion, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 cups (or one 14.5 oz storebought can) diced tomatoes, undrained
2 cups chicken stock
1 1/2 cups uncooked white rice
1 bay leaf
1/3 tsp white pepper
1 tsp garlic powder
1/3 tsp onion powder
1/3 tsp ground red pepper
1/3 tsp paprika
1/3 tsp black pepper
1-1 1/2 cups cooked chicken

Brown the sausage.  Drain and set aside.  In a large saucepan, combine the onion, bell pepper, tomatoes, broth, rice, and seasonings.  Mix well and bring to a boil over medium heat.  Reduce heat to low and add sausage and chicken.  Cover and simmer until the rice is tender, about 35-40 minutes.

How to Stretch a Chicken (Part 1)

People always seem amazed when I tell them that I can get 3-4 meals, plus a whole bunch of chicken stock, out of a little chicken that can often be picked up from the grocery store for under $5.  This is pretty key to my feeding our family so cheaply, so I figured I should spend at least a couple posts sharing my secrets on how I do this.  I'm sure there are other ways, but this is my method.

Step 1.  Cook the chicken.  I cook them at 350-375 degrees for somewhere between 1 1/2 to 2 hours, depending on the size of the bird and what else I have cooking in the oven with it.  Sometimes I bake some sweet potatoes in the oven at the same time, which I serve with butter, cinnamon, and brown sugar (or some combination of those) and cook up some green beans on the stovetop to round the meal out.  Other times, I throw some water in the pan with the chicken, add potatoes, carrots, and onion, so I'm making instant chicken broth while I cook the chicken, which I then use to make gravy.  Still other times, I might make mashed potatoes and corn on the stovetop and serve a nice garden salad with yummy vegetables in season.  There are many, many possibilities with this step!

Step 2.  Make chicken stock.  After we finish eating that first meal, I dump whatever is left of the chicken in my largest pot, add carrots, onions, celery (if I have any lying around), parsley, a little salt and pepper, and enough water to fill the pot almost all the way to the top.  I'll bring it to a boil, then let it simmer, covered, for anywhere from 6 to 24 hours, until I get a chance to do the next step.  You  may find it necessary to add more water during that period to keep the chicken submerged.

Bowl of freshly made chicken stock.  You don't see that rich color in store bought versions!

Step 3.  Pour the contents of the pot through a strainer to separate the stock from everything else.  Refrigerate the stock to let any fat come to the top to skim off if desired before freezing, if that is what you are going to do with it (fat-free stock can be frozen for much longer than stock with the fat still in as well).  Then sift through the chicken remains, separating out any bits of meat from the ucky parts.  I'll typically get anywhere from 2 to 4 cups of meat out of a chicken at this stage.  (Just to warn you, if your kids are like mine and get very upset if they don't get the wishbone out of a chicken, make sure you pull it out before making your stock.  The bones get brittle and almost mushy during this stage, so there typically isn't a wishbone available once you get to this point.)

Deboned chicken bits.  Got about 2 cups off this chicken.

Step 4.  Use the chicken meat bits sparingly in a variety of meals, taking care to use it all or freeze it within about 3 days, so you don't get food poisoning.  Some of the recipes I use are (as written in my "brain", since there is no way I'd remember such a complete list for you!) chicken stew with dumplings, jambalaya, chicken fried rice, chicken teriyaki, chicken fajitas, chicken & asparagus stir-fry, chicken & broccoli on couscous or rice, chili rice with chicken (as a stand alone meal, or used as burrito filling), chicken egg rolls, "chickenherders" pie, and broccoli, cheddar, potato, and chicken soup (usually with fresh, homemade bread).  I'll usually use between 3/4 cup and 1 cup per meal, so that way, the flavor of the chicken is there, but the chicken is stretched for a few meals.  And of course there are many, many possibilities to use your chicken pieces that I haven't listed here.  I'd love to hear some of your ideas in the comments!  I'm always looking for more great meal ideas.  I'll be sharing the recipes for some of these in future posts as well!

Chicken fried rice