I’ve been really busy these last few weeks, publishing my for-sale pattern, getting another pattern ready for the Summer issue of Modern Quilts Unlimited, preparing for my talk at QuiltCon, heck, prparing for QuiltCon AT ALL (have yet to do anything for my classes, eeeeek!)… but I am also a stay-at-home-mom with a 2 year old (just turned!) and a kindergartener who’s the same size as a second grader.
Which means I need to feed everyone. Ugh. Now, I really like to cook, but I have been feeling the tension between my sewing life and my home life. There’s been alot of eating out and alot of prefab meals lately, and very often our dinners lately have been saved by the grocery store roasted chicken (there’s an “all natural” version we have available locally, which makes me feel a tick less badly). If I cut it myself and make sides, it TOTALLY counts as cooking dinner all by myself.
Anyway, I figured other people were probably in the same boat and thought I’d post the 15 things I do with a roasted chicken. May it help you when you’d rather be sewing!
1. chicken sandwiches
2. “yummy salad” (store boxed, with other veg items on top) with chicken on top
3. quesadillas
4. with jarred spaghetti sauce and pasta of your choice
5. fajitas (with sauteed peppers and onions)
6. with pizza dough from store, you can either make pizzas or …
7. …calzones (one box of frozen spinach squeezed dry, chopped chicken, jarred pasta sauce and mozzarella)
8. chicken pot pie (bag of frozen veg or your own veg, thawed, box of chicken stock thickened with a roux, covered with a square of puff pastry from frozen section, or your own pastry crust if you’re feeling ambitious)
9. chicken soup (bag of frozen veg or your own veg, box of chicken stock, egg noodles. We call this refrigerator soup, when we use up the veg from the fridge.)
10. fritatta (southwestern: red pepper, onion, dash of chili powder, chicken, cheddar. farmer: sliced potato, bacon pieces, mozz, onion)
11. pasta + pesto + chicken + mozz
12. casserole (bechamel sauce + cheese, veg of your choice, cooked pasta. the awesome part is, the casserole can be almost entirely leftovers from other meals)
13. enchiladas (store-bought enchilada sauce, tortillas, and filling of shredded chicken, cheese, some sour cream, cilantro, whatever you have)
14. stir fry
15. homemade chicken stock from the bones (one small onion, one carrot split in half, one stalk of celery, half head of garlic, 5 peppercorns. cover with water until submerged an inch. bring to boil, skim off yuck on surface, reduce to simmer and cover, simmering for 4 hours. Strain, then filter through a coffee filter. Store in fridge for up to 4 days, or freeze)
but if you don’t have a store near that roasts chickens, it’s super easy to roast one yourself: Get chicken (3-4 lbs or larger, it just takes longer to cook). Take out giblets. Stuff inside with small onion or lemon, and rosemary sprigs + garlic cloves. Squeeze lemon over top, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast at 375 for 40 minutes, testing for doneness with thermometer (thighs 180, breast 170 although the USDA guidelines have changed to have poultry at 165 internally). Cover with foil if you check it at 30 minutes and it’s starting to get too crispy.
also, see this site for the spatchcocked chicken recipe. Just because it’s delightfully delicious.
i tweak the ingredients for the baste (a whole lime, a whole shallot) but that’s about it.
So. what do YOU do with a roasted chicken? Or some other prefab thing from the store that you thoroughly make your own?
Love this post!
When I roast a chicken I save the carcass and cook it with veggies and water and bay and then strain, cool, and freeze in yogurt containers for later use as broth/ stock.