Monday, February 16, 2009

Rubber Chicken

I know we are all trying to save money. Even though most of us aren't directly affected by the economy, we've all seen what could be coming in our future. This is why I'm sharing the story of a rubber chicken.

I got the idea from Leanne Ely at Saving Dinner and if I remember correctly, she used a rotessarie chicken from the deli? I thought about it and thought about it and well, I'm a little scared of those chickens. Who knows how long they've been there and what chemicals they've been juiced up with? Giant Eagle had whole chickens on sale buy one get one free, so we stocked up.

Right this second I have a 6.56 lb chicken getting ready for tonight. It is labeled 12.36, but remember I got one free with it! Tonight we roast the chicken whole. Then after dinner, we'll take the meat off the bones and portion out enough for stir-fry tomorrow night. I think I'm going to throw it into a marinade. Then there's enough left for one more meal, you could make pizza or casserole or an omlet. Whatever floats your boat. We are supposed to cut out certain foods right now for health reasons, mostly refined carbs. So we're having a stir fry and omlette.

But wait-there's more!

Then I take the carcass and whatever veggies are leftover from last week and put it in my biggest stockpot to simmer for a few hours. I strain it (twice because I'm obsessive) and start making soups for FarmerGeek to take to work.

Today was salsa soup
Sautee carrots and celery and rosemary in olive oil. Add in stock and some salsa. All amounts to taste.

Tomorrow is Oriental Soup
I happened to have dried mushrooms but whatever... had I had fresh I would have chopped and sauteed in sesame oil, added tarragon, stock and frozen peas. (Note: Next time I would use onion, minced, chopped, or even those little baby onions...)

Wednesday Italian
Stock, basil, diced tomatoes, and a can of cannellini beans

Thursday Southwest
Stock, black beans, corn, shot of tabasco, can of green chiles, cumin

Now for the record, one $12.36 chicken will make us three dinners and four different soups for lunches. Or heck, for dinner. All low carb yumminess....

As you can see the possibilities are endless!!! Did an idea for soup just pop into your head? If so, feel free to share it here!

7 comments:

FarmerGeek said...

Don't forget chicken salad, too.

This is really good and it does last!!!

YUMMY!!!

It's me said...

No soup idea, but my stomach growled.

So "thanks for nothing". I didn't bring lunch today. :(

HermitJim said...

My stomach always growls when I read all these blogs that have food on them! Maybe I should just read more and eat less?

Thanks for all the great recipes and ideas...man, now i'm hungry enough to eat my OWN cooking!

Chris W said...

I dont know what they're called, but Lisa uses these mesh bags to make soup stock. The carcass stays inside, but the juices all run off into the stock pot.

I laughed when I read "rubber chicken", it reminds me of one of my favorite movies-Student Bodies, the FIRST and origional horror movie spoof! The "killer" calls and disguises his voice by talking through a rubber chicken, LOL. I can watch that movie once a week and still laugh like I did the first time I saw it. CLICK-did you hang up?-no, I just said click-LOL. Ok so I have a warped sense of humor, lol.

FarmerGeek said...

Hermit, instead of reading more and eating less, the solution is read more and eat more! (its just eating the "right" foods...LOL...)

Chris, I have used the same bags for making the wort when I make beer!! I have no idea what they are called, either! I need to watch that movie, that sounds right up my alley. If you want a stupid humor movie (ok, has nothing to do with horror, but I find it hilarious...) you should see if you can find the Whoopee Boys.

Sandy@American Way Farm said...

Thanks for visiting me and for your great comment on the Government video.

Love your blog. Good description of store chicken - rubber. But putting it in stuff makes it palatable doesn't it? And you have some great chicken recipe ideas Thanks. -Sandy

Aimee said...

This is how I make one fat chicken feed four people three times. (okay, two of the people are under five years old). First, roast chicken. Next, chicken enchiladas (for example) with the picked-over meat. Last, soup. I love to make avgolemono soup (because I have 4 dozen eggs in the fridge?). Simmer your carcass with lots of onion and celery, thyme and maybe oregano. Zucchini is good. Remove the bones when all the meat is off them. Then squeeze juice of two or three lemons into a cup, beat with three eggs, add a tablespoon of hot soup and beat it in to temper, then add to the stock in a thin stream, beating the whole time. It will turn a gorgeous sunny yellow and thicken slightly. Add lots of fresh black pepper and serve with rice.