Monday, February 22, 2010

What do you do when meat goes on sale?

You have a baking day of course!
I went to the commissary the other day and they had there Tyson whole chickens with a $1.50 off coupon on them. Usually when I see those, I stock up because there prices are cheaper than most even without the coupon. The coupon sweetens the deal even more!! I end up getting 6 for around $3 each. When I get home I have no other choice but to cook them because my freezers are full on that particular day. So the cooking begins.........
I spend the week cooking each one in the crock pot. I cooked the chicken during the day and the broth at night. I thought I would share this process with you for those of you who may not know how. Per request, I will also include the homemade condensed cream of chicken soup recipe.
Take your chicken and empty out all the nastiness( I throw mine away). Next, rinse the inside and outside with water and pat dry with a paper towel. Place your chicken in the crock pot( I like to sprinkle a little paprika on mine), turn on low and walk away for 8 hours. Once it is done it should look like this.
See the liquid from the chicken....don't throw it away......its time to make broth. Take all the chicken off the bones and put what is left (bones, skin, fat) back into the crock pot. Pour 5 cups of water in with the everything else, put the lid back on and cook overnight. Side Note:
I thought I would let you in on a little secret I experimented with. The pot below is from Pampered Chef. It is one of there stoneware bakers. I have cooked a pork loin in less than 14 minutes in it so I thought I would give chicken a try....hey I had 6 so I thought I could make one the guinea pig(or chicken). RESULTS: It cooked in 20 minutes and left enough juices to make broth in 14 minutes. AMAZING!!!!




So back to the chicken in the crock pot. Here is what it will look like once it has simmered overnight, liquid drained and cooled. Next step, pour into containers. I like to use sour cream, butter, frosting or Rubbermaid containers. Place them in the fridge for a couple of days.



This is what you will see after a couple of days. The fat rises to the top(ohh! if this could only happen to me. Hehehe!). Take a spoon and scrape the fat off. Now you can either freeze it for when you need some or you can make..........


Homemade Condensed Cream of Chicken
makes 3 cups( 2 cans)
1 1/2 c chicken broth 1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning 1/4 tsp parsley
1/4 tsp onion powder dash paprika
1/4 garlic powder 1 1/2 c milk
1/8 black pepper 3/4 c flour
In a saucepan boil chicken broth, 1/2 c milk and seasonings for a minute or two( longer if fresh onions and garlic). In a separate bowl whisk the remaining 1 c milk and flour. Add to boiling mixture and continue to whisk until it boils and thickens. Compared to cans it is so much cheaper and tastes better.

I have to confess something. I know you can not tell in the picture but I wanted you to know that the recipe does not make this much. When I began making it I looked at the wrong measurement for the broth( I was looking at how much the recipe made instead of the amount of broth I needed) Long story short.........I ended up multiplying it by nine. Yes, you heard me right........nine( I don't think I have ever done that). It all worked out because I was making several casseroles to freeze. The little I had left I froze.

I also made granola. I have recently become a fanatic of vanilla yogurt, fruit and granola.
Here is the granola recipe:
3 c dry oatmeal
1/2 c butter
1/2 c honey
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c wheat germ
Melt butter in a 3 quart pot over medium heat. Add honey and salt and briefly heat with butter. Turn off the heat and add oatmeal and wheat. Stir and pour on a cookie sheet. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes.






YUMMO!!!







Here is what I got done:
2 - Broccoli, cheese, chicken, rice casserole
2 - Spinach, cheese, chicken, rice casserole
2 - Chicken Tetrazinni
1 - chicken casserole
1 - Sausage pasta
1 - Spaghetti bake
1- Fiesta roll ups
turkey meatballs
double batch - granola bars
double batch - granola





Hopefully, I can get to the breads, muffins, pizza dough, cinnamon rolls and slice and bake cookies sometime this week.
I am loving the baking days that moneysavingmom.com and lifeasmom.com host each month. I get so many great recipes including the ones in this post. They are getting ready to fill up there freezer again for the month of March.
So stay tuned for Part 2 of my baking day.









4 comments:

  1. Well, aren't you just little Miss Suzy Homemaker? LOL! :) I wish I could cook half of that in a month. Hey, I did that chicken in the deep covered baker for my cooking shows when I sold Pampered Chef. I haven't done it lately though...does make for a quick chicken. :)

    And you need to email me all of those recipes...well, not the sausage ones as we are not sausage fans. But the rest -- get 'em my way girlie! Check facebook for my email addy. :)

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  2. I had wanted to do an all-day cooking baking day this month, but the girls got sick. I did do everything on my list minus two things throughout the next week. So it worked.

    Thanks for sharing the soup recipe. I make lots of homemade broth, but really wanted to try my hand at the soup so I can keep eating my hashbrown casserole. I bought about 5 huge family packs of leg qtrs on sale for about 40 cents/lb and plan on making lots of broth so this will be on my list to do soon! Miss y'all!

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  3. I am so jealous over your chicken find. I keep hoping to find some good meat deals, but I guess I haven't been lucky lately. I did get some 1/2 gallon size things of cottage cheese for a quarter at the commissary. Not quite the same thing though! :)

    Thanks for adding your granola

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  4. I am so impressed with all of your cooking!! Because of this post, I had to buy some vanilla yogurt and granola at the grocery store yesterday. I may try my hand at making my own, but at the moment, I had to have it right then! :)

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