DELICIOUSLY CHEAP EASYCHICKEN IN THE CROCK POT

THURSDAY APRIL 17, 2014

Yesterday marked the first official day of Easter Vacation from our school district. Well, Wednesday the kids went and yesterday, Thursday, they did not. Unfortunately for me and my daughter we were not feeling quite well. On her first full day off of school!!!!! We both had headaches, stuffy noses, I had an extremely sore throat, hers was mild, I had a mild ear ache, hers was that type of severe that the whole neighborhood hears about it (and we live in the woods). She screamed and cried and would NOT try anything I said. When I became a parent I never thought that what was happening in the house would determine what was for dinner. I'm now quite familiar with this. If we are busy I make something FAST, If not, the whole family sits in the kitchen while I cook. If I'm sick or have to care for a sick child, its a crock pot meal. When we are sick, what comes to mind? Chicken noodle soup usually-huh? So I went down to the deep dark deep freezer in the deep dark dungeon basement (OK its not bad that's where my bedroom is). Anyway I grabbed some bone-in chicken legs and bone-in chicken breast. ***TIP TIP TIP***It's a great idea to look at flyers and see if you can find bone-in chicken breast, thighs, or legs on sale. I never pay more than $1.99/lb and have gotten them as cheap as $0.99/lb. Usually people looking to save money look over these deals because chances are they are packaged in 3-10 lb packages, so they look expensive and they aren't. This family of 6-8 a 5 lb pack lasts us 3-4 meals or 4-5 months. Buy big and sort them into smaller sections, date, and freeze. It saves time and money in the long run.

After grabbing the bone in legs and breast, I went and got the big crock pot. There are two ways to make this but I chose the juiciest way since I was letting it cook from frozen early morning unit 7 that evening. I took the meat, defrosted it in the sink for an hour. Once it was defrosted, I laid them out and seasoned them. I like to use fresh garden veggies, herbs, and spices because I know where they come from; who touched them (: No, I just like gardening. However, it just snowed four days ago here in Pennsylvania. So, I took some minced onion, some pepper, salt, poultry seasoning and season all. I let them sit in the fridge for a while while I did the next step. I took 4 chicken soup cubes and put them in 1 1/2 cups of water, placed in the microwave for three minutes until they were completely liquid. So, I put it in the bottom of the crock pot and placed the chicken on top of the broth and let it cook for seven hour. I re-seasoned the chicken after five hours. This point you have the option to use whole grain rice, whole grain noodles, or potatoes. Add veggies on the side if you want a full meal. Use the broth to make gravy. I'll tell you how. I'll give directions as to what I did.           

•    Grabbed Ingredients:

1. 8 Chicken legs, 5 chicken breast (bone in)
2. CROCK POT
3. 4 bullion cubes heated in 1 1/2 Cups water
4. minced onion
5. pepper and salt
6. poultry seasoning
7. Season all/ Season salt.
8. Garlic Season
9. Whole Wheat Noodles/Whole grain rice
10. I used frozen green beans~you can use what you want 
11. Flour and water for gravy
12. Butter if desired    

• Made my meal flavorful before I left kitchen:

1. Thawed Chicken; laid out chicken pieces and sprinkled with pepper, salt, poultry seasoning, and season salt. Flipped and did the same to the other side. Sat in fridge until ready to cook.
2. Placed 4 bullion cubes in 1 1/2 Cups Water, heated in microwave until it dissolved (about 3 minutes, then stirred).
3.  Put the chicken bullion in the bottom of the crock pot.
4. Added 1/4 Cup of minced onion.
5. Placed Chicken breast first, bone down in large Crock pot. Then stacked the legs on top. They will not be fully covered and that's fine.
6. About 4-5 hours into cooking on low, I upped to high heat, moved chicken peices around, and topped with salt, pepper, Season Salt, poultry season, and a small splash of garlic seasoning.  
7. I knew the chicken was cooked after 6 hours because it started falling off of the bone as I wanted it to do. That is JUICY & SOFT CHICKEN. 
8. At this point I made Whole Wheat egg noodles. You can use white noodles, rice, potatoes, whatever you're hungry for.
9. I then scooped the broth out of the crock pot, placed a small strainer over a sauce pan to catch the drippings, and scooped 2- 2 1/2 Cups of juice into sauce pan. 
10. I then took a glass cup, a cup of flour and half cup warm water and mixed it extra good leaving very small clumps~fast dinner so nothing is perfect.
11. I took frozen veggies and placed them in the microwave to be steamed as desired.
12. I then started on medium high heat the chicken stalk. Taking a whisk I slowly dropped in 2-4 TBS of flour and water at a time stirring the whole time, and adding flour/water mixture as needed. Once the gravy looked like gravy yet a little runnier than I wanted to have it, I stopped adding, stirred and turned heat off(it thickens as it sits).   
13. Drained my noodles, and added 3 TBS butter stirring the noodles. My whole family doesn't eat chicken and gravy over noodles. So, butter works not only prevent hardening and sticking but also to allow for butter noodles. 
14. For the kids, I pulled(no cutting needed on this juicy and tender chicken) the meat off the bone, placed on noodles, and added gravy.     
15. THANK GOD AND EAT, ENJOY AND MAKE AGAIN.                    

This fed 6 people and we still had chicken left. I used the extra chicken to make chicken salad sandwiches. Pull chicken off the bone. Mix 2 parts mayonnaise with 1 part Miracle Whip. And you got LUNCH THE NEXT DAY . Or, you can have chicken and gravy sandwiches.                                                                                                                                                   

Happy Kids, Full Kids, make a happy home. 

Let me know if you made alternations or decided to make something else for lunch out of left overs. Thank you.

xoxo

Megs