Chicken Challenge Phase Three-Linguini with Chicken, Broccoli & Sun Dried Tomatoes in Alfredo Sauce

Tonight is the last night of the Chicken Challenge.  Like the other chicken recipes I presented, this isn't a fancy recipe, just an easy "go-to" meals for busy weeknights. It is quick to prepare, easy on my budget and very very tasty!   The beauty of alfredo suace is that so many other foods pair with it nicely.  Since I only had one cup of chicken left, I had to stretch this meal in order to feed all five of us.  I added some frozen broccoli and about 3/4 c of the sundried tomatoes I recently made.  Delicious I tell you!  Even my two broccoli hating boys finished thier servings which always makes a mama proud :)

Linguini with Chicken, Broccoli & Sun Dried Tomatoes in Alfredo Sauce
Recipe Source: A Cook's Quest

1 box pasta
1 jar of alfredo sauce (or you can make your own)
1 c cooked chicken, chopped
3 cups of broccoli
3/4 c sun dried tomatoes drained and chopped

Boil pasta.  When almost done, throw in the broccoli to cook until crisp tender.  Before draining the pasta reserve about 2/3 c of the pasta water.  Drain pasta and brocoli.  Return to pot.  Add chicken, sun dried tomatoes, alfredo sauce and some of the reserved pasta water.  Mix with tongs.  If needed add more pasta water to thin the sauce.  We like saucy noodles, while some people don't so do what you like best.  Serve with your favorite side.  We got a full dinner for five people and enough left overs for two lunch servings.

I haven't figured out the total cost of this dish yet. I am guessing about $2.00 because the pasta sauce was only .50 and so were the noodles.  The broccoli was cheap and I made my own tomatoes.  I will post the total cost of this Chicken Challenge tomorrow night with all the details of each meal.

Chicken Challenge Phase Three-More Cooking (Ellie's Pot Pie)

The same day that I let my friends and family know of this little blog, my friend Ellie sent me one of her favorite recipes.  I have been waiting for the perfect time to try it out and the Chicken Challenge was perfect. 

When I eat chicken pot pie there is something very heart warming and reminiscent of childhood. It is comfort food, the kind of food someone makes because they want to not just because they have to.  A pot pie takes time, preparation and the desire to make something that is just very good from very simple ingredients.  The vegetables float in a rich gravy that is studded with pieces of moist roasted chicken all wrapped in a crust that soaks up the flavors of each ingredient.  It is flexible in that each cook can use the ingredients he or she loves and no two pies will ever be exactly the same.   Like I did with the egg roll recipe yesterday, I am posting Ellie's recipe exactly as she gave it to me, and I will add my notes to at the bottom.  I hope you enjoy!

Chicken Pot Pie
Recipe Source: Ellie

Put 1 whole chicken in the crock pot all day. Let the chicken cool, take it out and remove all the meat from the bones and coarsely chop. Save the juices. Cut up about a cup of both celery and onions, sauté these in a couple tablespoons of butter. Set Aside. In same pan melt about another 4 tablespoons of butter and add around 4 tablespoons of flour. Whisk together over medium heat stirring constantly. Slowly add milk, probably about 2 cups. Also add around a cup of the juices from the chicken. You will end up with a thick white sauce/gravy. Salt and pepper to taste as you go. It’s very easy to under season. Add the chicken, celery & onions, and throw in a bag of frozen veggies ( I usually put in mixed carrots, green beans, and corn). Preheat the oven to 350. Make or buy a pie crust and put in a pie pan…Pour your filling in and then put a crust on top. Poke a few holes in the top, cover with foil and bake for around 35-45 minutes until the crust is golden brown. It has a lot of butter in it, but it’s very easy and yummy! Sometimes I like to double the recipe and freeze one for later on…They freeze and re-bake very well.

**Cooks Note--I had to make some changes to this because I am working to stretch one whole chicken for multiple meals and also be cost effective.  I made the following changes with great success:

I used three cups of shredded chicken
1/2 bag of peas
2 chopped carrots
3 diced potatoes
1 yellow onion

I reduced the butter to 4 T for the whole recipe.  I used three cups of broth and 3/4 c of milk, and I made my own crust.  I baked my pie at 375 F for about an hour because it was cold from being in the refrigerator over night.

This recipe made two pies so I had one for the freezer and one for dinner.  Sadly, there were no left overs beause my husband and oldest son devoured every last crumb but two meals from one recipe still makes me happy.

Pie Crust for a double crusted pie
1 stick of butter
2 cups of flour
ice water

Cut the butter into the flour until evenly distributed.  Add ice water 1 T at a time until the dough comes together  (about 4-6T).  Form into a disc and refrigerate 30-40 minutes.  Divide in half and roll out.  Place crust in a pie pan, fill with desired filling and top with the second crust.

Chicken Challenge Phase Three-Time to Cook! ( Chicken Egg Rolls)

Ok, we're here.  Phase three--cooking actual meals.  I guess, the chicken broth from phase two could be a meal, but I don't consider broth to be a mouth watering, appetite satisfying, type of food.  Up first in this phase, are Egg Rolls, a perfect place to use some of the chicken I made for the Chicken Challenge.  Egg rolls are something I love to eat, but hate to pay for.  I mean, come on, they are just veggies and some meat, wrapped in a wonton wrapper and fried.  Why do they have to cost an arm and a leg?

I found this recipe at A Thrifty Mom, the author Sarah is amazing at making her budget stretch and I knew I wanted to make this recipe as soon as I saw it.  Sarah told me, "I came up with it as a twist on my Mother in laws recipe for Fried Wantons....I love egg rolls but hate to pay over $1.50 each for them at our local take out restaurant. I realized they would be rather simple to make...and you can feed a whole family at a fraction of the price." 

Egg Rolls
Recipe Source: A Thrifty Mom

**Cooks Note-I am posting this recipe exactly as I got it from A Thrifty Mom.  The only change I made was to use 2 cups of chicken in place of the sausage for the Chicken Challenge**

You will need :

One package of egg roll wrappers ( found in produce section at most stores)
Bag of Shredded cabbage or one small head, cut into fine shreds
4 green onions chopped
3/4 cups celery chopped
1/2 cup shredded carrots ( super fine I use a veggie peeler, to shred them)
1 -2 cup cooked sausage ( I only use one cup but if you like more meat add 2)
2 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 large egg (raw)

Mix above ingredients together in bowl

Add filling to the middle of the egg roll wrapper. Fold bottom corner up and pull towards bottom, till snug.

Fold corners in to make it look like a little envelope. If you rub a little water on the corners it till make them stick closed.

Roll up, try to keep as tight as you can. Add a little water to the end to keep the flap shut.  Do this with the whole package of wrappers.

At this point you can deep fry, pan fry or bake them in the oven. I pan fried them ( about a minute on each side). We like our filling to still have a little crunch so we do not cook the veggies ( it cooks enough when pan frying) …but if you want to you can stir fry the veggie filling for about 3 minutes before you add it to the wrappers. We like to eat ours with Sweet and Sour sauce, wasabi paste, and honey. Hope you enjoy!
 
 Sweet and Sour Sauce
Recipe Source: A Cook's Quest
 
1 small can of crushed pineapple
2-3 T Ketchup
1/4 c vinegar (white or apple cider)
1/3 c brown sugar
2 T cornstarch
1/4 c water
 
Combine all ingredients, bring to a boil and a cook until desired thickness is reached. 
 
Total Cost about $5.70 or .30 each
We added rice as a side dish to these and got one dinner and three lunches (two for me on for my husband) from the left overs.  Four meals for under $6.00 can't be beat!!

Chicken Challenge Phase Two-Chicken Broth

Now that you have all your chicken set aside and some wonderful chicken bones, it is time to move on to phase two--chicken broth. I think making homemade chicken broth is my favorite part of cooking a whole chicken. The price for one container of chicken broth doesn’t seem outrageous by any means, but when I can make 29 cups of broth for drastically less (I’m talking less than one dollar) I have to admit store bought chicken broth is outrageously priced. Let’s also not forget all the excessive salt, "natural" flavors and MSG that many brands add.

I use chicken broth for everything. I cook rice with it, I add it to gravies, sauces and even boil pasta in it for any easy side dish; then there is the obvious use--homemade soup. It is an easy way to add depth of flavor to any dish, not to mention it looks pretty cool to de-glaze a pan even if it is only chicken broth that you use. So let’s start boiling some bones and making all of you look awesome!

Chicken Broth
Recipe Source: Your Grandma, My Grandma, and every cook who learned to cook before there were pre-made boxes and cans of convienence foods in every grocery store.

Rough chop 1 onion, some celery, a few carrots and a handful of garlic cloves. You don’t even need to peel these items. Just give them a good wash, run your knife through them a little bit and set them aside.

In a large stock pot, heat 1 T oil. Add in the chicken neck, giblets, if you swing that way, and rough chopped veggies. Oh, don‘t forget some salt, just a teaspoon or so for now. Allow everything to brown slightly. Remember, all that browning will add extra flavor to our final product.

When everything is brown and smelling delicious, add the chicken bones to the pot and as much water as your pan will hold. This is when it is important to have a big pot (thanks Anisha for letting me borrow yours!)Stir everything as it heats so that all those yummy brown bits can join the party and add flavor. Add more salt, we are shooting for flavor here, not just cloudy water. Bring it all to a boil and let it remain at a steady boil for 5-10 minutes. Then reduce the heat, cover and allow to simmer about an hour.

Check your broth at this point. Taste it. Does it taste good? Yes, then you are done seasoning. If the answer is no, adjust your seasonings. Usually I still need some salt and pepper at this point. Continue cooking covered. Once everything tastes good, and it resembles something you would want to add to your recipes, remove it from the heat and allow to cool down. When the broth is at room temperature, strain to remove all the bones and veggies, then put the broth into the refrigerator and allow it to chill completely.

Once chilled, all the fat will be solid and at the top of the stock. Using a slotted spoon remove all the fat and discard. Pour into freezer safe containers and freeze for later or use right away. (If you don't have freezer containers, you can use ziploc bags.  Freeze flat for easy stacking later.)

I was able to get 29 cups of chicken stock!  I reserved 3 cups for the recipe Ellie gave me and froze all the rest. At the store, if you were buying the cartons that hold around 4 cups, it could cost you upwards of $18-20.  I made all of this for the cost of the veggies.

Chicken Challenge Starts Here...

So, in order to make great chicken recipes you have to start with a chicken.  When whole roasting chickens go on sale I buy at least two or three at a time.  My family's favorite way to eat them is roasted in the oven.  They become golden and delicious with crispy, salty skin.  We could eat this meal many times a week,  however, when cooked this way, the meat doesn't go very far.  Thanks to a recipe from my friend Ellie when I started this blog, I was inspired to see how far I could stretch the meat from one chicken.  I will share her recipe later, first we have to cook some chicken!  Below you will find Phase one of the chicken challenge explaining the step by step instructions to get you started. Yes, there are phases because I didn't feel like making everything in one day, but if you want to, it is completely doable and not hard at all!!

Phase One--Preparing the Chicken

1. Buy a chicken at least 5 pounds and at a great price.
2. Remove the neck (a must) and giblets (if you want them) from the body cavity and refrigerate.
3. Rinse and dry your chicken.
4. Season liberally with whatever you like best.  I used half an onion, 5 garlic cloves and 1 sprig of rosemary stuffed inside the cavity, and salt, pepper and seasoning salt on the outside. 
5. Place in a crockpot and cook on high 4-5 hours.
6. When cooked through, remove chicken and chill overnight or until cool enough to handle.
7. Once chilled, remove all the meat from the bones. Discard the skin.  Set the bones aside  (Yes this step is a little messy but you will find out just how much meat is truly on a chicken once you do it).  At this point you can freeze all the chicken or you can start preparing meals.  My chicken was 5.25 pounds and I got almost 6 cups of meat off of it! 

In Phase Two I will explain what that chicken neck is for!

A Cook's Quest Chicken Challenge!

Not too long ago, even after I started couponing and really watching our food budget, I was a chicken waster. I would roast a lovely chicken to golden perfection, stuffed full of fragrant herbs and veggies and rubbed with butter, then serve it to my family along with the appropriate side dishes. To some this may not appear to be a crime, but to a cook on a budget it is a very serious offense. There is a lot more to a chicken than picking the breast meat off and letting the kids fight over who got the chicken leg last time and who gets it this time (why can’t chickens have three legs? It would help my family out a lot!).

I have in the past, on occasion, ok, only one time actually, used a chicken to its full potential. I roasted it, served a meal, then took the rest of the meat off the bones for another meal and then boiled the bones to make my own chicken stock for another delicious meal of some kind. But, I never did it again even though I had plenty of good intentions and I have no idea why not. One chicken can easily feed a family of five over multiple meals and it seems silly to waste what could feed my family.

What is the point of this confession you ask? Well all this examination of my conscience made me come up with the Cook’s Quest Chicken Challenge (say that one really fast) to try to prevent my friends and loyal readers from becoming, or remaining, chicken wasters. Over the next few day I am going to share with all of you what I can do with one five pound chicken and hope that it inspires you to think of creative ways to use budget friendly protein choices in ways that can stretch your dollar.  See you soon!