My immediate dilemna is solving the current trend with my grocery budget. It is either feast or famine. Literally. But since I am a Master at looking in my bare and empty fridge and creating a 5-course meal, yet frugal enough when the living is large to know to double recipes and freeze, this has never bothered me.
But this weekend as I rushed around eating on-the-go, I realized that I have not been planning ahead and it is costing me time, money, and healthy meals—all things I like to have. So, I decided to give myself a slight challenge this May: To plan a ‘pay-it-forward’ dinner every week. Grab one big ingredient (something as a base to many meals) and cook it, then spend the week enjoying a twist on the leftovers. Hopefully this will stretch my grocery budget a bit (saving some cash for my summer plans), turn my hurried lunch hour of making food into enjoying my meal, and be a healthy way to stock my fridge.
I noticed that the whole chickens at Atkinson's were on sale (as are pork ribs). I grabbed a medium fryer – and this was my week:
Roasted Chicken
Roasted chicken is easy, good, and pretty quick. Rub down the chicken and cover with salt and pepper if ingredients are sparse or flavor it up for a little more kick.
3-pound farm-raised chicken
Cajun spices, kosher salt, fresh ground pepper
2 medium onions, peeled and quartered
4 celery stalks
1 green pepper, quartered
Unsalted butter
Dijon mustard
Preheat the oven to 450°F. Rinse the chicken, then dry it well. Salt and pepper the cavity and then stuff with onion, pepper and celery. Truss the bird, which ensures more even cooking and makes a more beautiful roasted bird. Spice the chicken—I like to rain the spices over the bird so that it has a nice uniform coating that will result in a crisp, salty, flavorful skin (about 1 tablespoon). Place the chicken in a sauté pan or roasting pan and, when the oven is up to temperature, put the chicken in the oven. Roast it until it's done, 50 to 60 minutes. Remove it from the oven. Baste the chicken with the juices and let it rest for 15 minutes on a cutting board. Remove the twine. Remove the legs and thighs and wings. And use that for your dinner. Slather the meat with fresh butter and serve with a simple green vegetable or salad.
When the chicken is cool, get all of the meat off the bones and reserve. Use the chicken carcass to make a really good homemade stock for future recipes or soups.
You have so many options with chicken meat. You could top green salads, make a soup, enjoy wraps, make chicken salad, chicken fajitas, chicken pizza, chicken and rice, chicken stir-fry, etc. etc. etc. Here are two ideas that I tried this week:
Chicken Enchiladas
My brother sent me this recipe and used 1.5-2 pounds of shrimp instead of chicken. He had 'the kid test' and 'the guest test' and passed. Everyone—his friends, wife, thirteen-year-old boy, eleven-year-old girl, and two-year-old baby—loved it. It is simple, easy, six ingredients, good and good for you. Special Equipment: food processor or blender
10-12 fresh tomatillos
2 serrano peppers.
1 1.5 pounds of chicken, cooked and slightly shredded into pieces
Corn tortillas
Pam cooking spray
6 ounces pepper jack cheese, grated
2 tomatoes, chopped
Husk and wash tomatillos and peppers, boil ‘til soft and color changes. Drain and blend together in a food processor or blender. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Heat a pan on the stove to medium and soften corn tortillas one at a time with Pam. Fill tortillas with chicken and grated cheese, roll them up and put them in a 9x13 pyrex pan. My pan fit 2 rows of 6 enchiladas nicely. Cover with Tomatillo sauce and some more cheese. At this point everything’s cooked so heat it up for 20 minutes or so at 325, until cheese is good and melted. Put some fresh chopped tomatoes on top, eat.
Cooks note: You can do the tomatillo sauce beforehand, you can also get the whole thing together earlier in the day and let it sit before the heating up part (not too long so the tortillas don’t go to mush).
Fiesta Chicken Empanada
This is a recipe from Pillsbury® I cut out of a magazine—it really streches your chicken into a dinner, with great leftovers for lunch.
1 (15-oz) package Pillsbury® Refrigerated Pie Crusts, softened
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced
½ medium red bell pepper, chopped
½ medium green bell pepper, chopped
½ medium yellow bell pepper, chopped
10 ounces of cooked chicken, chopped
4 teaspoons dry fajita seasoning
½ cheese and salsa dip (I like using Rotel®)
1 egg, beaten
Garnish:
Sour cream
Salsa
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Use one pie crust, roll out and place in ungreased 14-inch pizza pan. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until hot. Add onion and bell peppers; cook 5 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally. Add chicken and fajita seasoning; mix well. Spoon chicken mixture onto crust, leaving one inch around the edge. Spread ½ cup dip over chicken mixture. Brush ege of crust with water and place remaining crust over filling. Press edges firmly to seal. Brush top with beaten egg. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until deep golden brown. Cover edge of crust with strips of foil after 10 or 15 minutes to prevent excessive browning. Cut into wedges, garnish, and serve.
There are so many options with chicken – it is easy, versatile, yummy, and cheap!
Strawberry Banana Crepes
Because I love my crepe maker and the strawberries are good right now. I got this recipe from Quick Cooking and it yields about 16-20 crepes. Special equipment: crepe maker – or use an 8-inch nonstick skillet.
Crepe Batter:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1-1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
1 to 2 tablespoons butter or margarine
Filling:
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1 carton (8 ounces) frozen whipped topping, thawed
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
Topping:
2 cups sliced fresh strawberries
2 medium firm bananas, sliced
¼ cup sugar, optional
In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, milk, and eggs; mix well. Cover and refrigerate for one hour. In an 8-inch nonstick skillet, melt one teaspoon butter. Stir batter; pour about 2 tablespoons into the center of skillet. Lift and tilt pan to evenly coat bottom. Cook until top appears dry; turn and cook 15-20 seconds longer. Remove to a wire rack. Repeat with remaining batter, adding butter to skillet as needed. When cool, stack crepes with waxed paper or paper towels in between.
In a mixing bowl, combine the filling ingredients. Spread 2 rounded tablespoons on each crepe; roll up. Combine topping ingredients and spoon over crepes. Serve.
yum!
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