Dinner Time-Part 2

I have not decided to shift my focus to cooking. This is probably my last cooking post for awhile. I just wanted to finish with more of my staple menu items. I couldn't have a part 1 without a part 2. I will probably have a part 3 one day. Who knows? Keep reading, I will finish this post with my whole chicken update.

I enjoyed sharing some of our staple menu items. Here is the continued list:


Roast
(our newest staple)

What to do: Heat the roast for a few minutes on all 4 sides with olive oil and put it in the crock pot. Add one can of beef broth and half an envelope of onion soup mix. I also put rosemary twigs in with it and cook on low for 4 or so hours. Throw in some potatoes and carrots while cooking.

The next night, I chuck up the leftovers and mix with barbecue seasoning or sauce. Serve with fresh corn. Yum.


Chicken Pot Pie

Ingredients:

diced cooked chicken
mixed veggies
cream of chicken soup
cream of mushroom
sour cream
dashes of marjoram, parsley, creole seasoning, oregano, and garlic salt
2 pie crusts

What to do:

Place on of the pie crusts in bottom of pan. Mix ingredients. Dump on crust. Top with other crust. Slit middle of pie. Bake for 30-40 minutes.


Taco Soup

Who doesn't know this one by now? Lots of ways to cook this. Here is ours.

Ingredients:

1 1b cooked ground beef or diced chicken
black beans
light and dark kidney beans
hominy
1 packet ranch seasoning
1 packet taco seasoning
2 cans rotel tomatoes and green chilies
1 to 2 cans water.

Directions:

So easy! Dump and simmer. Usually a winter dish, but we eat it year around. Top it with shredded cheese and sour cream. Serve with tortilla chips.


Chicken Parmesan

Ingredients:

2 chicken breast
whole wheat thin spaghetti noodles
spaghetti sauce
1 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 egg mixed with water
Mozzarella cheese

Directions:

Dredge chicken in egg mixture. Them mix with bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Bake. Add cheese at the end.

Serve over noodles with sauce.


Lemon Garlic Fish

Ingredients:

A couple of your fave fish fillets
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1-2 tablespoons butter, melted
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp parley
Parmesan cheese
creole seasoning

Directions:

Saute the garlic, lemon juice, and parsley in the butter. Sprinkle fillets with creole and salt and pepper. Pace in dish. Pour mixture on top and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake.

Well, those are a bunch of our staple meals. By staple, I mean I cook them lots. The rest of our menu choices are those rarely cooked meals-usually because they are expensive. Of course, every week or so I like to try something new. After a new meal, the Hubs and I decide if it should go in our little white menu book. This means we will eat it again. It doesn't mean it is a staple. If it is cooked ten times or so, it might be considered a staple.

Please feel free to share with me your staples!

So, I cooked the chicken. It was so much easier than I thought. I know people do this all the time, but this is one of those things that seemed so hard to me.

I cleaned the chicken by removing the insides. Very easy. I rinsed the inside and outside with water. I then placed it into my Pam sprayed slow cooker.



I then sprinkled the chicken with paprika and garlic salt. I added a little water and some fresh parsley.



It cooked on low for 5 hours or so. We ate it with red potatoes and squash. It was yum. I diced up the remainder of chicken. I used some of it in a pot pie that we ate the next night. Even after two meals, I had this much left:



Hudson ate some of the rest. I also added it into a soup we are eating tomorrow.
Three meals for a 6 dollar chicken. Not bad!

After the meat was off the chicken, I took all the bones and skins and put them back in the crock pot. I added the juice from when the chicken cooked and covered the rest of the carcass with cold water. I added 3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. This is supposed to pull the calcium off the bones of the chicken. It is really good for you and helps heal your stomach! I also threw in some onion and carrots. I cooked on low for around 15 hours. I think you are supposed to cook for 24 to 48 hours, but it was boiling and I was scared to leave it! I have issues with anything plugged in for too long!

Anyway, our house smelled so yummy this morning. Our chicken made so much stock. I used 4 cups of the stock in my soup for tomorrow and still had this much to freeze:




I will do this again soon!