It all started with a sale on chickens. My friend Kerri informed me of the sale at Albertson's. I have decided that the price of these chickens are comparable to what you can get at Sam's, so we'll probably just buy from Sam's in the future. You can usually get a pack of 2 whole chickens at Sam's for $7-8 (if I remember correctly). I then spent some time scouring the internet and asking friends for recipes. I was looking for ideas that would be varied, reasonably healthy, cost efficient, and make lots of food. I was hoping to have meals to eat, freeze, and share.
I finally made it to the grocery on Sunday evening and Sunday became my first day of the cooking frenzy! It started in the morning with the crock pot and ended with a night of cooking two meals. Here's what I ended up with:
-Chicken in beer & spices (crock pot) with boil/smashed potatoes and okra (2 meals)
-Mexican cornbread using chicken from above recipe (2 meals - one eaten, one frozen)
**This is where I have to interrupt my frenzy. I planned to finish cooking on Monday, but I ended up with a terrible headache that I'm pretty sure was a migraine. It was awful. I was pretty worthless most of the day, but thankfully the migraine-level of my headache was gone by the time I had to go to work on Tuesday. The headache lingered for a few days, but it was manageable.
At this point, I decided to cook in steps. I prefer this method WAY better. To try to cook & clean several recipes in one day was a little too much for me. This week I boiled and deboned the chicken one night, made white chicken chili one night, and will make southwest egg rolls this weekend. I found it much more manageable to cook this way and plan to keep this method for the future. Perhaps I can cook the meat on the weekends and then work on sides/soups/casseroles during the week.
Here's the rest of the breakdown of meals:
-White chicken chili (3 meals - one frozen)
(no picture b/c they aren't made yet!)
Overall breakdown of meals: 3 chickens, 13 meals (3 in freezer and one used to bless a friend). I'd say that's a pretty good frenzy!
Now, let me tell you this: If I can manage to plan, shop, and cook amidst working full time, graduate school, and baby twins - you can, too! It just takes a little extra effort and scheduling! Disclaimer: I've done this once...we'll see how long it lasts ;)
See below for recipes used in this week's frenzy.
Beer in Chicken & Spices
-one whole chicken
-1-2 beers of your choice
-spices of your choice (I used salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, and paprika)
Put all ingredients in slow cooker. Cook on low 8 hours.
Boil/Smashed potatoes
-Boil small red potatoes
-Place on a cookie sheet & smash the potatoes down
-Sprinkle w/ salt & pepper
-Bake on 375 for about 20 minutes.
*These are a delicious, different way to make potatoes!!
Mexican Cornbread
-1 pkg mexican cornbread
-1/4 cup onion
-1/4 cup bell pepper (I just used seasoning blend for the veggies)
-1/4 cup celery
-1 can cream of chicken
-1.5 cup chicken broth
-2 cups cooked chicken
Cook cornbread according to package. Crumble. Saute onion, pepper, and celery until tender.
Stir all ingredients together and bake at 350 for 1 hr or until slightly brown.
*This was my first attempt at this recipe. I plan to try a can of creamed corn in the mix next time!
Chicken Enchilada Soup
-3 large chicken breasts
-2-3 cans chicken broth (I used a whole chicken and the broth from boiling it)
-1 large onion chopped
-1 large bell pepper chopped (I used seasoning blend again here)
-4 carrots chopped
-1 cup celery chopped
-3 cloves minced garlic
-2 tablespoons olive oil
-1 large can rotel
-1 jar of salsa
-1 packet of enchilada seasoning mix
-1 bunch of fresh cilantro
-5 bay leaves
Cut chicken breasts into bite size pieces. Boil chicken in chicken broth. Add water as needed. Add carrots and celery. Bring to a boil. In a large saucepan, sauté olive oil, onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Stir in enchilada seasoning to sauteed mixture then add to the pot of chicken. Pour in rotel, add salsa, bay leaves, and about 3/4 bunch of cilantro. Bring all ingredients to a boil then simmer over low heat for about 45 minutes. Garnish with tortilla chips, fresh cilantro, cheese, and avocado slices.
White Chicken Chili
-1 tablespoon olive oil
-4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cubed
-1 onion, chopped
-1 1/4 cups chicken broth
-1 4 oz can diced green chiles
-1 teaspoon garlic powder
-1 teaspoon ground cumin
-1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
-1/2 teaspoon dried cilantro
-1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
-1 15 oz can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
-Shredded Monterey Jack cheese
Heat oil in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook chicken and onion in oil 4-5 minutes, or until onion is tender. Stir in the chicken broth, green chiles, garlic powder, cumin, oregano, cilantro, and cayenne pepper. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in the beans and simmer for an additional 5 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink and juices run clear. Garnish with shredded cheese.
*I usually use 2 cans of beans - 1 cannellini and 1 great northern. I also mash the beans around to make the consistency a bit thicker. When I made the recipe this week, I used dried beans that I soaked earlier.
Southwest Egg Rolls
-Vegetable oil
-2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
-4 tablespoons geren onion
-4 tablespoons minced red bell pepper
-2/3 cup frozen corn
-1/2 cup black beans
-4 tablespoons frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
-4 tablespoons diced jalapeno peppers
-3 teaspoons minced fresh parsley
-1 teaspoon ground cumin
-1 teaspoon chili powder
-2/3 teaspoon salt
-1 1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
-20 egg roll wrappers
Preheat oven to 450. Saute red pepper and green onion in oil in a large skillet until tender. Add the chicken and next 8 ingredients. Cook for about 4 minutes until hot and ingredients are well incorporated. Remove pan from heat and add the cheese, stirring until melted. Spoon about 1/4 cup of mixture into the center of double layered egg roll wrapper (2 wrappers stacked on top of one another). Fold in the ends and then roll the wrapper over the mixture, wrapping it up tightly. Lightly brush egg roll tops and bottoms with oil and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes until browned, flipping after 5 minutes.
*I usually don't double layer the wraps & make 20 smaller egg rolls. We each eat 5 per meal.
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