Cheap-n-awesome Chicken

I love having friends over for dinner if only for the odd looks I get when I whip out my camera to take snaps of the process.  This particular meal was no different; I had one friend look at me as if I had lost my mind and the other sympathetic head bob with scrunched nose, as if to say "you're so... special"

Today's menu:

Sauteed Rosemary potatoes

 Garlic Eggplant

Roasted Basil Chicken

By Rachel Abi

I love the "pick me" section of the produce area/ie "need to eat me soon".  It is here that I took the adventure of some potatoes I didn't know well:

Fingerling, Purple Peruvian and Red potatoes 

After rinsing them thoroughly, I sliced them all up into about .25" thick slices. 

About the same time I melted some butter on the stove and cooked in some freshly chopped Basil.

With butter now cooled, no longer liquid, and the potatoes sliced and waiting in the pot, it was time for the chicken.  After laying the leg quarters out in a Pyrex I used a sharp knife to make about an 1.5" wide slit in the skin but not the meat. 

Then take the, now mostly solid, butter and push, any where around, a teaspoon into the slit you made in the skin.

Then to match the potatoes some I dusted the tops of the chicken with a bit of Rosemary, Oregeno, Salt, Pepper, and the tiniest bit of Celery seed. Then placed it in the oven at 350 and set it to cook for 30-45 minutes (depending on the pounds of meat).

Chicken in the oven cooking away I came back to the potatoes: I poured olive oil over them,just enough so the potatoes look evenly most and the bottom of the pan has a very small amount.  Dusted the top with Rosemary, Salt, Pepper, a small bit of Garlic and a very small bit of dried ground Habanero pepper.  Set the stove top at a  medium heat and covered the pan, stirring occasionally.

I sliced the Eggplant into decent but not too great of size then placed it in a small pan with a bit of oil, Garlic and Basil.  Put it over a just under medium heat, covered it, stirred occasionally.

Sadly I forgot to plate this one up... guess I was too anxious to eat it!  By the time I remembered we had already gone through all the Eggplant and most the other two!   Very tasty and a pretty low maintance dish: more importantly the full meal for five costs only 13!  I got the chicken on sale for $.49 Lbs, the potatoes and Eggplant where both in the nearing to go bad discount section at Harris Teeter (totaling out at a whopping $4).

Is it bad that I get so excited at being cheap.  My soon to be new brother in law said something along the lines of "You are more excited about the deal then what you get"... he found that odd.  I find it awesome, but then again I'm biased. 

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Chicken Parm on a whim

So my husband and I were out after a long day and we wanted to eat quick... so we made Chicken parm?

Yes, that is actually true.  How we made it was pretty quick.  I got some fresh chicken (it was buy1 get 1, actually the reason we chose to eat Chicken Parm), pounded it out flat (I put it inside wax paper so that it doesn't splash)...

Ready for the El Cheapo version right here: crushed Ritz crackers

 Dip the chicken in milk and then into the ritz crackers 

 Then on to the frying, I used a bit of butter and olive oil

Then topped it with premade tomato sauce... wonderful and hit the spot in less then 15 min.  My favorite part of this meal: I could just leave it be frying and come back every 7 min or so to flip it!

By Rachel Abi

Carcus smarcus

Do you remember the roasted chicken that we made... do you remember the soup I said I was going to make with the carcus?  Well if you don't you can still appreciate the most amazing soup ever.  

Oh, I am really humble by the way... and not sarcastic ;P

Ok so step one: put carcus in big pot of water, or crockpot (I prefer crockpot because I want to be able to leave the house and I am more comfortable leaving a crockpot running instead of the stove), let it soak and cook on a low temp for a few hours (I did 3 hours).

Step two:  get all the skin, bones, cartalige and all that out of the broth.  I put it in a bowl and scavenge for left over meat to use in the soup.

Step three: add whatever you want into the soup.  I used whatever I had which included: canned peas and green beans, butter beans, rotini noodles, chicken, a potato, corn, a handful of chopped bell pepper, a habenero pepper, a red chilli, fresh sage, parsley and basil, salt, pepper and peprika.  I prefer my chicken soup to be a little spicy... to each their own.  But basically just throw anything in it really.

Step four: leave it alone for an hour or more

Step five: eat it

It is so low maintenence it isn't even funny.  I mean really all you have to do is leave it be.  You can clean the house or, if you were me, mow the yard and you are fine if not better!  It is for this reason: multitasking that I love this soup!   I served it with some fresh whole wheat freshly ground wheat, which you can see how I make it here.

Winner winner

We have a friend who love roasted chicken.  I mean LOVES.  I got  a great deal on this chicken, so we decided we would try our hand at it..  

Easier than I thought it would be and FANTASTIC!

We drained it an pulled out the insides.  Sliced the skin and slid in some butter.  Took some oil to the skin and then topped in with salt, pepper, crushed red pepper, crushed habanero pepper and some garlic.

Our oven has a "roast" setting so that's what we used but you could just put in in at 325-375 degrees just till it gets up to temp.

This I had nothing to do with but it was fantastic.  My husband made this from olive oil, fresh sage, basil and parsley, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper.

Pink eye beans sauteed with some bacon grease then sprinkled salt and pepper.

This is the dead and sad carcass  that was left but I will make it into a fantastic soup!

Leftovers = resources!

So I love re-purposing leftovers.  You know what I mean?  I like taking the vegetables that I made for dinner one night and putting them into a soup the next, or taking roasted potatoes and making them smashed!

Last night: I took leftover BBQ chicken and ripped it up and used it for Southwestern Pot Pie!

Step one: crust!  You can make your pie really simple and buy crust (not too bad priced either) but I like to use my (you are going to think I am on a soap box... but I really just like fresh flour SO much) fresh ground whole wheat flour from The grain mill of wake forest.

Step one: crust

Crust is SUPER easy... you almost can't go wrong.  Take flour, butter/shortening, salt and water... or you got the recipes that have milk and eggs... crust is pretty fantastic.  Main thing: pastry cutter(the thing in the picture... couple bucks at target/walmart) = awesome. 

Step two: filling I do it SO simple, cream of chicken, cream of celery, frozen mixed vegetables and then spices (mainly make sure to use salt and pepper) you can add whatever you want so long as they smell good together you'll be fine.  I used Chipolte pepper, crushed red pepper, chili powder, tarragon, and of course salt and pepper. 

Step three: roll out the pie crust!  If it breaks apart... Its OK!  Mine did.  I'll tell you a secret: it tastes the same!

Step four: Pile it all in into the crust

Step five: put the crust on on the top (like I said: mine broke... still tasted great)