What do you do with a 3 lb whole chicken...?????

I defrosted a whole chicken. The kids complain lately that we don't have any "real good food" AKA kid friendly food...

So, I watched a video on you tube to see how to cut up the whole chicken and take off all the bones and skin. I was left with a pile of beautiful chicken meat. I put the bones, skin, and frame in the crock pot with some water and spices. 

I put the thighs, wing meat, and the "drumstick" meat into some teryaki marinade for tomorrow's meal.

I sliced the two breast very thin and in strips. I soaked it in some ranch dressing and Parmesan cheese. I put it in the fridge all day. I took it out this evening and sit it on the stove. I had some old garlic Parmesan bread crust from my attempts at homemade bread last week. They were in the freezer. I put them in the blender and grated it into crumbs. I covered the chicken with the bread crumbs and baked it at 350 . 

I steamed some green beans, and sliced a pitiful half cucumber to have on the side.

I have a few very small potatoes in the fridge. I fried them with half an onion (a very sad onion) and some butter in a pan.

OMG Dinner was AMAZING!!!

What meat that is left on the frame will be picked off and placed in a bowl for BBQ sandwiches. The stock will be put into bowls and placed in the freezer.

Weekend Dinner

My daughter made cinnamon pancakes for dinner last night. Tonight I had enough bread ends in the freezer to make french toast for the five of us. We had three slices each, used 6 eggs, and a good amount of fluid milk.


I paid 249 dollars last week for my DH to get his two cavities filled. I have to pay 279 tomorrow for my cracked molar for a crown (the rest will be due in three weeks). My DD went to the dentist for her xrays and cleanings. She has one cavity. My son has an appointment the first week of November for his cavity to be filled. My middle DD has NO cavities.

I took my car in to get an oil change and found today that I need brake pads on my car. They quoted me 210 dollars total. I have to make the appointment in November. I was told that my car will not pass inspection for January with out new brake pads.

I worked one shift of overtime last week and I have an additional night of overtime this week to help with the expenses.

I was able to put 1,000 dollars in my savings account this month for October. It brings the total up to 2600!! I'm hoping to leave the cash in my savings. I don't want to use it.

What's been cooking...

Thursday evening I made shells, with pasta sauce, and ground beef. It was a pound of pasta from the pantry, a half of jar of sauce in the fridge, along with a whole jar from the pantry (our last one), and a small tube of 85% lean ground beef. I fried the ground beef, simmered the pasta and mixed it together. I added the sauce and steamed some corn. That was dinner.


Friday we had scrambled eggs and toast.

Being productive...

I have home made apple crisp in the oven. Diced apples, cinnamon, sugar, whole oats, flax, brown sugar.....YUM! It's screaming at me to get some vanilla ice cream for it. It's our dessert tonight.

I also have homemade bread in the ABM. I added three cloves of garlic and Parmesan cheese.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/French-Bread/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=bread&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page&soid=sr_results_p1i14&scale=15&ismetric=0

What's been cooking...

Monday evening I made the kids some steamed ravioli for dinner. They topped it with some Parmesan cheese and Aldi spaghetti sauce. No leftovers!

I made ground turkey burgers for my husband and I.  I used a 1/2 lb of ground turkey that was in the fridge, one sleeve of crackers, some Worcestershire sauce, one egg, onion powder, garlic podwer, and a small amount of beef stock. I mixed this into two patties and baked then in the oven. I was able to use tow hamburger rolls, one sliced tomato, a sliced onion, and some lettuce to top our sandwiches. It was awesome!! The were no leftovers.

Last night I cooked a pound of ground beef, used up the last of the steamed corn in the fridge, and boiled some small potatoes. I layered the ground beef in a casserole dish, covered it with the steamed corn, and made some beef gravy. The beef gravy was made from a rue of butter and flour, mixed with some beef stock. I poured the gravy over the mixture and turned the potatoes into mashed spuds using some milk and margarine. I topped the casserole with the mashed potatoes and baked it in the oven. Shepard's pie folks!! No leftovers!


Today's' meal is chicken soup. I have three containers of gelatinous stock in the freezer. I took them out and put into the crock pot. I had one cup of cut up diced chicken in the freezer. That went into the crock pot. I had three cloves of garlic, one small red pepper that was sad looking, and one onion. It all went into the crock pot. I have four thin carrots that went into the crock pot. I added some water, a few spices, sage, thyme, poultry seasoning, parsley, and two bouillon cubes.....it will cook all day.

I'm going to make home made bread in my ABM and a small salad with what little fresh produce we have left.

What's been cooking...

I've been working all weekend, night shift, 12 hours. On Thursday, my DH made baked chicken thighs in the oven, baked some potatoes, and steamed veggies. He made a nice salad and baked cookies. It was REALLY NICE!

Friday I put the rest of the chicken thighs in the crock pot. I added the last bit of BBQ sauce that was in the fridge. We used the last of two small bottles and some old take out packets. The bottles went into the recycling bucket. We had finished up the last of the steamed veggies from the night before.

Saturday, my DH made homemade chili. He bought ground beef (why I don't know, since we had some in the freezer), shredded cheese, and sour cream. We had everything else to make it.

Sunday evening I am awake for work. My DH is baking french fries and boiling hot dogs for dinner. He has some corn to steam to serve with it.

I'm glad he's been cooking the past few days.

Dinner last night

I bought a pork loin last week at Aldi. I cut it up into nice sized pork chops!! We have enough for four meals for the five of us!!

Last night I baked five pork chops with some onion powder, garlic powder, and Aldi "beef and pork grinder spices". I made a nice sized salad (lettuce, tomato, cucumber, onion) and had two various dressings offered. We steamed some green peas, corn, and green beans to serve with our meal.

It was pretty good! We have some veggies left over to have with our meal tonight.

Tonight's meal:

I had chicken drumsticks in the freezer bought on clearance a while ago. Five legs for 2.02 total at Aldi. SCORE!!!! Well, I finished up the last of the Aldi herb and garlic marinade and used it to marinade the chicken drumsticks. They are sitting in the fridge defrosting, soaking up all that good marinade. We will have the last of the steamed veggies from last night, a large salad (tomato, cucumber, onion, pickle, lettuce), and I have some left over "fried rice" from our adventures on Friday evening that needs to be used.

Grocery shopping

I went to Aldi after we got home from our trip and spent 28 dollars on produce. I went to Aldi yesterday and bought 150 dollars worth of groceries. My total for the month is 300 dollars for the five of us.

Here's what I bought:

4 lb mixed fruit
12 rolls toilet paper
three large cans of crushed tomato
3 cans of diced tomato
1 bag mini marshmallows
frozen cheese ravioli
one harvest pizza
a package of roast beef
trash bags
margarine
3 lb ground turkey
2 lb ground beef
hot dogs 3 lb
turkey bacon
one whole chicken
half a pork loin (need to cut this into single chops and a small roast)
3 lb onions
half gallon juice
dry milk
Parmesan cheese
2 gallons skim milk
bought my DH lobster tail
2 jars spaghetti sauce
2 dozen large eggs
two boxes cereal
4 lb sugar
BBQ sauce
marshmallow creme
pickles
lettuce
extra sharp cheese
mild cheddar
hot chocolate
microwave popcorn
ketchup
pancake syrup
hazelnut spread
peppers
cream cheese
10 roma tomatoes
2 large cucumbers
fresh garlic
onion powder
a case of coke

Dinner...

We went out last nigh to a Japanese Steakhouse and had a wonderful time. It cost a nice penny but like I said, we had a great time.

Today's dinner is spaghetti sauce, meat balls over some pasta.

I used half a lb of ground beef, one egg, some beef stock, Worcestershire sauce, Parmesan cheese, and the last onion roll in the blender to make breadcrumbs. I mixed this up and used a teaspoon to measure out meatballs. I baked them in the oven and then put them in the crock pot.

In the crock pot with the meatballs are two cans of crushed tomato, one can of diced tomato, three roma tomatoes, two medium sized onions, two big cloves of garlic, 7 baby sized peppers (red, yellow, orange), and half a large green pepper. I added some basil. I am going to let this cook all day until 4 and we are going to boil some pasta.

I am going to make a large salad (lettuce, tomato, cucumber) and steam some broccoli to serve with this.

No pasta for me.

What's been cooking??

We used the last bit of ground beef my DH bought for dinner last night. I made cheese burgers, topped with very generous slices of tomato and onion. I was trying to use what was available and keep our expenses down.

1 lb ground beef
1 cup of beef stock
1 egg
3 slices of "honey wheat bread" grated in the blender
Worcestershire sauce

I shaped this into burgers (HOLY CRAP very generous sizes I might say for the five of us)
and baked in the oven. We had a few buns in the freezer (two plain and a few onion buns from Aldi) that needed to be used. I sliced our last tomato and sliced a onion to top our burgers. We also had a few slices of Kraft deli cheese that needed to go, along with the last few slices of pickles in a jar......see a theme here???

I baked half a bag of tater tots for the kids, and onion rings I bought a while ago from Dollar Tree. Dinner was great. Kids loved it. My DH loved it. It's a lot cheaper than going to McDonald's.


Today's meal is going along the same lines of "using things up". I have some dental expenses that will occur later this month. I am working hard to use what we have to keep expenses down.


http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Delicious-Ham-and-Potato-Soup/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Title&e11=potato&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Recipe%20Hub&soid=sr_results_p1i1

I am making potato soup today. I am using two containers of homemade chicken stock form the freezer. I am using a few carrots, the last bit of celery, two cloves of garlic, chopped onion, some parsley, and a bunch of very small potatoes. I put it in the crock pot. I don't have any ham or bacon, so we left it out. Later I will use the flour, butter, and milk to mix in the sauce pan and cook, then add it to the crock pot.

I figure with the homemade chicken stock and spices in that, we may not really need the ham or bacon. At least we are not going to have it today.

What's been cooking???

My Dh bought some ground beef and a whole chicken he found on mark down the other night.

He made sloppy joes on Sunday with onion rings for the five of us for dinner. I had to work and I appreciate his efforts!!

On Monday I put the whole chicken in the oven with some thyme, sage, poultry seasoning, garlic, pepper, and parsley. I let it cook for a couple of hours at 325. I made a pot of mashed potatoes (real potatoes, milk, butter, and I added three cloves of chopped garlic), and steamed some green beans.

It was wonderful!!

This morning I picked off the meat form the bird. I have a cup of chopped chicken for the freezer. I have a three quart bowl of "chicken stock" from the baking pan I put in the freezer.

I took the frame, skin, bones, some celery, a few carrots, a couple of cloves of garlic, a whole chopped onion, a bouillon cube, parsley, thyme, sage and put it in the crock pot with a couple cups of water. I'm going to let this simmer all day and cook. I still take out the skin, bones, and frame and boil some egg noodles later. It's going to be a nice cool day for some homemade chicken soup.

I'm thankful he found a marked down whole chicken for 73 cents a lb. It cost about 3 dollars and provided us with some much needed protein.

Dinner 10/4

I'm working all weekend. Last night my DH ordered pizza from Little Cesaser's.

My DH and daughter baked thin pork chops with BBQ sauce, made a huge salad (lettuce, tomato, cucumber, pickles), steamed corn and peas, and fresh pineapple.

Updates:

We had left overs last night. The choices were frozen quesidillas, one chicken thigh, many left over veggies, some fruit, salad, and/or bowl of cereal and milk.

The quesadillas are gone. One kid had cereal and milk. One kid had the chicken thigh and no veggies. They ate some sandwiches.

I didn't want to cook.

My kids have been to their mental health providers. We were charged the co payments, got new prescriptions, and my DD had to take a "personality test". I paid them in full and they are now caught up.

My DH went to the dentist this morning. He has 6 cavities. They took xrays, did some cleaning, and gave us a written treatment plan. There was no charge for today's' visit, since my insurance covered all the costs. He will have two cavities filled later this month. I'm waiting on an estimate of charges.

My kids and I go to the dentist on Monday. There's usually no charges for the cleanings. I believe we all had xrays on our last visit 6 months ago. I'm praying that there are no cavities that need to be filled.

Tonight's dinner in the crock pot:

our last five chicken thighs
five carrots
one onion
a handful of celery
sage
garlic powder
poultry seasoning
a bouillon cube
a small amount of water


I am going to make another medium size salad, serve some other left over veggies (California blend).

Back to work tonight.