There are days when we need Chicken Noodle Soup to just soothe the soul. It could be for those rainy, cold days or those days when you feel miserable and want some comfort food – or it could be one of those Sunday night “I can’t be bothered cooking” kind of meals. Either way, Chicken Noodle Soup is an easy meal – serve it up with some hot crusty bread and a touch of parmesan cheese – ahhhhh – bliss!
This recipe is part of our “1 Chicken – 4 meals – 3 People” series
Ingredients
- 1 whole large raw chicken carcass- breasts, thighs, legs and wings removed
- half a bunch of celery
- 4 carrots
- 3 onions
- 4 cloves garlic
- angel hair noodles/pasta
- salt and pepper to taste
Method
Grab a large saucepan. Chop up 1 onion, 2 carrots, and about half of the celery (including the head). You don’t need to dice these, you can just cut in half and put into the saucepan – we are making stock at this stage, so all the solid things will be tossed later. Add the chicken carcass, skin, salt, pepper, garlic and any other herbs you have handy which would be ok for the stock. Add water to cover the carcass. Put on the stove on medium to low heat, put the lid on and let it cook for about 2-3 hours – the longer the better – keep the lid on to reduce loss of liquids.
Note – if you wanted to take the last of the vegetables and carcass one step further, you could make another lot of chicken stock from these ingredients before throwing them away. You may need to add more vegetables to get the flavours up. Stock is great to keep in the freezer for other dishes, and since you have made it from scratch it is so much yummier than powdered stock or pre-made – cheaper too!). You can use this stock to make more soup, risotto, sauces, casseroles, curries, etc.
1 Chicken – 4 Meals – 3 People
This little beauty is all about how to get 4 meals for 3 people out of one chicken!
So, the other day I picked up a whole uncooked chicken at the supermarket for $3.50/kg. I picked a fairly large one, I had a few things in mind with what to do with it…
I really have to say, that if you have space in your freezer and the budget to cover it, and the time to prepare it – if you see whole chicken at a fantastic price – don’t just buy one! The most recent time I have purchased whole chicken, I ended up going back and buying another 4 chickens and then broke/cut them down into meal portions and froze them – including the bones for stock when I’m ready.
A couple of days before, I had seen a post on Facebook for Mexican chicken and this was the start of my inspiration. From there, I thought about what else I could get out of a budget chicken – here’s what I came up with – 1 chicken – 4 meals – to feed the 3 of us!
To create these dishes, there was a bit of preparation to do, and a few other ingredients to buy. So, for your shopping list, you will need (if you don’t already have):-
- 1 whole large raw chicken
- half a bunch of celery
- 4 carrots
- 3 onions
- 2 large tomatoes
- 250g Philadelphia cream cheese
- powdered burrito mix (we used Old El Paso)
- tin of corn kernels
- tin of black beans (in the Mexican section at the supermarket)
- 1 small chili (to taste)
- a packet of tortillas (or make your own – they are only flour, water and effort!)
- angel hair noodles/pasta
- extra vegetables for soup
For the recipes – you will need to follow the links above – happy cooking!
Chicken with Tortilla
Looking for a quick easy meal then this Chicken with Tortilla is just for you!
This recipe is part of our “1 Chicken – 4 Meals – 3 People” series.
A couple of days before, I had seen a post on Facebook for Mexican chicken – it was a post shared from My Litter by a friend – the photo belongs to My Litter, I have modified the recipe as some things are not available in Australia. This was the start of my inspiration.
- 2 large chicken breasts
- 2 large tomatoes
- 250g Philadelphia cream cheese
- powdered burrito mix (we used Old El Paso)
- tin of corn kernels
- tin of black beans (in the Mexican section at the supermarket)
- 1 small chili (to taste)
- a packet of tortillas (or make your own – they are only flour, water and effort!)
In either an oven proof dish, pressure cooker, or crockpot – put the whole chicken breasts in the bottom of the pot. Drain off the corn kernels and add. Drain and rinse off the black beans and also add to the pot. Add the cream cheese, burrito mix, the chili and chop up the tomatoes as well – all these go into the pot – don’t worry about mixing it, just pop it all in.
(photo from My Litter)
If you are cooking it in the pressure cooker – I cooked it on 2 curry cycles (about 22 minutes per cycle). If you are cooking it in the slow cooker you need 4 hours on high, or 6 hours on low. In the oven, make sure its covered and bake on about 160deg for 4-6 hours (keep an eye on it).
Spiced Chicken With Rice
You can take this dish one step further over two nights – only use half of the cooked amount of mixture above – for the second dish, reheat and serve with steamed rice.
Beer Bum Chicken
I have to tell you, when I first heard of Beer Bum Chicken – I had a little giggle to myself – “beer bum chicken???” said my husband! Yep, it really is a thing…
This beer bum chicken is one of the most succulent, moist roast chicken dishes I think I have ever made! It’s not a pretty sight, sticking a can of beer up the rear end of a whole chicken; and it’s a bit of a balancing act to stop it toppling over. My best tip: make sure that the rack in your oven is low enough to get it into the oven! If you have a barbeque with a hood then use that, or better still if you have a wood fired oven then cook it in there.
Ingredients:
- 1 whole chicken
- 1 can of beer
- spices to rub the chicken with.
Method:
This is so easy! Open the beer (don’t drink it). Rub the chicken with the herb/spice rub you have chosen. Place the can of beer (opened end up) into the cavity of the chicken. Rest the chicken in a baking tray.
Bake moderate oven for 1-1.5 hours until the juices run clear.
Carefully remove the can from the chicken. Cover and rest the chicken for about 10-15 mins before cutting.
Reserve the juices to make a gravy. To make the gravy, melt 2T butter in a saucepan, add 1/4C plain flour and stir until the mixture is smooth and glossy. Slowly add in the pan juices and extra water if needed. Keep stirring until the sauce thickens and comes to the boil, remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper if required.
Cheep Chicken Country Bake
Our special Cheep Chicken Country Bake will feed your family at a rock bottom price. At the time of publication, our local butcher is selling chicken legs and wings at only $1.95/kg – normally we eat 2kg of chicken legs between us for a meal, and there are still about half a dozen left over for afternoon snacks.
Dishing up this chicken country bake is an absolute budget breaker – we were down to our last scrappy vegetables and 6 chicken legs – you know what guys are like – “what? I only get 2 legs?” – well, make it go further and cook up a heap of vegetables with it – you will not only finish cleaning out your fridge, but this is a super “cheep” meal (pardon the pun). Even if some of those veges are looking a little tired, you can still use them in this dish.
Ingredients:
- 6 chicken drumsticks
- 3 pieces bacon – chopped in chunks
- 3 potatoes – peeled and chopped
- 1 sweet potato – peeled and chopped
- 2 brown onions – peeled and chopped
- 1 red capsicum – remove flesh and seeds, chop
- 1 fresh beetroot – peel and chop
- 3 large mushrooms – thickly sliced
- 1 head garlic – peeled
- Sage
- Rosemary
- Bush seasoning
- All spices seasoning
- Olive oil
- 150g butter
- Salt
Rub the drumsticks with seasoning and leave overnight to marinate.
Bake 180deg for about 1.5 hours.
Chicken Schnitzel for Jackie
Dear Jackie, whenever I make my normal chicken schnitzel I always think of you and wish that you could enjoy it as much as I do. This recipe is for you my sweet – a gluten free version – we taste tested it and our food critic, William, gave it the 10 thumbs up – so much so, that with the small amount of leftovers he was using for lunch, he made an executive decision to finish it off for second breakfast this morning before his dad could get it…..gone! Vanished! A good sign that it was a success…
- 2 Chicken breasts or 700g tenderloins (depends how many you are feeding)
- 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/2 cup chopped fresh basil
- 1/2 cup gluten free flour
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup milk
- 2 cups quinoa flakes*
If using chicken breasts, slice them to make schnitzel thickness fillets.
Dip the chicken into the flour, then into the milk/egg mix, and then coat with the quinoa crumb mix.
Heat oil (not olive oil) in pan. Cook schnitzel until golden on each side. Keep warm in oven until ready to eat.
Chicken Schnitzel – Homemade Secret Recipe
My kids love this chicken schnitzel – you could substitute the chicken for veal as an option – great to keep for lunches the next day (if they last).
“Muuuuuummmmmmmm…….can we have chicken schnitzel tonight?” came the usual cry – and I knew in an instant, that there wouldn’t be any left overs of chicken schnitzel tonight.
Ingredients
- 1kg chicken breast (or use tenderloins)
- breadcrumbs
- bunch fresh basil
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese – grated
- 2 eggs
- milk
- 1/2 cup flour
- oil for cooking (do not use olive oil) – peanut oil works well, or vegetable, canola.
In another bowl, place the flour. Season with salt.
In a 3rd bowl, place your breadcrumb mixture (if you do not want to make your own breadcrumbs, use packaged ones).
Dunk the chicken fillets into the flour mixture first – make sure that you completely cover the fillets with the flour.
Next into the egg mixture, again make sure that the egg mixture completely covers the flour – this is so that the breadcrumb mix will stick.
Finally into the breadcrumbs. Press the breadcrumbs over the chicken fillets.
Place on plate.
Heat oil – to see if oil is hot enough, drop some bread into the oil – if it fries then it is hot enough – if nothing happens wait a little longer.
Carefully ease the schnitzel into the hot oil, taking care not to drop it in (oil splashes are painful).
