How-To Feed Two Families With One Chicken (and have some leftovers)

The other day I decided to cook a broiler as I’m trying to eat down the store of food in the freezer! A friend of mine had had a weekend of sick children so I thought I’d stretch that bird into a casserole for us and some soup for them.

Here’s how it went:

wpid-20150112_081630.jpg

 

8:00 am: Send Buggle down to the freezer in the basement for the bird. Have him come back to report that he can’t find one and that the large bag of frozen cranberries has spilled all over the freezer. Go down myself, rescue the cranberries that haven’t spilled and find the bird. Put it, still frozen into the crockpot, add one tea kettle full of boiling water, find that the lid won’t go on over the frozen bird. Balance the lid on the bird, turn the crockpot on high and go upstairs to teach school.

11:00 am: Come down to discover the bird has thawed enough the lid can now be put on. Decide it needs a couple more hours to cook, and I might be able to get a bit of a nap after lunch.

2:00 pm: Get up off the couch, think about calling children down to help, decide I want the quiet more than the help. Pull the now falling-off-the-bones bird out of the crockpot to cool for picking. Wonder again what has happened to my meat fork and kitchen tongs which have been missing for months! Think about getting some next time I go to the store but forget to write it on the list.

2:10 pm: Quickly make a batch of roll dough and set it on the warm radiator to rise. Take the time to take a picture and post it to Facebook!

wpid-20150112_142646.jpg

 

 

2:20 pm: Pick the chicken and dump the bones back into the crockpot. Regret briefly that I didn’t call a child down to do this as it’s not one of my favorite jobs. Decide again that I really need the quiet.

wpid-20150112_144529.jpg

2:30 pm: Realize I have an hour and a half before I need to take Bull to dance and drop off the soup. ?Chop two onions and start them frying for the casserole base and the soup. ?Load some dishes into the sink and call Mouse down to load the dishwasher. Check the roll dough and punch it down. Grease two half sheets and form the rolls. Return them to the radiator to rise.

2:45 pm: Decide I need a cup of tea. Turn the kettle on, boil water and pour a cup, then forget to fix it several times! ?Take a picture even though the counter has coffee grounds all over it. Walk away and forget to fix it again!

wpid-20150112_144904.jpg

3:15 pm: Finally remember to fix the tea and drink it quickly as it is now tepid. Add boiling water and fresh parsley to the soup base as well as most of the broth from the crockpot. Use the rest of ?broth and some flour to make white sauce for the casserole base. Add chicken to both dishes and put the rest of the chicken in the fridge. Add frozen peas and lima beans to the soup as well as thyme. Grind some pepper and add salt and pepper to both dishes. Put a pot on for pasta for the casserole. Check the rolls, decide they are ready and put them in the oven.

wpid-20150112_144523.jpg

 

 

wpid-20150112_144519.jpg

3:45 pm: ?Add a pound of frozen spinach to the casserole base, stir the base together with the cooked pasta, pour it into a casserole dish and add bread crumbs to the top. Tell the children to load into the car. ?Check the rolls, decide they aren’t quite ready. Wonder if we’re going to make it to dance on time.

3:55 pm: Everything is ready and the children are in the car. Take the soup and a pan of rolls out, put the casserole in the oven to heat while we are at dance.

4:10 pm: Deliver the soup and rolls and hustle off to dance. Decide that all that cooking is definitely worth a blog post!

This entry was posted in chicken bones, cooking, Dairy Free, Hospitality, Housekeeping, Life, stretching your food dollars, Uncategorized and tagged , , . Bookmark the permalink.

2 Responses to How-To Feed Two Families With One Chicken (and have some leftovers)

  1. Kendra says:

    This is great, twin! Thanks for the tips and smiles.
    And now I’m hungry…

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *