Money-Wise Mondays - chicken times 3!

   When you have a big family, saving money is very important. It's also very challenging when you want to feed your family healthy food. I like organic, free-range chickens for their nutrition and what it doesn't have. Organic chickens don't have antibiotics and they are not fed with pesticide-laden feeds. I don't want these things in my food. It is especially important since animals ingest large amounts of feed over their life span and pesticides can accumulate in their bodies. That can mean that we are also eating pesticides through our meat.


   When I stopped having aversion to meat I made a pledge to only buy organic and/or free range meat. We are lucky to buy 100% grass fed and finished beef from a local ranch (we buy 1/2 a cattle at a time and store it in our large freezer). I was also lucky enough to buy some organic free range chickens from a farm not too far from us. In the past we have also bought free range bison (which in my opinion is much better than beef.) It's always cheaper to buy directly from a farmer, but even then I like to stretch the meat to last for a while.

   If you want to buy a chicken at a grocery store (an organic chicken) it will cost about 30 dollars per large chicken. If you manage to get it on sale it will cost about 20, if you get it from a farmer it's more like 16 dollars. Our family of 5 could technically eat one whole chicken in one sitting, but that would be very expensive (especially if I didn't buy it from a farmer). So what I do is make 3 meals out of one chicken. How is that possible? It's not only possible but very doable. So how do I make 3 meals for a family of 5 based on one chicken?

   The first step is to cut up your chicken. Make sure that the chicken is thawed if it has been frozen. There are numerous sites that can help you cut up a chicken if you have never done it before. I cut off the wings and legs and then cut the back from the breasts. Do not remove the breasts from the breast bone though. So the first meal that I make will have roasted chicken legs and wings. Here is my favorite recipe:

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Oven roasted chicken wings and legs. 

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Ingredients

• 2 legs from a large organic chicken
• 2 wings from a large organic chicken
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 juice from a medium lemon
• 1/4 tsp Spanish paprika
• 1/2 tsp curry powder
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/4 tsp fennel seed powder
• salt and pepper to taste.

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375° F.

Wash all chicken pieces making sure that there are no feathers left on the meat. Place chicken legs and wings (they don't have to be cut up) in a bowl and add olive oil, spices, and salt and pepper. Using fingers, toss the chicken pieces enough that they are all covered equally with the spices.

Arrange all the chicken pieces in a shallow glass dish and place in the oven. Roast them for about 45 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 165°F.

Remove from oven and let them cool a bit so that you can handle it with your hands.

Remove the meat from the bones saving all the bones and chicken wing tips (the last segment on a chicken wing) for making soup.

Serve meat with roasted potatoes (can be done in the oven at the same time as the chicken legs and wings), and a tossed salad for a nice meal.

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   I usually place the chicken back in a different glass dish and season it with salt and pepper and roast it at the same time as the chicken legs and wings are being done. I then use the roasted chicken back and bones and chicken wing tips to make a soup. (Notice I have not mentioned the chicken breast yet!). So how do you make a nutritious chicken soup for the next night? Here is my recipe.

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Chicken soup out of bones

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Ingredients

• Bones and chicken wing tips from roasted chicken
• roasted chicken back
• chicken breast (bone in)
• enough water to fill a large pot
• 3-5 tsp of lemon juice (to help extract calcium from bones)
• 3 carrots, sliced
• 1/2 leek, sliced
• 1 medium parsnip, cut into small cubes
• 1/2 medium celery root (cut into small cubes)
• 4 large stalks of green celery, sliced thinly
• 1 clove of garlic sliced
• 5 button mushrooms, sliced or cut into cubes
• sea salt

Instructions. 
Add water to a large pot and begin heating on medium heat on the stove. Add lemon juice and roasted chicken back piece plus all the bones and chicken wing tips to the pot.

Heat until the stock comes to a light boil. Cook for 10 minutes at which point you'll add the chicken breast with the bone into the pot. Add 1/2 salt. Cook for additional 10 minutes and then lower the heat to low and simmer for about 3 hours.

After 3 hours remove the chicken breast from the stock. Let it cool and then remove the breast meat from the bone. Return the breast bones to the stock and save the chicken breast meat by putting it in a closed glass container in the fridge.

Continue cooking the chicken broth for 6-10 more hours. (I usually put it into my slow cooker on low overnight, or simmer it on the stove). The low simmer helps to release flavor and calcium from bones. After the broth has been simmering for a while, strain it removing all the chicken bones. Place the chicken boned in a compost and return the chicken broth to the pan.

Add all the veggies and simmer the soup over low heat until all the veggies are soft but not mushy. Add the rest of salt to taste and simmer for few more minutes. Serve the chicken soup (with the veggies in it) with cooked noodles (egg noodles, or whole wheat alphabet pasta is our favorite).

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   So this recipe usually makes enough soup for a dinner and lunch for all of us. As you recall I have chicken breast left over from making the soup, and I like to use it for a third meal. There are numerous ways that you can use chicken breast to make a meal. You could make Cesar Salad and toss in the cooked chicken breast for more complete meal. Serve it with some cheese bread and it's a nice, light dinner. You could also cube it, toss it with some fajita seasoning and mix in with some cheddar cheese, red bell peppers and some blanched spinach and place it between 2 tortilla shells and pan roast for a delicious chicken quesadilla. There are many options for chicken breasts. I also like chicken and veggie sandwiches, or chicken, new potato and veggie skillet bake. The choice is yours.

   So that is how I get 3 different meals out of 1 chicken. Every one of these meals in delicious and nutritious and I am proud to serve them to my family. I hope that this will give you confidence to buy a whole chicken and make numerous meals out of it. It's worth the savings!