Dinners in the crockpot-to the Beach!

It’s summer and I find I try to think of all kinds of foods I can make for lunches and dinners that don’t require cutting on the oven. And chicken dishes always are a Main stay of our summer cuisine.

My family prefers white meat so most of my recipes are with chicken breasts. I buy bags of frozen boneless, skinless breasts. Sam’s, BJ’s, Costco or any of the Bulk Stores have a great selection. Otherwise I just pick it up on sale when I grocery shop. And if your family likes dark meat you can save a lot by buying whole chickens or mixed packages the meat is interchangeable in all of these recipes.

I like the frozen chicken because the flavor and quality seems to be consistent however don’t get me wrong if there is a big sale on fresh chicken I am there stocking up. That’s another thing I keep track of is the foods I use a lot and then I buy extra when they are on sale.**

So many recipes call for cooked chicken and now a days you can get all kinds of prepared chicken at a premium price so to save money and have cooked chicken on hand I will cook up a batch, bag it, and put it in the freezer. I will prepare the chicken many ways depending on how I plan to use it. For shredded chicken and for cut up I usually season it and throw it in the oven to bake. I season it with onion, garlic, celery salt, pepper, Montreal Chicken seasoning by McCormick, and Knorr’s chicken bouillon, which I buy in the GIANT jar at Walmart (so cheap).

**Always rinse your chicken with fresh water and pat dry before you cook it**

Here are three ways I prepare Chicken so I’ll have cooked chicken for recipes.

BOILING

If You Prefer To boil and Make Stock

Place chicken pieces or whole chicken in a large pot cover with water add seasonings (I use salt, garlic, parsley, poultry seasoning, dehydrated onion and some pepper) bring to boil turn down burner and let it simmer usually about and hour and a half till chicken is falling apart. Turn off heat remove chicken from the stock and let it rest for at least 15 minutes before you begin to pull it apart and shred or dice it. Use in chicken salad, chicken and broccoli wreath, individual chicken pot pies and a whole lot more.

Strain the stock and pour it into ice cube trays, freeze and then put in large zipper lock bag and return to freezer. Use these cubes of stock when recipe calls for chicken stock.

TO BAKE

For cut up chicken I use a shallow covered Corningware dish, pyrex, stoneware or other covered oven safe glass covered dish you may have. Rinse chicken and place in dish in a single layer. Sprinkle seasoning over each piece (I use McCormicks Chicken Montreal, a blend of garlic, onion salt, red pepper, orange peel, paprika, green bell peppers, lemon all in one or two shakes, some dehydrated onion, a little more garlic powder and a little extra virgin olive oil because the breasts are skinless) on each piece. Bake in a 375° oven for 40 minutes.

For a little extra pizzazz I like to pour a little vermouth on each piece too.

Remove from oven let cool at least 15 minutes and then cut up and put away 1 cup portions in freezer bags.

But for a whole chicken there is nothing better than a stoneware covered baker like this one from Pampered Chef. I Rub minced garlic cloves, salt and pepper with butter inside the chicken and then I season the outside with garlic, salt, pepper, parsley and dehydrated onion, a splash of extra virgin olive oil and a splash of Vermouth (optional) Cover and Bake for 1 hour. The result is Chicken like Arby’s rotisserie. Yummy.

IN MY CROCKPOT

A crock pot is great for pre-cooking chicken. I will just throw some chicken in the crock pot in the morning and let it cook all day on low. I’ll set it on low and go!

4-5 lbs chicken breasts (or if your family likes dark meat you can use one whole chicken small enough to fit in your crock pot

1 cup chopped onion (may substitute dehydrated onion)

¼ cup chopped garlic 3 lg cloves (may use dried minced)

¼ cup apple cider vinegar I prefer using vermouth

1 T brown sugar (optional)

Layer chicken in the crock pot sprinkling each layer with the mixture of seasonings (I use McCormicks Chicken Montreal, a blend of garlic, onion salt, red pepper, orange peel, paprika, green bell peppers, lemon all in one or two shakes, some dehydrated onion, a little more garlic powder.)

Top with vinegar or wine (Vermouth) and cook on low heat 6-8 hours

Remove from crock pot, cool at least 15 minutes and then either shred or cut into pieces.

Pack in freezer bags and freeze to use in your recipes.

Making your own chicken that has been seasoned by you brings and unexpected deliciousness to recipes calling for cooked chicken. All the dishes I prepare seem to get more compliments. Just the other day I bought some chicken salad from Costco that they make from the leftover rotisserie chickens and my daughter said “mom this isn’t your chicken salad is it?” I asked why do you think it’s not mine and she replied, “it doesn’t have much flavor.”

Once you have made some ready made cooked chicken packets you are ready to tackle some recipes.

Try your home cooked chicken in

Chicken salad,

So refreshing and good for you!

**SALES ON GROCERIES: Grocery stores always have great sales around holidays, prices on food are especially good around Thanksgiving and there are loads of coupons in the newspaper each Sunday if you still get the paper during the holidays. This is when I buy all my Stove Top stuffing mix for the next year (about 12 boxes) which is usually around $1.79 a box but during the holidays it’s around $ .78 a box, big saving. You can get a great deal on Bruce’s sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, fresh cranberries which I freeze, baking ingredients and canned cream soup. This past year I paid just $ .50 per can for cream of mushroom and cream of chicken soup which is usually $1.19 on sale.

Are you a couponer? Did you know that many stores offer a site with coupons that you know are safe to download. Read my post:

Safe Sites for getting coupons on the internet!

check out ‘CAUTION! IS THAT COUPON SITE SAFE?’ for some safe couponing sites sponsored by your favorite stores.

Need some substitutions:

Dehydrated onion is under appreciated. How many times do you go to your pantry for an onion and it is all mushy. Well it happens to me more than I would like to admit. Dehydrated onions are great keep on hand. I can’t tell you how many times I have thrown away soggy onions so now I only buy onions if I am using them immediately and I use dehydrated in all of my cooking. My kids can’t believe they aren’t real. My trick is to give the onion a little time to hydrate I add it when I sauté the veggies just like I would if they were fresh. They will plump right up. I use them in mashed potatoes, pizza, omelette, scrambled eggs everything. It’s great. I have even added them when I am using real onions on a pot roast, or pork tenderloin, they add a much richer onion flavor which infuses the meat with the delicate onion flavor.

Don’t have sour cream or not on sale use cottage cheese instead blend to a smooth consistency in your blender

No buttermilk… add 1 tsp white vinegar or lemon juice into measure cup and add enough whole milk to make one cup now you have a cup of buttermilk for those pancakes you wanted to make, or that salad dressing.

Do you find you need lemon juice from time to time? Coca-Cola/Minute Maid makes a great frozen lemon juice it has great flavor and is real lemon juice. You buy it frozen and then you can keep it in the freezer and then refrigerator for a long time. And it’s great in the morning in your tea. more. . . . . . . . . . .

until later… as always betti : )

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Take a look at some of the recipes on the sight. Want to make it check out categories and choose your favorite to try…

: Turn a loaf of French or Italian Bread into the best garlic bread ever.

: All in One Spaghetti perfect for the summer as it is made in the crockpot. Little Fuss/Great Reward.

: Oven baked deliciousness. You can’t tell them from fried. Except on your waisteline!

: Creamy, a little sweet, a little vinegar to offset cabbage, perfect coleslaw.

: Crockpot Honey Barbequed Chicken sandwich topped with creamy coleslaw.

: Secret to making croutons is Frozen Bread, and flavorful seasoning.

: If you like German Chocolate Cake you’ll love these brownies!

: Salad Dressing

: Mild ribs on the bar-b.

: BBQ rubbed ribs pre-baked in oven and then throw em on the grill. Perfection!

: Vanilla ice cream in a cantaloupe half dessert and a fruit.

: Easy to make peanut butter cookies.

: Perfect side salad made from fresh Romaine lettuce, carrots, cucumber, red onion and homemade croutons and homemade Good Seasons Clone Dressing Mix.