Make the Most of Your Money... Stretch One Chicken to Feed Your Family Dinner for 3 Days
Day 1 Baked Chicken Recipe
Ok, let me preempt this by saying these recipes are not for a weight loss program but are great for stretching the food budget razor thin.
Ingredients
- 1 Whole chicken
- Butter
- Rosemary
- Salt
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Put some butter and rosemary under the skin of the breast and lightly salt the outside of the skin all over the chicken.
- Bake at 350 for about an hour
- Carve the breast meat away from the bones; remove the legs, wings, and thighs to serve. Don't be to efficient in your carving so that there is a good amount of meat left on the bones. Put the bones and drippings into a large cooking pot for the next day and store in the fridge..
- Serve with a vegetable, fruit, and potatoes or rice for a filling meal. I often just open a can of green beans, a can of pineapple, and make some rice.
Day 2 Chicken and Dumplings Recipe
In the morning or early afternoon completely cover the leftovers in the pot with water and boil to make broth.After about an hour of boiling turn off the heat to allow it to cool. Since the pot is essentially ready to go you could start this process when you get up without really affecting your morning routine. The meat will need to cool to finish which is why you need to do this first part of this process early in the day.When you are ready to make or prep for dinner strain the meat and bones from the broth then strip all of the meat from the bones and put it back into the pot with the broth. While bringing the broth and meat to a boil make the dumplings.
Ingredients
- 2 c. flour
- 4 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. salt
- ¾-1c. of milk
Instructions
- Mix flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Add enough milk to make a soft non-sticky dough
- Roll out the dough and use a pizza cutter to cut it into squares, or roll the dough into small nickel size balls.
- Boil the dumplings in the broth for about ten minutes.
While they are boiling fry ½ c. of flour in ½ c. of butter until they are thoroughly combined.Add ½ to 1 c. of milk to this mixture and bring to a boil allowing it to thicken (like you were making gravy).Pour this into the boiling dumplings and broth after the ten minutes.You now have chicken and dumplings.Season with salt, pepper, and sugar to taste.Scoop out the dumplings and SOME of the chicken onto each plate and serve with some veggies and fruit saving the left over dumpling ‘gravy’ in the pot.
Day 3 Chicken Pot Pie Recipe
In the morning make a double portion of the ‘Buttery Flakey Pie Crust’ and put it in the fridge.You could also make this crust the night before or even the weekend before but whenever you make it do it early enough to allow it to cool for at least 4 hours.When it is time to cook for dinner add a can of mixed veggies to the left over dumpling gravy. It will probably still have a few dumplings and chicken left in it and that is fine. Split your pie crust in half covering a 9x13 pan with the first half.Pour the ‘gravy’ and veggies over the crust and top with the other half of the dough. Press the edges of the top and bottom crust together and cut slits in the top. Bake at 350 until crust is golden and flakey.Serve with a side of fruit.
- Butter Flaky Pie Crust Recipe - Allrecipes.com
A delicious, flaky pie crust made with butter. This recipe makes 1 single crust pie, but can be scaled to meet your needs.
