One Chicken

Yesterday I baked a chicken and added lots of garlic, onions, potatoes and carrots to it and baked it in the oven.  I also made a HUGE pot of green beans.  Everyone had this for lunch except Jeff and Jordan.  There was a good bit of chicken with the roasted veggies and green beans  left over for dinner so I added a pan of fresh creamed corn, a dish of zucchini au gratin and plate full of sliced fresh tomatoes.  We all had dinner at home last night (I had a veggie plate) and there was STILL a good bit of chicken left over.

So after dinner last night I put the chicken in the crockpot and covered it with water along with some garlic and apple cider vinegar.  This cooked all night in the crockpot.  This morning I poured off the broth and deboned the chicken.  In a large stockpot I poured in about 1/4 cup of olive oil and sauteed three cloves of minced garlic, a diced onion, and two finely chopped carrots.  I then added four cups of rice and about 3 cups of fresh baby spinach.  I mixed this well and stirred until the spinach was cooked down.  I have made this with zucchini and yellow squash, but was fresh out.

I then added a little water to the reserved broth to make 7 cups of liquid and poured this over the rice mixture.  I added about 2 tsp of salt, some dried basil and turmeric for color.  I also put in about 1 cup of the chicken.   This makes a delicious one dish meal loaded with veggies and all the good fat that my allergic baby boy needs.  This also freezes well, so I can pull small bags of it to use at other times.  This is especially good for times when I have things like bbq sandwiches and baked beans on the menu and he cannot eat those.    There was still enough chicken for a small bowl of chicken sandwich spread that will be for lunch today.

So...one chicken = three meals + plus some leftovers for my little one.

And to make it an even more thrifty meal the chicken was reduced in price a good bit when I purchased it.  I am able to keep a good inventory of meats in the freezer because of Kroger's reduced meats.  Thrifty and delicious!!