Roast Chicken

Jake and I have found a love for roast chicken. And they are cheap which is an added bonus! I usually just put it in the crock pot stuffed with onion and garlic. This time I wanted something different. I found a recipe for a rub at Kalyn's Kitchen. She was making this rub and bagging it up into Christmas gifts. So, I scaled the recipe way down. I also didn't follow her instructions for use. It came out fabulous and juicy. I then took the rest of the chicken apart today and we had chicken soup with lots of leftovers. I have now turned a roaster chicken into 3 meals.

Just to give you a reference. I bought the chicken at Sam's Club. The roasters come in a 2 pack for $8.42. That's 1 chicken for $4.21. And I am going to get 3 meals out of 1 chicken. That's $1.40 per meal. Now I realize that I add things to the meal but how can you go wrong when the protein for your meal costs $1.40!

Here is what I did:

Roast Chicken Rub

6 Tablespoon garlic powder
2 Tablespoon thyme
2 Tablespoon parsley
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon onion powder
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sage
1 Tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon rosemary
1 Tablespoon paprika
1 Tablespoon cayenne pepper (I omitted)

Mix all ingredients together. Store in a air tight container.


Roast Chicken

I mixed 2 Tablespoons of the rub into 1/2 stick of softened butter. I rinsed the chicken and patted it dry. I then trimmed it of excess fat and loosed the skin from the chicken breasts being careful not to break the skin. I salted and peppered the inside cavity of the chicken. I then rubbed the mixture onto the chicken breasts under the skin. I then used the remaining mixture to coat the outside of the skin including the legs and wings.
I laid the chicken on a bed of baby carrots. Added enough chicken stock to fill the baking dish up about half way (2-3 cups)
I cooked the chicken for about 25 minutes at 450. I took the chicken out, turned the oven down to 325. I basted the chicken with the liquid from the bottom of the pan. I returned the chicken to the oven and cooked for about an 1 and 15 minutes until the temperature on a meat thermometer read 165 degrees. I basted the chicken even 20-30 minutes. I covered the chicken with foil towards the end to prevent it from burning while I was waiting for it to come up to temperature.




Chicken Soup

I saved the cooking liquid from the bottom of the pan and ran it through a strainer. I removed all the remaining chicken from the bones. Added carrots, egg noodles and enough water to have a good amount of broth. Let it simmer for 45 minutes.

Potato Soup

What a better way to enjoy a cold, winter evening than with your husband, a movie and a bowl of comforting potato soup! It was perfect except for the fact that we ate too much of it so we both felt logy later on in the evening. It was just so good!

Ingredients

2 cups potatoes, chopped
2 cups water
3 tablespoons butter
small onion, chopped (we didn't have one!)
3 tablespoons flour
3 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 cup ham, cooked and chopped
1 cup cheddar cheese

Directions
Cook potatoes in a large soup pot with water until fork tender. Drain potatoes, reserving 1 cup of the water.
While potatoes drain, melt butter in the bottom of the pot and saute onions, whisking in flour to make a roux.
Return potatoes and reserved water to the pot. Add milk, sugar and ham. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let simmer and thicken for about 30-40 minutes.
Add cheese and let it melt through.
Serve with crusty bread.

Note: The thing to remember is that potatoes don't have a lot of flavor on their own so be generous with the salt and pepper. We also used skim milk and it was nice and creamy without too much fat. We doubled the recipe so that we had leftovers for lunch this week.

Recipe from 101 Potato Recipes
Picture from my kitchen!

Husband and Wife Rating: A++