One chicken Three meals

You know I read a lot of frugal blogs and books in the search for how to save every penny I can around here. Over time I have read several different large family blogs that have all claimed to be able to use ONE chicken for THREE meals. Now for a long time I have sat there and looked at that statement in wonder. How in the world is one tiny little chicken supposed to feed 7 people three times? Well we finally managed it and I thought I would share how we did it

Day one:
Roast chicken with green beans and Mac and cheese
*** After eating the chicken put the bones, cooking juices, and skin in a crock pot fill with water and cook on low all night, and put the leftover chicken in the fridge **

Day Two:
Chicken and Dumplings with a salad
***Use the chicken stock you made over night for the soup, use two cups of stock and flour to make the dumplings. Add in any leftover dark meat from the chicken***

Day three:
Chicken with peppers and Rice
*** Any leftover white meat from the chicken served "stirfry" style with peppers and onions over rice, there are so many veggies and rice no one notices if there isn't a ton of chicken***

That is how *we* did it. How about you???

Attempting some new cheap meals

This week I am attempting some new recipes that are supposed to help you feed your family well on a budget. I started by finally reading a cookbook I have had in my pantry for over a year! I got this book "Family Feasts for $75 a week" back in November 2009. Needless to say I got a little busy soon after buying it since the twins were born in January 2010. The first half of the book is a breakdown of the authors methods for saving money. Since I have been working on cutting back my grocery bill for so long there really wasn't much there I didn't already know, but I could see how it would be helpful for someone just starting the road to cutting their grocery bill. My favorite section of the book was the chapter on making your own Sauces, mixes, dressings, etc. I am sure I will be looking through there more to pull out seasoning mixes to try! There were several recipes inside that I thought would be fun to try for our dinners this week. So far I have made a few of the recipes and thought I would share my experiences.

The first recipe I decided to work on was Pizza roll ups. Basically a Cinnamon roll made with pizza fillings instead of sugar and butter. We used cream cheese, tomato paste, mozzarella cheese, peperoni and seasonings. As you can see my homemade pizza dough rose very well! No need to worry my yeast wasn't fresh! For my personal taste the tomato paste was a little pasty. Next time I think I will either thin it out a little with some water or try a spaghetti or pizza sauce. The kiddos were not too sure of the rolls, my oldest was game and ate most of hers since she could see the peperoni, my 4yr old on the other hand was not too sure and didn't eat any. I personally liked them and had some for leftovers today. Hubby seemed to like them as well and even though I thought I had a ton leftover the container is almost empty.

Next up we have Jazzy Ramen. Now I am not a fan of Ramen, honestly I have not had Ramen since I was in college. I have never though of Ramen as being a healthy option so I don't cook with them. This recipe had a ton of veggies in it so I was willing to give it a try. In this recipe we had: carrots, onions, cabbage, and broccoli. It used 3 Ramen packets but only one of the seasoning packets mixed with some corn starch, soy sauce, and ginger. I made a vegetarian version for myself and the kiddos and added some ham to my husbands. I think I cooked to noodles for too long, they were kind of mushy and the texture just didn't work for me. I would be willing to try it again cooking the noodles for 2min instead of 3.... As for the leftover test no one was willing to eat the leftovers the next day.

So far we are one for two. Tonight is Creamy Mexican Pasta with Chicken....we shall see...