Idea File: Chicken x 3

Are you a budget-conscious cook? Do you choose the best of the meats that are on sale and try to get the most out of your grocery purchases? Then you will appreciate this particular blog post.

Sunday started with a slow pace as all Sunday mornings should (but don't). I enjoyed a mug of the new Green Mountain seasonal blend called Spring Revival. After the busy day at my parents' horse farm on Saturday, I decided that everything I did for the day would be relaxing. These kind of weekend days should be savored with a slow-cooked meal. When I was a little girl, I remember having big family dinners each and every Sunday afternoon. I try to pay respect to the tradition whenever I have the chance.

Dinner was going to be a roaster chicken. The chicken was just over eight pounds and was on sale at Stop & Shop for .99 cents per pound. For under ten dollars for the main course meat, I made not one meal but three. Below are the details of the menu items prepared.

Sunday Evening Chicken Dinner

• Roaster chicken: rubbed with seasoned salt, paprika, ground pepper and fresh chives; stuffed with celery and chopped onion; basted with broth and Chardonnay
• Asparagus roasted with garlic cloves and balsamic vinegar
• Sliced potatoes baked with olive oil, sea salt and chives
• Ciabatta bread with Greek olive oil for dipping
• Wine pairing was a Croteau Vineyard 181 Rose

Monday Bag Lunch: Honey Chicken Salad

• Chopped chicken breast mixed with mayonnaise, celery, red grapes, sea salt, cracked pepper and honey on Country White bread
• Cape Cod brand Jalepeno and Aged Cheddar potato chips

Monday Night Dinner: Chicken Chili Gorditas

• Cut and shredded chicken pieces from leftover breasts, legs and thighs simmered in a homemade sauce of canned tomato sauce, black beans, cumin, cayenne pepper, Red Hot, salt, diced tomato, chopped onion, chives and lime juice
• Chicken chili mixture was placed inside warmed flatbread and toppings included diced tomato, shredded cheddar, sour cream and peach salsa
• Tortilla chips on the side

We are definitely lucky to have an $8.00 chicken last for three different creations because there are only two of us, but I do hope this was helpful in giving you an idea or two. Even if it gets your imagination rolling for your leftovers, I did my job.

Happy cooking, creating and dreaming up new things!

Preparing the earth for our future food

There is nothing more basic, more real than planting a garden. You start with a seed. A seed in which you sink into a small cup of soil, water and place in a sunny spot. You care for it and watch its green bud appear. Now, after growing in the protection of your house, you must prepare your piece of earth outside for this beautiful living thing that will soon produce vegetables for harvesting. It is a timeline of progress that is worth noting whether you have ever tended a garden or not. Especially for this blog because our vegetable and herb gardens will be a part of our future meals.

Today was a brisk and windy day. The sun was shining so there was work to be done. My husband and I made sure that we raked compost through our raised beds where our vegetables will be soon planted. I spread mulch throughout the area surrounding the gardens and my husband prepared the fence posts. It was really great to see progress coming along in preparing to move our garden to the great outdoors. The plants in their starter squares are rapidly outgrowing them. Now to just get more steady temperatures!

It will be interesting also to feel the pride and satisfaction of serving a meal that includes items from our own garden. There will be a lot of inspiration and less waste.

I'm already a stickler about wasting food. I simply won't allow it. The last two recipes that we made were perfect examples. My husband cooked up a huge pot of split pea soup with the ham we had left from Easter. I whipped together a chicken salad using our rotisserie chicken from last night's dinner. I used red grapes that I had in the fridge, celery, honey and mayo with a generous amount of course ground salt and toasted potato bread. It was perfect with the split pea soup plus it thrilled me to know that we used up everything we could from other meals to make a delicious one tonight.

The rule for our vegetables will have to follow the same standard: Use as much as we can incorporate into our cooking and share what we cannot possibly eat by ourselves.