How to handle chicken without having to sanitize everything afterward...
(Sorry, vegetarians! Please ignore this one...)
The recipe below is for preparing chicken that you can put into casseroles, chicken salad, pot pie, or just as an entree with gravy; with not much more time or effort, you can make a savory chicken-vegetable stock.
Anyway, this week I figured out a tip that could also fit under Frugality, but it's a big timesaver more than anything else to me. I hate to waste $$ on those skinless chicken parts because I actually want the bones to make stock in addition to whatever chicken dish I'm making. But handling raw chicken with an active toddler in or near the kitchen is basically a nightmare. So my solution is to have the butcher cut up a whole fryer into parts. When I'm ready to cook, I preheat the oven to 350 or so and have a roasting pan handy. Into the roasting pan, throw in roughly chopped veggies--should include celery, onion, carrot but on top of that whatever is in the veggie bin that I might otherwise toss (potato, kale trimmings, other peelings, parsley stems, etc). Put the veggies in the pan, maybe drizzle with olive oil if you like. Then I unwrap the chicken and place it into a large bowl, then cover it with cold water. That's just to make sure it's clean. Then I take out the pieces with tongs and place it directly into the roasting pan.
Roast for an hour, and the chicken should be nice and juicy. If you making a casserole etc, just let the chicken cool a bit till you can handle it. I roughly debone the chicken by hand and discard the skin/fat. Don't worry about leaving a little meat behind, and just put the bones and roasted vegetables in a slow cooker. Cover with cold water and set on low overnight. The next day you'll have stock--strain into a pot and throw out the veggies and bones. You'll need to cool it to skim off the fat. I usually just leave it in a cool place and skim with a spoon, but it's very easy to do if you can put it in the fridge, since the fat will harden and just lift off.
After letting it cool, I usually boil it once more before storing in the fridge or freezer. I love this new method--I've done this twice this week already!
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:LOL
Honestly - we have a low fuss yard and a small house (less to clean).
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