Tasty Tuesdays in Bulk!

All you have to do is say please :) And a few of my friends have, so here's what I've been cooking from just one small chicken. With the weather cooling off, and the fall leaves changing, I love the soups, so stock up- pun intended ;)

Dinner #1: Apple Basil Roasted Chicken

In a large crock pot, put one cup apple juice, 1/2 chopped onion, 2 garlic cloves minced, 2 granny smith apples peeled and diced, a pinch of sea salt and fresh ground pepper
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Use heavy duty foil and crumple 3 tennisball size balls. These will act as a 'rack' to roast a chicken in your crockpot on top of!

Use 1 whole roasting chicken, 4-5 lbs cleaned and rinsed. Set on top evenly of the foil balls. Place 2-3 pads of butter on top of chicken, and 1 tablespoon dried basil sprinkled evenly. Set your crockpot to high for 4 hours or low for 6 hours.

This was a yummy dinner served with garlic and dill red potatoes and sautee'd asparagus as side dishes last night for dinner. The white meat from the roaster fed my family of 5. I took the drippings in a small sauce pan, turned on medium high to boil, and whisked in a rue to make a gravy.

*Don't clean out your crockpot yet! Leave the rest of the drippings and residue for flavor of cooking your chicken stock.

Dinner #2: Chicken Pot Pie

After the chicken is cooled, pull the remaining white meat, and dark meat, add with some mixed vegetables and create a yummy chicken pot pie with your favorite recipe. I use a simple biscuit recipe and make them in individual mini bread loaf pans. *Put the chicken meat away in the fridge to use on another night, no need to prepare anything right now.


Place the bones of the bird you've stripped the meat off of, with the neck and insides (if it had any) in your crockpot. Fill with water almost all the way. (I have a 5 qt size cooker.) Turn to low and let it simmer overnight, 12 hours is perfect. After it's done, pour through a strainer into a clean large enough bowl to strain the bone pieces from the liquid.

Dinner #3: No Chicken Noodle Soup

1 & 1/2 quarts of the chicken stock (about 1/3 of the liquid) in a large tupperware with 2 cups egg noodles, 1 & 1/2 cup frozen mixed veggies, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper, 1 teaspoon garlic powder or 2 small cloves minced, 1 teaspoon dried onion powder, 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Grilled chicken is excellent in it, I always cook bulk of that ahead of time to add to salads, etc. But the soup is great without chicken. *Freeze in tupperware to use another day.

Dinner #4: Black Bean Soup

1 quart chicken stock, 2 tablespoons cumin, 1/2 teaspoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon onion powder, 1 teaspoon sea salt, 1 can black beans (drained). Again, grilled chicken is excellent in this soup, but it's delicious without it! Top with mozzerella cheese and crumbled tortilla chips. Mmm. *Freeze in tupperware to use another day

Dinner #5: Easy Peasy Potato Soup

1 quart chicken stock, 6 large russet potatoes peeled and quartered, 1 can of Campbell's condensed cheese soup, 2 teaspoons sea salt, 1 & 1/2 teaspoons onion powder, 2 teaspoons fresh ground pepper, set your crockpot to high for 3 hours or low for 5 hours. Use a hand mixer to whip the potato soup until it's creamy. If you have too much liquid you can add some instant potato flakes a tablespoon at a time to thicken it, or corn starch 1 teaspoon at a time. Cook 6 slices of turkey bacon cooked and crumbled to top off the soup.

Happy Fall Cooking!

You've got 5 yummy recipes to fill up your

freezer and your tummies on a chilly day.