“I want there to be no peasant in my kingdom so poor that he cannot have a chicken in his pot every Sunday” – Henry IV                              Well Henry, I don’t know about your kingdom, but in my queendom we had a chicken in our pot on Monday.  Two chickens, to be precise.  And I’ve been channeling my incredibly cheap thrifty grandparents lately, so I made those chickens go a long way! 

First we had roasted chickens. In the bottom of the roasting pan I put all the things I’ve been saving in a freezer scrap bag: elderly leeks, carrot ends, celery tops as well as some thyme and garlic.  When it was done, I removed the drumsticks and thighs as well as most of the breast meat for the dinner table.   Then, I returned the pan to the oven to keep roasting the carcass and veggies.  That night, after roasting a couple more hours, I scraped it all into a crock pot and cooked it overnight.  In the morning I strained off the broth and froze it for use later.  Then I refilled the pot with the strained bits (Minus some of the leeks) , added water and let it cook some more. 

On Tuesday I gave my family a chicken and pasta casserole.  Kind of 1950s food, with noodles and a cream sauce.  PJ scraped his plate, but the response from sister Syd was not so good.  Sigh.

Tonight I finished the last of the chicken up with white chicken enchiladas.  It was actually really good, but I took no pictures.  I altered a recipe that I got from “A Modern Christian Woman” , who altered a recipe by Ree Drummond, and well…Ree takes some really nice pictures so feel free to click on her name if you  want.  Or click on the modern christian woman one  (or just make up something else entirely- it’s your kitchen and you can do that when you feel like it). This was probably cruel and unusual punishment, giving them chicken 3 nights in a row.  I don’t usually do that to my poor, patient family.  On the other hand…But the best part of all?  That carcass-veggie mixture that I returned to the pot yesterday?

I continued to cook it for another 24 hours.  It was all soft and ready to fall apart. 

It smelled heavenly. 

So I let it cook down, threw the whole mushy bit into the food processor with some leftover mashed potatoes. 

Looky here! 

Don’t worry! I labeled it so no one would be confused.  I wouldn’t do that to the family. 

Well, I would do it to my shorter, furrier family. 

I think they liked it too.  Doesn’t he look like he’s smiling? Kind of, sort of?

So from 2 chickens we got 3 dinners, about a quart of roasted chicken stock and 3 pints of dog food.  Oh yeah- and I froze the “goodie bag” (those nasty bits) to be added to my next batch of dog food.

I felt like taking a break from peaches, and now I need a break from chicken!