Roast Chicken - Apple Butterscotch Crisp

Hi Everyone!

In today's newsletter, you'll find recipes for Roast Chicken and Apple Butterscotch Crisp along with recipes to put the roast chicken leftovers to good use!

As you probably noticed, Tuesday's newsletter went out twice. We had a technical snafu on our end that resulted in them being sent out twice. Sorry about that!

Have a wonderful weekend!

-Tawra
www.LivingOnADime.com

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This week I am going to give you a different way to roast a chicken and, in addition to the weekly menu, I will give you a couple other ways to use the leftovers from it for other meals during the week. I hope you enjoy them!

Today's Tips:

• If your dishwasher is near your sink, place a small plastic basket (one like strawberries comes in) in the corner of your dishwasher and store things like your dish brush, scrubbing pads and sponges in it. This way, they won't drip everywhere. You can also use a twist tie to tie the basket into the dishwasher so the things can stay in there and run through your dishwashing cycle when you do your dishes. If you have a big enough silverware holder just keep them in there.
  
  
• I have said before to use your pizza roller to make quick work of cutting pancakes, French toast, and such when you have lots of little ones whose food you need to cut. You can also use the pizza roller to cut food for other meals. You might experiment with it. It works great for spaghetti and other noodle dishes.
  
  

Today's Menu:

Roast Chicken*
Cheesy Rice and Peas*
Tossed Salad
Biscuits
Apple Butterscotch Crisp*

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Today's Recipes:

*Roast Chicken

Remember how I told you to roast your turkey breast side down at Thanksgiving? Well, do the same thing when you roast a chicken. Here is a very basic but yummy recipe. You can also put this in a crock pot to slow cook all day.

1 (3 lb.) whole chicken
Salt and pepper to taste
1 Tsp. onion powder
1/4 cup margarine ( You may use lite margarine)
1 stalk celery, leaves removed

Season the whole chicken inside and out with salt, pepper and onion powder. Place breast side down in pan placing margarine and celery into cavity. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until internal temperature is 180° (82° C). You can baste with juices or melted margarine once or twice. Remove from oven and cover with foil for 30 minutes and let it rest before cutting.

You can easily adapt this recipe to your own likes and dislikes. For example, you might use garlic powder instead of the onion powder, you could slide slices of lemons or garlic cloves or even onion slices under the skin. Try other seasonings, too.

The main thing that makes this recipe great is cooking it breast side down, which makes it extra juicy.

*Cheesy Peas and Rice

2 1/4 cups rice, cooked
1 (10 oz.) pkg. frozen peas, thawed
1 (6 oz.) can of mushrooms, drained
6 oz. Velveeta, cubed*

Combine all the ingredients in a greased 1 1/2 qt. baking dish. Cover and bake at 350° for 20 minutes.

*I didn't used to buy Velveeta because it used to be more expensive than other cheeses, but it is the same price or less than cheddar now, so I buy it more often.

*Apple Butterscotch Crisp

This recipe is good served with ice cream or, for something different, try a slice of cheese or a dollop of sour cream.

6 cups (5 large) baking apples, sliced and peeled
1 cup brown sugar (may adjust to apples' tartness)
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup quick cook oatmeal
1 pkg. (3 1/2 oz.) cook and serve butterscotch pudding
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 cup butter or margarine, cold

Place apples in a greased 9x13 pan. Mix everything else in a bowl, cutting in the butter until it resembles coarse crumbs.* Sprinkle over apples. Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until apples are tender.

*Whenever a recipe says to cut in something, that means to take a pastry cutter and mix the butter, margarine or shortening in with the dry ingredients until the mix gets crumbly looking. (I just use my fingers. It is easier for me to wash them than a pastry cutter.)

Roast Chicken Leftovers:

Chicken Spaghetti Bake

Make your favorite spaghetti, mixing noodles and sauce. Instead of adding hamburger to it or leaving it without meat, add some cubed leftover chicken. Put it in a 9x13 greased pan sprinkle with mozzarella cheese and grated Parmesan cheese. Bake at 350° until heated through and cheese is melted.

Chicken Soup

Take your chicken leftovers and make this warm and comforting soup with them. The roasted chicken adds a little different and yummy flavor. Don't be frightened by all the ingredients. You can chop a lot of it the day before you make it and just dump and add the rest.

1 cup onions, chopped
1 cup carrots, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp. olive oil or canola oil
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. thyme
8 cups chicken broth
4 cups potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 tsp. salt (adjust to taste)
2 cups chicken, cooked and diced
2 cups wide egg noodles
1/2 cup evaporated milk

Saute* first 4 ingredients in oil in a large Dutch oven (big pot or pan). Stir in flour, oregano and thyme. Gradually add chicken broth, potatoes and salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and cook for 15-20 minutes, until potatoes are tender. Add chicken and noodles and simmer 10 more minutes. Reduce heat and add milk. Do not boil.

*Saute means to stir and cook until tender, usually about 3-5 minutes.

Once again, you can change this recipe to suit your taste. Add other veggies like peas, corn or broccoli. You can leave out the potatoes or substitute them with something like sweet potatoes or squash. You can leave out the milk (but the milk makes a nice creamy soup) and/or add more or less broth. You can also adjust the spices, for example you might add a little Tabasco sauce to give it a little kick.

Leftover Leftovers

If you have any of this soup left, thicken it with a little cornstarch or flour mixed in water. Make a batch of biscuits or use any leftover biscuits you have and pour the thickened soup over it.