Whole Chicken in a Crock Pot - Ya Gotta Try It!

I offered this great tip, below, in my Risotto post but it's so good I'm giving it a separate post. My friend Vivian has me hooked on buying a whole chicken, rinsing it, seasoning it however you like (Johnny’s Seasoning salt and a little garlic powder for me) and dumping it with no liquid, breast side down, into the crockpot on low for 6 hours. So simple, I often do it when whole Foster Farms chickens are on sale as they were this week for 78 cents a lb. 


Here is a link to an online discussion of the chicken in the crock pot 

http://thehappyhousewife.com/cooking/whole-chicken-in-a-crock-pot/

My friend Deborah Taylor Hough who writes books on Once-a-Month Cooking got me started, years ago, always keeping good quality zipping freezer bags on hand and a Sharpie pen in my kitchen drawer. There are only two of us and my husband isn't too fond of casseroles so, you ask, what to do with all that chicken meat. He'll eat roasted chicken if it's with mashed potatoes and gravy so I keep bottled gravy on hand and one meal hot chicken sandwiches (chicken on white bread and with mashed potatoes with gravy over all of it) I add five cups of water to bones skin and liquid from chicken and leave on low over night then freeze broth. Then I freeze chicken meat in quart bags for later chicken salad or other uses. This time I'm going to add some to some of the Risotto I made and have frozen in quart zip lock bags. I used to let things go bad when I froze them - freeze and forget! Now I regularly check the freezer to remind myself what is there to use.You can do it. Something I love to have in freezer ready portions is homemade Macaroni and Cheese. My favorite recipe is:
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/04/macaroni-cheese/

Here is an article by Deborah Taylor Hough with tips on what freezes well and what doesn't.

http://www.menus4moms.com/articles/000018.php

More about my chicken, My husband had hot chicken sandwiches two nights as I was busy (it's one thing he'll eat over and over). I had a couple cold chicken sandwiches on white bread with mayo (yum). Before freezing I decided to use the remaining chicken in a casserole. I chopped the chicken. Then went to my fridge and cupboards for inspiration as I wanted a more complex taste than just mushroom soup or cheese sauce.

Sauteed some celery and an onion adding some Johnney's Seasoning Salt to it.

Chopped some fresh mushrooms.

Added to chicken in crockpot.

Made a sauce of:

• a can of cream of mushroom soup,
• about 1/2 a can of milk,
• 1/2 cup grated swiss cheese,
• 2 cups of cheddar cheese,
• 1/2 cup bleu cheese dressing,
• 1/4 cup mango ginger salsa,
• 1/4 cup sauce I had made for an hors d oeuvre (2 Tbs. whole grain mustard, 2 Tbs. Dijon mustard, 1/4 honey and 1 Tbs. butter).

Poured the sauce over the chicken and vegetables and heated in the crock pot. Cooked a cup of Basmati rice with about 1/2 cup quinoa I had. When ready to serve I mixed casserole with rice and topped with crushed Parmesan courtons stirred together with melted butter and grated fresh Parmesan cheese and put under the broiler until browned.

We enjoyed the casserole and I froze two small ones for future use instead of just freezing the chicken meat this time.