Today's Recipe(s): Chicken---4 Ways

Thank you for checking out my new blog.  Hopefully you'll be able to leave comments now.  Today is a bonus day with 4 different recipes for chicken.   These are very simple and classic--and you are probably familiar with them all.  Hopefully you will take these recipes and add your own spin to them.  Let  your kids see you enjoying your time in the kitchen as you prepare food for the family.   They will develop a positive attitude about cooking and they may even join you!

1.   Lemon Chicken:

1 whole chicken

1 or 2 lemons (limes or oranges may be used)

Prepare an oven roasting bag according to directions on box.

Place oven bag in greased roasting pan.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Salt inside and outside of chicken

Insert quartered lemons into cavity of chicken

Spray top (breast area) of chicken with PAM

Insert chicken in oven bag and secure.

Roast chicken for approximately 2 hours or until done.

2.  Chicken Pot Pie:

Adjust ingredient amounts to taste or if using a square pyrex dish or a round pie dish.  

6 chicken breasts (or 1 whole chicken, cut up)

2 large stalks celery (cut in half)

1 medium onion (quartered)

salt

Vegetables of your choice:  2 cups total

 I use chopped broccoli but the more classic choices are cubed, cooked potatoes, small slices (or shredded) carrots, or frozen green peas.

2 cans of undiluted cream of chicken soup

(or 1 can cream of chicken and 1 can cream of celery)

black pepper

2 Pillsbury pie crusts (or just a top crust if you prefer)

(I use the crusts that are not frozen but are flat then rolled up and are sold with the other Pillsbury products-such as biscuits-in the grocery store).  Use homemade pie crusts if you prefer.

Place chicken in a pot of water with the celery, onion and salt and boil until tender.  Debone chicken; strain and save broth.  Cut chicken in to bite size pieces.  

In a large mixing bowl gently combine the soups, cooked chicken, vegetables of choice and pepper.  Add more salt and approximately 1 cup (or more) of strained broth.

Line a 9 x 11 pyrex baking dish with a pastry (roll it out a bit to make it more rectangular).

Fill with chicken mixture.  Cover with another pastry (also rolled out).  Crease 2 pastries together all around the edges.  Make air vent holes all across the surface of the pie with a knife point.  

Brush egg wash (a beaten egg with a bit of water or milk) over the surface of the pie.

Bake at 400 degrees for 45 minutes or until pie is brown and bubbly.  It may be necessary to tent aluminum foil over the top of the pie during the baking process if it becomes too brown before the pie is done.  

3.   Crock Pot Barbeque Chicken

Place the following ingredients into your crock pot and stir until well combined.

1 cup ketchup (or more if you want)

1/3 cup yellow mustard

½ cup brown sugar

1-2 cups water

2 Tablespoons of white vinegar (if you don’t have this on hand just leave it out).

Add whatever chicken you enjoy to the sauce in the crock pot.  I use boneless, skinless chicken breasts and I don’t even thaw them out.   I just put them into the pot in their frozen state and cook them for 4 hours.  For this amount of sauce you would probably fit 5-6 chicken breasts in.  This chicken is excellent left over.  If you want you can add large chunks of potatoes to the mixture to cook for the last 2 hours or you could even add them at the  beginning.  This is also a great recipe to have when you have company.  

4.   Grilled Chicken Thighs

Boneless, Skinless Chicken Thighs (or whatever chicken pieces you prefer).

Cover chicken pieces in salted water, cover and place in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before grilling.

Take chicken out of water and place on hot grill.

Cook low and slow, turning often until chicken is done but not dry.

I usually season lightly with a bit of salt and pepper sometime during the grilling process.