Nene Twoforks Rubbah Chicken

I've been mighty busy with SO much lately that I thought I'd sit a spell and catch you up on what's happening in the kitchen.

You may be wondering what in TarNation a Rubbah Chicken is, and I'm fixin' to tell you. (Sidebar: The word fixin' used in this context is purely for entertainment purposes and should not be utilized in this manner when holding real conversations.) Rubbah Chicken, also known as Rubber Chicken, is the art of stretching one chicken into numerous meals. It's similar to solving the age old problem of how many ways can you use leftover turkey without making it seem like it's coming out of your ears.
One must be creative when pursuing frugality.

We begin with Day 1 - Garlic Roasted Chicken. I should have posed the chicken pre-rubberization, but you can see a rendition of this from the BBQ sandwich blog if you feel it would add to the experience.

Ingredients

1 whole bird (this one is a little over four pounds)
6 cloves of garlic
shake of garlic salt
shake of garlic powder
shake of poultry seasoning
shake of paprika

Peel the cloves of garlic, but leave them whole. Tuck one under the skin of each breast and toss the rest into the bird's cavity. Shake seasonings on top, as your bird prepares for take off in the roasting pan. Bake in a 350 degree oven for an hour and ten minutes or until the things stops kicking at the door.

This is how mine turned out:

My bird's been hacked! Oh wait, this is an after dinner pose. Thus concludes day one.

Day 2 - Debone and White Chicken Chili

Otherwise known as pickin' chicken, the meat is removed to a storage bowl.

Can you find the roasted garlic hiding in this picture? That's a bonus!

Portioning off a cup and a half, we begin new recipe experimentation with White Chicken Chili. Chili without ground beef seemed a little off to me at first, but now that I've tasted this chili? Well, let's just say there's a whole new appreciation for the stuff.

The ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 2/3 medium onion, chopped
• 1 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 can (4-ounce) chopped green chilies
• 2/3 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano or Italian seasoning
• Pinch ground cloves
• Pinch cayenne pepper
• 1 can large white beans, undrained (I soaked dry beans and made a batch of beans with bacon, portioning off some for this recipe)
• 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cups diced cooked chicken
• 1/2 cup grated low-fat Monterey Jack or Mozzarella
• parsley for garnish (optional)

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and cook until tender, 4 to 7 minutes. Mix in the garlic, green chile peppers, cumin, oregano, cloves, and cayenne. Continue to cook and stir the mixture until tender, about 3 minutes. Mix in the chicken broth, chicken, and white beans. Bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Don't worry if it's a little soupy.

 

At the end of 20 minutes, mash chili lightly using a potato masher, until about half of the beans are broken up. This will give the chili a thicker consistency that will be thickened even more by the cheese. Speaking of...Serve topped with grated cheese.

My Bob just loved this! So much so that TWO bowls were consumed! Who's Bob you ask? Let me introduce you: Bob is my Big Ole Belly.

This meal made enough for dinner, with leftovers for two to have at lunch the next day.

Beauty, eh:

Let's back the train up a bit, as I forgot to tell you to boil the chicken carcass. I save the tops of celery in the freezer to toss into the stock pot, along with some onion. After about 25 minutes of a gentle, rolling boil, I place a cheesecloth over my strainer and this is the result:

It sparkles! I could literally swim in the bowl, but I resisted and instead used two cups for the chili recipe and save the remainder to the freezer for later.

Day 3 - Food Network's Sesame Noodles with Chicken





This is how mine looked:

Isn't it beautiful?

I veered off the beaten path of this recipe in the following ways:

• used a regular cucumber instead of a Kirby
• used light brown sugar instead of the dark
• used whole grain pasta instead of regular spaghetti
• upped the soy sauce by 1/4 cup and increased the hot water by 1/4 cup (because I found the sauce too thick)

Very different from the typical chicken casserole or chicken salad. Note: not to be consumed by those with peanut allergies, for obvious reasons.

Again, it was served as a big hearty plate for dinner with more than enough leftover for a big lunch the next day. Bob was plenty full. 

Day 4 - Nene Twoforks Chicken Stew with Roasted Garlic Toast

Truth be told, there was enough chicken to make two meals, as I was venturing to try some Chicken Curry, but I opted for extra chickeny stew. The toast featured is from the loaf of my homemade bread, spread with my homemade roasted garlic butter.

Even after Bob had two bowls, there is enough for a full dinner tomorrow night.

That's seven full meals, with bonus chicken broth still to be used in the freezer! The bird was a little over $6.00, and all the other ingredients made this week a $25.00 lunch and dinner budget. Now THAT is some serious savings.