Lemon Basil Chicken Salad

One of the ways I love to stretch my food budget is getting more than one meal out of something.

For example, one of my favorite ways to do this is to buy a whole chicken. Believe it or not, I've found that whole chicken to be one of the most economical purchases on my grocery bill. Why? A little bit goes a loooong way, baby! Since we only buy all natural and organic meats, this is something I'm always looking out for! It's one of the reasons that I started adding a significant amount of legumes into our diet as well, but that's another story. All this why? Ultimately, because I'd rather spend my money on other things but want to eat healthy, and enjoy my food.

How is this whole chicken my ticket? Simple. Generally it costs me about $5 for one of those birds, and that $5= two meals for our family of growing, hungry boys.

The first night, I roast it. Sometimes I serve it, all seasoned up with sides and veggies. Other times, I use part of the meat for soup, like the one pictured in this post.


Next is the unromantic, not-so-fun part of the process. De-bone those leftovers. ;) But, if you can make it through this part, you're golden...
'Cause then we finally get the today's part. I have an entire list of recipes that I can use at this stage of the game. Quesedillas, creamy chicken with noodles, and today's example:
YUM. That's all I have to say. And lest you think that this is some sort of upscale, I'm-some-kind-of-crazy-woman-running-around-in-dress-clothes-listening-to-classical-music-while-savoring-my-lunch kind of thing, {I guess I associate chicken salad with ladies luncheons?} Here's an example of how I eat mine:
Standing up, while cleaning up the kitchen and teaching a math lesson. Boo-yah!

And of course, the boys prefer their's on bread. {Three year olds have no concept of plate.}
And now that you've made it this far through the post, you finally get the recipe!

Lemon Basil Chicken Salad:
1 - 1-1/2 c. leftover chicken pieces {like the example above}
1 tsp. lemon juice
1/2 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. sweet pickle relish
3-4 Tblsp. real mayonaise
pinch of salt {that translates as roughly an 1/8 tsp.}
fresh ground pepper to taste

Toss everything together and serve either with lettuce and a side of your favorite crackers, or on your favorite bread.
Enjoy!

Woot! It's Friday people! Bring on the weekend!

Keeping Cozy...

I love soup. Maybe even more so because I don't get to eat it very often. But with the recent bitter cold spell we've been riding out, my crockpot is lending extra warmth to the house while the list of favorite soup recipes is growing. This week's new recipe? Corn chowder. I have to tell you though, that in this case, the "recipe" became "suggestion of an idea". Bwahahaha! I'm actually realizing that I do that a LOT. I need to sit down this afternoon and write exactly WHAT I put in this, because it was FANTASTIC. I'll tell you flat out, I used less of some of the suggested spices, and substituted some of my favorites. Omitted the cheddar all together. Thickened it with a rue. De-glazed my pan with 1 T. of rice wine vinegar instead of the 1/2 white wine, and used frozen corn instead of fresh. Well, that's not really much of a change. lol
I topped it with a swirl of my Cuban black bean soup, and some salad shrimp warmed in garlic butter. Along with some of my homemade biscuits...
You may ask how this was shopping my pantry? I had all of the ingredients on hand. When I did the meal planning for this week, I decided to add the salad shrimp to the list - we'll be having shrimp fried rice later this week as well. The corn, chicken stock, milk and seasoning were all things I keep on hand. And the biscuit ingredients as well. I'll be sharing the recipe for the biscuits soon! And just know, I'm busy behind the scenes organizing those recipes! I've been using most of mine for ages, and don't always measure ingredients! lol So I'm busy writing them down and getting exact measurements...

And I have a new digital kit releasing this evening! I'll be back later to share what I've put together with it! :D

Success!

Remember my "shop my pantry" challenge for this year? Creating all-natural & organic foods at home for less $$?

Well, with all this fabulously cold weather we've been having, we've been drinking bunches of hot cocoa - and I had a reaction to the pre-made packets. :P {I'll spare you the details, but it involves lots of itching! lol}

So I looked up this recipe for hot cocoa mix and put together a batch!! So far it's been super yummy - no reaction, and only cost about $3.00 to put together mix for 92 cups. lol - So, I'm sharing and passing along! I spooned some of the mix into a plastic sandwich bag, printed the directions onto a pre-made tag {from a digi kit I'm working on to release Monday! } and packed it into an empty tin leftover from some Maya Road clear alphas. Nothin' fancy, but I know my sister-in-law will appreciate the package!
Topped with a little whipped cream in my cozy mug...
And just a peek at what I've been working on this week! Playing with fabric and yarn...
Hope you have a fabulous weekend ahead of you with lots of creative plans!