Pickin' Chicken!

I spent the morning pickin' chicken with my best friend!
My friend Laura and her son came for a visit today and while I try not to put my buddies to work when they come for a visit -- hey, who can resist the helping hands --especially on bed rest! By the way -- Thanks Laura! Chickens were on sale for .79 cents a pound the other day and since the only meat I can eat right now is chicken we are going through bunches of it. Much cheaper than breasts-- I sent hubby to the store to get three of them on Friday or Sat of last week, he put them in the crock pots with a chopped up onion, a celery stick, salted and peppered them and put some paprika on them-- then squeezed a fresh lemon over the top and tucked what was left of the lemon into the cavity along with the celery and onion. ( I also do the same thing with them when I roast them -- the lemon and the paprika provide just enough flavor that they aren't bland -- but they also aren't weird tasting later for using in other recipes. ) In the crock pot I don't add any water to the chicken -- just cook them on low until they are fully cooked. I've been eating off of one of the chickens most of the weekend, and into the first part of this week-- it's Wed now, but they needed to be picked and packed up for the freezer -- so Laura and I sat and visited and picked chickens. I got enough meat to make a nice big pot of soup, and then another 2 2 cup bags of chicken and a 4 cup bag of chicken, plus a little bit more for eating in the next couple of days! 2 cups is about right for making chicken salad for the family or lunches, or a casserole or most recipes for our family and equals about a pound. It doesn't sound like a whole lot of chicken but I have been eating it all day every day for 3 days now so -- it made a bunch. And the best part is that since last time I went to the store-- about 4 weeks ago just before I was on bed rest I got a rain check for chickens for .79 a pound so anytime this weekend I can have hubby go get another 3 of them and do it all again. That's one of my money-saving tricks by the way -- some weeks I don't have quite enough in the food budget to stock up on items that are on deep sale so if I happen to have a few things I need to get anyway -- I go ahead and go to the store-- close to the time that the sale expires, and often times I can get a rain check because they almost always are out of whatever item was on sale! Then the next week when there is money or I have more time to deal with the 20 pounds of chicken or whatever, I can stock up! Or really anytime in the next 30-60 days depending on the store. Sometimes it pays to be sneaky and opportunistic! Oh -- and speaking of chickens -- don't think I threw the bones out -- those will either be put into a pot tonight or frozen until I have time to chicken stock out of them.