Hello Slow cooker....I know it's been a while.
With the niceties out of the way let's make chicken!
Place a whole chicken the slow cooker, salt, pepper, poultry seasoning, garlic powder, oregano or italian seasoning. Chop onions, carrots and potatoes and layer over and around chicken, seasoning each layer as you go. I know it seems like a lot of seasoning but I want my chicken stock to have some good flavor.
Now I'm not a celery fan so when I do have celery I chop it very fine and add it to the crock pot as well, about 2 stalks.
I cook on high about 4 hours. I then remove to let the chicken start to cool. When it's cool enough to handle I start playing! :-) Well I start separating chicken, bones and skin, and the veggies, and of course what I will have left is the stock.
I always make much more than I need but I used 4 carrots and 6 potaotes and a whole onion.
I then make a rue, 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons flour, cooking about 2 minutes before I start adding chicken broth.
Now I didn't add any liquid to my chicken so the amount of stock I have is small so I actually used the can chicken broth. If you boil the chicken instead of slow cooking you could have much more broth. I do it both ways but slow cooker always wins out if it is a day I am not going to be home much.
Once I get my 'brothy' on I start adding the chicken, that I have coarse chopped and the veggies. I also add a can of green beans and corn draining the juice from these first. If this gets a little to thick I just add more chicken broth until I get my desired consistency.
I am soooo bad at making home made crust I always buy it. So I place my pie crust in my pie dish and fill it with my pot pie fillings and then top with another crust. I follow the directions on the pie crust box for baking times.
I usually have enough to make at least 2 pot pies which there are NEVER any left overs. Some times I take the the rest of my pot pie fillings add a little more chicken broth and TA DA a very tasty chicken and vegetable soup.
This is really easy and really not very expensive. A whole chicken cost, in my area, about $7 with the vegetables maybe costing me $2, pie crusts $2, chicken broth $2. So for about $13 dollars we have at least 3 meals for 3 adults.
I also watch for sales and coupons. Maybe I need to add that spin. The cost of the meal.....hmmmm
Well stay tuned as we are having more chicken tomorrow. Happy Presidents Day!
