The Versatile Rotisserie Chicken

I know I've posted about using a rotisserie chicken in the past, but there are always so many things to DO with it that I had to post again! I purchased a lovely rotisseried bird at Sam's on Wednesday because I just can't resist the $4.99 price. Now, granted, my son made a point of reminding me that I have a Baby George Rotisserie sitting idly at the bottom of my pantry, but I just told him to hush! ;-)

My DH was off work on Wednesday and Thursday, and on both days, we had chicken with various leftover side dishes. Believe me, he can eat a lot of meat, even at lunch! I then deboned the rest of the meat to see what was left, which was enough for another dinner for all of us. I placed the bones in my crock pot and covered them with water, leaving them to cook on high for a couple of hours before switching to low so they could simmer. The resulting broth was a gorgeous color and has the most wonderful aroma - it's just better when it's been rotisserie-cooked, don't you think?

After the broth was strained and the carcass had some time to cool, I got enough more meat off the bones to make a chicken alfredo pizza. Tonight, I'm taking the broth and remaining chicken and making chicken and dumplings. So out of that $5 chicken, I ended up with two lunches for two, and two dinners for five. Who knew a rotisserie chicken could feed 14?? That works out loosely to $.36 per person, per meal. Not bad, eh?

There are a million things you can do with a rotisserie chicken. Entire cookbooks have been written on this topic. What things do you do with one? Please feel free to share your ideas in the comments - I'd love to hear them!

What To Do With Too Many Eggs?

Hello, my wonderful readers! I'm sorry to have left you hanging for so long. It definitely isn't that I haven't been using my leftovers; it's more that I haven't done anything I felt was worth posting. That or I'm just too lazy to use my camera! ;-)

This post, at first look, doesn't appear to be about leftovers, but I still felt it suited my purpose here. It's about not wasting food, and creatively using what you have on hand. This is the overall idea of Not Just Leftovers. Read on.....

So this morning I realized that I had 2 dozen eggs in the refrigerator that expire tomorrow! Yikes!! I planned quiche for dinner, but that wasn't going to use nearly enough eggs. I needed something that used a LOT! I thought about it a bit, and the idea of an angel food came came to mind; however, I dismissed it because I can't imagine making one from scratch.

The more I thought about it, though, the better that sounded. And, really, why not at least TRY it? If the eggs are going to go to waste anyway, if the cake doesn't turn out, what am I really out? I decided I could always cut it up and turn it in to a trifle if it was too terrible.

So I went onto allrecipes.com and found this recipe. Looks simple enough, right? And I already have the pan since I bought it for a quarter at a yard sale, just in case. I decided to go for it!

Let me tell you, it's a little nerve-wracking waiting 45 minutes to find out if your cake is looking okay or if it's a flat mess. I didn't want to peek and risk making it fall. Of course, after about 35 minutes, I couldn't resist and I did look. It looked great!!! I was so excited!! Admittedly, it did fall a little bit after I peeked, but that might be normal....I have no idea. It went from about an inch over the top of the pan down to pan level by the time it was done, but that was just the right size!

Want to see it??? Here you go:



Does that look GOOD, or what???? I can't wait to try it! I have already eaten several crumbs, as well as a piece from the bottom that you can't see...hehe! It really tastes wonderful. I can't believe I did it! What an awesome way to keep eggs from spoiling and going to waste....