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!