Recipe: Crockpot Salsa Chicken

The crockpot is one of the best frugal cooking devices I know!  This quick, easy and cheap 4 ingredient recipe for Salsa Chicken will have the house smelling fantastic by suppertime with barely any effort at all.

Crockpot Salsa Chicken

4 Chicken Breasts
2 Jars of Salsa
1C Corn
1C Black Beans

Layer ingredients in Crockpot & cook on low 6-8 hrs.
Remove meat, shred and return to the sauce.
Serve on tortillas with fixings (lettuce, tomato, cheese, salsa etc)

Variations:

Bake in the oven at 350 for about 1 hr instead of using the crockpot.
Don’t shred & serve on tortillas, but serve as chicken breasts.
Serve over noodles or rice.
Use other parts of the chicken. Remember that leaving skin on increases the ending fat content.
Use “Rotel” style tomatoes in place of the salsa, or use 1 jar salsa and 1 jar crushed tomatoes.
Spice it up with Spicy Salsa, a dash (or 2 or 3) of Tabasco or a package of Taco Seasoning.
Use “mexican” style corn-or leave it out all together
Use any type of cooked bean.
Add 8 oz of Cream Cheese or 1C sour cream to the sauce right before serving for a “creamy” version.

Quick Meals: 10 Simple Way to use Chicken

Today is the final installment in my 3 part series on quick meals.  I’ve been showing everyone how having frozen precooked meats on hand can really speed up dinner preparation and save you from the dreaded “drive thru trap”.  Previously I wrote about ways to use Ground Beef and Meatballs. . . today I tackle chicken.

When precooking and freezing chicken my biggest money saving tip is this: DO NOT BUY BONELESS SKINLESS BREASTS!!

I know, we’ve all been pre-programmed to just grab that quick and easy bag of flash frozen chicken. Or even worse, the chicken tenders-same thing, just cut smaller for a higher price.  Resist!

You will be cooking and then either shredding or cutting up the chicken before freezing it in meal sized portions-so buy whatever is cheapest and save yourself some cash. Please.

There are several ways you can cook the actual chicken.  If it’s a small amount and I’m going to be around, I’ll throw it in a roasting pan and bake it in the oven.  If I want to be hands off and not obligated to be right there all the time I’ll toss it in the crockpot and let it cook.  You can even let it cook while you sleep!

Once you’ve got the chicken all packaged up in the freezer you can take advantage of the bones & skin by tossing them all back into the crockpot with some water (and a TBS of vinegar to leach calcium out of the bones) to make your own broth.  Cook for 4-6 hrs, strain, stick it in the fridge to have the fat float to the top, skim and package in 1 cup portions for future use!

Just be careful that you don’t drop the pot like I fairly famously did the time I was bulk cooking 20 pounds of chicken thighs!

If you are a visual person, you can check out the Bulk Chicken Cooking Tutorial at Kims Kitchen.

Now, on to my 10 simple ways to use precooked chicken!

Chicken

Chicken & Gravy: Use dry packet of gravy mix (or make your own) and serve over rice, biscuits or bread.

Mustard Chicken: Mix either sour cream or plain yogurt (1/3 C) with a dollup of dijon mustard and some beef bullion powder/onion soup mix. Warm (do not boil) and add chicken. Serve with rice.

Chicken soup: Broth, veggies, chicken, rice or noodles.

Chicken Tacos/Burritos: Add the spice mix (packet or homemade) and serve either on burrito wraps or in taco shells with all the regular accompaniments.

Stirfry: Mix with a bag of frozen stirfry veggies and some soy sauce, serve with rice.

Curry: Mix with leftover/frozen veggies and instant curry cubes (I have a curry making tutorial). Serve with rice.

Chicken Cacciatore: Add to spaghetti sauce and simmer. Serve over noodles

Chicken Stuffing Casserole: Make stuffing (box or homemade) layer chicken on top and pour gravy over (packet or homemade).

Chicken Divan: Mix cream of soup, 2tsp lemon juice, 1 C mayo & chicken. Layer over spinach or broccoli, sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 till hot.

Chicken Mac ‘n Cheese: Add to favorite Mac ‘n Cheese

And there you have it! I am sure if you sit and think you can add even more to the list!

After learning all these great ways to use precooked ground meat, meatballs & chicken to make quick and easy dinners won’t you just feel terribly guilty if you run through the drive thru instead?

Photo by stevendepolo

Quick Dinner: 12 Easy Ideas for Ground Beef

Last night on Frugal Coast2Coast we had a fantastic show with special guest Erin from $5 Dollar Dinners!

Lynnae (she’s my co-host if you’ve somehow missed the show) and I are both embroiled in back to school madness.  Crazy schedules seem to always lead to dinner chaos-making “Frugal Quick and Easy Dinners for Families on the Run” seem like a particularly relevant topic!

As I said in the show, one way to really save yourself some time and give yourself a significantly probability of having a homemade dinner is to have PORTIONS of meals already on hand.

I find that by having precooked, pre-measured portions of meat on hand I drastically reduce my cooking time.  It also increases the guilt/avoidance when it comes to just grabbing take out instead of cooking dinner!

When I hit a sale, I will buy and cook chicken, ground meat or meatballs in a large batch and freeze in meal size portions~a cup to a cup and a half for my family size.  If you are feeding hungry teenagers you might need to double or triple that!

Today I’m going to specifically talk about ground beef.   Are you unsure how to start? Curious on how to cook a really large batch of ground beef without making your stove and kitchen into a grease splattered mess?  Kim at Kim’s Kitchen has a great bulk beef cooking tutorial with photos that can get you going in a flash.

But let’s assume that you already have your ground beef.  Really I should say ground MEAT-you could easily substitute ground pork, turkey, and venison-whatever fits your budget and dietary constraints. For that matter you could even use reconstituted TVP.   Here are some ideas for ground beef/meat.

Stirfry: Mix with a bag of frozen stirfry veggies and some soy sauce, serve with rice

“Stroganoff”: Mix with 1 can of cream of soup, 1 pkg dry brown gravy mix. Serve over noodles (may add onions or mushrooms)

Spaghetti: Toss into a can of sauce and warm. Serve over noodles

Curry: Mix with leftover veggies (or a bag of frozen) and instant curry cubes. Serve with rice

Gravy: Either make milk gravy, or cheat and use a mix (country or brown) and serve over rice, bread or biscuits.

Pot Pie/Shepards Pie: Mix with can of mixed veggies, white sauce or cream of soup. Cook in casserole dish with either boxed mashed potatoes or biscuits on top (I make homemade drop biscuits)

Tacos/Burritos: Add the spice mix and serve either on burrito wraps or in taco shells w/ regular accompaniments

Soup: Use either broth or tomato juice for base, add veggies and a starch if you like.

Hamburger casserole: Use a starch (we prefer noodles), cream of soup (or white sauce) corn and peas, salt and pepper.

Hamburger Mac ‘n Cheese: Add to your favorite Mac ‘n Cheese recipe

Chili Mac: Add to cooked elbow noodles, spaghetti sauce, chili powder, beans, onion and green pepper. Bake.

Sloppy Joes: Use your favorite recipe.

Tune in tomorrow for some great ideas on how to use another homemade frozen meal starter-meatballs!

Meanwhile-what are some of your favorite uses for browned ground beef?

Photos by

Tiny Banquet Committee,

http://www.flickr.com/photos/seandreilinger/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

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