{attempt} = success!!!

Yesterday's post found me trying something I haven't done in a super-long time: roasting chicken in the slow cooker. The hubby got home, sniffed the air, found the crockpot and said "looks like chicken!" I honestly couldn't tell if he was pleased or not. :-P

Fortunately, this chicken I'd bought came with one of those pop-up things already stuck in it. So I just had to watch until it told me the bird was done. And my slow cooker definitely cooks hot. The juices in the bottom were simmering, and the timer thingy popped up after being on low for only 4 hours (all the recipes I found said it would take 4-6 hours on high, 6-10 hours on low). But that was ok! I'd planned on that and made sure I didn't start it until after lunch. So we had an early (for us) dinner at 5.

The meat was so tender -- I was able to get the two drumsticks off then the rest just fell apart. I was really glad I'd skinned it before cooking -- the salt & pepper were then on/in the meat itself instead of on the skin. Even my 17-month-old daughter had some, and said "mmmmmmm!" :)

I could definitely see myself cooking this again. Maybe trying other spices too.

After we'd eaten our fill, I cut off the rest of the breast meat and put it in the fridge. Then I left all of the bones and leftover dark meat in the crockpot, along with the onion and garlic that had stuffed the cavity, and the juices that were in the bottom. And I added about 4-5 cups of hot water, enough to cover everything. Then I set it on "warm" (which still seems to cook pretty hot in my cooker...) and let it go overnight!

This morning I had one giant, nasty-looking soup. I took the dish out of the heating unit and set it on the stove to cool for an hour or so. Then I started picking out the bones with my bare hands. For about 2 minutes. 'Cause that's what a recipe I'd found told me to do. But I gave up quickly. It was too yucky for me.

Instead, I took a large bowl, placed my pasta strainer over it, and dumped the whole stuff in. Then I sorted through the "big pieces" for chunks of meat, which I added back into the broth. Then I took the white meat that I'd saved from the fridge and cubed it up and put it in the broth too. And voila! The beginnings of soup that I'll make for Thursday night. Not sure yet if that will be some type of chicken noodle, or a white chili/chicken tortilla...

I love it when a $7 chicken can last many meals. :)