Hello friends! It’s summer, and we’re trying to figure out how to eat the best sort of meals with the least amount of work. Because we want to play outside, and we certainly don’t want to be slaving over an oven for hours on end. Let’s leave that to the pros, and we’ll take the fruits of their work and use them for our own purposes.  Today, I’m talking about five ways to use a rotisserie chicken to make lunch and dinner interesting all week long.  Trust me, I’ve done it, and it works out quite well!

Keep in mind that in doing this, I’m cooking for one. I can eat pretty heartily on one chicken all week long, with some to spare, so if you’re making this for a crowd, you may need more than one bird.  Just saying.

I’ll be linking to some of my favorite chicken recipes- they may require some cooking or adaptation, but remember that the hard part- the chicken cooking- is done! It may just require adding a spice mix to some diced chicken.

First things first:  when you get home, cut up the chicken breast, legs and thighs, diced, and separate out the bones. You will likely get approximately 4 cups of chicken, depending on how big your bird is. Put the bones and the skin in a small stockpot with any extra veggies you may have lying around (onions/carrots/celery/herbs/root veggies, etc).  Cover with water (approximately 4 cups) cover the pot and set to boil for an hour.  Now you’ve got stock…more on that later.

Day One:

Let’s start the week on a healthy note with this Moroccan Cobb-Style Salad.  Take about 1 cup of the diced chicken and season it with1/8 tsp ground cumin, 1/8 tsp smoked paprika, and sprinkle each of ground coriander, turmeric and cinnamon.

Day Two:

Taco Tuesday!  You know I love tacos, and these chicken tacos with tequila caramelized onions is a keeper.  Take 1 cup of the diced chicken, add about 2 tsp taco seasoning and make the rest of the recipe as written.

Day Three:

Sandwiches are my jam. And this Coronation Chicken Salad Sandwich is the best way to get over hump day.

This one takes a bit of cooking but I assure you it’s worth it!  Prepare this recipe, cut in half and take the remaining chicken meat (~2 cups) and coat it in the sauce. BONUS!  Want to make the whole batch so you have extra sauce?   Throw it on some hard boiled eggs for coronation egg salad!

Day Four:

Soup’s on! Keep is veg-ish today with this silky smooth cauliflower soup.  Chop this recipe in half using about 3 cups of the stock you made on day 1.  Reserve the rest for tomorrow.

Day Five: 

This is a good one, hearty and delicious. This broccoli rabe risotto is chock full of veg.  Swap out the beef stock for what’s left from the chicken stock you made on day 1, using water if necessary to make up the difference.

That’s it! Here are just a few suggestions on how to get the most out of that $8 chicken, and to eat the world all week long!

Hello, Sunday.

Hello from London!

We’ve got a full itinerary this week and we’re easing into it with afternoon tea at Claridge’s.  Kicking the week off properly.

Keeping it short today with some musings about July and what that means for me. Keep an eye on me and my adventures on the ‘gram. #WimbleDONE is on! #MakingaRacquet

wishing:  that I lived here. for realz.

hoping: that we get to see some great matches tomorrow!

thinking: that I need to go shopping, stat.

praying: the weather holds up and cools down for our time here.

planning:  nothing. all the plans are planned.

dreaming:  nothing. living the dream right now.

reading: the fiery cross.

wearing: dresses. all the dresses, with sneakers.

laughing:  all the belly laughs because Tomato is in tow!

missing: my Crawley, as always.

listening: to the sounds of the city.

spotting: men in well fitting suits.

feeling: like I belong.

Hello, Sunday.

It’s been for the most part a lazy but not lazy weekend over here, if that makes sense. Like, I wasn’t doing anything strenuous, per se, but the stuff that I needed to get done got done, and I got to spend some quality time with Crawley since I’ll be off next weekend for ten days, and he’s the only reason that I ever want to come back from anywhere.

The most frustrating part of the readying my belongings stage is that one of those belongings will inexplicably turn up missing. This time, it’s my iPod. Yes, I still use an iPod, and it’s got all sorts of oldies but goodies on it from times past when iPods were a commonplace thing rather than a relic of the early 2000s. Anyway, I’m praying to St. Anthony that it turns up because I really love just snoozing to Lifehouse on long plane rides. Yes, you read that right.

As for the news this week, we’re keeping it apolitical because the world is too political and we don’t need more of that ugliness right now. Amiright?

Happy wife, happy life? So it would seem.

Cookie monster singing the 7th inning stretch is just the happiest thing I’ve seen in a long time.

Before Facebook, this is what un-friending looked like.

Apparently cats mirror their owner’s personality.  In this house, that means we both get really excited about mealtime and are not afraid of talking to strangers.

Paying off parking tickets with school supplies? Good idea, and for this idea, what happens in Vegas should not just stay in Vegas.

I couldn’t get this image out of my head yesterday. Don’t worry it’s a good one! Rock on, little ‘zard.

This made me laugh much harder than I expected.

What’s in a name? A lot, apparently.

I’m really excited to see Yesterday. Have you seen it? 15 facts about the featured songs that you may not have known.

Poor Unfortunate Souls.

That’s it! Have a great week!