Why I Hate Cooking for Two...

It's true. I admit it. I don't like cooking for just the two of us. It's so hard to find recipes that work for just two people and while on some food sites you can use a calculator to cut down the servings, sometimes it's just impossible to use 1/2 of an egg. I hear you saying, "Just eat the leftovers!" It doesn't happen. I know the biggest suggestion out there is to cook a lot ahead of time and freeze it. Let me be completely honest -- my freezer is full of frozen pizzas and ice cream. Isn't that what a freezer is for anyway?! There's also the chance that what I make I may never ever want to eat again. And the worst part of cooking for two? It usually takes me longer to make it then for the two of us to eat it!So I'm trying an experiment this week. A few weeks ago we had company over and I oven-roasted a chicken. It was delicious. So this week my husband asks me if we can have the same thing for Sunday dinner. For just the two of us, really?? Well, we did. It wasn't as delicious as the first (more on that later), but still pretty good. But now I have a lot of chicken leftover. So here's what I'm going to do:Sunday was the oven roasted chicken. Then after lunch, I threw the chicken carcass into some water with some vegetables I had lying around and made chicken broth. Super easy. Tonight we will have chicken noodle soup. Whatever leftover broth I don't use, I don't have to feel guilty about throwing away...essentially it's just water flavored with a used up chicken carcass (sounds yummy when you put it that way, huh?). Tuesday night, I will use some of the chicken and cover it in barbecue sauce, add a slice of cheese, and slap it on a bun. Chicken sandwiches! And throughout the week for lunches, or maybe even for dinner on Wednesday -- chicken quesadillas and chicken soft tacos. I know that we will be a little tired of chicken by the end of the week...but honestly we usually have chicken a few times of week, so it won't be that bad. And my $7 chicken will last me 3 meals! How's that for a deal?
So you may be wondering -- how do you oven roast a chicken?? Or maybe, how do you make chicken broth?? I am no expert. And you could probably google and find something better then my method. But I'll give it to you in a nutshell.
Buy a whole chicken. I buy mine at Walmart (oh how I miss you, Hy-vee!). They are usually in the coffins (the long freezer boxes) in the middle of the aisles. It takes awhile to thaw, so be sure to buy it in advance. When it's thawed, open it up, and clean out the gunk inside of it. (A tip: if your chicken is still a little too frozen to get it cleaned out, fill up your sink with hot water and put it in there. It makes it a lot easier to spread the legs of the chicken apart if they are still a little frozen. Just make sure to clean the sink before and after!). Then stuff your chicken with onions, lemons, garlic, etc... I used an apple this time. It was definitely not as moist and juicy as when I used the lemon. So think citrus and you'll have a juicy juicy chicken. Then pat the whole chicken dry with a paper towel. Take some herbs (basil, thyme, parsley, oregano, rosemary -- any 2 or 3 of those will do. I've used both fresh herbs and dry, they both work). Mix them with a little bit of olive oil (about a tablespoon'ish), push your sleeves up, and then rub the chicken down. Stick it in a roasting pan and let it cook for about 3 hours (it depends on your weight of the chicken). I like mine slow roasted, so I cook it at 300 degrees for 3'ish hours. I have a meat thermometer to tell me when it's done (about 180 degrees). So now, go forth, and roast a chicken. Even if it's just for the two of you, the leftovers can be turned into something different each night.

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