Frugal Kitchen: Chicken and Chickpeas

Oh, the weather outside is......

The weather here in Austin is warmer than normal.  It's beautiful.  As Christmas quickly approaches, I spend my days wrapping up paperwork for the Fall semester and getting ready for my first grandchild.   For many reasons, my cooking / eating has been a bit off, and I long to return to my Susie Homemaker mode to putt about in the kitchen.  I miss cooking.

I have posted several other chicken ideas, and today, I wanted to share a couple more.  I bought 5 pounds of chicken thighs on sale.  I froze 1/2 of the package.  With the other thighs, here is what I prepped.

Chicken fajita baked potatoes
Chicken stock for loaded baked potato soup

I also finally made the Buffalo Ranch Hummus I had prepared for over the weekend.

Here's the preparation instructions:

With 3 chicken thighs, carefully trim the meat from the bone.  Also trim the skin from the meat.  Don't worry about cutting all the meat from the bone.  Put the skin and bones in a saucepan and cover with water.  Add 1/2 cup chopped onion, 1/2 cup chopped celery and salt / pepper to the water.  Simmer on low for about 20 minutes.

With the bulk of the thigh meat, cut into small strips.  Add to a heated skillet with 3 Tab. oil, chopped garlic and onion.  Season with cumin, chili powder, salt and pepper.  Simmer and stir until meat is cooked through.

Once the chicken stock has cooked and then cooled, remove any meat pieces from the bones.  Discard the bones and skin.  Save the stock and chicken pieces until you are ready to make the loaded baked potato soup.


For the chicken ranch hummus.....................and this stuff is really good, you will need 2 cups of cooked and cooled chickpeas.  I make my own chickpeas.  It is much less expensive and less wasteful.  I am the only one in my family who eats hummus, so I need to make small portions.

In my food processor, I added 2 cups of cooked chickpeas, 1/4 cup buffalo hot sauce and 1/4 cup ranch dressing.  Blend well together.  I ate mine with gluten free crackers, carrots and celery.  It was wonderful.

Bits and Pieces Fruits and Nuts

This recipe is just a fruit salad made with bits and pieces of leftover fruit.  Ok, ok, not that the fruit is actually left over, but the salad contains fruit that is the last of something.  I had 6 strawberries left in the container, so I chopped those up and put them in the freezer.  I also had 2 slivers of an apple left from a fruit plate.  I chopped those up and added them to the salad.

In my "bits and pieces fruits and nuts" are:

1/2 a banana, sliced
6 strawberries, chopped
1/4 and apple, chopped
1/2 a canned pear (this I added from the can and will use the rest of it for another project)
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 chopped pecans
ground cloves
ground cinnamon
honey (about 1/4 cup)

Mix all the fruit and nuts in a bowl.  I have a bowl that holds about 2 cups, so I use it so that I can gauge how much fruit salad I have.  Sprinkle with cloves and cinnamon.  Drizzle with honey.  I used about 1/4 a cup.  Stir gently.

Divide the fruit salad equally between 3 - 4 (1/2 cup) airtight containers and store in the refrigerator.

Uses:

Add 1 container of fruit salad to oatmeal, yogurt or low-fat pudding..  One of my favorite recipes is to add 1/3 cup half/half to the fruit and simmer in a pan on the stove.  Stir often.  When heated through, sprinkle granola over it\