To begin with, I placed a bed of chopped carrots, onions, and celery in the crock pot. I then stuffed the chicken itself with one chopped lemon and rubbed the outside of the chicken with a dry rub consisting of onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, s&p, and cumin. I then placed the bird on top of the veggies, closed the lid, and let it cook for about 6 hours. I had worried that the chicken would dry out because this recipe in particular didn't call for any broth, but it worked out just fine! It was very moist and falling off the bone by the time it was done.
I carefully pulled the chicken out of the pot (this proved to be very difficult since it was falling apart) and separated out all the good meat (Thomas and I broke the wishbone- he won). I poured the vegetable/broth mixture in a different container and stored it in the fridge to mess with on another day. For the first two nights, we just served the chicken as a part of a salad, which was really yummy. Have you ever tried a spoonful of hummus added to your salad? If not, you should. Its delicious!
Last night, I decided to tackle the rest of the chicken and vegetable leftovers. I was able to make two different dishes. I should mention first that after the veggies had refrigerated at least 24 hours, I was able to open up the container and skim off some of the fat layer that had formed from the chicken. I then threw the veggies in a pot, added a container of vegetable broth, part of the cut up chicken, 1/4 box of cooked penne pasta, more s&p, and let it simmer for an hour.
For the other half of the chicken, I made a cold pasta salad. It consisted of 1/2 box cooked penne pasta, steamed green beans sliced into bit size pieces, 1 small head of radicchio (chopped), dried blueberries, and the leftover portion of the cooked chicken. I toss all of this in a champagne salad dressing made by Girard's, let it sit overnight, and then devour because its delicious!
Here are a few pictures to share-
Enjoy!
