Wok's For Dinner: Chicken in a Pot

If you want a tasty one pot dish that will actually give you two+ meals, then Chicken in a Pot is the meal for you. It's a Crock-Pot recipe that I've been making for probably 10 years or longer. I don't even remember where I got it from, it's been that long. Although I did not freeze this particular dish, I included it with my May Once a Month Cooking Menu because I knew there would be enough meat on the fryer to use for two meals, Chicken in a Pot and Cordon Bleu Casserole (which I did freeze). Plus, I used the carcass to making homemade chicken stock (which I froze), which I can use to make rice, stir-frys, and other dishes.

Chicken in a Pot

Ingredients:

2 carrots, sliced
2 onions, sliced
2 celery stalks, cut in 1-inch pieces
3 lb broiler/fryer chicken
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 cup water or chicken broth
1/2 tsp basil

Directions:
Put carrots, onion and celery in bottom of Crock-Pot. Add whole chicken. Top with salt, pepper and water or chicken broth. Sprinkle basil over top. Cover; cook on low 8-10 hours or high 3 1/2-5 hours (use 1 cup water instead of 1/2 cup if using high setting on Crock-Pot). Remove chicken and vegetables with a spatula.

The nice thing about this recipe is that you can be really versatile with the vegetables. I used half a bag of baby carrots (it was a large bag) plus the two carrot sticks listed in the recipe. I had some sweet potatoes that came in my April Angel Food Ministries order. We're not big on sweet potatoes, but I've been trying to incorporate them into some of our recipes. So I threw in one sweet potato into the Crock-Pot. I also added about 3 medium-size potatoes, and instead of two onions, I used one. I placed everything into the refrigerator after it was done cooking Saturday (I de-boned the chicken) and we had it for tonight's meal. The end result? We had a really tasty meal that the whole family gobbled down. I really don't care to de-bone a chicken carcass, but knowing how good this meal tastes makes it worth the effort (and I really can't complain since there was enough meat for a 2nd meal!).