chicken and DC

So, what do these have in common? This week.

My week has been a little crazy. The 8th graders from school were on a class field trip to DC from Wednesday morning until this evening, Friday. Even though I'm an 8th grade teacher, my switch came late in the year and I was held back to teach some of the other classes. No worries, with this whole Celiac thing, I think it was the BEST thing possible (besides just having three days off). So, I was covering my 5th and 6th graders, along with a different homeroom, someone else's lunch duties and traffic duty, and covering the headmaster's two classes while he was in DC. I didn't really have extra responsibilities, just as much as different ones. I was running around most days trying to figure out who I was supposed to be when. All in all, I figured it out.

So, we roasted a chicken, again. I thought this would be complex, but most of this post is going to be two of my new favorite recipes. (I also made gluten-free lasagna that was tasty, but most people probably already have a good recipe for lasagna.)

Roasted Chicken
1 small chicken
1 whole lemon (halved)
2 teaspoons celery salt or favorite seasoning (I use rosemary and salt and pepper)
1/2 teaspoon ground pepper
1/2 cup water or chicken broth

(Empty the chicken of any "goodies.") Trim off extra fat from the chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Squeeze the lemon juice all over the chicken and inside the cavity. Place the squeezed lemon inside the cavity. Sprinkle the chicken with seasoning and pepper. Place the chicken in a crockpot (or roasting pan for the oven). Pour water/chicken broth in the bottom of crockpot or pan. Cook until meat thermometer registers 180 degrees. This usually takes around 2 hours in the oven or 6 hours in the crockpot. Roasting in the oven gives more of a crispy taste. Crockpot is very moist, but does not brown very much. The first time we did this, we couldn't get the chicken out of the crockpot because every time we would try to pick it up, it fell completely apart. It's DELICIOUS and provides great leftovers...see below.

After the chicken is removed and cut up, drop the bones and some other fatty pieces back in to the crockpot. Add water (8-12 cups) and any extra veggies and seasoning around. (onions, celery, carrots, parsley, etc.) Let boil for a few hours and remove from heat. Skim all the extra things (bones, meat, veggies, etc.) out. Refrigerate overnight and remove fat from top in the morning. Store chicken broth or freeze it in separate containers for something else in the next few days.

Chicken Tortilla Casserole

2 cans diced tomatoes
1 teaspoon mexican seasoning
1/2 cup chopped cilantro (I use a lot less than this...2 tables spoons or so)
2 cups shredded chicken (I use the leftovers from the roasted chicken and cut it up before I refrigerate it)
1 1/3 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
1 1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
10 tortillas

Preheat oven to 400. Grease 2 pie plates.
Combine tomatoes, seasoning, and cilantro to make a sauce. Stir in the chicken.
Place one tortilla in the first pie plate. Top with 1/4 cup of the tomato mixture and 1/4 cup of cheese. Repeat three times and top with 5th tortilla. Sprinkle cheese on top. Repeat for the second pie plate.
Cover lightly with aluminum foil and bake for 12-15 minutes. (Until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly.)

I eyeball this entire recipe. I hate measuring for things and I only make one pie plate for Mike and I. The recipe says it feeds 4. When I made ONE pie plate, it will feed us for at least 4 meals, maybe 5. I think this recipe feeds more like 6 growth spurt men or 8 normally.

You can also top with black olives, beans, sour cream, and extra cilantro.

DEFINITELY a new favorite in our household!

***Thank you Carol Fenster!