What kind of CHICKEN are you?

At a recent Young Women activity (girls from our church that are 12-18) we made white chicken chili.  It was interesting that not ONE of the girls would touch the pile of cooked chicken legs ready to be deboned and deskinned.  Not one.  Maybe the act of pulling bone from muscle just made the chicken a little too . . . alive . . . in their mind.

I've found that there are those people who are the classic boneless/skinless type.  Won't touch a full-fledged turkey carcass with a ten foot pole.  And I've got to say there are times when boneless/skinless is definitely the way to go.  For instance when you have 60 lbs of chicken to cook and put in the freezer for an upcoming family reunion.  Boneless skinless is the only way to go. Why? Two words: KITCHEN AID!  Mom (mother of all things frugal here) recently showed me that you can put cooked boneless/skinless chicken breasts in the kitchen aid with a regular mixer attachment, turn it on low, and come back 10 seconds later to perfectly shredded chicken.  LIFE CHANGER!!

But I've got to give it to the good ole split chicken breast.  Cheaper. On sale I can get it for about $1.29 versus a sale of $1.59 for boneless/skinless.** And then you add on the extra money you save from not having to buy chicken broth.  You can simply put some onions, carrots, celery, salt, and a bay leaf into the cooking water and when you're done cooking that chicken you've got a beautiful chicken broth ready to be strained and stored for your next soup.

So what kind of chicken are you? Boneless, skinless or split chicken breast?

For the Kitchenaid shredded chicken tip start with cooked boneless, skinless chicken breasts. 

Put them in the Kitchenaid with the regular cookie dough attachment on lowest speed. Mix for about a minute until they are shredded to your desired shreddidness. :-) 

Put in freezer bags in serving size portions and save for a busy night. 

**Boneless/skinless chicken breasts were on sale at our Aldis (aldi.com) for $1.59 this week.  (Sorry Utah people, Aldis is global, but hasn't made it's way over the Rockys yet.) Aldis is a great cheap option if you're willing to bag your own groceries and all that jazz, which I am.  But I have to say I could have kissed the cashier when she offered to help put groceries on the belt and back into the cart. Maybe it was the shopping cart exploding with 60 lbs of chicken breast, 7 gallons of milk, 30 lbs of potatoes, 4 dozen eggs, etc. etc. along with Baby Boy asleep in a carrier on my chest, Helper Girl, Big Boy, and Buddy Boy that prompted the act of kindness.  Made my day! That and the cable repair guy who stopped to help me shovel my van out of my own driveway when it got stuck hanging out onto Main Street because I couldn't get all those pounds of groceries and kids over the snow-covered driveway. Still lots of good in this world!

Laundry Detergent - Good to the Last Drop

I've noticed that with those nice pour spouts lots of liquid detergent gets stuck in the bottle. I estimate it's 1 wash load worth of detergent per bottle. So lazy me I had three small detergent bottles that were almost empty. (I usually buy bigger bottles for the better per ounce price, but these were buy this/get that type sale so they were a good deal.)

Options for getting the last drop of laundry detergent:

• cut the bottle in half and put the whole bottle in the washing machine
• drain the bottle upside down
• poke a hole in the bottle and drain it

I opted for the last option since I was afraid the first option would have jagged options that would snag my clothes. The second option didn't really work (I tried) because the pour spout kept the last drop in the bottle.

Another option would be to put water into the bottle and then pour the diluted detergent into the washing machine. Probably a lot less work, but sometimes I just do things my own way. :)

Prop in the morning and Leave till Lunch