1 Chicken, 5 Days

So, I'm obsessed with a lot of stuff. I already briefly touched upon my obsession with saving money. I'm not as good at it as my grandfather, though I'm getting there. For birthdays, he cuts used greeting cards in half along the fold, signs the back of the picture half with "Love, Grandpa," covers the old address on the original envelope with white stickers and then writes the new address over the top... One time he even sent my birthday card without a stamp... and it arrived. Ok, I'm cheap, but I'm not tacky (though my grandpa is actually only tacky, since there's usually a nicely sized check in the envelope as well).

In addition, I'm obsessed with my weight. I've never actually had any real influence on my weight, though I did get a pretty awesome set of abs during one of my obsessive ab-workout phases. I tried counting calories once in preparation for calorie-cutting, but just the counting managed to make me constrict my food intake... I didn't realize until shortly before bedtime that my uncontrollable shivering was probably caused by my intake of a wopping 350 calories the whole day. I've never counted since then, but I still take a glance at calorie information on most foods. If the number goes over 300 for a single (my-size) serving (come on--two oreos is not a serving. Five oreos is a serving), I try to steer clear of it, except on special occasions (like Fridays).

So, what better way to make use of both obsessions by trying to eat healthy and cheap for five days with a single chicken? Now, the time was perfect. It was Friday night when I discovered the five chicken recipes on the awesome blog Cheap Healthy Good. That meant I had Saturday through Wednesday, and then Thursday I was leaving for Helsinki to visit The Boy (aka, my boyfriend of 5 years, 8 months, and as of Thursday 1 day). I suck at cooking, which is why it was a good thing that The Boy wasn't around. And because I had so little time to try out my new "project," I hoped it might actually motivate me to follow through.

Friday night I started by putting together my shopping list for the project (and started this blog).

Saturday started with a trip to the grocery store (by bike, because that's how awesome I am), then I prepared the kitchen for my massacre (no seriously, I *suck* at cooking), and then I started recipe #1:

Marcella Hazan's Roast Chicken with Two Lemons. The recipe was ok. I added potatoes like CHG suggested, but they should have been thouroughly cooked first. The lemon added a nice flavor, but altogether, I have to admit I've successfully roasted better chicken before. I think in the future I'll just buy a rotisserie chicken and then work from the leftovers of that.

Recipe #2 was Cooking Light's Chicken Picadillo with Rice and Black Beans. First of all, I couldn't find any black beans. I attempted to use a different type of bean, but I failed at making the dried beans anything other than still dry. The recipe was yummy though and very easy. I added a bunch more raisins, and it could have used a little more sauce, but otherwise good.

Recipe #3: White Chicken Chili. This recipe was my favorite. It was very flavourful, filling, and easy. The chilis didn't make for a particularly nice consistency, but I'm going to work on that. I couldn't find any white cheddar, so I used French Jurassic instead. It tasted really good, though I'm sure it would be ideal with white cheddar (since then I've found some... in the form of those snack-sized babybel cheese drums).

The fourth recipe was Food Network's Sesame Noodles with Chicken. And it was a failure. It tasted ok, but the meal itself was horrendously uninspiring. I've definitely had better peanut sauce. I ended up only eating half a portion before throwing the rest away and starting the firth recipe instead. And to think I bought a blender specifically for this recipe...

The fifth and final recipe was Cook's Illustrated's Chicken Curry in a Hurry. Since my boyfriend has a pretty good Chicken Curry recipe, trying this one out was actually pretty superfluous, but oh well. The recipe was tasty, though, and smelled absolutely fabulous. I'm pretty certain I had my neighbors' mouths watering with the splendid aroma of this dish. I have to admit it didn't taste quite as good as it smelled, but it still tasted good.

So my five days of chicken was a success! I didn't save any money with the recipes, though I imagine the savings would be more visible when cooking for two instead of only for one. The three successful recipes will definitely be repeatedin the future. But not this weekend. No, this weekend I'm making Escalope de Dinde except with chicken breast instead of turkey (bought the wrong stuff... oops!)