Chicken Challenge Starts Here...

So, in order to make great chicken recipes you have to start with a chicken.  When whole roasting chickens go on sale I buy at least two or three at a time.  My family's favorite way to eat them is roasted in the oven.  They become golden and delicious with crispy, salty skin.  We could eat this meal many times a week,  however, when cooked this way, the meat doesn't go very far.  Thanks to a recipe from my friend Ellie when I started this blog, I was inspired to see how far I could stretch the meat from one chicken.  I will share her recipe later, first we have to cook some chicken!  Below you will find Phase one of the chicken challenge explaining the step by step instructions to get you started. Yes, there are phases because I didn't feel like making everything in one day, but if you want to, it is completely doable and not hard at all!!

Phase One--Preparing the Chicken

1. Buy a chicken at least 5 pounds and at a great price.
2. Remove the neck (a must) and giblets (if you want them) from the body cavity and refrigerate.
3. Rinse and dry your chicken.
4. Season liberally with whatever you like best.  I used half an onion, 5 garlic cloves and 1 sprig of rosemary stuffed inside the cavity, and salt, pepper and seasoning salt on the outside. 
5. Place in a crockpot and cook on high 4-5 hours.
6. When cooked through, remove chicken and chill overnight or until cool enough to handle.
7. Once chilled, remove all the meat from the bones. Discard the skin.  Set the bones aside  (Yes this step is a little messy but you will find out just how much meat is truly on a chicken once you do it).  At this point you can freeze all the chicken or you can start preparing meals.  My chicken was 5.25 pounds and I got almost 6 cups of meat off of it! 

In Phase Two I will explain what that chicken neck is for!