Lazy girl's supper...

Most evenings, you likely stumble home tired and the last thing on your mind is cooking, especially when it's hot. Say, for example, you also have a half picked-over chicken lurking in your refrigerator because some writer convinced you that you would get a million uses out of it. What's for dinner? This:

A nice bed of lettuce, some chopped tomato and some chopped avocado make a great summertime meal -- especially for a girl like me who tends to eat more than three meals a day. Add some dressing, serve with good bread and you're done. You could add some cheese if you wanted to. I like my salads kind of spartan, however. If anything, though, I'm trying to teach you to be loose and use whatever's available, so just go for it.

I'm going to throw out a few more ideas for the roasted chicken, tell you how to make a stock and then leave the yard bird alone for a little while. I think that you get the picture. HOWEVER, should you have any requests for recipes or need to find yet another use for chicken, please do not hesitate to ask. I will indeed take requests, especially if you bribe me.

Chicken ideas:

Chicken tacos with rice and salsa

Chicken pasta with pesto and tomatoes

Chicken salad sandwiches

Chicken Caesar salad

There, so I've given you at least five different ways to use up your bird. Be creative -- it's how you learn. Plus, if you learn to stretch your food with cheap ingredients, it can go far. Think, for example, about adding plenty of celery, grapes and onions to your chicken salad. After about a week, pull the rest of your chicken if you haven't used it off of the bones, pack it into a Ziploc, label it with a sharpie (include the date) and stick it in the freezer. Now you have chicken for future chicken salad. This may seem obvious, but most people that I know do not use their freezers enough. Learning how to not throw away food is a big step toward saving money and -- get this -- freezers are more efficient when full.

By the way -- the bones are not trash! Next I'll tell you how to make stock.