Whole Chicken in the Crock Pot + Homemade Chicken Broth

Every weekend for the past month or so, I've been cooking whole chickens in the crock pot. It's such an economical way to buy chicken. Plus, you end up with flavorful chicken broth. I had never bought a whole chicken until recently. I was intimidated. I didn't know how to cook a whole chicken. It just seemed like a lot of work. I was the kind of person who went to the store and bought boneless, skinless chicken breast. On occasion, I would even buy boneless, skinless thighs. I would spend the $6.99 to buy the pre-cooked rotisserie chickens. I realize now what a rip-off they are. 

There's no reason to be intimidated by whole chickens. Besides, the Crock Pot does majority of the work. The more you make something, the easier it gets to put together. It takes me less than 15 minutes to throw all my ingredients into the Crock Pot. Here's my version of Crock Pot Chicken. 

Crock Pot Chicken

Paleo Rating: 10 Clubs

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken, 3-4 pounds

3 carrots, cut into large pieces
4 celery stalks, cut into large pieces

1 onion, sliced
2 t. garlic powder
2 t. onion powder
2 t. poultry seasoning

Sea salt and fresh-ground pepper - I just sprinkle enough to cover the entire chicken
5 cups water

Directions:

1. Slice the onion and spread out on the bottom of the Crock Pot.
2. Place the chicken breast side up on top of the onions. 
3. Stuff half of the celery and carrot pieces into the chicken and put the remaining pieces around the chicken. 
4. Sprinkle seasonings on top of the chicken and vegetables. 
5. Add water to the Crock Pot. 
6. Cook on high for 5 hours. You could probably cook on low for 8 hours, but I haven't tried this yet. Let me know if you cook it on low and how it goes. 
7. After the 5 hours, carefully take the chicken out of the Crock Pot (I use tongs and it typically falls apart into a few pieces). Clean the chicken off the bones. Discard the skin. 
8. Add bones back to the Crock Pot and add an additional cup or two of water. Put the lid back on and cook on low for at least 4 hours (can be cooked on low overnight). 
9. Pour the broth through a strainer (set atop a large bowl). Let it cool for a little while. 
10. Pour the strained broth into Mason jars and keep in the refrigerator, for up to a week. You could also freeze the broth in ice cube trays. Once frozen, put them into freezer bags. That way you can just add the cubes to dishes as needed. No need to thaw. 

There you have it. Crock Pot chicken and homemade chicken broth. The chicken is enough for a couple meals and chicken broth can be used as a base to a soup or stew. I use my homemade chicken broth in my Chicken Minestrone Soup and in my Chicken Noodle Soup. 

Question of the Day: How often do you use your crock pot? I've been using mine at least once per week. I love coming home from work to dinner being done (or mostly done). 

Paleo Chicken Noodle Soup

I could probably count the number of times I've eaten chicken noodle soup in my entire life on my two hands. It wasn't a staple dish in our house growing up. My mom occasionally made chicken broth or chicken soup when one of us kids were sick. Other than that, I honestly can't remember eating it much. 

This recipe was a spontaneous creation. I was walking through Vitamin Cottage (which I often do during my lunch hour). I was just wandering the aisles, looking at every product on the shelf. You never know what you may discover. I ended up in the refrigerated section and noticed the Kelp Noodles. I've seen other recipes using them, but have been hesitant to try them. As I put a couple packages into my hand cart, I immediately thought of the homemade chicken broth and chicken in my fridge. I could make chicken noodle soup! Yum! It's a basic recipe. I didn't add much seasoning to the soup, since I had cooked the chicken in the crockpot with plenty of seasoning and made the chicken broth from the leftover cooking liquids, bones and veggies). You could definitely add more seasoning, if you have plain cooked chicken. I also think minced garlic and/or ginger would also taste great. After making this soup, I plan on creating some other recipes around kelp noodles. They're actually quite tasty and add a really great dimension to the soup. 

Easy Paleo Chicken Noodle Soup 

Serves: 4

Rating: 9.5 clubs

Ingredients:

6 cups chicken broth, preferably homemade

4 carrots, peeled and diced

4 celery stalks, diced

1 onion, diced

2-3 cups diced/shredded chicken (I made a whole chicken in the crock pot)

1 12 oz. package of kelp noodles (see note below)

1 t. poultry seasoning

1 t. garlic powder

Sea salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Heat the chicken broth to a boil over medium high heat in a large sauce pan. Add in veggies. Lower the heat to medium and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until veggies are soft/tender. Add in the cooked chicken and seasonings. After following the directions on the kelp noodle package, add them to your soup. Stir everything together and allow noodles to heat through (about a minute). Ladle into bowls and serve immediately.

Note: Kelp noodles can be found in the refrigerated sections at Whole Foods, Vitamin Cottage and many other specialty/health food stores around the country. I buy Sea Tangle brand. 

This is a pretty light soup, but great for a cold winter's day. It could be served with a side salad, Paleo crackers, or Paleo biscuits (I make them with coconut oil instead of butter). 

Questions: What are your favorite soups? Do you prefer broth-based or creamy soups? I grew up loving creamy soups. I still like creamy soups, because they're comforting and hearty. I really like my Chicken minestrone soup (yet to be written) and Creamy Tomato Soup with Spinach and Grass-fed Ground Beef. 

Whole30 - Day 26

Happy Monday morning! 

I am sitting here at home, still under the weather. I'm afraid my throat is still sore, but I don't feel the soreness as much because 1) I have gotten used to it and/or 2) My throat is coated with a layer of mucus. Yes, I know, too much information. I feel like my chest is heavy, yet I don't feel stuffiness when I take deep breaths. I'm not sure what the deal is. I've done a sinus rinse two days in a row now. Yes, I took the plunge. I was hesitant, even though my allergy doctor gave me one to test out. Looks like I'll need to go to the drug store to buy more of the saline packets. I did the saline rinse last night before bed. Bad idea! I was lying in bed and could barely breathe because of the drainage. It was going down my throat and into my nostrils. That's fun. I lied there for over an hour trying to sleep. Thank goodness for giant handkerchiefs to get you through the night. I'm certain it's my sinuses at this point. My head and ears are definitely feeling clogged. I really hope this improves today. 

So, it seems like when a woman is sick, she still does chores/cooks. I had food prep that needed to get done, so I spent time in the kitchen in the morning. I accomplished a lot, but it definitely didn't help the cause. I probably tired myself out even more. I cleaned and chopped veggies, made a breakfast casserole for the week and cooked a whole chicken in the Crock Pot. The chicken was so easy. I sliced one onion for the bottom. Next time, I will include carrots and celery too. I put the whole chicken on the onions and seasoned it with sea salt, pepper, garlic powder and dried onions. It cooked for 5 hours on high. The chicken just fell off the bones when I took it out. I saved the bones and cooking liquid to make chicken broth for the chicken minestrone soup (last night's dinner). Yum! 

Midday, I took a break to run with my husband. I read online that running can sometimes be a positive thing. I actually ended up running really slowly and only did 3.6 miles (my husband did 10.8!). I had very little energy in my body. I was happy to finish one neighborhood loop. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of time before my half marathon, so I feel like I'm up against a wall. It looks like my weekend long runs will be longer than scheduled, just to get myself ready in time. I've run nine (maybe more) stand-alone half marathons and two half marathons as part of Ironman 70.3 races. My body will remember when race day comes, but I would prefer to be conditioned properly. 

Wow, I'm exhausted just reading that. By spending a few extra minutes on the weekend to prep for the week, it saves a huge amount of time when getting home from work and trying to get dinner on the table at a reasonable time. 

Breakfast: Scrambled eggs with sliced beef hot dogs, zucchini, mushrooms and red bell peppers with diced avocado on top and a Pure Wrap on the side. I love making little breakfast tacos out of the Pure Wraps. I sipped on some Cranberry Kombucha throughout the morning. I was hoping the probiotics would help me. 

Lunch: I'm so happy for leftovers. We had beef stew from a few days ago. I did cook up some cauliflower (very small pieces) in a bit of coconut oil. I got distracted, so it didn't get stirred enough and burned a bit. It still tasted fine, but that's the black specks you see in the beef stew. We also ate our leftover Paleo "Corn" Bread. 

Dinner: I put together some chicken minestrone soup. It was inspired by Mmm...Coffee's minestrone soup that we ate on Thursday. I've made vegetarian minestrone (with beans) in my Pre-Paleo days and loved it. After the inspiration from Jami at Mmm...Coffee, I knew it couldn't be hard to put together a Paleo version. Recipe will be posted later (post-Whole30). While the soup was cooking, I made another batch of Paleo crackers. We ate a bit of freshly-cut pineapple on the side (they were on sale for $1 each last week!). The pineapple was quite sweet and a perfect ending to the meal. 

I'm hoping to get back on track and post today's meals before going to bed tonight. Hope you're all having a good start to your week. 

Question: Can you believe it's almost February?! Where did the time go?