Chicken for a Crowd of All Ages

Directions

1. Wash, peel, and chop all of the vegetables and put into a very large stock pot with olive oil on the bottom of the pan. Sautee them until the vegetables begin to soften. Cube the skinless, boneless, chicken breasts and cook with vegetables. Add the whole chicken breasts and brown the skin. Add enough fresh water to cover all of the ingredients. Bring to a rapid boil for 5 minutes, turn the heat down and cook at moderate temperature for one hour. Salt the broth to taste.Test meat with thermometer to make sure it reaches 180 degrees. Remove the cubed chicken and set aside. Remove the whole chicken breasts, shred the chicken and set aside. Remove half of the cooked vegetables and set aside. Put one half of the shredded chicken breasts back into the pot and one head of cleaned, sauteed with olive oil escarole. (Make sure to remove the skin which may be in pot from whole breasts.) Add one pound of pre-cooked egg noodles. You now have Chicken noodle soup. Next take the cubed chicken and place them in a bowl with one cup broth and some of the vegetables from the soup. Add one table spoon of cornstarch to one half cup cold water and mix together. Add this to the chicken and vegetables. Mix it until it thickens together. Put into eight individual ramekins and top with piece of pie crust to cover the top. Place the ramekins on a cookie sheet and you have 8 individual chicken pot pies. Cook for 20 minutes until pie crust is slightly browned. Take the shredded chicken and add prewashed, sliced green grapes. chopped raw celery, fresh chopped dill. Add mayonnaise or plain lowfat greek yogurt to taste and desired consistency. Toast the whole wheat bread put the chicken salad on the bread and cut into four sections.
2. This recipe uses very few utensils, it is very easy to follow and because of the chicken dishes it produces it appeals to many different ages. It is very cost effective and your shopping list is very short. We often make this when there is a challenging weather system. It has been referred to as snow storm soup, hurricane soup, or rain storm soup. The kids can help participate as you tell them the tale of "catching the eye of the storm" throwing it into the big pot and covering it with a lid.