i bet you didn't know that tupperware made chicken, did you?

many, many moons ago when all my children were small, i was invited to a Tupperware party. given the fact that all my children were small, i jumped at the chance to get out of the house and interact with adults. with the potential for real and meaningful conversations. and no interruptions to wipe noses or other body parts...

since all the children were small (did i mention that already?) there was no money for things like marvelous plastic leftover containers, but i did come away from that party refreshed~ both with companionship and a wonderful recipe that I've managed to keep track of through a flood, 4 moves and 2 more children.

i still use this recipe, and wanted to share it with you. i use it mostly after we butcher chickens. when I've cut off the wings, leg quarters and breasts, I'm left with a chicken carcass that still has meat on it, but not very much.

what i do then is plop about a dozen carcasses in the pressure cooker. i cook them for about an hour and then bone them all. the last time we butchered, we did 30 chickens, and i got enough chicken to make 8 of these meals. pretty good, considering that many may have just thrown that all away! so without further ado, here is the recipe. (and since I'm such a good blogger, i even took a picture of the plastic freezer bag for you. in case you couldn't visualize it all by yourself!)

Tupperware Chicken

Chicken Mix:

6 lbs. chicken

¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped

½ lb. EACH onions, carrots and celery (about 2 cups chopped)

1½ t. dried basil

basically, condensing the complicated Tupperware instructions, you just cook all this until the veggies are tender. if your chicken is already cooked, like mine was, just throw that in at the end. the recipe says that this will make 6 of the main dish recipes, which will serve 4 people each. don't believe them for one second. you'll have to adjust for your own family. now put your family sized chicken mix in a freezer bag, and when you're ready to make it, you'll have 6 recipes to choose from:

Candied Chicken

chicken mix

3/4 cup maple syrup

1/3 cup ketchup

1/3 cup white vinegar

place chicken mix at bottom of skillet. (slightly thawed, i would think) mix remaining ingredients and pour over chicken. heat on stove until hot. serve over rice.

Orange Chicken Delight

chicken mix

1 can mandarin oranges, drained

¼ t. garlic powder

1/3 cup orange juice

1 T soy sauce

¼ t. dry mustard

1 T cornstarch

place chicken in bottom of baking dish. top with mandarin oranges. mix remaining ingredients, and pour over chicken mix. bake until hot. serve over rice.

Mexican Chicken

Chicken Marinara

Hearty Chicken Salad

Chicken with Dressing and Veggies

these two recipes are the ones that i use the most, but if you'd like to try some of the others, I'd be happy to share! just let me know, and I'll type them out in the comments section.