Michey's Surprise

Why is it a surprise? Because it's the end of the month, the day before payday when money is tight. We have no idea what we are going to eat. It's a surprise as to what is in dinner. It usually consist of whatever leftover meat is in the refrigerator from a previous meal. It could be chicken, pork or leftover hamburger meat. It could even be left over taco meat or bar-b-que beef. It almost always is made with Raumen noodles because they're cheap you can find them for 10 cents a package especially if you buy in bulk. While the noodles are boiling in water I use half the seasoning package in the water the other I mix in with the meat  as I am reheating. Then I spice it  up to taste. You could add chili powder or coriander, salt, pepper, or onion powder. It really depends on how spicy you want it. Then add vegetables. Surprise, they can again be anything. They can be frozen peas, green beens  and/or corn.  You can add canned vegetables, even canned carrots. Whatever vegetables you might have in the refrigerator draw you want to get rid of, the more the merrier. Mix the noodles in and serve. Its not the best meal, but it covers the food groups and it will fill you up.

I was lucky this month I had a few dollars left over, so, I went to the store to see what I could find. I headed for the discount meat and chicken section. For $5 I found a 6lbs. roaster chicken. So I headed over to the discount stale bread to find a loaf of something to make stuffing. I was in luck I found a bag of stuffing for $1.65.

I took the chicken rinsed it inside and out, let it sit to dry. You can make stuffing following package instructions or In a large pot heat two table spoons of oil. Poor in a table spoon of sage, rosemary, and thyme.  Add a teaspoon of onion powder, garlic, salt, pepper, and celery seed.  Stir till herbs have soaked up some of the oil. Poor in 1 can of chicken stock, add  2 cups  of  bread cubes (packaged or a loaf of stale bread cut up). Put in refrigerator to cool. In the chicken cavity pour tablespoon of salt, pepper, sage, rosemary and thyme. Rub around the inside of cavity. Squish in Stuffing into cavity. Put left over stuffing in casserole pan and put in the over the last 15 minutes of cooking.  Evenly salt, pepper and garlic outside of chicken. Place chicken in oven at 375 for 1 and 1/2 hours. Add a green frozen or canned vegetable. Make gravy by using dripping from pan and half of milk and a teaspoon salt, and pepper each. Mix with a fork or whisk a tablespoon of flour heat on low string constantly till thicken.  Feeds 6 for $7.50