Tonight’s dinner is straight out of the freezer!
From the freezer: 2 cups of shredded chicken, 1 container of chopped up summer veggies, about 2 cups of homemade chicken stock, and blanched broccoli.
Toss into pot. Stir occasionally. Eat!
Chicken Zucchini Stew on Rice
Yield – 4 servings
Preparation Time – 10 minutes
Cooking Time – 35 minutes
Ingredients
- 2 tsp olive oil ($.06)
- 1 large zucchini, chopped ($1)
- 1 yellow zucchini, chopped ($1)
- 1 yellow summer squash, chopped ($1)
- 1 large green onion, chopped ($1)
- 1 celery stalk, chopped ($.10)
- 1 carrot, peeled and chopped ($.10)
- About 2 cups of homemade chicken stock (free)
- 2 cups cooked and shredded chicken ($1.50)
- 2 tsp garlic powder ($.10)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup white rice ($.20) I would have preferred this with brown rice, but didn’t have time to wait 30 more minutes for it to cook! (See how to bake brown rice in the oven here.)
- 2 broccoli heads ($.50) Bought when on sale for $1/4…blanched and froze!
Directions
- To a large saucepan, add olive oil. Toss in the partially thawed chopped veggies. (Or fresh if you’re using fresh!) Saute for 6-7 minutes, or until are completely thawed.
- Add the chicken stock plus 1-2 cups of water. (Add enough water to cover all the veggies. It’s difficult to quantify the liquids in this recipe because the frozen veggies added quite a bit of liquid to the pot.) Add the shredded chicken.
- Cook for 20-30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. (I let mine cook down so it was pretty “thick” and more stew-like than soup-like.)
- In a smaller saucepan, add 2 1/2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Add rice, return to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and cook for 20 minutes. Fluff rice with fork before serving.
- Steam the blanched broccoli for 4-5 minutes in stovetop steamer, or in a microwavable bowl covered with plastic wrap.
- Serve Chicken Zucchini Stew over Rice with a side of Broccoli.
Cost $6.56 OOPS!
This dinner was a *smidge* over…but there were A.L.O.T. of leftovers…and it was LOVELY to have summer veggies in the DEAD of winter!
Kara says
Erin,
It’s so nice to see that you go over the $5.00 cost sometimes! Just this week as I was calculating the cost of my meal in my head I wondered if you ever went over. Also, your food pictures are looking SO good! I can really tell you are putting all your photography tricks you’ve learned to good use! Great looking soup/stew, however, I would be THE ONLY one in my house to touch this, so I probably won’t make it! I got your cookbook in the mail yesterday from ordering it and love it!!!
Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom says
@Kara,
Thanks Kara! My challenge is to be under $5 all the time, but if I bust over here and there, that’s OK too! You could half the stew, make it for yourself and eat it for lunches!
Wendy V says
This sounds great, but I’m tempted to thicken it with cornstarch and eat it over rice noodles, but regardless of how it’s done, it’s definitely something I’m going to try!
Heather Grimes says
This sounds and looks amazing! I like Wendy V’s comment for thickening it up and serving over rice noodles. Thanks for posting and I can’t wait to try it.
Amanda says
This looks like a delicious meal and a recipe I think I would like to try out. Thanks!
Laura says
You could cut the cost a little by not serving a veg on the side, since there is already so many veggies in the stew. $6.56 for dinner is still a pretty good deal though 🙂
Shannon says
When I tried to freeze squash it come out of the freezer looking terrible. I went ahead and cooked it and it was terrible. Tough and did not taste good. Did I do something wrong? Is there a trick to freezing squash that I don’t know?
Anywho, this recipe looks delish and I think I could pass it off as a stir fry type dish. Next time squash is on sale I will make this.
Thanks
Shannon
Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom says
@Shannon,
Did you dice it up before you froze it?!?
Many veggies don’t thaw well…they thaw “soft”, sometimes “mushy.”
When I added the diced squash to the pot to cook it was partially thawed. I froze it in a large container with other veggies, partially thawed it and then tossed them in the pot to cook. They turned out well this way!
Shannon says
@Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom,
I sliced it and froze it in freezer bags. That is all I did – didn’t blanch or anything. It was yellow squash and zucchini. Maybe I kept it in the freezer too long. What is the freezer life?
Erin, The $5 Dinner Mom says
@Shannon,
Freezer life around 6 months…I would try dicing it next time, maybe?