This week I wanted to see how far I could stretch one meat purchase. I bought two full (both sides) chicken breasts yesterday, with a total of just over three pounds. I cooked them in beer in my crock pot, and then put them in the fridge to cool off and stop them from cooking past their prime.

Night one: Chicken Salad

I took one half of a breast (yielding about 2 cups of chicken) and shredded it. I mixed in 1/2 a cup of Greek yogurt, a bit of salt and pepper, and about a 1/2 cup of driend cranberries. I had it on gluten-free bread and the wife and kids had white bread. Rave reviews, and still 3/4 of my meat for the week is left.

Night two: Italian Baked Chicken and Pastina

I found a recipe on foodnetwork.com here, and thought I'd give it a try. I used a nice brown-rice pasta and crushed corn flakes instead of bread crumbs. The recipe only used a very small amount of chicken (I used 1/2 of one side of the breast, leaving plenty of chicken going into day three. The blend of flavors was great, and the whole family enjoyed this quick meal. Since the chicken was already pre-cooked yesterday, prep went real quick and easy as well.

Stay tuned, we'll see how far I can stretch 3 pounds of chicken!