Chickening Out

It's not that I don't care for chicken. I do. It's a most versatile meat and valued highly around my table. But too much of a good thing has caused a temporary rift in my like of it.

My husband was recently out of town for a week. While there's an up-side to this (100% control of the remote), there's also a down: I don't cook like I should. 'Balanced' and 'meal' aren't drawn together. I get by with omelets and cereal and eating out.

But I was determined to do better and so I bought a rotisserie chicken from the Wal-Mart deli. At just under $4, it's a bargain with little comparison. It's good and it's worth more than one meal.

Way more.

Sunday: I buy the chicken, take it home, and while it's still hot, treat myself to a leg quarter, a hard-boiled egg, and cheddar cheese.

(Okay, one would think I would lose weight on such paltry fare. One would be WRONG.)

Monday: Lunch, I have half a chicken breast, egg, cheddar. (I've found a really good Wisconsin cheddar.) Monday night I'm invited to friends' where not only do they serve marinated, grilled chicken, but I get a goodie-bag to take home.

Tuesday: Lunch is out. Dinner is from the goodie-bag. You know the rest of the menu.

Wednesday: Sensing a weak link in my friend-base, I take the rest of the deli chicken to a friend's house where we're working on library bazaar projects. She's delighted with the prospect of chicken, warms up her veggie leftovers and we dig in. I take home half a chicken. Still. What nerve of her not to eat her half.

Dinner: I take the rest of the goodie-bag chicken and make a salad. Yum!

Thursday: Lunch out. Dinner out. No chicken.

Friday: I've had it with the deli bird. I peel the breast meat off (there's still a leg quarter) and fight the house cats off of it because they're on a diet. Then I take the carcass, pick the meat off for the outside cat, and dump the rest, bones and all, in the area I've reserved for the marauding neighborhood animals: cats, possums, raccoons.

The chicken is gone. YES!

Friday night: omelet anyone?