Buzzard Isn't Boring!

5 CHICKEN RECIPES TO LIVEN UP DINNER

By Barb Freda

Ah, chicken. It doesn't get much more straightforward than that. Chicken is the one meat we can all go to when we are trying to please all the picky palates patiently waiting at the table.

The good?

• Chicken is mild enough to be used in any number of dishes.
• If you cook a whole chicken, you get to make stock, too.
• You can get almost every part boneless and skinless.
• More and more supermarkets offer hormone-free versions.
• Without the skin, it's one of the leanest proteins around.
• It's affordable.
• It's affordable. (forgive me for repeating myself)

The not so good?

• Some people find chicken bland.
• If you buy a whole chicken and your family only eats white meat, some goes to waste.
• Some cooks are so worried about salmonella they cook chicken to within an inch of its life, drying it to shoe leather. (A roast chicken should be 160 F at the breast and 170F at leg/thigh, according to "Cook's Illustrated." USDA likes 165F)
• Skin on chicken can be a challenge to the calorie conscious among us: oh-too-good-to-resist and oh-too-bad-for-our-hearts.

But chicken remains one of the most popular protein choices. According to foodreference.com, Americans consume 90.6 pounds of chicken per capita annually. That's a whole lotta bird. The same source says that more than half of the chicken we order out? Fried.

So let's bring it on home. Don't make it bland, make it great. Your mission, should you decide to accept it? Never let anyone at home utter the words, "Chicken again?"

Why not:

1. Learn to make the perfect roasted chicken, a classic. Ina Garten tells you how here.



2. Learn to sample chicken with another country's twist. Rachael Ray gives you her version of Pad Thai with Chicken and Shrimp here.



3. Learn to make Chicken and Dumplings, classic comfort food. Martha Stewart walks you through the steps here.



4. Learn to use leftovers in tacos, nachos or potpie here.



5. Learn to  make crockpot chicken by browsing through the many reader-submitted recipes at Cooks.com here.

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