Our family really enjoys a recipe called Oriental Hot and Spicy Chicken. You can brush this sauce on chicken pieces or on a whole bird.
2 Tbsp. toasted sesame oil
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
4 Tbsp. vinegar
2 tsp. hot sauce
2 Tbsp. mustard
If you are baking chicken pieces, bake them uncovered for 1 1/2 hrs. at 350 degrees. If you are baking a whole chicken, cover your roaster and bake the chicken 2 to 3 hours at 350 degrees till the juices run clear and the leg joint is loose.
This is a great way to use leftover chicken.
(All measurements are approximate.)
1 chicken, cooked and deboned and cut up
1/2 c.mayonnaise
1/2 c. sour cream
1 tablespoon dill weed
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons tamari sauce
1 tablespoon minced onion or 1 teaspoon onion powder
One stalk celery, cut up fine, optional
Unrefined sea salt, to taste
Mix all ingredients.
To be honest, I never measure the ingredients and I don’t follow a recipe. I just mix it together until it tastes like I want it. For variation, you can add some dried cranberries and/or chopped walnuts. Or add grape halves and some tarragon. Or put in a little curry powder and some frozen peas, thawed. For an oriental flare, add a little ginger and toasted sesame oil. In addition to the usual sandwich, you can serve the chicken salad in pita bread or rolled up in a tortilla. Or use it for the filling of your breakfast omelet. Or add some sliced hardboiled eggs, top it with buttered bread cubes and bake it in the oven. Have fun being creative! The best rule to remember is to start with a little of this and a little of that. You can always add more, but you can’t take it out.
My favorite way to roast a turkey:
Sprinkle salt all over the turkey. Lay into roaster breast side down. Add 2 inches of water. Cover. Roast turkey at 400 degrees for one hour. Turn the heat to 250 degrees and bake till it falls off the bone. I do a large turkey all night. The turkey is so tender and full of flavor. The breast which is drier is moist. You will need to carve the turkey and put the meat slices on a platter. It is not a picture perfect whole browned turkey, but the flavor is tops!
Another favorite way to roast turkey:
Cut off the leg quarters,breast pieces and wings. (Save the carcass for a delicious soup.) Sprinkle the undersides of each piece with salt. Lay in roaster or pan. Pour 1/2 cup butter over all. Sprinkle with salt. Bake at 350 degrees till tender. This is super delicious! The butter gives the turkey a wonderfully rich flavor.
Eggs must be one of the easiest foods to fix. We eat them almost every morning. So, of course, my family likes some variation on how they are cooked.
Eggs With Salsa
Melt some butter in your skillet. Crack your eggs into the skillet as you would to fry them. Spoon salsa over the eggs and let them cook for one to two minutes. Flip the eggs and cook till they are done as you like them. If you desire, top with some shredded cheese.
Flipped Omelet
8 eggs
1 Tbsp mustard
1/4 tsp. salt
Toppings such as cheese, leftover meat, chopped onion and bell pepper, shredded zucchini, mushrooms, avocado slices, etc.
Beat the eggs, mustard and salt together. In a medium-sized skillet on medium heat, melt 2 tsp. butter. Add 1/4 of the eggs. Immediately add desired toppings. When the underside is deliciously browned, flip the omelet. It will immediately puff. Finish cooking to your liking. Repeat with remaining eggs. Makes 4 servings. Keep your eyes on these eggs. They cook quickly.
Panfried Potates
4 large potatoes
2 tbsp. butter
salt to taste
Wash or peel the potatoes. Slice them thinly. Melt the butter in your skillet. Add the raw potatoes. Stir to distribute the butter. Sprinkle with salt. Cover. When the undersides are browned, turn the potatoes. Cover. Continue this until the potatoes are soft. Because these potatoes are covered, they not only fry, but they also steam. This causes them to soften quickly, even though they’re raw. Our family loves these.
Beef Sausage
1 lb. ground beef
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. sage
A pinch of thyme, garlic powder and cloves
(Or add whatever spices you want)
1/2 cup water
Mix together. Shape into 8 small patties and fry. Makes 4 servings.
Our family enjoys eating foods from other cultures. I encourage you to try these delicious recipes. First, though, you must cook a four to five pound chicken until it is tender. Or if you’re like me (Cathy) you prefer the roasted chicken flavor. Put a chicken in your roaster. Add water to almost cover the chicken and roast it in a 350 degree oven until it is fall-off-the-bone tender. Remove the chicken from the broth, cool it, and debone it. Save the broth.
8 oz. rice noodles or thin spaghetti
Cook in water until tender. Drain in a colander and rinse with cold water. Set aside.
1/4 c. toasted sesame oil
1/2 c. soy sauce
6 T. rice or apple cider vinegar
1 t. ground ginger
1 clove garlic, crushed
Combine in small bowl. Add to noodles.
1 whole chicken breast, cut into small chunks
Your choice of vegetables, chopped or shredded:
scallions, sweet red pepper, celery, carrot, tomatoes, cucumber, squash, bean sprouts, broccoli
Add to noodles and sauce and toss. Best chilled overnight to integrate the flavor. Garnish with cilantro if desired.
For breakfast the next morning, poach your eggs in some of the leftover broth. The broth gives the eggs a delicious flavor. We love eggs cooked this way! After serving the eggs, strain the broth. It is now ready for escabeche for lunch. Escabeche (chicken onion soup) is a special dish served by Maya Indian descendents in the country of Belize.
4 c. chicken broth
2 c. cooked chicken (or the rest of the chicken you cooked up)
2 c. sliced onions
2 T vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
1/8 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. crushed oregano
hot pepper sauce or jalapenos to taste
Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes. This is important as it intensifies the flavors. Serve with warmed tortillas. Our family loves to spread the tortillas with peanut butter, roll them up and dip them in the soup.
Do you need a simple, surefire recipe for steak or chops? My family LOVES steak baked in the oven. I rarely add a marinade, but instead just add a little garlic, salt, and thyme so we can taste the wonderful rich flavor of the beef.
To prepare the steak/chops, sprinkle both sides of each piece of meat with salt and a little granulated garlic and thyme. Place in your baking dish. Add 1/2 inch of water. Cover dish. Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours. Or reduce the heat to 325 degrees and bake for 2 hours. The last time I baked steak, I forgot to add the water and after baking the steak extra long, it was browned and not dried out, but tender and delicious. This was because I do NOT trim the fat. Fat from beef that has been grass finished has omega 3 fatty acids and CLA (conjugated linoleic acid). CLA has been known to reduce cancerous tumors.
Put 2 cups of brown rice in the bottom of your roaster. Top with a little chopped onion and bell peppers. Sprinkle with salt. Add 4 cups of hot water. Sprinkle salt on your whole chicken. Place breast side up into roaster on top of the rice. Sprinkle with desired herbs. I like sage, garlic powder and onion powder. Cover. Baked at 325 degrees for three hours or till chicken is fall-off-the-bone tender. Are you in a hurry? Turn the oven up to 400 degrees and bake for 2 hours. (At 400 degrees, the rice will probably stick to the bottom of the pan a little, but it won’t burn.) I like to double the recipe so I have leftovers to make chicken and rice soup. To make the soup you only need to add water and a little salt to the rice and chicken that has been taken off the bone. The broth is in the rice.
If you want pizza, but don’t have the time or desire to put together a yeast dough crust, here’s a recipe you can try. My family loves pizza, but they don’t think they get it often enough (especially my husband 🙂 ). So not long ago I began using this recipe. It was an instant hit and it is quicker and easier to make.
Crazy Crust Pizza
1 cup flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground oregano
1/8 tsp. black pepper
Combine in bowl.
2 eggs, beaten
2/3 cups milk
Combine and stir into flour mixture. Pour batter into greased pizza pan.
1/3 cup chopped onions
Mushrooms if desired
Sprinkle over dough. Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and spread on meat, pizza sauce and toppings below:
1 lb. hamburger
Brown and drain. To have a sausage flavor, add Wright’s hickory smoke or 1 tsp. ground sage to the meat. You can also use chicken or lamb, cut up.
1 cup pizza sauce
3/4 tsp. basil
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 1/2 cups grated mozzarella or cheddar cheese
After putting toppings on pizza, return to oven 5 more minutes or until cheese melts.
My favorite marinade for meat and poultry:
1/4 c. olive or coconut oil
1/4 c. balsamic or apple cider vinegar
1 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. onion powder
1 tsp. dried basil leaves
1/2 tsp. salt
Bake the meat or poultry in the marinade. Delicious!
One of our customers, Donald Fowles, sent us a delicious chicken recipe last month and we’d like to pass it along to you. Here is what he says:
"Cut one large onion into chunks and put in bottom of crockpot. Mix ~2 tbsp. olive oil, 1-2 cloves garlic, 1/2 to 1 tsp. dry tarragon, and salt and pepper to taste in a small bowl. Wash whole chicken, drain, and put it in crockpot breast side down. Rub about 1/3 of olive oil mixture over bottom of chicken. Turn chicken over and rub remaining mixture on chicken. (Add no other moisture.) Cook 8 hrs on low.
“This recipe is so quick and easy, and it results in a moist and tasty chicken ready to eat when you get home from work. I strain the juices left in the crockpot and put them in the fridge. The next day I scrape off the fat at the top and use the gelled material as the base for chicken gravy, to which I add some of the leftover chicken meat and serve over hot rice. Incredible!"