The Recipes Page

Recipes Given Below:

1. Roast Turkey, and Turkey Broth in the Slow-Cooker

2. Hard-Cooked Eggs

3. Roast Chicken, and Chicken Soup in the Slow-Cooker

4. Refrigerator (Freezer) Chocolate Cookies

5. Turkey or Chicken Chili in the Slow-Cooker, and, Cornbread

6. Turkey or Chicken Pot Pie in the Slow-Cooker, and, Biscuits

1. The Cheapest Meat You Can Buy is a Large Turkey

Many supermarkets sell store-brand frozen turkeys for 69 cents/pound from just before Thanksgiving through January 3rd. You still have time to purchase one (I am writing on December 29th.) And even when it sells at year-round price, generally a store-brand frozen turkey of 24-pound size costs less per serving than almost any other meat you can buy.

Yes, this kind of poultry is injected with a saline/sugar solution, but it is still good food–the turkey you would get in a package of cold cuts was probably treated the same way.

You want to buy the largest turkey that you can find–generally, 24 pounds–because the ratio of meat to bones is higher the bigger is the turkey.

You do not need a special roasting pan. A regular 9 x 13″ cake pan will do, so long as it is sturdy. (Do not use a flimsy aluminum-foil pan.)

Defrost the turkey in the fridge (you can make it fit on the top shelf) for five days to a week if it is 20-24 pounds. Make sure that you have only one rack inserted in the oven, and that it is at the lowest position. Then remove any  paper or wire or plastic from the turkey (save the neck and gizzards/innards for the broth that you will prepare.) Place the turkey in the pan obliquely, so that one wing is sticking out. The only additional seasoning that an injected bird needs is for you to pour about an ounce of vegetable oil atop the breast and smooth it arouund with your hands. Wash your hands and add a little salt and freshly-ground black pepper to the oiled skin.

Place the pan in the oven and drape that wing that hangs over the pan’s side with aluminum foil. (That is the only way to fit such a large turkey into that size pan.) Push the foil around the wing tightly so that the wing is not going to touch the side of the oven.

Check the instructions on the package that the turkey was wrapped in. Generally, a turkey of that size needs to be roasted at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for five hours. Be sure that the meat has reached a temperature of 165 degrees per a thermometer probe that you insert when you check the bird.

When the turkey is cooked, remove it to a carving board (this can be the porcelain counter at the side of your kitchen sink, as long as you cover it) and set a timer for 45 minutes to let the turkey’s internal juices settle.

You will need three large bowls. Place soup materials like skin that did not crisp into one bowl, the largest. Place chunks of meat that you will be shredding to freeze in the second bowl. Place pieces of meat like the wings or other portions that you wish to indulge in as entrees in the third bowl. Be very sure to cover tightly the second and third bowl and refrigerate them before two hours have elapsed from the time when you removed the turkey from the oven. (You can come down with a nasty case of food poisoning if you’re not careful with this routine!)

Put the carcass and all the soup materials from bowl number one into a seven-quart oval slow cooker like a Crock-Pot. Add four onions (with their skins is fine), cut in half to fit if necesssary. (Note that this is a much simpler recipe than chicken soup is. This is because pre-seasoned frozen turkeys are quite cheap during the holidays in the U.S.A.) Add water to fill the cooker three-quarters full. Set the cooker on low and you are free for the next eight hours, just as soon as you wash that largest bowl.

When the soup is ready, place a metal colander in that largest bowl, and set in the sink. With sturdy oven mitts and in stages, pour the soup into the bowl via the colander. You have two hours to work. Set out jars to pour the soup into. When cool enough, use a long-handled spoon to press out the soup into the bowl. Discard the bones/onions left behind. Use a ladle and a funnel to transfer the soup from the bowl into the jars.

The next day, shred the meat from the second bowl. I find it quicker to do this by hand, but you can use two forks. Using a two-cup measuring cup, transfer shredded meat into sandwich bags. You can fit five filled baggies into a freezer bag. (Label it!) You will likely get ten baggies/two freezer bags/twenty cups of turkey meat from the 24-pound bird, even with having taken so much for entrees and even with having made soup.

And, yes, indeed, you did pay more than the cash price that you paid, via your labor, but your effective hourly wage is neither reportable for public benefits nor taxable, and you could never eat in a restaurant so well on what you paid for the turkey!

2. How to Hard-Cook Eggs

You need:

• A dozen to eighteen eggs (older eggs are best for hard-cooking)
• Distilled vinegar (this prevents any egg content that leaves the shell [through a crack] to move beyond the egg’s shell into the water)
• A stockpot/pasta pot with a cover

Put the pot in the sink. Pour in a dollop (about an ounce) of vinegar. Lay eighteen (or a dozen or as many as will fit) eggs in a single layer in the pot. Barely cover the eggs with cold water. Cover the pot.

Place the pot on a burner and bring the water, on high heat, to a rolling boil (so that you can hear the eggs rattling, with steam coming out from under the cover). In order to be able to go about other activities, I set a timer for fifteen minutes, but eighteen eggs generally takes in my experience twelve minutes.

Turn off the heat, but don’t move the pot. Reset the timer for 45 minutes. At the end of that time, lift the eggs out with a slotted spoon.

Store the eggs in the refrigerator, either in the carton–which you label “Hard” on each end, or in storage bags.

3. Roast Chicken--AND, Chicken Soup in the Slow Cooker

All you need is a five-pound chicken, three large onions, an orange, a 9×11-inch sturdy pan, an oven, a slow-cooker (preferably oval) of seven-quart size, and parchment paper or aluminum foil.

Take one rack out of your oven so that there will be room for the bird. Line the pan with paper or foil so that there is a two-inch overhang on each side. You will be using a crosswise and a lengthwise piece of paper or foil. Place two small bowls on your counter.

Slice the onions and place in the lined pan, spread evenly. Cut the orange into eight pieces (including the rind, the whole orange).

Wash your hands. In your kitchen sink, unwrap the (defrosted in your refrigerator) chicken. Remove the liver to one bowl (it needs to be cooked separately from the soup, see below) and place the neck and other giblets in the other bowl.  Rinse the chicken. Place it (wings up) atop the onions. Wash your hands. Stuff the orange pieces into the chicken’s cavity where the giblets were. Wash your hands.

Pour about one ounce of vegetable oil over the chicken. Use your hands to spread the oil around. Wash your hands.

Sparingly, season the chicken with salt and pepper, preferably freshly-ground black.

Put the chicken in the oven. Set the temperature to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Set a timer to 75 minutes.

Cover the bowl that has the neck and giblets in it; refrigerate. Add the liver from the other bowl to a freezer bag in which you accumulate livers until you have enough to cook a dish of them.

If you have a meat thermometer, the chicken’s internal temperature (at the deepest point, but do not touch a bone) should be 165 degrees.

When the chicken is done, let it sit ten minutes. Then move the bird to a carving board, but be very careful to keep the pan’s lining paper with its juices and caramelised onions and orange pieces intact.

You have two hours from the time that you removed the chicken from the oven before everything has to be refrigerated or set into the slow cooker in the case of the contents of the pan’s lining paper.

Personally, I carve the chicken on the day that I’ve roasted it, but I slide the paper’s contents into a bowl, l cover it, and refrigerate it. I prepare soup in the slow cooker on the next day. It’s up to you.

This is how I allocate the meat: I enjoy the crisped skin and the wings as one luxurious meal. (I don’t buy potato chips, so I figure that I can afford the cholesterol load occasionally!) I cut or shred the meat and divide it into two gallon freezer bags, and then freeze it.

As to the soup, the contents of the pan’s lining paper (perhaps now in a bowl) AND the carcass AND the neck and giblets that you had previously refrigerated all go into the slow-cooker. Then fill the cooker with water so that the cooker is 3/4-full. Set it at low, and note the time. You need to cook the soup for eight hours. It is OK to go over by a half-hour or so, and it is OK to cook it for only seven hours, but the flavor is fullest at the eight/eight-and-a-half hour point. I strain all the solids out by setting a 13-qt bowl (you can use a pasta/stock pot) in the sink with a metal colander inside, and pouring the soup through the colander. (Wear oven mitts.) After using a long-handled metal spoon to press out the liquid, I use a ladle to scoop the soup into canning jars. This yields about seven pints of soup.

4. The Cheapest, Always-Ready-for-Guests, Most Delicious Chocolate Cookies Ever!

½ c shortening

3 T oil

2-1/2 c sugar

4 eggs

1 T baking powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp vanillin/artificial-vanilla flavoring

1 teaspoon salt

½ cup PLUS 1 T cocoa

2-1/2 c all-purpose flour

Put shortening and oil in a large bowl; add sugar. Cream. (That means to smoosh all of the sugar evenly into the fat, so that you end up with a smooth amalgamation.) Add eggs, baking powder, vanilla and vanillin, and salt. Mix well.

Add cocoa. Mix well. Add in flour, ½ c at a time, mixing well after each addition.

Use a butter knife to cut the dough in half (two semi-circles.) Lift out each half and place it on one of the pieces of parchment paper. Starting with one semi-circle of dough on the first piece of parchment paper, pull the “north” and “south” edges of the paper up high. Lift those two edges of the paper. The dough will settle into the middle of the paper. Neatly fold the paper into a wrap for a total of about half-way down, by having made a total of three one-inch folds. Now massage the dough through the paper to extend it into a roll which has a diameter about the length of your forefinger. Fold the rest of the paper down. Now bring the ends of the paper up. Repeat on the second semi-circle of dough, using the second piece of parchment paper. You have created two wrapped logs of cookie dough.

You will need an outer container to hold the dough in the freezer. I use a gallon-sized freezer bag. Mark it with the date and the contents. The life of the dough is about two months. But if you want to make a log of the cookies today, wait three hours for the dough to solidify.

When you are ready to bake a log of the cookies, remove it from the freezer. Set out a cutting board and a paring knife. Prepare two large cookie sheets (mine are 11×15-1/4”) by lining them with parchment paper or greasing them lightly. Set out two or three cooling racks, depending on size (I use one large and one medium.)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Slice the cookies into ½-inch rounds. (It is OK if they are oval, oblong, irregular, whatever!) You will probably have about 14 cookies from each log.

Set a timer for five minutes and 30 seconds. Put the cookies in the oven. When the timer goes off, interchange the cookies on the two racks of your oven, so as to avoid burning the bottoms of the cookies on the rack that gets more heat. (Almost all ovens heat unevenly.) Reset the timer for five minutes and 30 seconds after you have closed the oven again.

When the timer sounds for its second duration, remove the cookies to the racks with a pancake turner. Cool the cookies and enjoy!

To store extras and keep them soft, add a slice of apple or of white sandwich bread (which you will have to change every other day, to avoid mold!) Keep the cookies covered tightly.

5. Slow Cooker Turkey (or Chicken) Chili, and Cornbread

This recipe is for a seven-quart slow cooker. (Halve the ingredients if you have a four-quart cooker.)

First, soak one pound white beans (Great Northern, navy/pea, or cannellini) for one hour as follows:

Pick over the beans to remove foreign matter like stones. Rinse the beans.

It is very important, if you are soaking kidney beans, either red ones or the white cannellini, that you pre-cook them in water that is at a rolling boil, for a full five minutes before you start timing the soaking. All kidney beans can be toxic to you if you don’t take this precaution.

Place the beans, with two Tablespoons salt, in two quarts of boiling water. Turn off the heat and leave to soak for one hour.

Drain the beans in a colander and rinse off the salt.

Chop one large onion and slice two large garlic cloves.

Place the beans, onion, and garlic in the cooker. Add one Tablespoon of dried oregano and 25 grindings or shakings of black pepper. If you have cumin in the house, add one teaspoon. If you don’t, it will be better to use the chili powder (which generally contains cumin) in the second cooking stage, rather than a can of chilies.

Pour two pints of turkey or chicken broth over all. Mix well.

Cover. Set cooker to Low and cook for seven and one-half hours.

Meanwhile, set out a 15-ounce can of tomatoes, drained with a strainer over a small bowl, and chopped (you can do the chopping with kitchen shears, right in the can. Place half the tomatoes from a 29-ounce can in a container and refrigerate it, if you only have the larger can. The juice from the can is a refreshing drink as you cook.)

Add to the bowl one can (four ounces) of green chilies, chopped, OR one teaspoon (or two teaspoons, if you like heat) of chili powder OR ¼-pound jalapeño peppers, chopped (wear rubber gloves while chopping.) I prefer to use the canned chilies, as I like a mild taste. (By the way, all “red spices,” from chili powder to paprika, will last much longer if refrigerated.)

Add to the bowl two cups of cooked shredded turkey (or chicken.)

After the seven and one-half hours have elapsed, turn cooker to Off and uncover.

Add contents of the bowl. Mix well.

Set cooker to High and cook for five minutes on a timer (you’ve brought the temperature down too low by having the cover off and putting in the extra ingredients.) Set cooker to Low and cook for one hour more.

Add salt (probably one teaspoon) and more black pepper to your taste. (If your broth was made according to my recipes in PsychDisABILITIES.info, you are actually unlikely to need more seasonings.)

Serve with chopped fresh cilantro (sometimes called fresh coriander), if you have it on hand, and cornbread (or corn tortillas).)

Cornbread

You don’t need a flour-sifter if you have a large strainer with hooks that allow it to rest over a bowl. You only need to push the flour (mixture) down using the bottom of a measuring cup (as it has a large surface.)

Grease a nine-inch cake pan.

Sift three-quarters cup of flour, preferably whole-wheat, in a small bowl.

Sift together in a large bowl the sifted flour, one-and-one-half cups of cornmeal, one-half cup nonfat dry milk solids, two Tablespoons of sugar, one teaspoon of salt, and one Tablespoon PLUS one teaspoon of baking powder.

In the small bowl, whisk or mix together two large eggs, one-and-one-quarter cups water, and one-quarter cup of vegetable oil. Set the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Pour the contents of the small bowl into the large bowl. Mix quickly, and only until all the dry ingredients are moistened.

Pour the dough into the pan. Bake for 33 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack.

This is good to eat as cornbread only for one day. Crumble what is left and freeze for use as breadcrumbs in recipes that call for fresh crumbs as a topping or an ingredient.

6. Turkey or Chicken Pot Pie (Slow-Cooker)

Measurements are for a seven-quart cooker. (Halve for a four-quart cooker.)

One large yellow onion, chopped

One large or two medium cloves of garlic, chopped

Four cups cooked-and-shredded turkey or chicken

Approximately one pound of corn (frozen or canned)

Approximately one pound of green garden peas (I prefer frozen)

Two cups turkey or chicken broth (you can add water to a pint of broth to make a full two cups)

One teaspoon crushed dried thyme

One teaspoon dried marjoram OR ½ teaspoon dried oregano

Two teaspoons salt

50 grindings or shakings of black pepper

One teaspoon celery seed (having celery seed in your pantry is thrifty if you don’t regularly eat celery sticks, as celery spoils so quickly) OR one large stalk of celery, chopped

Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon. Set cooker on Low.

Write down the current time. Write down the time it will be in three hours and 30 minutes.

In a small bowl, use a strainer (or a flour sifter) to sift two cups of all-purpose flour. In a large bowl, sift together the two cups of flour from the small bowl, one Tablespoon of baking powder, and one teaspoon of salt.

Place a thick terry-cloth (bath) towel near the cooker.

Biscuits (On Their Own OR As Part of a Pot Pie)

(You can use this recipe for biscuits that you bake in the oven. When you’ve prepared the biscuits for baking, preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit, arrange the biscuits on two ungreased cookie sheets, and set a timer for six minutes. Switch the placement of the two sheets on the racks of your oven. Reset the timer for six minutes if necessary (or turn it on again), and bake for another six minutes, total of twelve minutes.)

[In a small bowl, use a strainer (or a flour sifter) to sift two cups of all-purpose flour. In a large bowl, sift together the two cups of flour from the small bowl, one Tablespoon of baking powder, and one teaspoon of salt. If you already did this, don’t repeat it.]

When you’ve been cooking the stew for three hours and 30 minutes, prepare the biscuits.

Use a pastry blender or two butter knives to cut into the flour mixture ¾ stick/six Tablespoons of margarine, until totally incorporated. It’s helpful to use a knife to cut up the margarine (in the bowl) into small pieces before starting to cut it in.

Set out on the counter a pastry board or mat, which can simply be parchment paper secured to the counter by your having wet the counter before putting down the paper. Sprinkle it with flour.

Add 2/3 cup of water. Wash your hands. Mix the incipient dough with your hands, and, once all the flour has been incorporated, turn out the dough onto the board. Knead the dough ten times (push the dough down with the part of your hands nearest your wrists. Turn the dough ninety degrees. Repeat nine times.) Biscuits are tough if you overwork the dough. Form the dough into a six-inch square. Wash your hands and grab a butter knife. Cut the dough into nine biscuits. If any of them look big or thick, cut those into two triangles each.

Put the prepared biscuits back into the large bowl so you can carry them to the slow cooker. Remove the cooker’s cover and place it somewhere out of the way. Wash your hands (E.coli bacteria can be present in dough, as flour is not sterilized. The slow cooker on Low is no autoclave.) Arrange the biscuits on top of the stew. You will nearly completely cover the surface. Place the towel atop the cooker. (Be careful that it doesn’t drape where it could trip you.) Then replace the cover of the cooker, atop the towel.

Set the timer for 45 minutes. When that time has elapsed, remove the cooker’s cover. Uncover the towel from the rear of the cooker first, so that the steam vents before it could hit your face.

Storage and Reheating:

Biscuits will become stale even within twelve hours if left on the counter, wrapped or not (although a bread box with ventilation holes will increase their life a day or so.) I fit them in an eight-inch loaf pan. To wrap, I suggest that you pull one gallon freezer bag over one edge of the pan—it will nearly be large enough to close. So, pull another bag over the other edge of the pan and secure a large rubber band horizontally over the pan. Freeze.

You can store the stew in the refrigerator, covered, in a four-quart (or five-quart) bowl.

Portion into a bowl the stew that you want to serve, cover with biscuit(s), and heat in the microwave—two minutes works on High in a 1000-watt oven.

(C) Copyright Deborahmichelle Sanders 2018. All rights reserved.