From the archives. This recipe was originally published three years ago, but has managed to be in the top ten most visited recipes here for the entire time.  I thought it deserved an update and a quick polish.  Hope Y’All still enjoy!

I don’t know if your local market carries them, but around here they occasionally put 10 lb bags of frozen chicken leg quarters on sale. When they do, I jump at the chance to snap some up, knowing that for just my wife and I, this six dollar purchase (sometimes I can find them for as little as three dollars!) will fuel about 5 meals.

The rub is, that’s just a whole lot of chicken. The great part is that chicken is versatile, and legs and thighs are especially so. To be honest though, sometimes I just want my chicken to taste like chicken, and that’s the reason I tossed this together for lunch yesterday.

This is so simple that a recipe really isn’t needed, but I’ll post it in standard format anyway. Adjust the amounts (which I’ve not given) to suit. This particular dish can be a main course or a simple lunch, and can serve from one to as many people as you’d like to feed.

I just love chicken. Read more…

Popularity: 38% [?]

Ah, fall.  Squash are everywhere, and in every variety.  It’s the time of year for soups, stews, chili and other things made from late crops, and I for one am just in love with the idea.  Seriously, what in nature is more creamy and luscious than a roasted squash or sweet potato?  Both are a perfect compliment to anything else you happen to have hangin in the oven for long periods of time, and they make the house smell fantastic!

The other thing I adore about squash is its shelf life.  You can leave a squash hanging out for quite a while before you finally get to it.  sometimes weeks, without worrying that it won’t just be sitting there waiting to become something wonderful.  In the case of Halloween and Thanksgiving, I tend to buy them as table decoration for this week and dinner for next week.  It’s perfect double-duty food, and not much makes me happier.

For this round I go to the unsung hero of the squash world, the spaghetti squash. For most people this is just a replacement for thin pasta to be used as the base for a marinara or Bolognese.  In my opinion that is a crying shame.  This is not pasta.  it will never taste like pasta.  You can’t make it taste like pasta, and why would you want to?

This dish is slightly spicy, has a wonderful texture and is the perfect compliment for a roast chicken or pork loin.  It’s not heavy but it is quite filling and the flavors are nutty and sweet all at the same time.  Add a little smokiness from the bacon and you’re all set!  Of course you could always skip the bacon if you wanted to go vegetarian.  it would still be fabulous.

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Popularity: 4% [?]

When the weather is cold the oven goes on low and slow and roasts and stews are the order of the day.  From now until the weather starts to warm our home will most likely be full of the aromas of simmering liquids and hearty winter herbs like sage and rosemary.  Stone fruits and jams replace fresh herbs as flavorings and the calorie counts rise to cope with the need to stay warm.  It’s my favorite time of the year, and roast chicken is one of my favorite dishes to make.

The smells of slow roasting poultry immediately get me thinking of the Holidays.  Thoughts of family gatherings past and things that were said around hot meals on blustery evenings with much laughter and joking, holiday specials on television for us kids and veiled references to what was bought for whom.  The good times in our family were always most pronounced when the weather got cool, and for me this type of food epitomies family, friends and love.

This chicken recipe is one of my mother’s go-to’s.  I share it with all of you in the spirit of the Holidays and I hope that you enjoy it with family and friends.  With laughter and joy and perhaps a holiday movie on for the kiddos so that they too have memories like mine when they get to be our ages.

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Popularity: 2% [?]

I’m a day late to my own party!  This recipe was created for the Frugal Fridays Blog Event, hosted and created by yours truly and was supposed to be posted last night, but several things conspired against me.  First there was sleep deprivation.  Our son has hit one of those stages where sleep doesn’t seem to be something he requires much of.  since Mrs. Seat of her Pants holds down a job outside the house, I’m the one who stays up with the little hellion sweet child until I can get him to nod off.  three days of that was enough to have me nodding on the couch by 7:00 pm.

Top that off with the fact that my probe thermometer is either damaged or was inserted into the wrong portion of chicken ans I can add “Kitchen Disaster” to the list of things that held me up. For once it looked like everything was going to be ready at the same time.  that’s actually a rarity, especially when you’re making things up as you go along.  Last night it all looked perfect.  Right up until the time I cut the bird…

Now I love to see a big bunch of deep red juices come pouring out of a steak or a roast, but when it happens to be coming from a chicken…  Let’s just say it doesn’t thrill me.  Especially when I’ve already poured some of the pan juices into my side dish as well!  This little revelation set me back a full 30 minutes, since everything had to be heated past 200 degrees and held there for at least five minutes…  Fun!

In the end it all turned out well, just a little dryer than I would have liked.  It’s still a dish that I would recommend to anyone, and hey.  If you’re a vegetarian, leave the chrizo and chicken stock out of the rice.  It’s a gread veggie-friendly side.  Or add another good dose of black beans and it could be a main course.  Good stuff!

But how much did all of this set me back?  let’s see.

Chicken: $3.42
Herbs – Free, I grow them myself
Rice – approximately $0.25
Black Beans: $0.85 per can
Corn: less than 1/3 of a bag of frozen corn, so $1.09 / 3 = $0.36
Chorizo: 1/2 of a $2.99 package, so roughly $1.50
Chicken stock: 16 oz. out of a 32 oz. container @ 2.09 = 1.08

Everything else was pantry staples and the garlic was leftover from my last FF, so

Grand Total: $7.46 for a meal that would easily serve four.  In fact there is still a ton of rice left over!

Not too shabby if I do say so myself!

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Popularity: 2% [?]

I don’t know what made me decide to roast a turkey in February. Then again I don’t really dwell on these urges much, I just go with them, especially when the turkey is selling for 60¢ per pound. When I find a bird like this at a price that low, I just can’t help myself.

Perhaps it was because some of my fondest memories regarding food revolve around this grand foul, this prince of poultry. Meals around the Thanksgiving and Christmas table with family and friends I’ve not had the chance to see in years. Perhaps it was the thought of all those yummy turkey sammies in the week to come.

Whatever it was, I couldn’t resist, and Turkey was on the menu for Thursday.

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Popularity: 1% [?]

Succulent pork loin with a light tang and just a zing of curry. This is sure to be a hit with your family and friends. To top it off, they’re baked, so they might even be pretty healthy!

This is something I’ve been meaning to try for a while, and the mood struck yesterday. Generally I’ll glaze pork in honey and mustard, but I’ve been trying to get away from the standard, and apricots just seemed like a good way to go. Read more…

Popularity: 1% [?]

Picnic ham is ham only in the sense that it’s taken from the leg section of our porcine pal. Unlike most ham that Americans are used to, this meat is not smoked or cured in any way. This dish could just as easily be made with any pork roast, but I would shy away from making it with pork tenderloin, since the sauce will never have time to reduce properly, and wouldn’t be as sweet.

The pan sauce in this recipe is the star of the show, and what a star it is. Read more…

Popularity: 1% [?]