Author Archives: Carl Fisher

Chicken Santa Fe

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One of our favorite freezer meals.  Easy to put together and easy to heat up.  This recipe serves 10 folks.

1 TBS olive oil
4 large chicken breasts, cooked and chopped
15 oz. canned corn, drained
15 oz. canned black beans, drained and rinsed
15 oz. canned black eyed peas, drained
15 oz. canned pinto beans, drained
12 oz. canned diced, tomatoes, Ro-Tel brand recommended
15 oz. picante sauce
1 TBS chili powder
2 tsp cumin
1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded (about 4 oz.)

Assembly Directions: In a large skillet add olive oil and chicken breast at medium heat.  Cook until done (no pink in the middle).  Remove and cut into bit sized pieces and set aside. In a large bowl, mix together the corn, black beans, black-eyed peas, pinto beans, tomatoes, and picante sauce.  Add the chili powder, cumin, and chopped chicken, stirring until evenly mixed.

Freezing Directions: Put mixture in a one-gallon freezer bag.  Put the shredded cheddar in a quart freezer bag.  Seal, label, and freeze both bags.  This recipe can easily be split in half in two quart freezer bags.

Serving Directions: Thaw bean mixture bags.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9×13 pan (or an 8×8 pan for 1/2 recipe) with cooking spray.  Pour the bag of chicken mixture into the pan.  Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes, or until heated through.  Remove foil.  Top with shredded cheese.  Bake an additional 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted. Serve over rice. Serves: 10

Chicken Stock in an Instant Pot

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Instant Pot Chicken Stock (Bone Broth)

Great way to use the leftover store bought rotisserie chicken carcass
Keyword: Instant Pot
Servings: 8 cups

Ingredients

  • 2 medium onion chopped into large pieces, untrimmed
  • 2 stalks celery chopped into large pieces with leaves
  • 2 medium carrot large chunks
  • 2 cloves garlic smashed
  • 2 ½ pound chicken carcass
  • 2 each bay leaves
  • 2 TBS soy sauce
  • 1 TBS cider vinegar
  • 2 tsp black peppercorns whole
  • ½ tsp marjoram dried
  • ½ tsp thyme dried
  • 8 cups water or as needed

Instructions

  • Step 1: Without peeling any skin or trimming any ends, prepare vegetables: Roughly chop onions. Roughly slice celery and carrots. Smash garlic gloves.
  • Step 2: Place chicken carcasses in a 6-quart multi-functional pressure cooker (such as Instant Pot®). Add onions, celery, carrots, garlic, bay leaves, soy sauce, vinegar, peppercorns, marjoram, and thyme. Loosely pack down. Add enough water to reach the max fill level. Close and lock the lid.
  • Step 3: Select high pressure according to manufacturer's instructions; set timer for 2 1/2 hours. Allow 10 to 15 minutes for pressure to build.
  • Step 4: Release pressure using the natural-release method according to manufacturer's instructions for 45 minutes. Unlock and remove the lid.
  • Step 5: Use a mesh strainer to strain solids from liquids. Cool and remove the solidified layer of fat if you wish. It's ready to use right now but that's a lot of chicken broth. It can be frozen and used later.

Homemade Laundry Soap

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Homemade Soap (for front loading clothes washer)
1/2 cup Borax
1/2 cup Washing Soda
1/2 cup blue Dawn Dish Soap (I don’t know why blue?)
1 Gallon of Water

Mix Borax and Washing Soda with 2 cups of hot water until dissolved.  Add mixture to a gallon jug (I used one that had previously held store bought laundry soap) and add cold water until about 3/4 full.  Add Dawn dish soap and shake to mix it up (it will suds a bit) then finish filling with cold water.

Use 1/4 cup per load.

Bread Pudding, Pumpkin

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Bread Pudding, Pumpkin

This recipe came from Jyll at Gather in Green Bay, WI and was originally for the Instant Pot. We didn't feel we needed the Instant Pot so we converted it to be cooked in the oven.
Course: Dessert
Keyword: Pumpkin
Servings: 8

Ingredients

Bread Pudding

  • 1 loaf French bread cut into 1 inch cubes
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 15 oz can pumpkin
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 4 medium egg
  • 1 TBL cinnamon ground
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • vanilla ice cream optional

Caramel Sauce

  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Instructions

Bread Pudding

  • Grease a 9 inch spring form pan. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
  • In a large bowl, whisk the heavy cream, pumpkin, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt. Toss with bread cubes to coat evenly. Pour into greased pan. Cover pan tightly with foil.
  • Cook covered for 40 minutes. Remove foil and cook for 20 more minutes (check at 10 minutes). Can be made the day before and reheated.

Carmel Sauce

  • In a heavy medium sauce pan, melt the butter, heavy cream, and brown sugar. Bring to a boil and boil for 30 seconds. Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 5 minutes until thickened. Add the salt and serve over the bread pudding. Serve with ice cream if desired.

Smoked Whole Chicken-BGE

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Butterfly Chicken-Cooked
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Whole Smoked Chicken – BGE

I originally got this recipe from the Virtual Weber Bullet and have modified it slightly for my tastes.
Course: Main Course
Servings: 6

Ingredients

  • 3-4 pound chicken whole
  • 8 oz Italian dressing
  • lemon pepper
  • apple juice for basting

Instructions

The night before:

  • Remove the giblets, neck bones, etc. and trim excess fat from around the cavity opening. Butterfly the chicken so it will lay flat. Rinse the bird inside and out and pat dry with paper towels.
  • Fold the wings back under the bird to keep out of the way. Place the bird in a Zip top bag and add the Italian dressing. Squeeze out as much air as possible and place in the refrigerator. Turn the bird several times to ensure even distribution of the marinade.

Next day, 45 minutes before cooking:

  • Remove chicken from the refrigerator. Don't worry if the skin is kind of white. That's what the vinegar in the marinade does. Remove any excess Italian dressing but the bird should still be wet.
  • Apply generous amounts of Lemon Pepper seasoning to all sides of the bird. Leave the bird on the counter to come to room temperature while you get the smoker ready.

Time to cook:

  • Lite the smoker and bring it up to 250 degrees. Put your smoke wood on. Put your meat on to cook, using the indirect cooking method.
  • In about 2 hours, rotate and turn the bird over. Baste with apple juice for a juicier finished product. Cook until the internal temperature is 180 degrees. Take the temperature in the meaty part of the thigh (about 4 hours total).