Recycling and Reducing Waste

My husband and I live way out in the middle of nowhere. There is no local recycling programs and trash service runs about $100/mo for weekly pick up if you are lucky. When trash service got up to around $75/mo we cancelled our service and started hauling it to any dumpster we could find. We shared one with a neighbor until they moved, and since then we have taken it to my mother's apartment complex in Fort Worth when we make a trip down there or my husband has taken it to work and used their dumpster.

Part of me does feel bad for using other dumpsters, and since we have started making a trip to Denton at least once a month on average, I decided to start sorting our trash to make the impact of what we actually put in dumpsters minimal.

For a couple of years now I have had a compost pile for kitchen waste that isn't fed to the dogs. I have bags and boxes of paper that we burn every few months. I started keeping out glass bottles and taking them with me to the recycling center at The Cupboard food store, and now I have extended it to aluminum and plastic.

I've noticed that the amount of trash I take out has gone from a bag daily to one to two bags a week. I never realized how doing what seems so simple now would make such an impact in volume.

Chicken Tortas

There is a restaurant in Keller, Texas called Caballeros that Tony and I used to eat at with his mom and step-dad from time to time, and one day I stopped in for lunch with my mom. I ordered the Chicken Torta and it instantly became one of my favorite sandwiches. The only "torta" I was familiar with before this sandwich was essentially an enchilada casserole which the author of the recipe thought they would get fancy and give it a different name. So when I found out that a torta in Mexico is a sandwich I was a little surprised. Here is my version of the Chicken Torta I had at Caballeros.

Chicken breast (butterfly cut, this turns 3 or 4 breasts into 6 or 8)
Bolillo buns (or French rolls)
Guacamole
Refried Beans
Provolone cheese
Butter
Olive Oil

Seasoning for chicken:
Salt
Pepper
Oregano
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Cumin

First I prepare the guacamole in advance if I haven't purchased premade guac.

Then I season each butterflied breast, heat a grilling pan or skillet with olive oil and cook the chicken breast over medium heat until cooked through.

While the chicken is cooking I heat the refried beans (or in my case canned pinto beans that I mash with a potato masher b/c it's cheaper per can by as much as 50%, just put beans and juice into pan to cook. And a tip for cooking refried beans is to oil the pan first so they don't stick).

I also cut the bolillo buns in half, lightly spread with butter and toast under the broiler. This only takes a couple of minutes. Keep an eye on them or they will burn.

When the chicken is done, I spread refried beans on the bottom half of the bun and guacamole on the top bun, then layer with the provolone and chicken and serve!

Tough Laundry Odors

On occasion Tony's work shirts get horrible armpit stains from a combo of sweat and deodorant. I was on the verge of tossing a couple of shirts when I decided to try soaking them in a mixture of my homemade detergent, water and a cup of enzyme pet odor eliminator and it worked like a charm!!!

Another laundry tip is if your water doesn't get hot enough when you are washing bedding, add a pot of boiling water to the wash basin.

Smoked Chicken Tortellini

Tonight I used the other half of the chopped shredded chicken I roasted earlier in the week and dug up a recipe a friend from Australia sent me several years ago. I did make some minor changes to her recipe, and I'll list her's first then mine.

Original recipe:

1 Lge Brown Onion
3-4 Tbs Seeded (wholegrain) Mustard
1/2 cup white wine (optional)
oil
600ml Cream
1 whole smoked chicken
500gm Tortellini pasta, Cooked


In a large pan,fry the onion in the oil, when transparent add mustard and wine, simmer for about 3 minutes.
Add cream to this and reduce till slightly thickend.
Tear the chicken into pieces and add to the cream mixture.
Add the cooked pasta and heat through.If the dish needs thickening simmer for a few minutes!

Great served with crusty herb bread

Modified Recipe:

1/2 large sweet onion (softball size) (or 1  yellow onion), chopped

2-3 garlic cloves, chopped

3-4 Tbs Coarse ground mustard

1/2-1 cup white wine

Olive oil

1 1/2 pints cream

1/2 roasted chicken shredded and chopped

2 tsp cornstarch

2  bags frozen tortellini (3 might be a better amount with the amount of sauce)

While water is coming to a boil for tortellini:

Cook chopped onion in large frying pan until translucent and starting to brown, add garlic and saute another minute.  Add mustard and wine, simmer for a few minutes. Add cream and cook over medium heat until just coming to a boil. Add chicken and bring just to a boil again. Begin cooking tortellini according to package directions (a sign that the tortellini is done cooking is when it begins to float). Add cornstarch to cream sauce, mix thoroughly and reduce heat to low and let simmer while tortellini is cooking. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Salsa Verde Enchilada Casserole

Okay, so here is the first dish that I am making with the roasted chicken I made yesterday. It's very simple, very yummy and can be changed up depending upon what you have on hand. This time I didn't have black beans on hand so they were omitted, but usually I do have a can.

Ingredients:
2 jars of salsa verde
2-3 cups shredded and chopped chicken (or pork)
2-3 cups chopped veggies (can include onion, tomato, bell pepper, or anything else you have like zucchini, the sky is the limit here)
1 can rinsed black beans
2-3 cups shredded cheese (Monterrey jack or cheddar, or both!)
18 corn tortillas

Preheat oven to 350 while prepping casserole. In a rectangular baking dish, cover bottom of pan with 1/2 jar salsa. Layer with 6 tortillas to cover (I usually tear in half to make them fit well), cover with half the meat, veggies and black beans, pour on 1/2 jar salsa, then sprinkle 1/3 of cheese. Repeat. Finally layer with remaining 6 tortillas, last 1/2 jar of salsa and remaining cheese. Cover with oil coated aluminum and bake for 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake uncovered an additional 15 minutes. Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

Roasting Poultry

A friend asked me yesterday for a recipe regarding how I roast poultry. I treat my turkeys and chickens relatively the same way, although I do have some variations in how I actually cook them.

First I brine the birds. I stick the bird in a large stock pot, cover it with water, add half a cup of salt (most recipes call for a cup, but my husband and I find it too salty that way), and let the bird sit in the fridge for a minimum of 6-8 hours, but never more than 24 hours.

Next I drain the bird, rinse it and remove the giblets. I stuff the bird with red onion and grapefruit wedges. A turkey can hold about half a grapefruit and half an onion, whereas a chicken can hold a quarter of each. I rub olive oil on the skin of each and season with poultry seasoning, salt and pepper.

Now here is where I begin to treat the birds differently. Since I only cook turkey once a year, I massage an entire stick of room temperature butter under the skin. Since I roast on average two chickens a month, I eliminate this step in the name of fat and calories. I do have to admit though that omitting the butter does make a huge difference in flavor, but the chicken is still very good without it.

When it comes to cooking the turkey, I use either a roaster or the oven, preheating either to 500 and cooking the bird for 30-45 minutes, then turning down the heat to 350 and cooking the bird until it is done. Important note is do not open the oven door until you are ready to check the bird at the end of the cooking time. Patience, little grasshopper.

For the chicken, I use my crock pot. My husband and I do not eat the skin, and cooking in the crock pot does not brown the skin, so if you like to eat the skin, I would recommend cooking in the oven (at 325 for 45 to 60 minutes if thawed). Now, for cooking in the crock pot, the meat comes out so juicy and tender it falls right off the bone and is perfect for deboning and shredding the meat to use in other dishes. I crumple up 4 pieces of aluminum foil and place in the center of the crock pot then place the bird breast side down on top of the foil. I cook on high for 4 to 6 hours if thawed, and a minimum of 6 hours if frozen. If I'm lazy and don't feel like brining and thawing the bird first to stuff, then I rinse and toss in the crockpot frozen, it just doesn't have quite as much flavor as a specially pampered bird. You'll see the bird coming apart through the lid when it's done.

After removing the birds, carving the meat or deboning, I save the drippings for making gravy or stock. I simply place in a mason jar, let cool and put in the freezer until I am ready to use. 

**A tip for anyone who doesn't care about the skin or wants to ensure juicy breast meat is to cook either bird breast side down.

More Prepping the Bed

So over the past two days I have been prepping the onion bed. It was much, much easier than I ever anticipated. The ground is soft from the drizzle/rain we had during the end of last week, and the soil is very rich, so on Sunday evening I took a shovel and garden claw and loosened the soil in about 30 minutes. This afternoon I spent about two hours with a hand rake and pulled up all the weeds. I really enjoyed doing it too, the weather was perfect and warm at 70 degrees. Tomorrow I will be planting the Texas Sweets.

In the kitchen I have started a few pots of bell pepper seeds and a few pots of the Red Creole onions. Over the next couple of months I will build a second bed and then plant those in the end of March or first of April.