Cooking 34 Pounds of Chicken
Life is hard; food doesn't have to be #138 [vol4, 7.3]
Mandy, a friend from college was on vacation in Alaska and her 21 year old daughter, Lily, was walking their family dogs. Lily was struck by a car. It killed one of their dogs and she spent 15 days in the hospital becoming a bionic woman with plates and screws after 4 surgeries.
I learned about the accident a week after it happened and immediately burst into tears. The emotion surprised me; it was difficult even talking about it with my husband as Mandy and I exchanged texts. I’m still processing the trauma of our son falling 40 feet a year ago in a mountain biking accident.
Side note: if you live in central Arkansas, John Isaac just posted his senior project on mountain bike trails on YouTube.
I asked Mandy if I could come to Alaska and help. My husband’s dad came when our son had his accident and it was helpful to have another adult on standby. Mandy has 5 children (Lily is the oldest). Her mom was on the way so I sent a cash gift instead. They weren’t sure how long she would be in the hospital and were told Lily would need to be in rehab for a week(s) after leaving the hospital but last Thursday they were told to start shopping for plane tickets!
Lily had only been out of bed a few times and not stood for longer than 10 minutes so all were leery about the long trip home to NW Arkansas. There’s no place like home for recovery!
Mandy told me (Saturday) they were coming home that night. I asked could I come and fill their freezer with nutritious meals? They have many long days of follow up appointments and rehab in their future. She agreed so I started brainstorming meals, put together a grocery list, and packed my bag.
They left Alaska at 11:30pm Saturday and landed in Arkansas Sunday afternoon. I drove from Kentucky on Sunday and arrived at their house at 10:30pm. I cooked like crazy on Monday and drove 9 hours home Tuesday. (My oldest son arrived home late Tuesday after being gone all summer, thus the rush for me to go to Arkansas and back to Kentucky quickly).
Before you think it was all about serving their family — the trip was also for me. Something in me needed to be with their family. As Mandy and I shared our experiences of caring for children in the hospital, not knowing if they would be mentally or physically handicapped for their lives, something in me experienced healing and I am so glad I went.
Recipes for Their Freezer
I cooked 34 pounds of chicken, 3 pounds of bacon, and 2 pounds of beans for their family of 7, which produced 15+ meals for their freezer. We ate Creamy Golden Chicken Soup for lunch the day I cooked. I’d made a huge pot and it was ready when Mandy’s sister came with her children and reunited the 2 youngest boys, who flew to to their aunt’s days after the accident. (That’s 12 people for lunch.) Soup is perfect for a crowd!
I didn’t mean to cook 34 pounds of chicken. Let me explain. I ordered 4 whole chickens and 6 pounds of boneless for the planned meals. I expected the whole birds to be around 4 pounds, each. They were delivered as small turkeys, weighing in at 7 pounds, each! We definitely had ample chicken. She froze a 2cup portion of just chicken for a future meal and kept some in the fridge for chef salads. (Creamy honey dijon from this list of homemade dressings.)
Two recipes were made with boneless chicken and to be served over mashed potatoes (I doubled both): French Garlic Chicken and similar but different (def kid friendly): Crack Chicken. I like to serve a green veg with these, too.
I made PW’s mac & cheese the day before going so I doubled it, and it freezes well. I showed up with something for their freezer already made.
I made these soups/meals with deboned/cooked whole chicken:
Creamy Golden Chicken Soup - we ate for lunch but was enough to freeze too.
Creamy Southwest Chicken - can also be made with ground beef. Eat with tortillas as a dip or over rice.
I’d planned to make the filling for these enchiladas but as the day progressed, I lost steam and decided not to make them. A younger Julie would have plowed through but the more mature Julie was thinking about how I needed to clean the kitchen and have energy to be a person before leaving the next day. Mandy said she makes those enchiladas so she will use the ingredients.
Tips and Tricks for a Big Cooking Day
Live and die by the plan. Print recipes and write notes. Grocery shop at least one day in advance.
At the beginning of the day, I started cooking chicken then made a game plan of things to be done in the most efficient order. Then worked the plan.
The only way (for me) to cook that much chicken was using 3 InstantPots. I brought 2 (plus I have an extra insert) and Mandy has one. I also used 2 big stock pots on her stovetop. Usually I cook 2 birds in one pot but these chickens were so large I cooked one at a time - which I thought would be detrimental to my timeline but it all worked out!
IP cooking time (high pressure) = pounds of chicken (bone-in or boneless) x 6
7pound whole chicken x 6 = 42 minutes at high pressure
2pounds boneless breasts x 6 = 12 minutes, high pressure
When deboning whole chicken, I find it best to do on a big cookie sheet - making 3 piles: bones (keep for broth), fat (toss), and meat. Because there were 4 huge birds I put the meat in a giant bowl. Using some sort of disposable gloves also makes the task more pleasant.
I brought 3 big stainless bowls because I wasn’t sure what Mandy had in her kitchen and didn’t want to pepper her with questions as they were scrambling to medically evacuate Alaska. I didn’t need to use my bowls; most everything was mixed in InstantPots or stock pot. Mandy had half gallon glass jars that were helpful for managing excess hot broth. A wide mouth stainless funnel is indispensable in my kitchen as well as fine mesh strainer.
Big batches of bacon are best cooked on cookie sheets in a 350* oven, until your preferred crispiness. Periodically I used the excess bacon grease to saute onions.
We froze everything in gallon freezer zip top bags.
Tomato Recipes
‘Tis the season for tomatoes. If you find yourself swimming in them - maybe try these recipes:
Listening & Learning
Rebekah Fowlkes interviewed me about everyday hospitality on her podcast Wide Open Spaces. Listen on Spotify or Apple.
If you’re a fan of contemplation and spiritual formation, I highly recommend this ‘Impersonating Ourselves: The Truth About the False Self’ lecture series by Nathan Shattuck (a student of the late Larry Crabb).
My friend Amy wrote a list of 11 Books (and Audio!) she recommends.
Wanting to know more about a character from book Seven Women (see below) I listened to a podcast on Joan of Arc, then continued listening about Elizabeth II and other leadership figures.
Seven Women by Eric Metaxes
I’m 5+ chapters into this book and it is excellent. People often ask me for book recs for themselves or (pre)teen kids and this is one for the list! The introduction + the chapter on Susanna Wesley alone are worth the price. We had our 13yo daughter read for her summer reading. Pay teens to read it! (or strong pre-teen readers.)
In the introduction, Metaxes writes,
“Whose stories should I tell?…what struck me wrong about these suggestions was that they presumed women should somehow be compared to men. But it seemed wrong to view great women in that way. The great men in Seven Men were not measured against women, so why should the women in Seven Women be measured against men?…
Two interrelated attitudes, seemed at play. First, men and women are in some ways interchangeable, that what one does the other should do.
Second, women are in some kind of competition with men, and for women to progress they need to compete with men. This thinking pretends to put men and women on equal footing, but it actually only pits them against each other, in kind of a zero-sum competition in which they usually tear each other down.”
Besides Susanna Wesley, the other women who are highlighted are: Joan of Arc, Hannah More (whose works at the time outsold Jane Austen 10 to 1), Saint Maria of Paris (an Orthodox nun who smoke, drank, and hid Jews in WWII), Corrie TenBoom, Rosa Parks & Mother Teresa.
I read the chapter on Susanna once then upon reflection decided to read again & take notes. Inspired!
He also has a combo book called 7 Men and 7 Women - it was 68% off on Amazon as of the writing of this letter.
Electrolytes the Natural Way?
Nourished Kitchen writes about Haymakers Punch here. I’ve also been enjoying shrubs with homemade raw vinegars this summer.
Welp, that’s a wrap on a really long letter. My family is going to the cutest town of Holland, Michigan next week for vacation and to play in Lake Michigan. I’ll write again in August!
Life is hard; food doesn’t have to be,
Julie
Thank you for showing up for your friend in such a practical way! What a difference it would make in the world if more of us showed up in such tangible ways.