Well, it isn't exactly a recipe; it was more of a process, but it's in the toaster oven now, so it counts.

It all started in late August when I made a rather thin chicken stock from boiling some leftover bones. We were going on vacation so I strained it and threw it in the freezer.

Well, last week, it came out. First it thawed and gave a home to 2 cornish hens' giblets (not the liver). Next it made room for the picked bones from two roaster chickens LilyFestre and I had put up for pre-Getaway Catter food. That day's cooking also included a pork roast and a ham; in went the pan juices and slicing juices from same. It all simmered to about half the original bulk.

I never did get around to adding any vegetables, but at any rate, this was strained and defatted. It was the foundation for a chicken & biscuits crockpot with the cooked chicken and some onions, carrot, garlic, soy sauce, and I forget what else.

Just before I creamed the crockpot contents to serve over beer bread muffins, I drew off about a cup to boil, to reconstitute the three whole dried chipotle peppers-- a warm and smoky pepper.

Hardi used some of that liquor to puree the peppers, and we reserved the rest. (Of course it went right back to being solid jelly.)

The pureed chipotle sauce was served as an optional condiment for the chix/bix. There was quite a bit left.

The leftover sauce went into cream cheese the next day as a warm dip for Triscuit crackers-- gotta have hockey food, dontcha know, even if one has not shopped for snacks. Well, it seemed not quite done in that form, so it was blended with a bit of the cheese sauce the Catters had put on their breakfast the day before. Thick, very cheesy sauce from a roux base, with a touch of nutmeg and lemon juice.

So this all got whizzed into a dip, and O MY GOD. We ate almost all of the dip, but there was some left. (Cracker shortage and beer overage.)

Today it's time for Hardi's lunch. In the toaster oven is a pan of leftover pork sauce (applesauce and BBQ sauce plus clove and cinnamon), now home to more of the cooked chicken, oven-warming for about an our now. The leftover dried-up beer bread biscuits are in with it, soaking up excess water given off by the melting frozen cooked chicken and adding a yeasty flavor to the meat sauce.

And warming on top is a soup made with the leftover cheese sauce, the lefotver warm chipotle-cheese dip, and the remainder of the chipotle-reconstituting liquor. I didn't have to adjust the soup's seasonings or liquid at all, to my surprise. I'll serve that over the leftover (Catter) tomato bread pudding which I will nuke afeter I shut off the toaster oven-- I already blew the other kitchen fuse today!

And I have not had to cook any of it today-- my day off-- but it will all be waiting when Hardi comes home soon from the morning's two church services and annual Bishop's visit. I will have emptied the fridge of the Catter leftovers, making room for tomorrow's post-G'way Catter arrival, and I will have their various containers clean and ready for the next round.

:~)

It only works because the beer fridge is set so cold that the top shelf is nearly a freezer, so I can hold leftovers with confidence.

I believe by spring I WILL have this toaster-oven-cooking thing handled, especially since Hardi immediately saw the inadequacy of the "stunt" oven I had bought at the Salvation Army store for $3.99, and promptly presented me with a nice, brand-new one twice the size! That means the small one can reside in our boudoir for baked Brie or a romantic take-out supper for two! (A camping double-oven????)

Roughing it in Pennsyltucky,

~Susan