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I guess you could call this episode 2 of my survival experience in Holmes County, OH…haha. *Weird food alert.* I’ve been basically working a job and a half and I’m living in a basement with limited cooking amenities, so I’ve had to get a little creative with what I eat. Add to that the fact that I like to save money and eat weird foods, and you’ll understand that I come up with some interesting concoctions. You can read more about some of my other concoctions and what I’ve been eating while working over here in this post.
So I had gone to a grocery store the other day and there were chicken leg quarters on sale: a 10 pound bag for only $5-6. “Great price!” I thought. Not really knowing what chicken leg quarters were, I grabbed a bag and stuffed it in the freezer back in my basement until I could find time to put these things in the crockpot. When I thought I would soon have time to cook these things up, I started thawing them in my fridge. One day when I had an hour or two off of work, I got them out and prepared to crockpot them – only when I opened the bag I realized that there were SIX chicken leg quarters in my 10-pound bag. Meaning: these things were huge, and only 4 of them would actually fit in the crockpot! Uh, plan B. I put the extra 2 chicken leg quarters in freezer bags, and they’re still sitting in my freezer. I added seasonings to the other 4 and cooked them in the crockpot. Yum! The meat was really tender. One chicken leg quarter with a side of celery and natural peanut butter was all I needed for lunch for a few days in a row.
So then I decided to do something with the leftover broth. I just left it in the crockpot, scraped the fat off of it, and added some sliced veggies – a whole crockpot-ful, in fact. I also added a pack of chopped up hot dogs for protein. Don’t give me grief about my hot dogs, folks. They were good hot dogs, and they were on sale! Use another meat if you want to. The resulting ghoulash I got when everything was cooked together was actually really good! Yet again, it made up my lunches for about a week. Thankfully I don’t very quickly get tired of eating the same thing. So you see, healthy eating can be cheap and easy if you’re willing to not be picky. THM can be as easy or as hard as you want to make it.
Wanna know what else I’ve been experimenting with? Well, I’ve got this thing with trying to ferment stuff. Lactofermentation, you know (you can find out more about it here). I recently made some lactofermented peaches, which turned out to be the best lactofermented things I’ve ever made, and this gave me the incentive to try my hand at fermenting a few other things in my basement. I had some cucumbers that my aunt had given me, so I threw together some lactofermented dill pickles. Also, I’ve fallen in love with pickled red beets while I’m here in OH (all the salad bars in all the Amish country cooking restaurants around here stock them)…you know, the kind that are preserved in a vinegar/spice/sugar brine. They’re amazing. So I tried to lactoferment some. Well, my experiments sorta worked and sorta didn’t.
I was expecting the lactofermentation process to produce more of a vinegary taste than it did. Without any vinegar, the pickles and beets tasted a little…flat. Not pickle-y enough. Also, I found out that red beets need to be cooked to soften up. Just fermenting them in a jar does not make them soften up enough to be tasty.
(My workspace…haha)
I managed to salvage my experiments though! I added some vinegar to the pickles and they taste good and pickle-y. I threw the whole beet mixture into the crockpot long enough to soften them up a little and then added some vinegar and more sweetener. Now they taste great! I’m hoping to be able to have time to tweak both of these recipes and come up with an actual sharable recipe for you guys. Because everyone needs pickled red beets in his life.
A quick hack I’m going to share with y’all: mix natural peanut butter, cocoa powder, and sweetener into a container of cottage cheese and keep it in the fridge for a quick snack/dessert.
Question of the day: got any tips for me while I’m eating healthy and working at the same time?

- 4 chicken leg quarters, skin and all, at least partially thawed
- Garlic salt
- Crushed red pepper
- Dill weed
- Chives
- Cilantro
- A little cinnamon, ginger, and paprika
- A few glugs of Worcestershire sauce (or an allergy friendly alternative)
- A few dashes of Louisiana style hot sauce
- Put the chicken leg quarters in a large crockpot and add the assorted seasonings to taste. Cook on high for two hours, then turn the crockpot down to low until the chicken is cooked through and the juices run clear (mine took about 2½ - 3 hours on low). Enjoy immediately, or chill and enjoy for lunch for the next couple of days. A chicken leg quarter (they're huge) and some celery and natural peanut butter made up my lunches at work for a couple of days.
- To use the leftovers: reserve the broth, skim most of the fat off of it, then add the following to make a nice stew/veggie ghoulash: ½ a head of cabbage (sliced thinly), one large onion (sliced/chopped), one large zucchini (sliced), any leftover chicken, and a pack of good-quality hot dogs (chopped). Cook in the crockpot until the vegetables are tender and the hot dogs are cooked through (if not pre-cooked). This veggie ghoulash made up my lunches for about a week.

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Next time don’t season the chicken, save the strained broth, add celery/diced carrots and onions, 1 boullion cube, and shredded chicken that you just cooked and make soup. Add noodles after veggies are cooked. No hotdogs necessary.
Made the chicken quarters in my crockpot using your recipe and it turned out so good! I didn’t realize how many pieces there were when I ordered them bc and then I thought what am I gonna do with all this. I cooked four today and it was so good. I like the dark meat best and it was so flavorful! Thank you for this recipe. I will make it again.
How on earth does someone comment that doesnt know what a leg quarter is???
Leg quarters consist of the thigh and drumstick in one piece! They are delicious!
Once you said hotdogs I immediately made a face and once I made that face I read “don’t give me grief about hotdogs” lol I just thought that was funny.
I’m trying to understand how you are seemingly so well educated and articulate, internet savy and DIDN’T KNOW WHAT A CHICKEN LEG QUARTER WAS.
AND PURCHASED THEM, UNKNOWINGLY TO BOOT!
Haha…experience is the best teacher, and since I was only 19 at the time of writing that blog post, I’m not surprised that chicken leg quarters had never crossed my path. 😛
So when are you going to share your pickled beets recipe?? I just tasted some (off-plan, obviously) the other day, and I am hooked! I need this thing in my liiiiiiiife!
Well, it still needs some tweaking, and in the middle of winter I don’t have any fresh beets to work with, so hopefully next summer. 😉
do you have any jelly or preserve recipes…Sugar Free that is…
You can see all my lactofermentation and preservation recipes here: https://www.briana-thomas.com/category/lactofermentation-and-preservation/
I hope you know what a blessing you are to so many of us! Thank you so much, and I love your photo/horse skills! Wish I had a little of both.
Aw, thank you, Deb!
Can you tell me a little more about your cottage cheese with peanut butter and cocoa? How much of everything?It sounds like it might be my new substitute for ice cream. Thank you so much for all the recipes you share!
Sorry…I didn’t measure. At all. Everything is to taste. 😛
Where is your fruit stand located in Holmes Co? Coming up there next week and would like to stop by for some peaches.
Thanks.
Hi Pat! We’re located on SR 39 between Berlin and Millersburg. The address is 5841 SR 39, Millersburg OH.
Girl, you continue to amaze me! Thanks for being creative and frugal and sharing your recipes with us!