You Mean She Cooks, Too?

Most all of my posts are about quilting; however, I am The Eclectic Abuela, so today I'm posting something different!


I often buy ten-pound bags of chicken leg quarters. They are low in price, and I make several meals out of each bag.

 I prep the leg quarters by cutting them into three pieces.

On the left is the drumstick, the center is the thigh, and the right is the partial back section. There are usually 10-12 leg quarters in each bag, so I prepare them all this way.



The back sections go into a pot to boil for broth. Boil these for several hours until the meat falls off the bones. Strain through a colander, then refrigerate overnight. You will be able to skim the fat off the top easily after the broth has chilled.

Ready to boil

I usually prepare the thighs and the legs differently for variety. Today, the drums are going in a bag with about a cup of Frank's Hot Sauce to marinate overnight. I will use these to make Buffalo-Style drums tomorrow. The drumsticks are larger and less expensive than chicken wings--and they taste as good! I bake them, rather than frying them as traditional Buffalo Wings are cooked.

Drums marinating in sauce

Alternative flavors for the drums include using Asian spices, Berbere paste, Harissa paste...any flavor you would like.



I'm going to oven-fry the thighs today. I toss them with a little flour seasoned with salt and pepper, and arrange them skin side up on a broiler pan, so the fat can drip through.

Thighs ready to go in the oven

Again, there are many alternative ways to season these. You might choose a mix of Mexican spices, curry spices, Asian spices, lemon pepper...what ever you wish to use. Just mix your chosen spices in with the flour and dust lightly.




For the oven-fried thighs, I place the pan in a 400 degree F oven for about 40 minutes. I then take the pan out, and with a pair of tongs, carefully turn over the pieces to allow the bottoms to crisp a bit. After turning them over, I put them back in the oven for about 15 minutes. Because I want the skin to crisp a bit more, I usually pull them out after the 15 minutes are complete, turn them over again, turn off the oven, and allow the residual heat to brown them a bit more.

Oven-Fried Thighs

Out of this bag, I now have broth, Buffalo drums, and oven-fried thighs. Extras can be frozen for later. Of course, there are many other ways to prepare thighs and drums--experiment! Creating a variety of meals is easy--and at $.59-$.69 per pound (even less sometimes!), it is frugal, too.

Kaffe Fassett and QSTs

I combined large blocks of Kaffe Fassett fabrics with very subtle Quarter Square Triangles (QSTs) in this quilt for my stepdaughter. I didn't have a pattern for this one--I just made alternate blocks that I thought would be complementary to the prints.

The KF fabrics reminded me of vintage sheet prints.

Since the prints are quite bold, I toned them down a bit by using QSTs as alternate blocks.

The color difference is very subtle (almost too subtle, I think), but the QSTs are white and creme.




I used a small print for the backing and a purple blender for the binding. Many of the fabric prints contained some purple, so I think the color combination worked well.

The quilt finished at 82" x 82". I quilted it on my DSM with a simple meandering pattern.

I told my husband that the prints reminded me of vintage sheets. He said he had never thought of sheets as vintage before, but that he really liked the sheets we had on the bed now. I told him that since I got them new in the 1970s and have used them ever since, they certainly qualify as vintage!

I'm linking with Fiber Tuesday 133 at the Quilting Room with Mel.

Birds and Fruit

I wanted to make a quilt for a friend, and I decided to use some panels I bought quite a long time ago with her in mind.


I rarely use panels, so I worked up a quick layout by measuring them and constructing alternate blocks in the same size.

The dark rectangles represent the panels.

The construction was easy, and soon I had a top.

Top before quilting

Luckily, I bought some fabric to match the panels when I originally got them--it was perfect for the centers of the alternate blocks, the backing, and the binding.

Backing and binding detail

After quilting, I gave it a wash, and now it is ready to go!

Birds and Fruit  66" x 74"

I think the panels look good surrounded by the very simple alternate blocks--I didn't want it to be too busy.

I enjoyed making this--it can be fun to design around a special fabric you want to use.

I'm linking with Fiber Tuesday 132 at The Quilting Room with Mel.

Rainbow Scrap Challenge--October--Pink

This month's challenge color is pink.

Once again, I made some diagonal blocks all pink and others half pink/half neutral. I also made some all pink straight-set blocks.

I've been thinking of how I will put this year's blocks together. I worked up a couple of ideas on EQ7 which I am still refining.

This one has arcs (like a rainbow!) of colors. I like it, but I'm not sure about it.

This one is straight-set--I'm thinking I like is better than the first. I would need to add a border to the top like the one I have indicated on the bottom.

More thinking is in order!

I am enjoying the challenge--thanks to soscrappy for hosting it.

I am linking to Scrap Happy Saturday Parade of Pink and Fiber Tuesday 131 at The Quilting Room with Mel.