One day, as I was mixing up a batch of meatballs, I realized I basically had the makings of a meatloaf or kebabs right in front of me. Why not double (or even triple) the batch and have a head start on a couple more meals at the ready? I did just that, and have been using this shortcut ever since. You can use the entire recipe for meatballs and freeze half for another meal down the line. Also, if you prefer not to fry the meatballs, bake them at 400°F for 20 to 25 minutes. Half of this recipe will make 24 meatballs, serving 6; save the rest for one of the relay recipes.

Ingredients
1 cup dried bread crumbs
1 cup whole or low-fat milk
2 large eggs
11⁄2 cups (about 6 ounces) finely grated Parmesan cheese
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
1⁄4 cup finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
4 garlic cloves, finely minced or pressed through a garlic press
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon finely ground black pepper
31⁄2 pounds ground beef (preferably 90% lean)
1 tablespoon olive oil

Make the meat mixture. Place the bread crumbs and milk in a small bowl, stir together, and set aside. Whisk the eggs and 1 cup of the Parmesan together in a large bowl. Stir in the onion, parsley, garlic, salt, and pepper and then add the beef and the breadcrumb mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon or your hands until the mixture is well combined. Use your hands to roll golf ball–size pieces into smooth balls.

Cook the meatballs. Heat the oil in a large, nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add enough meatballs to fill the pan without overcrowding and cook, covered, until browned on all sides, 10 to 12 minutes total. Transfer the meatballs to a paper towel–lined plate, sprinkle with some of the remaining Parmesan, and set aside. Repeat with the remaining meatballs. Stir the meatballs into sauce or serve as is, sprinkled with the remaining Parmesan.

D2D
ground beef has a lot of flavor and stays nice and moist once cooked. to save a few cents per pound, grind your own the next time chuck roast is on sale. leave most of the fat on, and either ask the butcher to grind it or grind it yourself if you have a meat grinder or an attachment for your stand mixer.

Cooking big today, whether it’s a slow-roasted pork shoulder or a baked ham, means I’ve already cooked (and paid for) my main-dish protein for another day. When I serve up Chicken and Dumplings or Chicken Udon Soup —both of which are the delectable spinoffs of an original roast chicken meal—I get the rush of feeling I’ve gotten something for nothing. Having some cooked meat or a prepped dish stashed away in the freezer is really like finding a hidden treasure.

These main courses offer up brand-new meals to serve later in the week or stash in the freezer. Cook the Big Bang on day 1, then relay the leftovers into a whole series of main-dish spinoffs. Having an extra freezer in the house comes in handy for this kind of cooking, not just for stashing the leftovers, but also for stocking up when good deals hit your markets on turkeys or roasts.

This brings us back to the “free meals a day” concept. Whether you’re storing an uncooked roast, portioned cooked meat, or a completely prepped dish, you will already have covered the bulk of that meal’s cost. Just add a few veggies, herbs, or sides and you have a real meal deal.

In December 2007, Central Oklahoma got hit with a devastating ice storm that left hundreds of thousands of people from Tulsa to Oklahoma City without power for days upon days. Fred had to take a chain saw to a tree that fell across our entryway during the storm so that my daughter, Alexis, and I could head to the Rock and cook up breakfast (fortunately, our grill, oven, and fryer were all gas-fueled).

I offered to make coffee and breakfast for the Red Cross team that had taken over a senior center near the cafe, and somehow, and I’m not quite sure how, that turned into breakfast, lunch, and dinner for 5 days running. Folks came from as far as Oklahoma City once they heard on the radio I was cooking up food. The local McDonald’s, Sonic, and our grocery store all brought cases and cases of food that would have spoiled, what with no refrigeration and such, and even the locals started leaving food from their own freezers and refrigerators at the Rock’s back door. You wouldn’t believe how many frozen turkeys we wound up with!

We ended up feeding more people than even the Red Cross in Oklahoma City. Now, whenever I go to roast a turkey, I can’t help but think of the ice storm of ’07 and the generosity and good intentions that came together at the Rock during that time. I didn’t have time to brine the turkeys then, but under saner circumstances, I always try to make time. Though it’s not essential, I think it makes a big difference.

Ingredients

1 cup + 1 tablespoon salt
1 turkey (10–12 pounds), tail, neck, and giblets removed
1⁄4 cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 lemons)
1 small yellow onion, quartered
2 carrots, trimmed, peeled, and roughly chopped
Leafy tops of 1 bunch celery (save the stalks for another use, such as stuffing)
1 bunch flat-leaf parsley
6 sprigs fresh rosemary
6 sprigs fresh thyme
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Homemade gravy

Brine and air-dry the turkey (optional). Bring 8 cups of water and 1 cup of salt to a boil in a tall, 20-quart stockpot (if you don’t have a stockpot, bring the water to a boil in a large pot), turn off the heat, and set aside to cool. Add the turkey and enough cold water to cover it to within 1″ from the top of the pot. (If you’re not using a stockpot, transfer the salt water to a large cooler and add the turkey and enough water to cover it. Note that if you have to add more than 2 gallons of water to cover the turkey, you need to dissolve extra salt in some warm water: 1⁄4 cup for each extra quart.) Cover the pot and refrigerate the turkey for 12 hours or overnight. Remove the turkey (discard the water), pat dry with paper towels, and place breast-up on a roasting rack set over a rimmed baking sheet or roasting pan. Refrigerate overnight.

Prep the turkey. Take the turkey out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before heating the oven to 325°F. Pour the lemon juice into the cavity of the turkey, and then rub the remaining 1 tablespoon salt into the cavity. Stuff the turkey with the onion, carrots, celery leaves, parsley, rosemary, and thyme, and then plug the cavity with a bunched-up piece of foil. Cross the legs one over the other and use butcher’s twine to tie them together at their base. Tuck the wings underneath the breast and, if you have a trussing needle, stitch the neck opening closed; if you don’t, use wooden toothpicks or small wood skewers to bring the skin together as much as possible. Brush the turkey with the melted butter (sprinkle with an additional 2 teaspoons of salt if you didn’t brine it).

Roast the turkey. Roast the turkey until the thickest part of the thigh reads 165°F on an instant-read thermometer, about 31⁄2 hours. Transfer the turkey to a cutting board (or serving platter if you’re carving it at the table) and let it rest for at least 10 minutes before carving. Serve with the gravy.

This was my first post, and I’m repeating it because it’s super good and shows how to cook once and use twice to save time and money. I chose this recipe for my first post for a very special reason. I always took all the herbs that grew wild around the Rock Cafe for granted.

But when the Rock burnt down in May 2008, my friends and neighbors came together, dug up the herbs, and planted them in their gardens and yards.

One year later, when the Rock had risen from the ashes and I was preparing for my grand reopening, my friends and supporters came once again and replanted my thyme and rosemary. Amazing!! Y’all, you’re the reason why I love Stroud, why I love the Rock and why I do what I do. Now let’s cook up some chicken!

Salt Rub
1⁄4 cup kosher salt
2 garlic cloves, finely minced or pressed through a garlic press
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme
1⁄2 teaspoon dried oregano (or 1 teaspoon fresh oregano)

Chickens
2 whole chickens (3–4 pounds each)
1 large yellow onion, quartered
6 sprigs fresh rosemary
4 sprigs fresh thyme
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (optional)
Canola oil

Make the salt rub. Pulse the salt, garlic, rosemary, pepper, thyme, and oregano together in a food processor, or chop together on a cutting board until the salt is flecked with green bits and it is very fragrant; set aside.

Season the chickens. Heat the oven to 375°F. Pat the birds dry, inside and out, with paper towels. Tuck the wings behind the birds (it should look as if they were putting their hands behind their heads). Divide the onion, rosemary sprigs, and thyme sprigs between the 2 birds and tuck them into the cavities. Slide 1 tablespoon of butter (if using) under the skin of each breast. Tie the legs together with kitchen string, then season each bird with 2 tablespoons of the herbed salt.

Roast and carve the chickens. Grease a roasting rack with some canola oil. Place the chickens breastside down on the rack in a roasting pan, or over a foil-lined, rimmed baking sheet. Roast for 30 minutes, then turn the chickens breast-side up, add 1 cup of water to the roasting pan (or 1⁄2 cup if using a rimmed baking sheet), and roast until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh joint reads 170°F, about 11⁄4 to 11⁄2 hours.

Remove the pan from the oven and let the chickens rest for 5 minutes before carving and serving. If you’re saving 1 chicken to use in the recipes on pages 6 through 11, then let the chicken cool completely before removing the meat from the bone. Place the meat in quart-size, resealable bags and refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

Ham is a crowd-pleaser, delicious, and a great value, so why save it for holidays? I like to bake one for a midweek dinner and use the leftovers for all kinds of dishes to serve throughout the weekend.

Keep your eyes peeled for ham on sale, buy a few, and freeze them—they’ll keep for up to a year. I prefer bone-in hams with a little bit of fat still on them, but this recipe will work with any kind of large, cooked ham.

Ingredients
1 bone-in ham (7–9 pounds), fully cooked
Canola oil
3⁄4 cup honey
3⁄4 cup light brown sugar
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 tablespoon fruit juice, such as apple, cranberry, orange, or pomegranate
10–12 whole cloves

Score and bake the ham. Heat the oven to 325°F. Place the ham on a cutting board fat-side up and make 1⁄4″-deep diagonal cuts in 2″ intervals to create a diamond pattern. Grease a roasting rack with a little oil and place the ham on the rack, fat-side up. Set the rack into a roasting pan and bake until the internal temperature of the ham registers 110°F on an instant-read thermometer, about 2 to 21⁄2 hours.

Glaze the ham. While the ham is baking, whisk together the honey, brown sugar, mustard, and fruit juice in a small bowl. Remove the ham from the oven and increase the temperature to 425°F. Stud the center of each diamond with a clove. Brush the entire ham with the glaze, pour 3⁄4 cup of water into the bottom of the roasting pan, and place the pan back in the oven until its temperature reaches 125°F, about 15 minutes longer. Remove the pan from the oven, and transfer the ham to a cutting board. Tent the ham with foil and let it rest until its temperature reaches 135°F
to 140°F, 20 to 30 minutes.

D2D
The best time to buy whole, cooked hams is either before or after the holidays—you are virtually guaranteed that they’ll be on sale.