We mainly watch reality television shows. Shows like Alaska the Last Outback, Moonshiners — my favorite, which makes me want to build a still — and all the shows on HGTV. On one of the shows we recently watched, they were trying to get rid of some of the need to feed some of their chickens because of lack of feed, so they were butchering them and preparing them for their freezer. Years ago, my mother and daddy lived over on the east side of town and in that day and time we could have chickens living, pecking, and running around in our back yard. We had a red rooster my mother bought believing he was a female. And that rooster hated me. Every time I stepped out the back door, he chased me down. We also had a chicken pen built down in the bottom part of our garden plot and she would raise off about 25 fryers at a time and then we would “take care of them.”Now, by take care of them, I mean we would get up early with the intention of preparing them for our freezer that sat underneath our carport. My mother would always call my cousin to help us as I was a little squeamish with the entire process. And I was also doing the little rooster dance to stay out of his way. We had a big concrete block sitting right outside the pen and my mama would reach in and grab a white-feathered bird hold its head in one hand and its feet in her other. My cousin would take the little hatchet and “WHACK” and then throw the poor chicken down. It would run around like a chicken with its head cut off!After all the massacring, I would help to dip them in hot water and pluck the feathers off and I really disliked this. Then they would cut up the poor birds and put them in the freezer. I can tell you right now, I really prefer going into the grocery store and selecting my chicken from the nice, clean packaged birds in the cold cases.This is a quick chicken chili recipe that I do in a hurry. It’s really good.Chicken ChiliBrown 1 pound of cut up chicken breast in oil in a deep cast iron skillet with ½ cup chopped bell pepper. Stir in 1 package McCormick white chicken chili seasoning mix, 1 cup of water, 1 can white beans, undrained, 1 can black beans (drained and rinsed), 1 can (14 ½ ounces) of diced tomatoes, 1 can (8 ¾ ounces) of whole kernel corn. Reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through, stirring occasionally. Serve with desired toppings.
