I’ve bought chicken gizzards at the IGA, in Eutah Village Shopping Center, several times, and just bought chicken livers there today. Both the gizzards & the livers were from Sanderson Farms. I guess with a processing plant & hatchery located in St. Pauls, North Carolina, the chicken is about as fresh as it gets, unless you have chickens in your back yard and kill them yourselves, as needed.
I had a hankering to have some stir fried chicken livers along with stir fried green beans. I had this combination at “No. 1 China Buffet” in Asheboro, North Carolina last week. Actually, their chicken livers were combined with sliced jalapenos.
The stir fry green beans came together pretty quickly. First I steamed the beans for several minutes to help them tenderize before I put them in the wok to finish them. I added some toasted sesame oil, soy sauce, a little powdered ginger, a little Splenda sweetener, and white sesame seeds. Tonight I also added some chopped onion. The high heat of the wok causes the green beans to crisp up. They are a little salty, but with a slight hint of sweetness.
I questioned myself whether I should cook the green beans or the chicken livers first as I wasn’t going to clean the wok between whichever one I cooked first and then the second one. So my logic was, cook the green beans first, even though I was going to use the toasted sesame oil & soy sauce which both have distinctive flavors. I then added some canola oil to the wok and added about three large chicken livers and the chopped onion. I used a fork to turn the livers over several times to make sure they cooked through and there was a little blood red gravy on the plate at the last although they were cooked through thoroughly. I did not use any flour to coat them.
The stir fried chicken livers went very well with the stir fried green beans & onion. I used less than half of the container, but may cook the rest, the next time. I wish I could eat rice with this meal, but no. The rice, which I love, severely affects my blood sugar. But rice would round out the flavors, and the rice could soak up some gravy.
I think another item that would go well with this is the Asian Cucumber Salad. It is more sweet and includes Spicy Chili Crisp, toasted sesame oil, soy sauce, red wine vinegar and some sweetener. And if I make it far enough in advance, I refrigerate it, and the coldness contrasts to the warmth of the freshly fried livers & green beans.
Sanderson Farms, Inc.
St. Pauls, North Carolina
Our St. Pauls, North Carolina, complex is comprised of a fresh processing plant and hatchery.
- Opened: 2017
- Business Unit: Fresh
- Weekly Processing Capacity: 1,300,000 birds
Carlie C’s IGA
Eutah Shopping Center
Fayetteville, North Carolina
No. 1 China Buffet
Asheboro, North Carolina
STORAGE CONTAINERS
Not too long ago, I was moving some items on a pantry shelf, dry beans to be precise, and I realized that there were live “mealy bugs” in the beans. Upon closer inspection I saw that several of the plastic bags in which the beans had been purchased (like black eyed peas, lima beans, green split peas) also included these bugs. I ended up throwing out several of these, and making up my mind to store any fresh dry beans in air tight containers. I realized that my old Dukes Mayo jars (made of plastic) would be perfect for this purpose. I also often buy assorted types of nuts at Food Lion, cashews, roasted pumpkin seeds, and elsewhere, almonds, pistachios & walnuts. These come in small plastic containers whose lids provide a vacuum seal, or enough to keep out the bugs… I hope. I also, sometimes, buy items at The Fresh Market such as Okra Chips, and Vegetable Chips. They come in slightly larger plastic containers, but also with the tight fitting plastic lids. *Just bought some more of these today, Thursday, May 22, 2025.
For a time, I was buying various deli meats from Hillshire Farms. I especially liked their Pastrami, which I would buy when planning to make my “Pastrami Reubens.” Very soon, I realized that the Hillshire Farms Deli meat containers (clear plastic bowl, with a red see thru lid) were intended by the company to be reused. These containers are microwave & freezer safe, and seal tightly. I currently have one of these in my refrigerator with hummus & black bean hummus in it. I also use these for storing my current uncooked bacon. A pound of bacon fits perfectly in a container. I just have to recall to take a package of bacon out of the freezer in time to use it for the next batch of bacon. But, they also work for storing leftovers.
And, I haven’t tried this yet, but I am planning to use my old Greek Gods Yogurt containers for storing my homemade chicken broth. I’ve only recently made some chicken broth using the carcass of the rotisserie chicken I bought at Harris Teeter. Now that is using the bird to the Nth degree. The price may have gone up with the recent Bird Flu problem, but before the price was about $8 for a whole cooked rotisserie chicken. This would provide at least four meals, if not the fifth being the remaining white & dark meat pieces which could be used for making chicken salad, or perhaps my Avocado, Chipotle & Chicken Soup.
I was pleasantly surprised by the quality (flavor) of the homemade broth because several recipes I used it in produced very pleasing results. I used an empty Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice bottle to store my first batch of homemade chicken broth and it fit very well in the refrigerator door.
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*I want to mention again, that I have been saving, and freezing my onion, carrot & celery scraps because of what was said in a cooking video I was watching a short time ago. When the chef mentioned that she saved the onion tops & bottoms that she cut off when preparing an onion for a recipe, and saved them in the freezer for when she next made homemade broth, it fell not on deaf ears, but willing ears.
My main problem is that I don’t have a lot of space in my freezer, but have been trying to clear it out. The process of saving scraps and using homemade broth should be symbiotic: scraps increasing & broth decreasing, and since I don’t buy a rotisserie chicken every week or even every two weeks, I should have a generous amount of vegetable matter for my next batch of broth. **I also am eating a whole container of Greek Gods Yogurt (Plain) about every four days, so I should have plenty of these empty containers next time. I’m thinking maybe four of these containers might hold all the broth I make.
So, I am trying to clear out some space in my freezer in order to store maybe 3 or 4 of the repurposed Greek Gods Yogurt containers. Just last night I re-used some Canola oil that I had stored in one of these GGY containers, and the oil had been kept in this air tight container successfully.
One final thought, if that is possible before my death, is that I’ve also recycled a sturdy plastic medicine bottle to use as a SHARPS refuse container. Doctors & hospitals use Sharps containers to store medical waste before it is thrown away. I give myself a weekly injection of Ozempic and each time I am left with a hypodermic syringe tip that needs to be thrown away. So, the thick white plastic medicine bottle is perfect for these sharp tipped devices. I don’t think Sharps containers cost very much, but free is even better.
I’ve kept several of the empty Ocean Spray Cranberry Juice bottles and filled them with water, for emergency purposes. I did this a couple of months ago, when we had a winter storm warning, with the threat of power going off (and perhaps water also). I fill them with water, and add a little vinegar or lemon juice to thwart bacteria growth.
AI says: “Yes, adding a small amount of vinegar or lemon juice to stored water can help prevent bacteria growth because their acidity creates an environment unfavorable for most bacteria to thrive in; essentially acting as a natural preservative.“
Bill Gibson, II 