Baked Chicken with potatoes & carrots

This simple yet scrumptious dish has all the look and flavor of a meal that was slaved over in the kitchen for hours, but in reality requires very little prep time and very few ingredients.  A couple other benefits of this nutritious meal include the "left-overs" factor (there are almost always enough for another meal), and the seasoned chicken bones provide a great start to homemade chicken stock.  This is also a great meal to make when having guests for dinner as it allows you to be visiting while the oven does all the work.  We eat at 5 o'clock in our home so I do my prep work at about 3:15 pm and have it in the oven by 3:30 pm~ that's all. =)

Ingredients:

• 1 (3.5-4.5 lb) Whole Fryer Chicken (we prefer organic free-range)
• 5 large organic Russet Potatoes, peeled and largely cubed
• 7 organic Carrots, peeled and thickly sliced
• All-purpose Seasoning (we use a homemade one but Jen using a great one from U.S. Wellness Meats)
• Water for basting

Directions:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 375°.
2. After removing the gibblets, rinse the chicken with water and pat dry with a paper towel.  Heavily season all sides of the chicken and lay breast-side up in a large baking pan.  Secure the chicken legs together with kitchen twine (thread works fine too).

3. Spread your potatoes and carrots around the chicken, sprinkle with the all-purpose seasoning and mix together.  Bake, uncovered, for 1¼ to 1½ hours (or until juices run clear), remembering to baste about every 15 minutes.  Enjoy!

This post is part of Pennywise Platter Thursday

 

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Creamy Chicken and Wild Rice Soup

Even though it is spring time, even in California we have had cool enough weather to extend soup season.  This makes me happy.  :)  I love soup, and this is one of my favorites!  Comforting, creamy, flavorful and nourishing.  I hope you enjoy it! 

* 4 cups free range chicken broth

* 2 cups water

* 2 cups leftover free range chicken meat, shredded

* 1 cup cooked wild rice

* 1 TBS all purpose seasoning of choice.  (I prefer the one from US Wellness Meats)

* 1/2 teaspoon celtic grey sea salt

* 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

* 3/4 cup all-purpose, unbleached flour

* 1/2 cup butter

* 2 cups heavy cream (I use whole raw milk)

* Vegetables of choice (optional)

Combine broth, water and chicken in a large stock pot.  If you do not have leftover chicken, start raw chicken in the broth and water and simmer all afternoon until falling apart.  Shred chicken and add vegetables.  Cook until veggies are tender.  Add rice and simmer until heated through. (Add water as needed to replace what evaporates.)

In a small bowl, combine salt, pepper and flour. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Stir in  seasoning of choice until bubbly. Reduce heat to low, then stir in flour mixture by tablespoons, to form a roux. Whisk in cream, a little at a time, until fully incorporated and smooth. Cook until thickened, 5 minutes.

Stir cream mixture into broth mixture. Cook over medium heat until heated through, 10 to 15 minutes.   Enjoy!

This post is part of Pennywise Platter at the Nourishing Gourmet.

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Frugal Yet Delicious~ Buttery Breadcrumb Chicken

I love when my meals are a success with my kids.  Our three boys, ages 6, 4 and 3 are pretty good eaters to begin with, but when my middle son says "MMMM! I love it, mom!" after he tries a bite of his dinner, my heart warms up instantly!  As I do my weekly meal planning I rummage through my pantry and make my meals according to what I've got stocked.  Bread, of course, is something I always have on hand as I'm sure most of you do.  A few months ago I was making dinner and in need of my breadcrumbs from Trader Joes but, of course, I was all out.  So I tried to make my own.  Success!  Why in the world have I ever been buying breadcrumbs?!  It's so easy to make them and they taste so much better (as do most homemade food items).  I love using them in my chicken parmesan, but for a frugal and less timely alternative for a breaded baked chicken, try this recipe for Buttery Breadcrumb Chicken:

• 1 lb. Free-range, organic, boneless & skinless chicken breast (about 1 whole breast)
• 1 cup homemade bread crumbs
• 1 TBS celtic grey sea salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
• 1 TBS garlic salt
• 1 pastured egg, beaten
• 1/2 cup butter, cut into pieces

For the breadcrumbs, preheat your oven to 500°.  Toast 3 slices of bread to a medium-brown.  Let cool about 5 minutes.  Break up into small pieces in a food processor and pulse until about pea-sized.

Spread breadcrumbs evenly out onto a cookie sheet.  Bake about 4 minutes, stirring once.  Keep a close eye on the breadcrumbs~ they can burn pretty quickly.

After they come out of the oven, put them back into your food processor and pulse again until nice and fine, or desired consistency.  Ta-Da!

For the chicken, lower the oven temp to 375°.  Place eggs and breadcrumbs in two seperate shallow bowls.  Season breadcrumbs with sea salt, garlic salt and pepper.  Dip chicken in eggs, the dredge in the crumbs.  Arrange in an 8x8 baking dish.  Top chicken with cut-up pieces of butter. 

Bake 30-35 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink and the juices run clear.  I paired this meal with buttered brown-rice pasta and some kiwis and strawberries from our garden.

This post is part of Pennywise Platter Thursday at The Nourishing Gourmet. 

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Raw Milk Yogurt

I decided a while back to start making all of my yogurt at home. I reasoned that I could make yogurt with better ingredients (raw milk) and could also save a little money. We go through a lot of yogurt at our house! So, I had a yogurt maker all picked out when I stumbled across this post about making yogurt in your slow cooker. I was so excited to try it, and let me tell you, it is just as easy and wonderful as she says that it is! I am thrilled with the results, and am equally thrilled that I don't have to buy another kitchen gadget! So, here's what you do:

1. Pour 1/2 gallon of raw milk in your slow cooker and let cook on low for 2 1/2 hours.

2. Turn off slow cooker and let sit, covered for 3 hours.

3. Whisk in 1/2 cup of prepared yogurt, (to be used as a starter) cover and wrap the whole slow cooker in a big towel. Let it sit this way for 8 hours.

4. That's it! Wasn't that easy? :)

I started mine around 4pm, and by the time I whisked in the starter yogurt and wrapped it up, it was time for bed. It sat out all night and went in to the refrigerator first thing in the morning. The flavor is very mild, not as tangy as I like, but I'm going to experiment with other starters and see what I can come up with. It is also pretty thin, but she states in the original post that you can strain it with cheesecloth if you like it more thick. The best part about that is that the liquid can be saved for soaking! We like it thin, the kids LOVED it and ate it without any sweetener at all. It was wonderful and we will definitely be making it from now on.

This is what it looked like right before I added the starter yogurt in. I love all of that bright yellow fat!

The finished product.

This post is part of Pennywise Platter Thursday at The Nourishing Gourmet.

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Making Meat Go Further

When you eat right, you pay more. While meat is very nourishing (and delicious!) it can be difficult to afford free range pastured chicken, grass fed beef and wild caught fish at every meal. We decided that in order to incorporate this wonderful nourishing meat into our meals, we would cut back on the amount we ate. Now, instead of each of us eating half a chicken breast for dinner, I will often cook one half breast throw it in a stir fry or tacos or a salad. (My children still do not eat much meat, so this works for us!) One thing I love to do it pop some frozen chicken in the slow cooker with some salsa first thing in the morning, by that evening I have yummy flavorful shredded chicken to use in many different recipes. A little goes a long way, especially if you are using good fats in your side dishes to supplement your meal. It is possible to eat well, frugally... you just have to try a little harder! We think is is well worth the effort.





This post is a part of Pennywise Platter Thursday at The Nourishing Gourmet

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Fried Rice Perfected

I have always loved fried rice. It is probably my favorite food of all time. I used to love getting chinese as a kid, and would just get a huge plate of fried rice and nothing else. It is the ultimate comfort food, but as I've found lately, it is also very easy and versatile. It can also be very nourishing if you do it right. Lately, I've been making a big pot of rice a few times a week and chilling it. It is so easy to just throw some together if you have chilled rice already waiting for you. The kids even love it, so it is definitely a favorite around here. Here is my fried rice recipe:

*4 Cups cooked chilled rice
*4 Tbs fat
*4 Eggs
*Whatever veggies you have on hand

Start with your fat.  I usually chop up some bacon and fry it until done.  The fat leftover is perfect for frying, and the little bits of bacon are wonderful in your rice, although you can also use coconut oil, or even olive oil with good results.  After you have your fat ready to go, add your veggies.  Cook until tender.  When veggies are finished, add rice.  I probably cook it for about 5 minutes.  Just long enough to heat through and encorporate the fat all the way through the rice.  If you want to add eggs, just transfer your rice to a serving dish and scramble your eggs in your pan.  Add your eggs to your rice, and you are good to go! 

Yes, it is very simple. However, this is what I have come up with after years and years of tinkering. I think fried rice is the first thing I tried to learn how to make. I actually remember cooking it at my childhood house, and I don't think I did much cooking there at all. Yes, many years of trial and error...much trial, and many errors! But this is it, easy and so so good. I usually stick to the 1:1:1 ratio when making it. I just put 4 up there because that is the amount I make for our family for dinner. Here is the secret: cooled rice. I cannot stress this enough. Your rice must be cold, or it will turn into a big clumpy sticky gooey mess. Also, you must use a good fat. Do not use vegetable oil. Only good fats, our favorites are bacon fat, coconut oil or beef lard. I can't wait to try some duck fat... I am planning to try this the next time I cook duck. I bet it is out of this world! The veggies don't matter so much, whatever you love. I usually just do peas and carrots because it is the old standby and the kids love it. In this picture, I used leeks and kale. It was extremely yummy this way. Just use your imagination! Oh, and I almost forgot: Only flavor with tamari. That is fermented soy sauce, and the flavor is so much better than your average soy sauce... you will never go back! :) Enjoy!

This post is a part of Pennywise Platter Thursday at The Nourishing Gourmet

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