Monday, September 19, 2011

Crockpot Rotisserie Chicken (3 Recipes)





Recipe 1:

Rotisserie Chicken In The Crockpot (adapted from A Year Of Slow Cooking)
--1 whole chicken, skinned (4-5 pounds)
--2 tsp kosher salt
--1 tsp paprika
--1 tsp onion powder
--1/2 tsp dried thyme
--1 tsp Italian seasoning
--1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
--1/2 tsp black pepper
--pinch of chili pepper
--4 whole garlic cloves
--1 yellow onion, quartered

The Directions.

I used a 6 quart crockpot for a 4 pound bird. It fit nicely.


In a bowl, combine all of dried spices. Rub the spice mixture all over the bird, inside and out. Plop the bird breast-side down into the crockpot.

Put 4 whole garlic cloves and a quartered onion inside the bird.

Do not add water.

Cover and cook on high for 4 hours, or on low for 6. The meat is done when it is fully cooked and has reached desired tenderness. The longer you cook it, the more tender the meat.

Recipe 2:

Bone Stock (recipe from New Nostalgia)
Chicken bones or carcass
Water to cover (about 6 cups)
1 tsp vinegar for every 4 cups of water (helps extract the good stuff from the bones)
onion, cut in large chunks
2 carrots, cut in large chunks
2 stalks celery, cut in large chunks
2 cloves garlic
2 bay leaves
1 T. Italian seasoning
Dump all into crockpot. Cover and cook 8-10 hours. (I did overnight) Remove from heat and cool completely. Strain the stock.

Recipe 3:
Chicken Noodle Soup (recipe from New Nostalgia)


** I loved the fact that we used everything from start to finish. The stock that I made overnight was used completely by the chicken noodle soup. The rotisserie chicken by itself was a bit plain, but the soup was the best I've ever had. We had leftover chicken after making the soup and we put some barbecue sauce on it and it was great. I will definitely do this whole process again.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Autumn Walk

Last weekend, we took Grey on the MKT Trail. Little did we know that it would be our last time on that trail. How bittersweet is that? I thought I would be ecstatic to move back to Springfield, but I'm finding that I'm sad. I'm sad to leave this house where Luke and I started "real" jobs. I'm sad to leave the house where Greyson has had so many firsts. I'm sad to leave our play date friends. I'm sad to leave my ever growing client base. It seems like every week I get one or two more clients. I know that everything will be fine, but I'm sad to be entering this in-between stage. I'm surprised that I feel this way, but I can't help it.

Anyways, here are some pictures from the trail walk.






Tuesday, September 6, 2011