Quinoa

In an attempt at expanding our vegetarian meal options, Monday night I decided to try my hand at cooking Quinoa. I researched recipes online for about a week, trying to understand the basics of how to prepare a meal with Quinoa. From what I gathered, these are the universal truths:
1. Quinoa doesn't have much flavor, so you gotta add a lot of flavor with other ingredients
2. Quinoa dries out quickly, so a vinaigrette is helpful

So here's what I started out with: Quinoa, chicken stock, one garlic clove, large chopped bell pepper, chopped onion, and sliced zucchini. For the vinaigrette I had EVOO, an orange, salt, pepper, and fresh parsley. (and a glass of white wine for inspiration) :)

I smashed the garlic clove and threw it in a saucepan with the chicken stock. Once that was boiling, I added the quinoa, reduced the heat, covered, and simmered for 15 minutes until all the liquid was absorbed. Then I discarded the garlic clove and set the quinoa aside in a large bowl.













While the quinoa was simmering I started working on prepping the veggies. In a large skillet I heated up some olive oil. Then I sauteed all the veggies for about 10 minutes until tender. Then I combined the sauteed veggies with the quinoa in a large bowl where I mixed in a cup of Craisins for a bit more flavor.

I created the vinaigrette by mixing 3 Tbsp Olive Oil, the juice of one orange, pinch of salt, half a pinch of pepper and some fresh chopped parsley. I shook that up in my Jamie Oliver Flavour Shaker and poured the dressing over the quinoa, stirring to incorporate.

The meal turned out to be a success! And I've discovered that Quinoa leftovers even heat up well the next day. Yay!

Organic Valley

Sometimes eating organic, whole foods can take some getting used to. I've been a skim milk drinker since the age of 12 and was always grossed out when I would see people drinking 1% or 2% milk, because it just looked like thick paint to me. Like drinking glue.

But darn the interwebs and the information out there on the Google. Cause I got bored one day and decided to read up on how skim milk is made. I researched how the fat is removed from the milk and with what I learned I decided a change to my diet needed to be made.

Here's a little lesson on how to make skim milk:
Back in the old days, milk was allowed to sit in a bucket or bottle for a few days so the fat would rise to the top. The fat was then skimmed off and the milk was used for drinking or cooking with. Now, with increased demand for milk, machines spin the milk in order to separate out the fat. The more fat that needs to be removed, the more cycles of spinning. Once all the fat has been removed you are left with a watery substance. It can look really pale so some companies inject dyes into the liquid to make it look more white. Then they bottle it and call it skim milk.

The thought of drinking dyes makes me shudder and in my quest to eat more whole foods, I knew my milk choices needed to change. So after 20 some odd years (gulp...I'm old.) I have finally made the switch to 2% milk. (I just can't bring myself to drink whole milk. At least...not yet...BABY STEPS, PEOPLE)

It was a slow process that began in August where I tried to eat cereal with 2% milk and seriously could not eat the whole bowl. So I opted for 1% milk for a few weeks as a transitional period, eventually working my way up to 2%. I've been drinking 2% now for about a month and I gotta say I have actually started enjoying it.

In terms of what brand of milk we drink, Chris and I milk shopped for months trying to find an organic brand that tasted good and wasn't 'big box business' like Horizon. (I've heard some real horror stories about Horizon Brand Milk not being honest about their "organic" processes.) We settled on Organic Valley out of Wisconsin.

Things I love about Organic Valley:
1. The farms are in Wisconsin so it's fairly close in proximity to my house
2. It tastes really good.
3. The milk carton notes the farm that the milk came from; you can go on O.V.'s website to read about the farm and the farmers.
4. I really believe that it's organic.


So anyway, if you're trying to consume more whole foods consider changing the milk you drink. Changing from skim to 2% may seem like a small step but in all actuality it's a pretty good leap in a healthy direction.

Chicken Stock

Monday I took the day off of work and took all those leftover chicken bones and made a big batch of homemade chicken stock! I used Alton Brown's recipe, which I found online. I had never made my own stock before and was REALLY excited about trying my hand at it. It takes a few hours to do but is really quite easy. I saved the stock in 2 cup freezable containers, so I can just pull one out to thaw for a batch of soup or to use while slow cooking meat.

Ingredients:

• 4 pounds chicken carcasses, including necks and backs
• 1 large onion, quartered
• 4 carrots, peeled and cut in 1/2
• 4 ribs celery, cut in 1/2
• 1 leek, white part only, cut in 1/2 lengthwise
• 10 sprigs fresh thyme
• 10 sprigs fresh parsley with stems
• 2 bay leaves
• 8 to 10 peppercorns
• 2 whole cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 gallons cold water

Directions:

Place chicken, vegetables, and herbs and spices in 12-quart stockpot. Set opened steamer basket directly on ingredients in pot and pour over water. Cook on high heat until you begin to see bubbles break through the surface of the liquid. Turn heat down to medium low so that stock maintains low, gentle simmer. Skim the scum from the stock with a spoon or fine mesh strainer every 10 to 15 minutes for the first hour of cooking and twice each hour for the next 2 hours. Add hot water as needed to keep bones and vegetables submerged. Simmer uncovered for 6 to 8 hours.

Strain stock through a fine mesh strainer into another large stockpot or heatproof container discarding the solids. Cool immediately in large cooler of ice or a sink full of ice water to below 40 degrees. Place in refrigerator overnight. Remove solidified fat from surface of liquid and store in container with lid in refrigerator for 2 to 3 days or in freezer for up to 3 months. Prior to use, bring to boil for 2 minutes. Use as a base for soups and sauces.

Chicken Pot Pie

We had leftover chicken on the bird, after we dined on Sunday night, so I picked those bones clean and used that leftover meat to make a Chicken Pot Pie on Tuesday night.

Not one part of that bird was wasted!

And the ingredients I bought for the stock (like a bunch of carrots, and a bag of celery, and a bunch of parsley) were also used in the pot pie. So I felt good about using up all the food wisely. I couldn't help but carve a special note in the pot pie crust for Chris, since he was so sweet while I cut out the chicken back. :)

I was especially proud of this pot pie because I do not kid myself a baker. I cook, I do not bake. But this recipe called for a homemade crust topping. Which didn't require baking per se, but it looked enough like baking that I got nervous I was going to frak it up. But it turned out great! I should never doubt America's Test Kitchen! (or myself, for that matter!)

Crisp Roasted Chicken and Potatoes

I roasted a chicken on Sunday. It was a perfect fall day to roast a bird in the oven and the final product was quite tasty! I will write out, at the end of this post, how I went about preparing and cooking the bird. By far the hardest part was cutting out the back bone. I had never butterflied a whole chicken before and cutting through bone with shears, and hearing that crunching sound, was not pleasant. Chris actually stepped into the kitchen to cheer me on while I fought the urge to upchuck on the bird. But I cut through the bones and pulled the backbones out, so...I guess that's something to be proud of.
**Please note in the "after" photo that we served this with a jar of homemade apple sauce! Yay!**

















Crispy Roast Chicken and Potatoes:

Ingredients:
1 roasting chicken, 3.5-4 lbs
1 cup kosher salt or 1/2 cup table salt
1/2 cup sugar
1.5 Ts olive oil

2.5 pounds roasting potatoes, Yukon Golds
3/4 ts salt
ground black pepper
1 Tb olive oil

Compound butter:
2 Tb butter
1 clove garlic, mashed
1 Tb dijon mustard
1 ts minced fresh thyme
ground black pepper

Brine chicken in solution of 1 cup kosher salt (or 1/2 cup table salt) and 1/2 cup sugar to 1/2 gallon water for 1 hour.

Pat chicken dry. Cut out backbone (try not to upchuck) to butterfly chicken. Flatten breastbone (just push down firmly).

Mix up compound butter. With your fingers, loosen skin across breast and as far down drumsticks as you can, do not tear skin. Spoon butter under skin and work across as much of the chicken as possible. Rub 1.5 Ts olive oil over chicken.

Slice potatoes 1/8" to 1/4" inch thickness. Salt and pepper lightly, toss with 1 Tb oil.

Line bottom of grilling pan with heavy-duty aluminium foil. Spread potato slices across pan evenly.

Place grilling rack over potatoes. Arrange butterflied chicken on top, folding drumsticks inward so they cover part of the breast. Roast at 500 degrees for 20 minutes, turn pan around, roast for another 20 minutes or until internal temperature in breast is 160.

Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly. Take grilling rack off, pat potatoes which will have a fair amount of oil on them. Potatoes may stick to foil, peel as much off as possible. Cut chicken up and serve with potatoes.