Cinco de Mayo XII

Well, I skipped Day Five of the BEDIM, and for good reason. Yesterday was the twelve year anniversary of my liver transplant.
It was a dream of a day. Woke up to blue skies and seventy degrees before noon, got to spend the morning at my amazing church for one of the greatest services of the year, our annual Liberty Offering. Then in the afternoon it was home with my family, BBQ steaks, homemade salsa and salad, lemonade, gluten free cake and brownies. My  big bro was in town which made the day even more special.

Then I was surprised with cards and gifts- I was not expecting anything! My hubby really got me good, he brought out a wrapped box which I opened and it was A PEARL NECKLACE! I had made a little comment a while back about wanting real pearls some day, and I would love to have them to mark our vow renewal in July. Well, now I have them! Wow!!

Hubs took this photo of me wearing my new pearls:

It was a great surprise and very special, memorable day. We wrapped it up by watching a brilliant sunset from the deck. I'm convinced that as tiny and humble our home is, we are on one of the best view lots in our city. I can't wait for summer and all the gorgeous sunsets to come!

If you are not registered as an organ donor, please consider it. One donor can save or improve the lives of over 50 people! Less than 1 percent of registered donors ever get the opportunity to donate. And as of ten minutes ago, 118,019 people are on the waiting list for a life saving organ transplant. Consider the gift of life.

(Source: unos.org)

White Wine Roast Chicken and Vegetables

There's nothing like the smell of roast chicken permeating your home to get your appetite going. My family enjoyed this experience last night. I had a whole chicken in the refrigerator that needed to be used, and white wine gravy was calling my name. I made up a recipe, and thought I'd better share it here because it turned out a success.
If you're home today enjoying a relaxed family day, or tomorrow will be your slow-paced Sunday, try roasting a chicken. The smell and taste won't disappoint! You can save the bones and make a batch of nutritious, tasty bone broth - great way to get the most out of your food budget!


What you need:

Whole chicken, giblets removed and rinsed in/out
Sea salt
Black pepper
Sage
White wine like Chardonnay (nothing fancy, I love using the $2.49 "Two Buck Chuck" from Trader Joe's)

What you do:

Preheat oven to 450. Place chicken in a roasting pan with wings and legs tucked underneath. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and a dash of sage. Pour white wine around chicken in pan, about 1/3 bottle.

When oven reaches 450 degrees, put the chicken in the oven and let it brown and crisp on top for fifteen to twenty minutes.

It will look like this. Beautiful!

Now lower the oven temperature to 375 degrees. Grab a pot holder/oven mitt, pull the oven rack out a bit [carefully!], and baste the chicken all over with the white wine/drippings. I like to baste it five times or more. Close the oven and let it go for twenty minutes, then pull out the oven rack and baste, again.
Repeat this once more - twenty minutes of roasting, then baste. Check the thigh temperature with a meat thermometer. If it reads 170 or higher, you can take the chicken out of the oven. If it's not, put it back in for ten more minutes, and check again.
Once temperature is 170 degrees, take out of the oven, cover the roasting pan with foil and let sit for fifteen minutes. Remove the foil and check the temp. The thigh should be 180 degrees.

Voila! You roasted a beautiful delicious chicken!

At this point you can cut up the chicken into eight pieces - 2 thighs, 2 legs/drumsticks, 2 breasts, 2 wings. For help in doing this, check out this step by step: How to Carve a Roasted Chicken
Also, there are many videos demonstrating this culinary skill on YouTube.


This chicken can be served with steamed vegetables and if you like, white wine gravy* for a lovely dinner. Enjoy your meal!

Chicken and veggies - one of the best

*To make gravy, pour the wine/drippings into a small saucepan over low heat. In a small bowl, make a "slurry" with one teaspoon cornstarch and 1/4 cup water. Mix slurry with a fork, and add to the saucepan of warm drippings. Continue to whisk this mixture together while it heats. When it is thickened to the consistency you like, it's ready. Pour over your chicken and veg, and enjoy.

Bone Broth - Chicken edition

"Good broth will resurrect the dead." -South American Proverb

Well, if that doesn't set your expectations high, I don't know what will. Wow, this stuff is good. I've been hearing about the benefits of bone broths for years, but this was my first time to make it. It is so easy; you could spend less than an hour of your time every week to set up your slow cooker, cook, strain, and store the stock - you have to call that easy.

Bone broth has a myriad of health benefits. Homemade stocks are something that used to be simmering on every home hearth and cook top, but as our country has lost touch with eating real, whole foods, we've lost touch with traditional cooking and with that, lost the health benefits that come with it. And to think, we have so many great tools and appliances now that our great grandmothers didn't have. No excuses! :)
For the details on bone broth benefits, read the article by Sally Fallon entitled "Broth is Beautiful"

I adapted Balanced Bites' recipe for Mineral-Rich Bone Broth. For bones, I used what was left of dinner from the other night - a rotisserie roasted chicken. Most of the meat had been taken off and I simply put the chicken into the slow cooker, poured water over it, literally broke a few washed carrots apart with my hands and tossed them in, sprinkled in about a half cup of frozen leeks (picked them up at Trader Joe's last week) and put the lid on. That's IT. Couldn't be simpler.

What you need:

roasted chicken carcass
approximately 4 quarts of water (Fill stoneware 2/3)
splash of apple cider vinegar
3 carrots, broken into pieces
1/2 cup frozen leeks

What you do:

Put everything in a 6 quart slow cooker, set to high. After two to three hours (depending on amount of water you used, it will be simmering/gently boiling. Switch heat to Low and let cook overnight. I started my stock about 6 pm - lowered the temp around 9 pm - and turned it off at noon, so eighteen hours total this time. Let it sit for an hour or a few, then put a fine mesh metal strainer into a large bowl. Using a slotted spoon, move the large pieces into the strainer, then pick up the stoneware insert (hopefully your slow cooker insert is removable - here's an incidence where that comes in very handy) and gently pour through the strainer. You can then pick through and pull out the cooked carrots-they taste incredible- and get all the last bits of chicken meat off the bones. I collected over one cup of chicken.

For storage, I love the use of glass jars. They are low cost, toxin free, made in the USA, and you can get them "for free" by sanitizing old jars from spaghetti sauce, store bought applesauce and canned peaches, etc. Ask your friends and family to save their glass jars for you and you'll be set! I run mine through the dishwasher, lids on the top rack.
Ladle the soup into your jars or other storage containers, leaving room for expansion at the top. You now have a supply of homemade stock ready to freeze for a few months, or keep in the refrigerator for a few days. Enjoy!