Perfect Roasted Chicken

Dear Hubby came home with a six pound whole chicken after a trip to the store and so I needed to make sure I did something special with it. That is actually one of the biggest chickens I have seen in a while. When I have looked for a chicken to roast, I am usually doing good to find a 3-4 pound bird. This one came from Trader Joe's and it was a beauty in every way. Did I just call a dead, raw chicken beautiful?? Hmmm.

I decided to make Ina Garten's Perfect Roast Chicken. I have all of her cookbooks and her recipes always turns out great. If you don't have her cookbooks, you can see her recipe for Perfect Roasted Chicken here from Food Network.com. It takes a little time to put together but the result is well worth the effort.

The first thing you do is remove the giblets and then rinse the chicken inside and out. Pat it dry, I use paper towels, and then salt and pepper inside and outside. Next, you stuff the cavity with a large bunch of fresh thyme, one lemon cut in half or quartered, and a whole garlic cut in half through the widest part. Next, you brush the chicken with melted butter and then sprinkle with more salt and pepper. Then, you tie the legs together with kitchen twine and set it aside.

Now you cut one large yellow onion into thick slices, you cut 4 large carrots into two-inch chunks and you cut a bulb of fennel into wedges (after removing the top fronds). You place these veggies into a roasting pan and add olive oil, salt, pepper and 20 sprigs of fresh thyme. Make sure you use a roasting pan that is large and deep enough to hold your veggies and chicken. You toss them around until everything is covered with olive oil and salt and pepper. Now you place the chicken on top of the veggies.

My chicken was a little to big for this roasting pan. And yes, that is a forgotten fork laying among the veggies. It didn't seem to mind being roasted.

Now you put it into a 425 degree oven and you will roast it for 1-1/2 hours or until the juices are clear and not bloody, between the leg and the thigh. When the chicken is fully cooked, remove from the oven, place the chicken in the center of a large serving plate and place the veggies around the chicken. Cover and let sit for about 20 minutes.

Ready to eat

When the chicken was ready to serve, I placed the platter in the middle of the table with a carving knife and dear hubby did the honors of slicing the chicken into serving portions. I like the leg and let me say it was a good sized leg. Plenty for one serving.

I had a head of cauliflower in the fridge waiting to be used so I made a cauliflower casserole to go with the roasted chicken dinner. I cut the cauliflower into florets and cooked them in boiling water for 8 minutes. I drained them and put them into the fridge to chill down. 

Next, I chopped about a half of a cup of onion and about a half of a cup of red pepper. I sauteed them in olive oil until they were tender, about 10 minutes or less and set them aside to cool.

In a small bowl, I mixed a cup of sour cream and a cup of grated cheddar cheese. I added the cooled onions and peppers, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and a half a cup of crushed cornflakes. I added this mixture to my bowl of cooled cauliflower and held it in the refrigerator until I was ready to bake it. Just before I baked it, I sprinkled a 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese and about 1/3 cup of crushed cornflakes over the top.

Just before going into the oven

About an hour before I baked it, I set the bowl out on the counter to bring it closer to room temperature. I baked it at 350 for about 30 minutes, until it started bubbling. The oven should have been 325 degrees and it wouldn't have turned as brown on top. I adapted this recipe and it turned out very good. My son, who isn't a big fan of cauliflower, loved it and took another spoonful!

Crunchy on the outside, creamy on the inside

Here is my version of the recipe:

Enjoy!

Family Fun at the Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend, our family enjoyed a nice brunch together, started the dishwasher and headed to the Pumpkin Patch at Bauman Farms. It is about 20 miles away from our farm, and the grandsons kept papa and me entertained all the way there. with constant laughs, as only a one-year-old and a three-year-old can do. We finally arrived and the boys were ready to start having fun! 

Uncle Alan and Ivan

Wiley getting a ride on his daddy's shoulders

They humored me for one quick shot

Wiley having fun

Uncle Alan helping Ivan climb on the bales of hay

Daddy taking one for the team

Ivan having fun on the John Deere

Ivan feeding the goats

Wiley waiting in line to wash the goat slobber off of his hands

Watching the cider press demonstration

I caught the shot of the pressed apples coming out of their chute

Daddy carrying the pumpkin the boys chose

Ivan enjoying his apple

I would pick this pumpkin any day

Ivan weighted less than the pumpkin they chose

We all had a great time together. We were prepared for rain, but the rain never came. We did have a wind storm that was blew strong and steady for a while but we held onto our hats and weathered the storm. If you live in the area and are looking for a pumpkin patch for the kids, you should check out Bauman Farms. There are fun things to do for all ages, including grammas and papas!

Family Brunch on The Farm

This past weekend we enjoyed making a brunch to enjoy with our family. We have enjoyed making and serving many brunches in our Los Angeles home, especially when we had out of town family staying in our home or in the area. It is so nice having all of us living within 30 minutes of each other, which allows family brunch "just because!"

I decided to make caramel rolls the night before and bake them fresh in the morning. Due to our move, I wasn't able to put my hands on my regular recipe, so I went to one of my favorite go-to recipe sites at Food.com and found a stand-in recipe. They are called "Easy Overnight Ooey-Gooey Pull-Apart Caramel Rolls." That is quite a mouthful!

I didn't have my regular sized bundt pan available, so it was time to improvise. I took a decorative ceramic baking dish that was hanging on a wall and used that, after I carefully took off the decorative fabric hanger. It was wider and more shallow, so I made 1-1/2 recipes. What was I thinking!

If I hadn't started putting it together at about 11:45 pm, I might have looked and realized that it was a little too full. Actually, wayyy too full, before rising!

Because the house gets a little chilly during the night these days, I put it in the cold oven so that it wouldn't catch a draft in the night. That way, I didn't need to cover it up to keep the dough from getting a hard crust. When I opened the oven door the next morning, I could see I had a rising problem! I obviously don't make great decisions around the midnight hour!

Yes, they had risen more than I had hoped!

Due to the fact that they continue to rise when then are baking, it was time for a little improvisation! I started pinching the biggest rolls so that they went flat, which isn't something a baker likes to do! I took the one hanging over the edge on the left out and pushed it into another spot. Not that it helped much. Lets just say there was/is a "little" spillage on the bottom of the oven that someone needs to clean up!

Yes, I realize that it is a little heavy with nuts on one side. There is also a portion that didn't have any nuts due to nut allergies.

After baking them for about 23 minutes, we let them sit for about five minutes before we inverted them onto the platter. They were a big hit and were enjoyed by everyone. I took one ball of dough and took a bite with my meal to make sure they were baked all the way through. I though I might get to try a whole piece later but I waited too long and they were gone. That's actually a good thing! It is always nice when things you made are enjoyed and there is nothing left but lick marks!

Caramel rolls don't get much easier than this. If you haven't made this type of roll recipe, you really should try it. You will impress yourself! As for me, I will be busy cleaning the oven before it can be used again, due to all of the spillage and mess I created. It sure is nice having self-cleaning ovens these days. It's even better having a kitchen with two ovens, which means I can relax a little and get a good nights sleep before I start the oven cleaning.

You will find the recipe here:

Enjoy!

Blog Surfing

Tasty Kitchen has more great recipes this week.  Fresh Apple Bread, Crisp Toffee Bars, Harvest Apple Cookies with Brown Butter Glaze, Rustic Carrot Coffee Cake

From Hoosier Homemade made Caramel Apple Nut Bars that are delicious and super fast and easy.

Five of the Best Recipe Search Tools and they are free can be found here at Life Hacker.

Kittencal's Caramel Apples recipe will be a great recipe to use if you want to make them from scratch instead of using melted caramels. From Food.com.

Serious Eats has a recipe for Spicy Pumpkin Seed-Pecan Brittle. It gets its spice from cinnamon and cayenne pepper. You should have a candy thermometer to make this. You can find the recipe here.

A 'Lil Country Sugar has secret recipe she is sharing for her favorite Pumpkin Cookies. She also shares her whoopie pie filling recipe.

This Crunchy Pumpkin Granola from Rosey Rebecca looks great. I have been looking for a new granola recipe for fall and I think this may be it!

If you are interested in a Free On-line Budgeting Tool to help you keep track of your hard earned dollars, you should check out this site. Number one, it is free and two, it is safe, three, it has great reviews from Money Magazine. It could help your reach your financial goals. Thanks to Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.

From Judy's Kitchen, these Overnight Oatmeal Muffins look amazing. For those that can't get enough of salted caramel, here is a recipe for Salted Caramel Apple Dumplings.

The editor in chief of Taste of Home is sharing 15 or her favorite recipes. They include every course from appetizers to desserts and you will find the recipes  Here is another recipe for Overnight Raisin French Toast.

Relish Magazine - Food For Thought is featuring some great looking Pumpkin Recipes. The Ham and Cheese Stuffed Pumpkin sounds very good and the Pumpkin Cheddar Pesto Pizza sounds interesting. Also, if you follow this link, you will see several other great looking recipes. Get 'Em Fast Sticky Buns are filled with apples or pears. You make them the night before and bake them fresh in the morning. There is also a recipe for Martha's Tomato and Basil Pasta, and a yummy looking pizza. At the very end of the post, you will see a great looking recipe for Quick Gazpacho.

Allrecipes has compiled many baking recipes that use pumpkin. The Double Layer Pumpkin Pie and the Apple Butter Apple Pie sound really good for a nice change to old time favorites. The Orange Pumpkin Loaf sounds really good too. You will find all of these recipes and more right here.

Posie Gets Cozy has an amazing looking Sour Cream Apple Pie and you are going to want her recipe. While you are there, you should check out her amazingly cute Felt Holiday Ornament Craft Kits. These would make great gifts or you just might want them for yourself! Her equally cute Friendly Bird Papier Mache are a must see. You could find little birds like this in a great boutique, but you can make them yourself with her patterns. If you like to crochet, check out her patterns here.

Joy the Baker has a popular recipe for Super Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. They look great and have been highly rated!

All Natural Fruit and Vegetable Cleaner

I don't like it when my trusty spray bottle is empty!

I am a firm believer in washing all produce before using. I want to do everything I can to wash off chemicals, wax, dirt and germs so we eat clean produce. I have been using fruit and vegetable spray/wash for several years. I knew where to buy it in the Los Angeles area, but I have not found any since we have been in Oregon. Of course, there was a solution; make my own. I found several recipes online, made my own, and now I am passing them on to you.

Easy Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins

Sometimes things that say "easy" aren't really all that easy! Not everyone's interpretation of easy is the same. I believe that if you make these muffins, you will agree that they are very easy. This recipe has three ingredients; 2 spice cake mixes, one 30-ounce can of pumpkin and about 2 cups of chips. That's all there is to it!

I found this recipe about five years ago and have adapted it over time to what it is now. This batter is very stiff, but don't worry, it works. I would suggest using a mixer if you have one. The batter gets a little hard to stir by hand and the dry mix has a way of jumping out of the bowl with every stir.

This recipe is very adaptable. For this batch, I used one spice cake mix and one carrot cake mix, only because that is all they had at the store. (Freddie's has their cake mixes 10 for $10.00 this week and a lot of other people got there first.) I have used chocolate cake mix, yellow cake mix with the extra spice added and I have made them without chips. A couple of times I have added pecans. For this batch, I used a combination of milk chocolate chips, white chocolate chips and about 1/3 cup of left over caramel chips. You can also use one cake mix and a small can of pumpkin to make a half batch, about six medium sized muffins.

I used a medium sized muffin tin and it took 25 minutes to bake them. These are very moist, full of fiber from the pumpkin and no added fat. Here are a few pictures.

Batter before it went in the oven

Fresh from the oven

Cooled and ready for consumption

Here is the recipe:

Enjoy!

Red Fox Bakery

We did a little traveling over the weekend. We were headed west, which made it the perfect opportunity to make a stop in McMinnville, Oregon. Bon Appetit named McMinnville one of the countries top six "foodiest towns" last month, so we stopped by to check it out. Specifically, the Red Fox Bakery/Cafe!

McMinnville is home to the beautiful campus of Linfield College, the Evergreen Aviation Museum and is considered by many to be the "wine capital" of Oregon. Those are all great places, but we went to McMinnville to find the Red Fox Bakery! I had read a lot about them and liked what I had read. They are McMinnville's first artisan bakery and they feature true handcrafted breads and pastries. They use all local products, including butter that is made a mile away, they grow their own herbs and make their own jams. As well as pastries, they serve lunch, using all fresh and local ingredients.

If you aren't ready to drop what you are doing and head on over there right now, I guess I will have to show you some pictures!

Red Fox Bakery 328 Evans Street, McMinnville, Oregon

Scone - with fresh apples

Brioche - with fresh nectarines

Cookie - with almonds

Lulu's Macaroons - made with pure vanilla and a touch of honey, never corn syrup

With the exception of Lulu's macaroons, everything is named very basic; scone, cookie, etc. The baker shopped at McMinnville's Farmers Market for inspiration for the daily scone and found local fresh apples and nectarines for the brioche. One bite of the scone and cookie revealed a very fresh and delicately sweetened taste that was very refreshing, compared to the overly sweetened taste of most commercially produced baked goods.  It is a very down home kind of place and you really should check out the Red Fox Bakery if you are in the neighborhood.