Now that we have started buying locally raised meat, free of antibiotics, growth hormones, and allowed the freedom to roam and graze as nature intended, I have come up on a bit of a dilemma:
Chickens.
I am a boneless, skinless chicken breast type girl. They are easy to thaw, easy to cook, easy to eat. I don't want to have to mess with everything that comes with other parts of the chicken.
But now I order my chickens whole. And they are MESSY. They take forever to thaw. It's kind of gross to handle them. And I am TERRIBLE at cutting them apart.
I did it once a few weeks ago and BUTCHERED the poor thing. We were able to eat pieces, but you could hardly tell what was what.
Tonight, I made chicken again. First of all, it took days to get fully thawed in the refrigerator. Then I realize the recipe I was using called for the chicken to marinate in the seasonings for 24 hours. Well, I didn't have 24 hours. I had more like 6. So 6 it was. I cooked the chicken just like it said.
And then came the task once again of cutting it apart. In the time since my last failed attempt at cutting apart a whole chicken, I have watched several videos on HOW to cut apart a chicken. So at least I had an idea of where to begin.
But many of the videos showed a RAW chicken being cut into pieces. Mine was cooked. And it was HOT. I admit, I was nervous...
But it turned out pretty accurate to the videos I watched! I got everything apart, and we had 2 nice, juicy chicken breasts for dinner. And now we have leftover thighs, wings and drumsticks for lunch tomorrow. Go me!
So, in case you're curious, here is the recipe I used (taken from ):
Ingredients
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 (4 pound) whole chicken
5 cloves garlic, crushed
Directions
In a bowl, mix the salt, sugar, cloves, allspice, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Rub the chicken with the mixture. Cover chicken, and place in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C).
Stuff the chicken cavity with the garlic. Place the chicken, breast side down, on a rack in a roasting pan.
Roast 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce heat to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C), and continue roasting 15 minutes. Baste chicken with pan drippings, reduce heat to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C), and continue roasting 30 minutes, to an internal temperature of 180 degrees F (85 degrees C). Let stand 20 minutes before serving.
It sounds strange, but it was pretty good!
Because my husband can't really do too much garlic (it is not nice to his system AT ALL), I did put some inside the bird but did my best to scoop it out before we ate it and I carved it up...so we got some of the flavor but hopefully it won't upset his body too much.
And I fried some potato chunks in organic butter with salt and pepper...Now those were GOOD.
So another meal that I can add to the recipe file (if I ever get down to actually CREATING the recipe file). I think next time, I'll take the chicken apart FIRST and then season it and marinate it...my poor burning fingers would probably appreciate that.
Friday, July 1, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Starting from Scratch - A Background on Us
Hi there! Well, most of you who read this will probably already know who I am and what's going on. But for those who just happen to find your way to this blog, I'll give some background before jumping right in!
My husband was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis over 15 years ago. It has been a huge struggle learning how to cope with this mean, ugly disease. During this time, we have tried just about everything we know:
- Medication changes (pretty much everything out there)
- Steroids (both short and long term)
- Dietary changes (many, many, many and just about every kind)
- Vitamins/supplements
- Chiropractic
- Acupuncture
There have been some things that helped a little, some things that helped at first but not for more than a few days, some things that made no difference at all...the list goes on.
In the past 8 months or so, my husband starting getting flu-like symptoms about once a month. Chills, night sweats, exhaustion, headaches, fever, etc. We had no idea where it was coming from. We suspected it may be a reaction to one or more of his meds, and decided we wanted, we NEEDED to do something to get the horrible prescription medications out of his system.
We decided enough is enough. We want my husband healthy. We want him to really be able to start LIVING life and not just getting through it. It is high time we take control of his health - well, as much control as we have over anything in this life.
We have been working with our chiropractor in a relatively new field of natural healing called Nutrition Response Testing. It is difficult to explain, but the process is to identify what nutrients the body is lacking and needs to help heal itself properly, and then provide those nutrients through whole food, quality supplementation and a return to healthy eating.
The great thing about this is that he is evaluated every week to see how his body is responding. FINALLY - a program that realizes the body CHANGES depending on what is going on in your environment, inside your body, and everything around you. When he goes in, his supplementation program is changed based on what his body shows AT THAT TIME.
I'm sure as I go along here on this blog you will read more details about my husband's health, some issues we have had, our successes and drawbacks. But suffice it to say - we have good days, we have bad days. But our health and nutrition through food is changing drastically. And that's what this blog is about. Our adventures and attempts to revolutionize our eating and get back to basics.
Almost all processed foods have been removed from our house, and we are striving to use only organic, natural products from here on out. We are buying our fruits, vegetables, chicken, beef, seafood and pork all locally from like-minded farmers and companies. Commercial products, snacks and meals have now been replaced with "cooking from scratch". I am attempting to remove most of the chemical cleaners from our home to make it as healthy as possible.
We are not a go-get-em "green" family. We just want the best possible environment for my husband and for our little girl. And to do that, we believe that we truly need to "start from scratch".
So here we go. A journey to go back to simplicity - the basics, the fundamentals. A collection of recipes, foods, experiences and just life in general as we find joy in the midst of this trial. I hope you'll come along for the ride!
My husband was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis over 15 years ago. It has been a huge struggle learning how to cope with this mean, ugly disease. During this time, we have tried just about everything we know:
- Medication changes (pretty much everything out there)
- Steroids (both short and long term)
- Dietary changes (many, many, many and just about every kind)
- Vitamins/supplements
- Chiropractic
- Acupuncture
There have been some things that helped a little, some things that helped at first but not for more than a few days, some things that made no difference at all...the list goes on.
In the past 8 months or so, my husband starting getting flu-like symptoms about once a month. Chills, night sweats, exhaustion, headaches, fever, etc. We had no idea where it was coming from. We suspected it may be a reaction to one or more of his meds, and decided we wanted, we NEEDED to do something to get the horrible prescription medications out of his system.
We decided enough is enough. We want my husband healthy. We want him to really be able to start LIVING life and not just getting through it. It is high time we take control of his health - well, as much control as we have over anything in this life.
We have been working with our chiropractor in a relatively new field of natural healing called Nutrition Response Testing. It is difficult to explain, but the process is to identify what nutrients the body is lacking and needs to help heal itself properly, and then provide those nutrients through whole food, quality supplementation and a return to healthy eating.
The great thing about this is that he is evaluated every week to see how his body is responding. FINALLY - a program that realizes the body CHANGES depending on what is going on in your environment, inside your body, and everything around you. When he goes in, his supplementation program is changed based on what his body shows AT THAT TIME.
I'm sure as I go along here on this blog you will read more details about my husband's health, some issues we have had, our successes and drawbacks. But suffice it to say - we have good days, we have bad days. But our health and nutrition through food is changing drastically. And that's what this blog is about. Our adventures and attempts to revolutionize our eating and get back to basics.
Almost all processed foods have been removed from our house, and we are striving to use only organic, natural products from here on out. We are buying our fruits, vegetables, chicken, beef, seafood and pork all locally from like-minded farmers and companies. Commercial products, snacks and meals have now been replaced with "cooking from scratch". I am attempting to remove most of the chemical cleaners from our home to make it as healthy as possible.
We are not a go-get-em "green" family. We just want the best possible environment for my husband and for our little girl. And to do that, we believe that we truly need to "start from scratch".
So here we go. A journey to go back to simplicity - the basics, the fundamentals. A collection of recipes, foods, experiences and just life in general as we find joy in the midst of this trial. I hope you'll come along for the ride!
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