Rotisserie Chicken At Home

You know those nights when you just want to run in your local mega-grocer/pharmacist/home decor/appliance/hardware/tire shop oh the list goes on, to grab a rotisserie chicken and make dinner a bit easier on yourself? Yes. You know those nights. But what if you don't live near said mega giant superstore? Or possibly you may live near the store which must not be named but you refuse to darken their doors for ethical reasons you attempt to keep to yourself. Or maybe you had absolutely no intention of leaving the house at all to begin with and just want dinner to be easier because sometimes things just need to be easy!

If you happen to have the foresight to know its going to be one of those nights, or maybe you came across whole fryers on sale and said young chicken has been chilling in your fridge, here is a super simple way to turn it into a gorgeous golden rotisserie foul that can be used in a number of ways.

Here is what you need to gather:

-One whole fryer (I like Smart Chicken brand but to each their own)
- 3 tbsp. ghee or butter
- 1 tsp. smoked sea salt (regular will also work) plus a little more for the inside of the bird
- 1 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
- 1 tsp. garlic powder
- 1 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
- 1 tbsp. herbs de provence
- 6 medium sized sheets of tinfoil
- slow cooker

Now depending on the bird you buy, you might have to remove any innards and truss it yourself. Smart Chicken brand makes it easy...nothing to dig out and they have done the trussing for you. Rinse the bird in cold water inside and out and pat dry. Salt the inside generously. Truss the bird with baker's twine if needed.

Take your 6 pieces of tinfoil and turn them into 6 balls of tinfoil. This is going to elevate the chicken in the slow cooker. Place the balls in the bottom of your slow cooker.

Melt the ghee or butter in a small bowl and add all the seasonings. Mix this and flip your bird over breast side down. Use a basting brush to coat the underside of the chicken. Move the fryer to the slow cooker, breast side up, position it atop the tinfoil balls so that it is not touching the bottom of crock. Continue to coat the bird until you have used all your seasoned ghee.

Set your slow cooker to low if you plan on being gone all day. 6-8 hours on low should do it. Otherwise if its lunch time or later and you just realized that you need to do something about feeding these people who also inhabit your home, set it on high for 4-6 hours.

Once done, move the chicken to a cutting board and let it rest for about 10 minutes. From here you can do whatever you would normally do with your mega-mart bought rotisserie chicken. Feel free to play around with the seasonings. Making enchiladas out of your bird? Take out the herbs de provence and halve the paprika. Add in some cumin, chili powder, onion salt, and cilantro. You get the idea.

On this particular night I had no immediate plans for my bird. It was a Thursday evening and I knew my kids would be in and out with various activities, so I cooked it and set aside the breasts and drumsticks for them to grab when they were ready. Everything else I de-boned and stored in the fridge to use for tomorrow night's meal. And I may have been snacking while I was cutting it up. I've taken to observing the Catholic practice of no meat on Friday so while my kids and husband will enjoy this chicken with dinner tomorrow, I had to sneak some in tonight.  I'm thinking of making a yummy looking soup I found from Edie over at Life in Grace. I just finished her memoir, All The Pretty Things, and I highly recommend it. I'm thinking her Chipolte Pumpkin Soup sounds perfect for a Friday evening in Fall.

What's For Dinner? Chicken!

We thought it might be nice to offer the chicken a bit of wine. You know to ease its nerves before we cooked it and ate it.

Oh now! You know I am just playing. We don't eat our chickens. Just their eggs.

This recipe is not about eggs though, it focuses solely on split chicken breasts with the skin on. This is probably my favorite part of the chicken. I like the juiciness you get when you leave the bone in and the time it takes to actually eat it. The longer it takes to eat, the more I enjoy it.

So you need 4 split chicken breasts.

Make a mixture of 2 tablespoons capers, 1/4 cup artichoke hearts, 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes and whatever fresh herbs you have on hand. I used oregano, basil, and rosemary.

I also let me chicken marinate in plain old balsamic vinegar for an hour or so in the fridge. They end up looking like this. Tasty?

Separate the skin from the meat and stuff in handfuls of your amazing mixture. Use sea salt and course ground black pepper on the skin and throw them on a preheated grill on low.  

Skin side down first to kinda of seal in all the goodness. Keep an eye on them and let them roast for an hour or so. Be careful because the skin will burn easily and while I don't mind that some people do.

Sit back and pour yourself a drink and watch your birds cook. Or your husband mow the lawn. Whatever your fancy. We enjoyed these grilled stuffed chickens with some amazing homemade marinara and pasta, zoodles, almonds, soft Swiss cheese, and kalamata olives.

Good Stuff

Once again my husband decided we needed a garden. I'm afraid to say that this year it kind of got out of hand. In an effort to do something, anything with all this excess produce I decided to make pasta sauce. We eat a lot of it during the year and since we follow a Feingold way of eating the only canned variety we carry in our store that we can use at home is Hunt's Traditional. It's fine really, but kind of bland. So when I saw this recipe recommended by another blogger, I jumped on it. I remember reading Catherine's blog about her kids Ben and Birdy a long time ago. It was probably one of the first I ever read. I was delighted to find her Dalai Mama Dishes blog. If you have excess tomatoes, make this sauce now!

Smothered Seared Ahi Tuna with Mashed Turnips

After a vigorous run, and woowee was today's run vigorous, I like to get down and dirty in the kitchen. I'm usually either whipping up breakfast for me and Sugarbaby, if it was an early morning run. Or lunch for the husband and I, if it was a midday run.

Today I decided that I am a genius, because this was my creation out of what I had on hand. It helps to keep your fridge and pantry stocked with awesomeness in which to create with. That's how I look at it anyways. Not so much cooking, but more of creating a masterpiece.

Serves 2

2 ahi tuna steaks
1 tsp. olive oil
splash balsamic vinegar
rosemary citrus sea salt seasoning
1/2 tbsp. butter
1/4 c. chopped red bell pepper
3 medium mushrooms minced
1 tsp. minced garlic
less than 1/4 c. sliced black olives
1 tbsp. capers
splash red wine
1/4 c. heavy whipping cream


2 large turnips, peeled and diced
1/2 tbsp.butter
splash cream
salt/pepper


Put diced turnips in a heavy saucepan, cover with water. Boil until fork tender.

While turnips are cooking......
Add olive oil to cast iron skillet. Pat tuna steaks dry and season with rosemary citrus sea salt. Place tuna in pan and add splash of balsamic vinegar to each steak. Sear tuna a couple minutes each side. Remove from pan and place in 350degree oven to continue cooking. Keep an eye on the tuna steaks to make sure they don't overcook and dry out.

Add 1/2 tbsp. butter to the skillet and throw in red bell peppers. Saute' for a minute before adding garlic and mushrooms. Splash in a bit of red wine. Use wooden spoon to scrape it all around. Saute' for a few more minutes. Add black olives and capers and saute' on low. Pour in the 1/4 cup cream and continue to scrape the pan. Turn heat off once thickened.


Once turnips are tender, drain off water. Add in butter and a splash of cream with sea salt and course ground pepper. Mash with hand or immersion blender or potato masher.

Place mashed turnips on plate. Top with a tuna steak and then smother with half of the veggie cream mixture.

Enjoy!

Sinfully Good Brown Sugar Brownies

These brownies? Right here? They make my husband weak in the knees. They are his kryptonite. So obviously I make them as often as I can and hold one under his nose while he is opening my credit card statement. Trickery? I think not. More of a redirection. Same method I used when my kids were babies and toddlers.

Sinfully Good Brown Sugar Brownies

Brownie
2 squares unsweetened baking chocolate
1/3 cup butter
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Topping
1/3 package cream cheese
1/3 cup brown sugar
splash vanilla
1/3 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt butter and chocolate together in microwave. Stir gently. Set aside.

Cream eggs and sugar. Add in chocolate mixture and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients and add to wet. Mix thoroughly. Turn batter into greased (I use coconut oil) 8x8 pan.

Beat together softened cream cheese, brown sugar, vanilla, and sour cream. Spread over brownie batter evenly, then drag a knife through making swirls and whatnot. Just bring some of the brownie to the top.

Bake for 35-45 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Use as bribery on your husband or kids.

Greens for Breakfast, Lunch, & Dinner

One of the perks of owning a grocery store is the chance to eat healthy without expense being a major issue. It's especially easy for me to eat Paleo/Primal, as lots of cuts of meat don't get sold in time and we end up eating it. I have ample access to produce that is a bit past its prime but perfect for juicing, jams, or wine. There are weeks that I eat so much baby spinach I am positive I am going to turn green. But hey....it's a win win. Cause the things that actually go bad in a grocery store are the things you should be eating. If it has a long shelf life, chances are you shouldn't be putting it in your body.

Since New Year's we've had quite a bit of turnip greens left in the produce case and I've been doing my best to work my way through them. Nutritionally turnip greens beat out spinach, broccoli, cabbage, etc. etc. etc. Look it up. The healthiest way to eat them is steamed, but hey...this is the South and we just don't cook our greens that way.

So, get yourself some greens. Yes mine look a little wilted but we don't believe in wastin' around here.

You're also going to need about 6 strips of bacon or salt pork. Dice that along with a quarter of a red onion and throw them in a dutch oven or other heavy bottom lidded pot on medium high. You want them to brown, to sizzle, to make your house smell divine.

While that is cooking away, rinse your greens and tear out the stems.

Your bacon/onions should be sufficiently browned after a few minutes and looking like this:

Don't worry if it sticks to the bottom. Add yourself a cup of water per bundle of greens (so two cups in my case) and scrape the bottom with a wooden spoon.

Looks good! Add in the greens now.

No worries, they won't be covered in water. Bring to a boil for a minute then reduce to low and cover. Simmer for an hour or two. They can cook all day.

And done. Serve with some salt and pepper and hot sauce. Probably the unhealthiest way to eat em' but surely the tastiest.


How about a kitchen remodel update???

It took me nearly two months to get all the cabinets painted and I actually forgot the ones over the fridge so I have to get to those next week. The countertops really clash now but they will get replaced this year...hopefully.

Now I leave you with this piece of moss. The kids and I went out on a nature hunt and I am fully aware that moss picking is illegal or something but I really wanted to make a mini-terrarium on my kitchen window sill. I'm such a criminal.

PB Pumpkin Protein Smoothie

1 frozen banana

1/2 cup pumpkin

2 tbsp. natural peanut butter

1 cup almond or skim milk

1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder

sprinkle of cinnamon

throw it all in the blender. voila.

yes, michelle. it is in a Mason jar. Mason jars work equally well for wine and smoothies.

Pizza Pizza Pizza

I'm trying. I really really am.

The end is in sight. Next Thursday can not get here soon enough. School, glorious school with its glorious babysitters teachers. I joke. I promise. I have much much respect and admiration for the profession.

Saturday, the Monster will be home from his last extended stay with his Dad. We will finally get to celebrate his turning 7 and have a party and all that good stuff. Yeah!

School supplies have been purchased and packed in backpacks. I even made a mat cover for Sugarbaby's kindermat. Did you know Sugarbaby is going to daycare for the first time ever? She is. Oh yes she is. Only one year of it though and she will be old enough to go to the same wonderful preschool both the boys attended. I'll post more about her lovely daycare later, because it is really and truly lovely and I feel so lucky and blessed to have found such a warm place.

Speaking of warm.....105 degrees warm here in the great Natural State. Ugh. All I want to do is stay inside and nap the day away in the chilly air conditioning. I was really hesitant to fire up the oven for our dinner tonight, but I did it anyways. We decided on pizza, meaning me and Cashman decided on pizza and Sugarbaby had no choice. I figured pizza is easy and I'm too lazy today (hey I ran 6 miles yesterday!) to do anything very complicated. But who am I kidding? I just love pizza!

My lack of energy resulted in me not being too awfully interested in making homemade pizza dough. Which I do, I swear. And it is usually good, but I had one of those Pillsbury canned crusts in the fridge for just such an occasion. So I popped the seal on that bad boy, and does it ever make anyone else nervous to pop open a can of biscuits? Just me? Okay.

Anyways, I stretched the crust out as thin as I could and set to topping it with: jarred Alfredo sauce, cooked shredded chicken, fresh baby spinach, onions, red bell peppers, artichoke hearts, baby bella mushrooms (only on my portion though cause I live with a bunch of non mushroom eating weirdos), fresh garden tomatoes, and mozzarella.

                                              My masterpiece before meeting the heat.

And yum! Ready for consumption.

The kids ate. I inhaled. But only my serving cause I am behaving today. The stress eating is in check. Even if I have to keep reminding myself only 7 more days to freedom.

Squash Pie

So yummy with a side of steamed broccoli.

Calories: 120   Carbs: 2.7   Fat: 8.7  Protein: 7.1

2 medium squash, grated
1/2 lb sausage
1/4 onion, chopped
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, divided

Saute sausage and onion until done. Drain and rinse as desired. Add squash and saute until tender. Remove from heat and add remaining ingredients, except for 1/4 cup of Parmesan. Mix well and pour in greased pie plate. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Bake for 30 minutes at 375 or until slightly brown.

It's Spring Break, Right? And Cookies!

Sunday we woke up to this. The day before Spring Break officially starts and we have

snow on the ground. In Arkansas. Ugh.

Cashman had an idea. Let's roll up our sleeves and make cookies.
Peanut Butter cookies to be exact. A simple recipe with only 5 ingredients.

3/4 cup peanut butter (smooth style of course)

1 can (14oz.) sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups Bisquick

1/2 cup granulated sugar

First off throw the peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk in a bowl.

Then employ your helper to blend it until smooth.

Have him add in the vanilla and Bisquick, mixing until dough forms

Then proceed to lick the beaters. Which is totally safe cause hello! no eggs in this

recipe. Although if you or anyone in the house has peanut butter allergies

you probably shouldn't do this. In fact you probably don't need to be making this

recipe at all. Why do you even have peanut butter in your house anyways, woman?

Kidding. Kind of.

Form dough into one inch balls.

Let your helper roll the balls around in sugar until well coated

and place them on ungreased cookie sheet.

Then let them take a fork and smoosh one way and then the other.

He was pretty good at this and I just love the concentration in his little hands.

Bake at 375 for 6-8 minutes or until brown underneath.

The Huge Gigantic Really Long Kind Of Boring Remodel Reveal Post

Well folks here it is. The moment all one of you have been waiting for. It took nearly a month to complete (and hell it's really not even done yet) and almost two weeks for me to get off my rear and post about it. It was hard y'all. I'm not even kidding. A major major disruption to the SugarBritches household and blog. I know I lost some lovely readers along the way but I swear on my cast iron skillet that I will ignore you no more. Now let's get on with it.

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I had originally planned on refinishing an old dining room table that belonged to SUMS's parents. It was without matching leaf but I was determined to have a table big enough to seat my family. I took the problem to our neighbor, an older gentleman you builds furniture as a hobby. He and his lovely wife sold us our house and are the perfect neighbors. He told me that turning the leaf I had scavenged into a leaf for the table wasn't going to be easy but it was doable. Then he turned to his wife and said, "Well, we have a table. We're downsizing to a smaller one. Why don't you come up and look at it." So I did. And then....they just gave it to me. Loaded it up and hauled it to my house. The kindness and generosity of true Southerners gets me every time.

It seats six without the leaf and 8-10 (in a pinch) with the leaf. I was blown away, speechless even. They wouldn't accept money, just kept telling me it was nothing. So I did what any good Southern woman would do...I baked. This Upside-Down Caramelized Apple Cake was the perfect choice.

recipe courtesy Southern Living

1/2 c. chopped pecans

2 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch thick slices

1 tbsp. lemon juice

2 tsp. vanilla extract, divided

3/2 tsp. ground cinnamon, divided

1/2 c. butter, divided

2 tsp. brandy (which i didn't have so I used Rum, of course)

1 c. packed light brown sugar

3/2 c. granulated sugar, divided

2 large eggs, separated

3/4 c. milk

1/2 c. sour cream

2 c. all purpose baking mix (I used Bisquick)

1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350. Bake pecans in a single layer in shallow pan 8-10 minutes until toasty and yummy smelling. Increase oven to 375. But remove pecans first. Okay?

Toss apple slices with lemon juice, 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract, and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon.

Melt 1/4 c. butter in a CAST IRON SKILLET (this is important y'all) over low heat. Remove from heat, stir in brandy or rum (mmmm RUM). Sprinkle with all of the brown sugar.

Sprinkle pecans over brown sugar and butter and RUM then arrange apples intwo concentric (wtf?) circles over pecans.

Beat remaining 1/2 c. butter with 1/2 c. granulated sugar with mixer until blended. Add egg yolks one at a time, beating after each addition. Add milk, sour cream, and remaining 1 tsp. vanilla, beating until just blended.

In separate bowl whisk together baking mix and 1/4 tsp. cinnamon and nutmeg. Add dry mixture to wet mixture beating until just blended.

Beat egg whites in another damn bowl at high speed until soft peaks for. Gradually add 1/4 c. granulated sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold into batter. Spread batter over apples in skillet.

Bake at 375 for 50-55 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean.

Let cool in skillet 10 minutes. Then run clean sharp knife around edge. Invert cakeonto serving platter and enjoy the yummy goodness that is RUM, I mean Upside-Down Caramelized Apple Cake.

And for those of you who wish to submit yourselves to my amateur videographer skills, check out the vlog below. I sincerely apologize for turning you on your side part of the way into it. I really wasn't thinking as I was shooting and only after watching did I realize. Also, I'm too lazy to re-shoot. And if it makes you a little queasy then I am really really sorry. Otherwise, deal with it.

I really must learn how to shoot better video. The quality is so poor on Blogger, it looks much

better in my media player so again...sorry. I'll try to learn some tricks or get some better software before I attempt anything like this again.