crockpot beer chicken

Okay.  Bear with me on this one.  Sounds weird, right?  Beer with chicken?  And in the crockpot?

The answer is yes. Yes yes yes.

When we got married, my beautiful and wonderful mother gave us a fantastic crockpot that I have been dying to use.  I've had a miniature crockpot (1.5 quarts) for a while, but it was always hard to find or adapt recipes.  Everything I made in it was fairly simple.  Now, I don't have that problem.  I have 6 whole quarts to work with!

So I made a plan.  It involved chicken and chicken stock and -- yes -- beer.

The rest of the plan will show up in posts, I'm sure.  But, basically, the idea was to make the crockpot beer chicken one day, make chicken stock (for the first time!) in the crockpot the next day, and use the leftover chicken in enchiladas the next day!  And the stock could be used for all sorts of soups and meals.  Most of it will be frozen first, then used more creatively later.

First!  The crockpot beer chicken!

Ingredients:

Chicken.  Whatever kind you like: a whole chicken, a cut up chicken, chicken breast, I've even seen other types of meat like pork.  Since I am planning to use the bones and bits for stock, I bought a cut up chicken that came in a pack thing.  The other option I would have gone with was split chicken breast with the bone in.

Beer.  Again, choose your poison.  I went oatmeal stock because it just seemed tasty.  It was also raining when I cooked the chicken, so the full flavor was pretty tasty and appropriate.

Spices.  Whatever kind you like that you think goes with your flavor.  I went with things like garlic, basil, a touch of oregano, cumin for spice, and salt and pepper.

Directions:
Load the chicken into the crockpot.  I rinsed mine first because it was organic chicken and I like to rinse things quickly most of the time. Just a quick pass under water for me.

After the chicken is in, pour in the beer then add your spices.

Cook on low for 8-10 hours or until done.  This is one of those great recipes to leave while you're at work and come home to the hard part of dinner already complete.

Easy enough, right? Right.

In case you were wondering, the alcohol cooks out, so it's safe for everyone.  If you don't like the smell of yeast or beer, this is probably not the recipe for you.  Crockpot cooking always means aromas in the house, which I think is half the fun of cooking in a crockpot.  The other half is split between having dinner already made after work and not having to have a hot oven on for a long time.

If you try it, let me know how it works out!

I saved the chicken bones and bits for making stock the next day (post coming soon!) and the chicken we didn't eat that day I shredded to use in chicken enchiladas.  So much potential use for a whole bunch of cooked chicken.

xoxo Susannah

Chchchanges

You might have noticed that Susannah's been posting a lot, and I have been a little absent. That's because my living room currently looks like this:

Yup. We're in the midst of our great moving adventure (more on that later). Which means when I'm not sending e-mails or working, I'm packing and trying to pare down our belongings.
So I'll be a wee bit absent from the blog for a bit.
Don't worry. The other red head will take great care of you.  :)

butter butter everywhere!

I did it! I accomplished a brand new task in the kitchen that I've wanted to try for a while: I MADE BUTTER!

Yes, I realize that some people do this often. Usually, they live on farms or are part of a farm co-op where they get lots of beautiful cream every week.  Us city folk aren't usually too adept at making every single thing for ourselves.  I mean, I'm not.

Matthew and I have been working toward healthier lifestyles.  We can't live in the country (or even in a bigger apartment) just yet, so our lives are changing at a much slower pace.  Our little studio isn't set up like a big beautiful farm kitchen! Or even a medium sized regular kitchen.

This first step to changing the way we eat and live happened mostly by accident.  I picked up a bottle of juice/tea this week at CVS, thinking I was almost out of regular tea I had made and I wanted something besides water with dinner.  Innocent enough. Turns out, the drink was loooooaded with high fructose corn syrup.  It was the second ingredient listed after water.  Now, I won't waste your time here talking about the pros and cons of high fructose corn syrup.  All I'll say is that it's highly processed (something we're trying to stay away from) and it gave me a huge stomach ache.  I mean, I hurt pretty bad.

High fructose corn syrup is officially out of our apartment, never to come back again.

Second?  I started looking more closely at labels (what, exactly, is "natural flavorings?") and blogs and other musings that people had posted and noticing that others are striving toward a more healthy lifestyle with us.  And they have so many good ideas and fun things to try! Where does a girl start?!

With something simple, of course. Butter.  All you need is one ingredient: heavy cream.  And a blender. And some wooden spoons.  That's it.

I found an absolutely wonderful recipe here, complete with super helpful pictures. Who knew making your own butter is so easy?!  I certainly didn't.

it's a little blurry, but i think you can see: it's butter and buttermilk

Mine didn't turn out as pretty as hers, but I got another thing of cream to try out next time.  

one and a half mini jars of butter, and about a cup of buttermilk!

My buttermilk isn't as clear, and my butter isn't quite as solid.  No worries.  The buttermilk will make some buttermilk pancakes a little extra tasty, and the butter will probably disappear pretty quickly!

xoxo Susannah

storage space

As we've been adventuring through the process of moving in together and living together, we've noticed that storage space comes at a premium. (Obviously.)

A list of interesting places that could/do serve as storage space storage space for us:

under the couch
under the bed
shelves
cube baskets (you know the ones I mean)
top of the closet
bottom of the closet

This is just a preliminary list.  Are there any others you can think of?

close encounter of the husband kind

Ladies, I decided to make a list of things that may come up in the course of moving in together, and my own solutions.  I have encouraged Matthew to write his own list for the gentlemen and post it, but that's up to him.  Feel free to take it or leave it, but I thought they might prove helpful to some!

Turns out, he has just as many clothes as you do.
In our case, we have extremely  limited closet space.  As in, it barely fit my clothes, and now it has to fit aaallll our clothing. Plus some storage items.  Plus a vacuum cleaner.  Plus the suitcases and such.  Oy.  The solution? In the words of my grandfather, it's time to "reduce."  This was difficult for me.  I had to donate clothing.  Don't get me wrong, donating to the Salvation Army or another organization is fantastic.  I just wasn't quite prepared.  The consolation was we donated together.  He donated a few items, and I donated a few items.  I even gave up a couple of pairs of shoes. That's love.

There would probably be more room for his stuff if I gave up some books.
Sorry.  Not going to happen.  Not in my case, anyway.  He didn't actually ask me to get rid of them...but I got fairly defensive even thinking about the possibility of losing my book friends. So, we bought more shelves.  Which, incidentally enough, also housed the movie collection he refused to give up (not that I asked him to, either.)  Stubborn all around, but we make it work.


He eats so much food! 
Use coupons when shopping to reduce cost a little.  (I suspect there will be a future post on this.)  And, when cooking, cook larger portions (generally cook for 3 or 4 people) and save them for leftovers.  I also try to keep milk and cereal on hand for "second dinner," when Matthew gets hungry at about 9:30pm.


Goodness, there's so much laundry.
Yes. No solution for this one.  Someone is just going to have to do it. One of you or both of you, whichever works.


He says the apartment is too girly.
Well, work that out between the two of you.  Matthew vetoed the flowered bed linens.  I vetoed the uber manly linens.  He buys me flowers to put in my pitchers, and in return I don't put anything sparkly on the walls. And I limit the number of throw pillows. You're welcome.



xoxo Susannah

Butterfinger Bars!

That is a totally misleading name for these, as they taste nothing like Butterfingers, but this is a Grandma recipe, and you don't mess with Grammie.*
Interesting side story*: All when I was growing up, I LOVED these things. And Grammie only made them at Christmas time. I'm not even sure I ever had the presence of mind to ask for them other times of the year, so strongly did I associate these with Christmas.
And then a few weeks ago, on a random July day, I made them.
And let me tell you. They taste just as good in July as they do in December. They also bring back lots of warm fuzzy memories, which really, all good food should right? Good. Recipe!

Ingredients:
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter or oleo(shortening)
4 cups quick oats
1 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup peanut butter (creamy is best)

1. Pre-heat oven to 350.
2.Melt butter in microwave or on stove top
3. Pour oats and melted butter into 9x13 baking dish. Mix well until oats are coated with butter. Pat down.
4. Bake oats for 15-20 minutes(IMPORTANT: Do not over bake, as bars will crumble. I've found that 14-15 minutes at 350 works well. If worried, pull oats out early to test for firmness)
5. Let cool in pan to room temperature
6. Melt 1 cup chocolate chips over hot water(use a double broiler, or metal bowl over a small pot of boiling water)
7. Mix in peanut butter.
8. Spread over baked oat mixture
9. Place in fridge or freezer until chocolate is hard (I've found that if you're in a hurry, the freezer works best. My batch was solid in less then 30 mintues)


*This was confirmed last week when once by accident, and once on purpose I fudged the recipe.
The results were just awful.

baked split chicken breast

I recently discovered that split chicken breast goes on sale frequently at my grocery store.  (Yes, I know I"m probably the last person to figure this out.  Sorry, goodness.)  While we're living on one income, being more economical has become more than just a hobby and transformed into a new adventure.

Now, I don't have much experience cooking, so that's been an adventure, as well.  Turns out I'm a reasonable cook; I'm just lacking in experience.  Thankfully, the internet is positively rife with recipes and recipe ideas and tips and tricks. 

So! What to do with the split chicken breast awaiting my attention in the freezer? What a good opportunity to use one of my new baking dishes!

After an extensive amount of googling for temperatures and times and some basic ideas, I decided to have fun and make my own version. 

Recipe (sort of) for your perusal:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees farenheit.

Ingredients:
pack of split chicken breast
olive or canola oil (whichever you like better)
butter
spices you like with chicken (this time, I used basil, salt, garlic, cilantro, and just a touch of chili powder to keep things interesting)

1.  Spread a little butter or oil around the bottom of your baking pan (13x9 or whatever you need to fit the chicken) to prevent the chicken from sticking.

2.  Layout the chicken in the baking dish. Skin side up!

3.  In a small or medium bowl, combine enough olive or canola oil with melted butter to equal somewhere around a quarter cup (I think my mixture ended up being just over a quarter of a cup).  My own concoction was about half canola oil and half melted butter.  To this mixture, add whatever spices you want to try with your chicken.  Mix well with a spoon.

4.  Baste or spoon the mixture onto the top of your chicken.  Use it all!

5.  Put the chicken in the oven for 35-40 minutes or until the juices run clear when you poke the meaty part of the chicken with a fork.

How did yours turn out?  Mine was a hit with the hubby, and it makes great leftovers!

On marriage.

Marriage is hard.
I say this a lot.
And it's not because I don't love my husband. I love him to death. He makes me giddy, and happy and he makes me feel so so loved. I think he might be the most amazing man I've ever known.
And I say that marriage is hard a lot (especially to my single, longing to be married friends) because I feel like it's important to be honest about marriage. There's still a perception that getting married is a fairy tale. That once your married your life is fun and romantic and giggly and just fantastic.
And parts of it (most of it even!)are.
But parts of it are days where the love of my life annoys the hell out of me.

So we're learning.

We're learning to fight cleanly.
Sometimes that means biting my tongue and NOT saying the witty but incredibly mean remark that pops into my head.

We're learning to fight openly.
Sometimes that means venting my emotions at him. We both yelled the other day in the car. This is remarkable because we try very hard to never yell at each other, and are mostly successful. It's important to fight cleanly, yes. But sometimes you can't be calm and clear. Sometimes, you just have to let your frustration out.

We're learning that making each other laugh during fights is the best thing in the world.
Oftentimes when we're arguing one of us will do something ridiculous or just veer off into another topic entirely. I'm sure it wouldn't work for most couples. But for us? It helps.

We're learning to be in close proximity, and touching, during fights.
It is very very hard for me to be mad at my husband when I'm holding his hand or hugging him. It takes away the anger and just leaves the issue.

But mainly we're practicing forgiveness. We fight sure, but two to five minutes after the fight, my husband has cracked a joke or I've said something wildly inappropriate and we're back to being us. Which to me, is what it's all about.

You're going to fight. It's normal. You live with this person, you have sex with this person*, and you spend a crap ton of time together. You're a family. So they're going to irritate you. The thing to remember is that you love them...even when they're in the midst of annoying the hell out of you.**

*I mean, hopefully.
**This is obviously much easier said then done.

an afternoon in the sun

After being so active on our honeymoon, Matthew and I wanted to make sure we stayed more active this summer.  He works mostly evenings (the life of the hospitality industry employee...), so our relaxing-together time mostly happens during the day or on the two evenings a week he isn't working.

We end up being creative about our "date nights."  Since they occur during the day and money is a bit tight at the moment, our dates have become a little more creative.  We're working our way through a couple of tv shows, but that doesn't fall in the category of "active," unless you count pressing the remote as a form of exercise.

So, recently, we've taken to grabbing the frisbee or soccer ball and heading out to the park. Does anyone else do this?  We love it.  Matthew and I spend time at the park being active and getting in some exercise and sun, then head home to make lunch (or dinner) and shower before he has to go to work or before we settle in for a glass of wine and those tv shows we're working through.

Other cheap date ideas we've tried: picnics, wine and a movie in, local movie-in-the-park nights, local food festivals, book or cultural festivals, kayaking for an hour or two, baseball games (we bring our own sandwiches on weeks when the budget is tight), etc.

Got any other ideas to share?

xoxo Susannah