I've been roasted

I received a roasting pan as a Christmas gift from my mom, and the first thing I made in it was a roast chicken. Believe it or not, I've never roasted a whole chicken before, so this was a first for me! It turned out really well, it tasted great and I used the leftovers on a homemade pizza the next day.

It took a bit longer than I expected to get done (the recipe said 1 hour but it was more like 1.5 hours), but that was alright. The spices might seem a little weird in this recipe but they really do work well together!

I added some red potatoes and onions to the pan and they turned out great, too.

Roasted Chicken
slightly adapted from AllRecipes

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, whole
1 onion, cut into quarters

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. (I actually didn't marinate the chicken, I immediately baked it and it still tasted great).Preheat oven to 500 degrees F.

Stuff the chicken cavity with the garlic and onion. 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, and continue roasting 15 minutes. Baste chicken with pan drippings, reduce heat to 425 degrees F, and continue roasting 30 minutes, to an internal temperature of 180 degrees F. Let stand 20 minutes before serving.

In Remembrance

December 14, 2006.

It's been 5 years since my father passed away. There isn't a day that goes by that I don't think about him, and with this being the 5 year anniversary of his passing I wanted to make something special in remembrance of him.

Every holiday season he would enjoy eating lefse, which is a traditional Norwegian flatbread. He always had the regular store-bought kind, but I decided I wanted to try a traditional recipe.

I think he would have loved this, and I wish I could have shared this with him. I would love it if you would take time today to bake a special meal to share with someone you love.

Lefse, for Dad
recipe from Little House in the Suburbs

Ingredients:
1 1/4 lbs. potatoes
1 T. butter
1/8 cup milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Oil for the skillet

Directions:
Scrub, peel, and quarter potatoes. Put in a medium saucepan and add water to cover. Boil, covered, until tender. Drain and mash well. You should have about 2 cups. Add butter, milk and salt and combine well. Cool completely.
Mix in the flour to make a dough that is not sticky. In warm weather, it helps to chill the dough in the refrigerator at this point to make it easier to work.

Knead gently on a floured work surface and shape into a log. Divide the log into 12 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball.On a well-floured surface, roll a ball into a circle about 8 to 10 inches in diameter.Transfer the round to a lightly oiled medium heat skillet and cook until the underneath is nicely browned. Flip and cook the other side until it also is browned.
Serve warm or refrigerate well-wrapped to serve later. Serve with butter and cinnamon sugar or jam.

Organic Veggie Delivery Review

A couple of months ago I saw an organic delivery service on Groupon. Freggies was offering $60 of produce for just $24, it was an offer I couldn't refuse! Not only was I excited to get to try this service, but I also got to cross it off of the goal list for this year. Woot!!

I was super excited to get the delivery; in my area they offer delivery on Wednesdays. The special was for a variety of produce; their regular customers get to choose what they're receiving each week.

The box was delivered to my front door, and my dogs helped me check it out. :) This is what I received in the box (with the regular prices, but remember I obviously got them for much cheaper):4 bagels from Seattle Bagel Bakery $3.99

Cherry tomatoes 3.99

2 pears 2.54

Nectarine 1.65

Plum 2.64/lb

Lemon 1.24

Orange .78

Kiwi 3.63/lb

Banana 1.52

2 broccoli heads 7.70

Green onions 1.21

Carrots 3.33

2 potatoes 2? (estimated)

Cucumber 2.9

Mini Watermelon 6.32

Leek 2.9

Onion 1.25

Bag of romaine hearts 4.99

Overall I was quite pleased with the variety. I would never pay over $6 for a mini watermelon, but it was still fun to try. All of the produce tasted fresh and delicious, and I would order from Freggies again. However, I feel their prices are a little high on some items (for example, I can get the exact same organic carrots from AmazonFresh for cheaper).

I enjoyed having to find recipes in order to use some of these vegetables, and overall it was a very pleasant experience!

Attack of the eggplant

One of my goals this year was to use eggplant in a meal. I've never liked eggplant and had a couple bad experiences with it, but it's such a pretty looking vegetable that I wanted to give it another try. We didn't love this recipe, but we also didn't hate it so I think it turned out alright (for eggplant).

Also, please ignore the weird font issues in this post, I can't get the formatting to work properly.

Best Eggplant Parmesan
recipe from GOOP

Ingredients:4 eggplants (I used 2 because they were fairly expensive)
Salt
1 cup flour
Olive oil
2/3 cup tomato sauce
1 ball fresh mozzarella
Small handful basil leaves
3/4 cup parmesan

Directions:
Slice the eggplants into about 1/3" discs. Sprinkle slices with a small pinch of coarse salt on each side and place in a single layer between two clean kitchen towels. Place a cookie sheet on top and weigh down with something heavy (a few cans of beans or tomatoes will do). Let the eggplant sit for 20 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Lightly dredge the eggplant slices in the flour. Heat 1/4" of olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. When a pinch of flour sizzles on contact, add the eggplant slices in a single layer, turn the heat to medium-high and cook for about one and a half minutes on each side or until dark golden brown. Drain the eggplant on paper towels and repeat in batches until all of your eggplant is cooked, adding more oil as necessary.

In a 13" x 9" baking dish, arrange as many slices of eggplant as can fit snugly in a single layer. Top each slice with a small spoonful of tomato sauce, a few small pieces of torn mozzarella, a bit of basil and a dusting of parmesan. Continue the layers, evenly distributing all the ingredients, until everything is used up. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until the cheese is melting and bubbling.

Caramels

One of my goals for the year was to make homemade caramels. It was much easier than I expected, and they were super tasty. I would still rather have a chocolate dessert, but that's just personal preference. Make these and you'll be sure to receive compliments!

Chewy Caramels

Ingredients:

1 cup butter or margarine

1 pound light brown sugar

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup light corn syrup

1 pinch salt

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:
In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter, brown sugar, sweetened condensed milk, corn syrup and salt. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Heat to between 234 and 240 degrees F. Cook for 2 minutes at that temperature. Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla.Meanwhile, butter a 9x13 inch baking pan. When the caramel is ready, pour into the buttered pan. Allow to cool completely at room temperature. Remove from the pan and cut into squares using scissors. Wrap individual pieces in waxed paper or cellophane.