C is for Chicken -- Garlic Chicken
You have not lived until you have had this version of garlic chicken.
Chicken slow-roasted in the oven in a bath of broth with garlic and onions. The chicken comes out moist, tender and falling off the bone. The garlic and onions give the broth a sweetness and lusciousness that will bring you and your kids back for more. Yummm! It makes me hungry just to write this.
You can also prepare this dish in a crock pot and let it stew all day. And any leftovers make a fabulous, easy soup for lunch the next day! What could be more perfect?!
I first tasted this dish when my husband and I were dating. It was a cold day at Angerona Farm, a clear, blue sky, crisp breezes, ideal for a crackling fire and comfort food. With Bubba's bread hot from the oven, garlic chicken for dinner was perfection personified.
All you need for this recipe is a whole chicken cut up, two garlic bulbs, an onion, chicken broth, a lemon and some thyme. Yes, it takes a lot of garlic, but guess who you can recruit to peel all that garlic for this recipe? Your kid! The grandchildren used to delight in trying to peel all that garlic -- especially the tiny little cloves that are well-suited to little fingers.
So grab a skillet, some tongs and get busy. You will add this to your all-time favorite meals, I promise!
Garlic Chicken
1 whole chicken, cut into pieces
1 lemon, juiced
1 t. dried thyme
3/4 c. chicken broth OR 1 can chicken broth soup
2 garlic bulbs, cloves peeled and trimmed
1 yellow onion, chopped
Vegetable oil for browning
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Rinse and dry chicken pieces. If breast pieces are very large, cut in half.
Mix lemon juice and thyme in wide, shallow bowl. Heat 1-2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a skillet, cast-iron works best.
Dip each piece of chicken in juice, using tongs, turning the pieces over to coat thoroughly, then brown in the skillet. Do the pieces in batches so as not to overcrowd the skillet. Include all the pieces of the chicken, including the back.
As the pieces brown, place in a large, oven-proof casserole dish, until all the chicken is browned.
Place the onion in the skillet and saute until it just starts to turn tender. Add all the garlic cloves and saute for a three to four minutes more, until the garlic also just starts to turn tender, making sure you scrape the browned bits of chicken from bottom of the skillet. Don't worry if they don't all come up, they will once you add the broth.
Add the chicken broth/chicken broth soup to the garlic/onion mixture and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally to further loosen the browned bits. As soon as the mixture comes to a boil, turn off the heat and pour the broth over the chicken in the casserole dish.
Cover the casserole and put in the oven for 75 minutes. If using a crock pot, follow the same procedure except leave it on low for the day.
Remove casserole dish from oven and, using tongs, lift the chicken pieces from the broth onto a large platter with a sloped rim or a large serving bowl. Make sure you remove all pieces of bone from the broth.
Again, working in batches, pour the broth with the garlic and onions into a blender and puree, or use an immersion blender. It should turn into a thin gravy consistency.
Pour some over the chicken on the serving plate; also give each person a ramekin or small bowl of the broth for dipping.
Serve immediately, and make sure you have plenty of sliced bread -- Bubba's Bread -- for dipping in the broth.
Now you have lived!
Saturday, October 13, 2012
Thursday, September 27, 2012
B is for Bread
Bread ... hot from the oven, aroma in the air, crunchy crust and soft inside, butter melting into every little pore.
No, you don't want to make a steady diet of it, but if you and your kids are going to eat bread, you might as well make it worth it by consuming homemade bread! It really can be simple. All it takes is four ingredients, about 15 minutes of time, and a few hours being within vicinity of your oven. And what kid wouldn't delight in messing about with a little bit of flour and a soft dough?
At Angerona Farm, the grandchildren would pile in to the delicious aroma of Bubba's bread. Bubba -- Beth Anne's grandfather, my husband -- would always have some bread hot from the oven, ready to go with pasta or dip into Garlic Chicken or with gooey cheese oozing from a grilled sandwich. Often, Bubba would have to make four loaves just to get through lunch and dinner. Happily, we usually had a little stashed away in the freezer for our own use.
Today, Bubba still makes bread and has expanded his repertoire during the years to Italian, extra crunchy crust steamed bread, harvest blend, and more. The French Bread remains a favorite, however, because it is easy, fast, and incredibly delicious!
At times he throws in a few tablespoons of flax seed to add just a little texture and nutrition. But, it's still Bubba's bread. Everyone who has ever had Bubba's bread will tell you, you just haven't lived until you taste it!
P.S. I know this recipe looks daunting because it is so long, but trust me, it is very easy. Once you have made it once or twice, you will be able to do it in a matter of minutes! And it is worth it!
Bubba's Bread
1 1/2 c. warm water (warm to touch, 105 degrees if you want to be careful)
1 T. yeast (or one small packet, such as Fleishman's)
1/2 t. sugar
In liquid measuring cup, place 1/2 c. warm water. Add yeast and sugar. Stir until thoroughly dissolved, about a minute, with a fork or small whisk. Set aside.
Use large whisk or fork to fluff flour. Scoop and level off each cup of flour before dumping it into food processor fitted with a dough blade or into medium mixing bowl. Add salt to flour, turn on food processor briefly to mix salt in. If using mixing bowl, whisk to evenly distribute.
When the water/yeast mixture has formed foam on top about a 1/2 inch thick, it is ready to use. This is called "proofing" the yeast to ensure it is alive and ready to do its job. Turn on the food processor and pour a steady stream of the yeast water into the flour. Then fill the measuring cup with a cup of warm water from the tap, rinsing down the sides of the remaining yeast foam into the water you are going to use, and, again, in a steady stream, pour the cup of water into the flour mixture. Within 30 seconds to about two minutes, the flour mixture should begin to come together and form a dough ball. Allow the processor to "knead" the dough for another four minutes. It should clean the sides of the processor of any remaining flour.
If using a mixing bowl, start with a well in the center of the flour, pour in the yeast water, stir a little with a fork until you have a loose mass just in the center, then add the remaining cup of water, incorporating the flour around the sides of the bowl a little at a time until you have a mass of dough. Pour out onto lightly floured counter or clean cutting board and continue to work with your hands until it is a smooth mass of dough.
From the food processor, pull the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and work slightly, forming into a smooth ball. Let the dough sit for a minute or two while you prepare the bowl it will rise in.
Put some hot tap water into a ceramic or glass bowl. Let sit for a minute or two, then pour out the water (into the food processor or the first bowl you used, if you can) and dry the bowl. The sides should be slightly warm.
Place the ball of dough into the warm bowl, cover tightly with a piece of plastic wrap and place in a warm area to rise. (I turn on my oven for about three minutes to let it just begin to heat up, then turn off the heat and place the bowl in there.)
In about an hour, spray your loaf pan or cookie sheet with spray oil. Set aside in proximity to your floured surface.
Then check the dough. It should be about double in size. Pull the dough out onto the lightly floured surface, punch it down lightly and cut it into two equal parts. Set one aside and pull the other toward you, pressing it down and starting to roll it into a loaf. You don't have to be gentle with it. Keep pressing the air bubbles out as you roll the dough into a longer and longer loaf. When it is about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and 14 inches long, you are ready to put it in the loaf pan or on a cookie sheet.
Work the second piece of dough in the same way and place the loaf in the pan or on the cookie sheet. If on a cookie sheet, make sure the loaves are about four to six inches apart.
Cover with a damp tea towel, making sure the ends and sides are covered. Your towel is damp enough if you ran water to thoroughly soak it, then squeezed out the excess.
Allow to rise for about 45 minutes or an hour. The two loaves should have doubled in size.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
When the oven is ready, remove the damp tea towel, take a large chef's knife and slice at least three diagonals in each loaf. Then put the loaves in the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 375 degrees. Bake for 28 minutes. Turn half way through if the back of your oven is hotter than the front.
Remove and put on a cooling rack. Allow to cool at least 20 minutes before slicing.
Kid Tips: Your kids can learn about measuring accurately by helping you with the ingredients prior to mixing. If mixing in a bowl, they can help with this. If they are a little older, they can even do most of the mixing themselves. Kids can help with kneading the dough at all stages. Just make sure they have washed their hands before starting, and get to work! You and they will love the reward!
Bread ... hot from the oven, aroma in the air, crunchy crust and soft inside, butter melting into every little pore.
No, you don't want to make a steady diet of it, but if you and your kids are going to eat bread, you might as well make it worth it by consuming homemade bread! It really can be simple. All it takes is four ingredients, about 15 minutes of time, and a few hours being within vicinity of your oven. And what kid wouldn't delight in messing about with a little bit of flour and a soft dough?
At Angerona Farm, the grandchildren would pile in to the delicious aroma of Bubba's bread. Bubba -- Beth Anne's grandfather, my husband -- would always have some bread hot from the oven, ready to go with pasta or dip into Garlic Chicken or with gooey cheese oozing from a grilled sandwich. Often, Bubba would have to make four loaves just to get through lunch and dinner. Happily, we usually had a little stashed away in the freezer for our own use.
Today, Bubba still makes bread and has expanded his repertoire during the years to Italian, extra crunchy crust steamed bread, harvest blend, and more. The French Bread remains a favorite, however, because it is easy, fast, and incredibly delicious!
At times he throws in a few tablespoons of flax seed to add just a little texture and nutrition. But, it's still Bubba's bread. Everyone who has ever had Bubba's bread will tell you, you just haven't lived until you taste it!
P.S. I know this recipe looks daunting because it is so long, but trust me, it is very easy. Once you have made it once or twice, you will be able to do it in a matter of minutes! And it is worth it!
Bubba's Bread
1 1/2 c. warm water (warm to touch, 105 degrees if you want to be careful)
1 T. yeast (or one small packet, such as Fleishman's)
1/2 t. sugar
4 c. flour (Bread flour is preferable, All-purpose flour works fine)
1 T. kosher salt (if using iodized salt, reduce to 1 1/2 teaspoons)
Spray oilIn liquid measuring cup, place 1/2 c. warm water. Add yeast and sugar. Stir until thoroughly dissolved, about a minute, with a fork or small whisk. Set aside.
Use large whisk or fork to fluff flour. Scoop and level off each cup of flour before dumping it into food processor fitted with a dough blade or into medium mixing bowl. Add salt to flour, turn on food processor briefly to mix salt in. If using mixing bowl, whisk to evenly distribute.
When the water/yeast mixture has formed foam on top about a 1/2 inch thick, it is ready to use. This is called "proofing" the yeast to ensure it is alive and ready to do its job. Turn on the food processor and pour a steady stream of the yeast water into the flour. Then fill the measuring cup with a cup of warm water from the tap, rinsing down the sides of the remaining yeast foam into the water you are going to use, and, again, in a steady stream, pour the cup of water into the flour mixture. Within 30 seconds to about two minutes, the flour mixture should begin to come together and form a dough ball. Allow the processor to "knead" the dough for another four minutes. It should clean the sides of the processor of any remaining flour.
If using a mixing bowl, start with a well in the center of the flour, pour in the yeast water, stir a little with a fork until you have a loose mass just in the center, then add the remaining cup of water, incorporating the flour around the sides of the bowl a little at a time until you have a mass of dough. Pour out onto lightly floured counter or clean cutting board and continue to work with your hands until it is a smooth mass of dough.
From the food processor, pull the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and work slightly, forming into a smooth ball. Let the dough sit for a minute or two while you prepare the bowl it will rise in.
Put some hot tap water into a ceramic or glass bowl. Let sit for a minute or two, then pour out the water (into the food processor or the first bowl you used, if you can) and dry the bowl. The sides should be slightly warm.
Place the ball of dough into the warm bowl, cover tightly with a piece of plastic wrap and place in a warm area to rise. (I turn on my oven for about three minutes to let it just begin to heat up, then turn off the heat and place the bowl in there.)
In about an hour, spray your loaf pan or cookie sheet with spray oil. Set aside in proximity to your floured surface.
Then check the dough. It should be about double in size. Pull the dough out onto the lightly floured surface, punch it down lightly and cut it into two equal parts. Set one aside and pull the other toward you, pressing it down and starting to roll it into a loaf. You don't have to be gentle with it. Keep pressing the air bubbles out as you roll the dough into a longer and longer loaf. When it is about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and 14 inches long, you are ready to put it in the loaf pan or on a cookie sheet.
Work the second piece of dough in the same way and place the loaf in the pan or on the cookie sheet. If on a cookie sheet, make sure the loaves are about four to six inches apart.
Cover with a damp tea towel, making sure the ends and sides are covered. Your towel is damp enough if you ran water to thoroughly soak it, then squeezed out the excess.
Allow to rise for about 45 minutes or an hour. The two loaves should have doubled in size.
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
When the oven is ready, remove the damp tea towel, take a large chef's knife and slice at least three diagonals in each loaf. Then put the loaves in the oven and immediately reduce the heat to 375 degrees. Bake for 28 minutes. Turn half way through if the back of your oven is hotter than the front.
Remove and put on a cooling rack. Allow to cool at least 20 minutes before slicing.
Kid Tips: Your kids can learn about measuring accurately by helping you with the ingredients prior to mixing. If mixing in a bowl, they can help with this. If they are a little older, they can even do most of the mixing themselves. Kids can help with kneading the dough at all stages. Just make sure they have washed their hands before starting, and get to work! You and they will love the reward!
Friday, September 21, 2012
A is for Apples
APPLES, APPLES!
Nothing says fall like apples, all kinds of apples! MacIntosh, Honeycrisp, Winesap, Cortland ... if I weren't already in Almost Heaven (West Virginia) I would think I'm almost in heaven when I bite into a crisp, tart apple.
And, guess what?! I have never met a kid who doesn't like apples! One of my fondest memories growing up was when my mother would make homemade applesauce. Not only would I wait in breathless anticipation for that luscious, slightly chunky, sweet, but tart, sauce to slide over my tongue, but I would swipe crunchy apple wedges for a little snack while my mother was cutting the apples.
When I began making applesauce for my grandchildren, I used an apple peeler/corer gadget that speeds up the peeling process and leaves a long, linguini-like apple peel behind. My grandchildren would devour that apple peel linguini, and loads of nutritional value with it!
Making homemade applesauce doesn't take much time and it introduces you and your children to the wonderful variety of apples that is on the market, and your kids can help make it. You will never find a store-bought applesauce that comes anywhere close to the remarkable flavor of real apples, cooked down and lightly enhanced with lemon juice, brown sugar and a pinch of salt. That's it! That's all there is to great applesauce!
So go to your local farmer's market or grocery store and pick out a couple of varieties of apples and get busy! Because fall weather demands -- and your children soon will, too -- homemade applesauce!
Nothing says fall like apples, all kinds of apples! MacIntosh, Honeycrisp, Winesap, Cortland ... if I weren't already in Almost Heaven (West Virginia) I would think I'm almost in heaven when I bite into a crisp, tart apple.
And, guess what?! I have never met a kid who doesn't like apples! One of my fondest memories growing up was when my mother would make homemade applesauce. Not only would I wait in breathless anticipation for that luscious, slightly chunky, sweet, but tart, sauce to slide over my tongue, but I would swipe crunchy apple wedges for a little snack while my mother was cutting the apples.
When I began making applesauce for my grandchildren, I used an apple peeler/corer gadget that speeds up the peeling process and leaves a long, linguini-like apple peel behind. My grandchildren would devour that apple peel linguini, and loads of nutritional value with it!
Making homemade applesauce doesn't take much time and it introduces you and your children to the wonderful variety of apples that is on the market, and your kids can help make it. You will never find a store-bought applesauce that comes anywhere close to the remarkable flavor of real apples, cooked down and lightly enhanced with lemon juice, brown sugar and a pinch of salt. That's it! That's all there is to great applesauce!
So go to your local farmer's market or grocery store and pick out a couple of varieties of apples and get busy! Because fall weather demands -- and your children soon will, too -- homemade applesauce!
Wednesday, August 22, 2012
I'm Hungry!
So, how many times have you walked in the kitchen, your child is looking at you, saying, "I'm hungry," and you have no clue what you can make that your child will eat? Inevitably, you reach for a boxed or frozen product with ingredients you cannot pronounce.
There are other options! Healthy options! And, if you start cooking with your kid, you will be amazed how quickly your kid will be cooking for you!
This is Kid-Friendly Cuisine, a blog to help you make flavorful recipes that will encourage you to cook more, to cook healthier, and to cook with your kids. Here you can find, along with the recipes, tips about cooking, tasks specific to children of different age groups, how to alter dishes to cater to personal tastes of your family, and ways to make over leftovers.
By cooking more and cooking together, our hope is your time spent in the kitchen will be transformed to a fun, quality experience together.
Overall, we encourage you to include kids at every stage of the cooking process, and for them to taste everything along the way, because that's what leads kids to want to eat the final product. And that's really the goal, isn't it?
Stay tuned for recipes and videos, coming soon!
There are other options! Healthy options! And, if you start cooking with your kid, you will be amazed how quickly your kid will be cooking for you!
This is Kid-Friendly Cuisine, a blog to help you make flavorful recipes that will encourage you to cook more, to cook healthier, and to cook with your kids. Here you can find, along with the recipes, tips about cooking, tasks specific to children of different age groups, how to alter dishes to cater to personal tastes of your family, and ways to make over leftovers.
By cooking more and cooking together, our hope is your time spent in the kitchen will be transformed to a fun, quality experience together.
Overall, we encourage you to include kids at every stage of the cooking process, and for them to taste everything along the way, because that's what leads kids to want to eat the final product. And that's really the goal, isn't it?
Stay tuned for recipes and videos, coming soon!
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