Adventures in Cooking-Roast Chicken

With winter back upon us the past couple of days I was in the mood to make some healthy comfort food. I love getting the whole organic chickens from Costco, and for two people it's perfect for leftovers or a soup for later. Although I am secretly envious of the stay at home wives who can have dinner ready and waiting on the table when their husband gets home, Wednesday nights are still an ok night for me to do this since it's a late night for Joel. Unless he was telling me white lies to spare my feelings, Joel has always said I was a good cook, and he is glad that unlike many newlywed husbands he hasn't had to endure eating bad or burnt food and telling me it was good to spare my feelings (so he says).

This recipe is more a compilation of recipes I have used in the past and also the ingredients I had on hand.
 Typically I would like to brine the chicken for a couple of hours, overnight is even better, but since mornings are challenging enough for me to just get out the door with coffee in hand at a decent hour I ended up brining it for about an hour when I got home from work. (Brining, I learned cooking my first Thanksgiving turkey, is a great way to get a nice crispy, golden brown on the skin.) I didn't measure but I used about 2/3 full of water and 1 c. kosher salt.) 

Luckily I still had some carrots and onions in the fridge, so in those went along with 1 1/2 cups water, salt, and pepper as a base for the gravy. (Would have used celery too if I had it, but some celery seed worked in this pinch). I also added a few of the baby potatoes so we would have some extra soft ones. I used this large roasting pan I had to convince Joel to buy for Thanksgiving dinner. It was a great bargain and I have proved that I really would use it again! 

Next I cut up some squares of butter, and along with some garlic, gently lifted the skin to insert the butter under the skin for a nice juicy crisp. I love cooking with wine, and as they say sometimes I even put it in the food, so this went over the chicken and into the pan. Two Buck Chuck Sauvignon

Blanc or a Pinot Griego are great dry whites for cooking, but since I had none on hand (how did that happen?!) I had to use the Casa Rodena Seranade (I know, it was horrible) as a last resort. Some for the chicken, some for me. Next I added some lemon juice and rosemary I had frozen from the garden, and then rubbed the chicken with a poultry seasoning mix. 

Finally it was time to put the bird in the oven! I put it on 350 for an hour and a half, then I added the rest of the veggies and some more water for the gravy. After about another half hour I covered the wings and breasts with tin foil so they wouldn't get too brown.



Just as Joel waltzed in at about 9pm (finally), I strained the broth out and added a little cornstarch over the stove for a delicious chicken and white wine gravy. Unfortunately we were so starved by then I completely forgot to take a picture. Sorry. But I promise it was good. My little helper even got a little chicken broth on her dog food :)

As much as I love roasting and trying new recipes in the crockpot, I have to say I am very excited for the return of warm weather when we can grill and have fresh veggies from the garden or farmer's market. But, until then, I think all were happy...

Valentine's Day the Napa Way

Ok so I'm a couple days late, but finally returning to the swing of things after my sweetheart swept me away to the beautiful city of San Francisco and the California Wine Country to celebrate Valentine's Day. Actually, it was for President's Day, but since most people except federal employees seemed to be working that day we can just say it was for V-Day.

I got to spend a wonderful two days with the love of my life touring wineries in the beautiful Napa and Sonoma wine valleys. I do have to say it was very romantic! Our favorites were the reds of course, especially Pinot Noir and some of the Bordeaux blends.

We had some very generous tastings at the Peju winery in Napa, and even got to taste in the barrel room at a cool 55 degrees

I fell in love with this sign and thought it was so fitting

Happy Valentine's Day to the love of my life and thank you for such an amazing trip!  

Happiness Is...

I'm needing some positivity in my day so I thought I would make this a short and sweet blog post about some happy things from this week….

1. The Bachelor Sean finally woke up to the reality the rest of us have endured for the past several weeks and kicked that psycho Tierra off. At least she still has her sparkle…

2. The chocolate insanity of Valentine's Day has begun, starting with my co-workers sharing cookies from Flying Star and some See's Chocolates J

 

3. A beautiful boy English Springer Spaniel won third place in the Westminster Dog Show. Vesper was quite interested in him. She's already practicing her show dog stance.

 4. Got to have some fun girl time at Kamryn's shower.

5. I get to come home to a sparkling clean house this evening. 

6. Only 6 more hours of work this week!

A Look Back and Ahead

Well, back at work today with the start of the new year. We managed to survive the supposed end of the world and the holidays. Amidst everyone else's holiday cheer, both Joel and I had a very difficult time getting in to the Christmas spirit. More than anything this Christmas was emotionally exhausting. Knowing how much we had to be thankful for made me feel even more guilty for feeling bad in the first place.

Things started to look up on my last day of work before Christmas. While on a consultation call with some colleagues and our consultant for trauma process therapy, I started to think about so many of the tragedies our communities and schools have faced in the past few years. In addition to having several particularly intense sessions around my patients traumas, I really started to question my own beliefs about safety. One of my colleagues made the statement that "By living in the moment you create the future you want for yourself." How powerful! This really got me thinking about how much time I spend in the past, or worrying about the future, which brings me to one of my main goals for the new year. 

I always thought that practicing mindfulness was a little out there, like when I tried yoga and loved the actual positions and stretching, I really could not get into the meditation and clearing my mind and that sort of thing. To me mindfulness is just more about being in the moment, experiencing life to the fullest, enjoying today just for what it is and enjoying what I might be doing right then rather than thinking about what I have to do later today, what's for dinner tomorrow, ect.

But I do believe a certain amount of planning is a necessity of life. I also feel that having goals helps us grow and the mindful pursuit of those goals helps us get the life we want. So, here it is

·         Reach my goal weight. (It would be TMI to share what that is here!) In pursuit of this both Joel and I need to change some of our ideas about food and exercise, and we will be making a conscious effort to make healthy eating a part of our lifestyle and exercise a part of our regular habits.

TRAVEL! We have so many trips planned for this year, I can't wait. With my limited leave time we try to take advantage of as many holidays as we can get. We already started…
 
New Years: We drove down to Roswell, NM to celebrate my dear friend Morgan's wedding day. Although it had been a long time since we had been close, it was very special to see her so happy and we wish her and Cisco all the best in their new married life! 

Me and Morgan at our last Pi Phi Spring Formal back in 2007!

After the wedding we headed to Truth or Consequences, NM to the wonderfully relaxing Sierra Grande Lodge. We are so lucky to live near the so many of these natural hotsprings, and the Lodge was so gorgeous and inviting to really relax and rejuvenate.

An adobe fire to keep warm by after a soak in the natural mineral springs

January: Next weekend we are meeting up with Joel's family at Ojo Caliente to celebrate his mom's birthday with a full weekend of relaxation and fun.And if the Broncos make it will be at the playoff game in Denver! PMFW!

We also need to squeeze in a trip to the Belen, NM area to Bosque Del Apache. This has become an annual tradition and this will be our third year together seeing the stunning sandhill cranes make their way south for the winter. 

 

 

New Year's Day 2012 in Bosque Del Apache, NM

Vesper would have a blast chasing the cranes but I don't think they would appreciate that very much

February : Although we were tempted to hit up a beach again, since I have never been and Joel loves California so much we are going to San Francisco. We will spend two days there and then over to wine country in Sonoma and Napa.

Some grapes at one of our favorite wineries in the North Valley. I can't wait to try a California Pinot Noir!

March: TBA




April: Vegas!

May: Camping with the pup


  June: Dallas for another family trip for Joel's nephews high school graduation…he should feel old


July: July is Joel's annual mountain-death defying-driving on crazy cliffs trip in Ouray, CO. For the past three years this has been a tradition for Joel and his sister Jill, but this year they are bringing along their spouses (who don't want to die off of a mountain-side), so we will be safely drinking wine at the Jazz festival in Telluride.

August:  I'm hoping we can find a not too far and not too nasty lake we can go out on and go tubing with the pup too  

September: This will be our big trip of the year and maybe our last big trip B.C. I'm really torn as to where we should go because I feel like we have so many options. My vote is China, but Joel felt this would be too much go go go and he wants a more relaxing vacation. I'm thinking Spain or Greece might be a nice compromise, or the Caribbean since we know we love it. As much as we love Jamaica  I would like to try somewhere new, maybe St. Martins, Martinique, or the Dominican Republic. 


 October: Enjoying the warm weather in Tucson, AZ

November:  Fall Stay-cation 

 December: Relaxing in Taos or Sierra Grande

 In between trip weekends I really want us to finish up some of those lingering house projects: re-touching paint, spackling, and just those little maintenance things that I can never seem to stay on top of. We are also planning on landscaping the backyard and putting in granite counter tops, new fixtures on all the doors and bathrooms, new blinds and window coverings, and maybe rip up the carpet in the living room and put in hardwood flooring (especially considering the red wine stain did not come out.) 

Our yard before.......

Pay off debt. During college and graduate school I had managed to acquire a chunk of credit card debt that we are very close to paying off. It will be such a relief to get out from under all that! 

Take (and pass) my LISW exam

Take the time to nourish my mind, body, spirit, and marriage. 

·         Live each moment in the present, and each day to the fullest.

·         What are your New Year's goals?

·          

· 

Fighting the Grinch

Ok, so I'm trying really hard to get into the Christmas spirit. I don't know why it's been so difficult, because normally I love Christmas, but this year I am just not feeling it. Last week when one of my patients asked me if I was ready for Christmas I told him no, I didn't really feel into it yet, and he asked, "Why because you work here?" Although it has definitely started to feel more like winter weather-wise in Albuquerque with highs in the 30's (Brrr!!!), maybe I have gotten a little more cynical.

So to try to get myself going last weekend,we took Vesper for her first Christmas to visit Santa. She loved seeing all of the other dogs and even tolerated her reindeer outfit all afternoon. I think she's been so good she defineitly deserves some bones and toys from Santa! Maybe even some turkey too!

After the Santa festivities we headed out to get our tree. Last year was our first Christmas together being married and the first time for me having a real tree, and we loved it so much we decided to continue the tradition. We went to the same little tree lot too, although this time instead of getting a little six footer, I just couldn't resist how beautiful and full the 7 1/2 foot tree looked.

Once we got it home and up I was really starting to feel excited about making our house Christmassy, but that fell apart, literally, last night.

Our poor tree was too top heavy! I worried we would have to ghetto rig it with some twine, but somehow Joel managed to secure it with the base. I have yet to fix the ornaments and am hoping it survived today.

On a sadder note Joel's grandmother was admitted to the hospital yesterday and she seems to be worsening. I know Joel has some happy memories of her although she hasn't remembered him for many years. Two years ago I had the chance to meet her, and Joel and his mom and I got to spend the day with her on one of her better days.

Our family has also been very worried about my parent's dear chocolate lab Choco. Even at the old age of 16, he has kept some spring in his step and even tolerates our little Springer's crazy antics. It's so hard, especially on Steph who has really taken care of him so much these last few years. He is so sweet and has had such a good life.

But we still have so many things to be grateful for, so I am fighting the Grinch! How do you get into the Christmas Spirit? :) 

Part 3: Beautiful Beaches, No problem Mon!

In addition to it's beautiful beaches, Jamaica has such a lush rainforest and beautiful animals, plants, and flowers. Our resort had a little lagoon in between two of the beaches, and each day we enjoyed feeding a little duck friend, who would wiggle his little tail in excitement every time he got a snack. 

There were many turtles in the lagoon too, and it seemed that once I started throwing bread they all came out of nowhere! Several cranes joined in the feeding frenzy too, but they weren't interested in the bread. We realized they were using the bread as bait to gulp up a fish! Pretty smart! 

The resort is also home to many kittens. While they are basically wild, the resort has tolerated them because it helps keep the scavenger black birds away from the outdoor restaurants. This little black and white seemed to be more interested in finding a cool place to take a nap. 

The lagoon was absolutely lovely at night…

And we had to build at least one sand castle

Even our Denver friends didn't know what this tower was supposed to be...

An adobe! 

I can't wait to go back! We miss it so much all ready we hope you can make it for our Jamaican-themed Christmas party on the 22nd!