Upside Down Chicken...

 

As you may recall, part of my New Years Resolution was to post weekly recipes for my grown kids, so they can have some of Mom's recipes to tuck into their cookbook cupboard.  We are two weeks into the New Year and this is recipe number 2...woo hoo, I haven't broken this resolution as of yet!!

  

Today's recipe is an old family favorite.  We enjoyed this over the weekend at our house...

don't think I made this in the year 2011, not sure how I could forget about this one...it is fabulous! The kids, when they were younger, would request this dish...they called it " that upside down chicken."

 

It's real name is Amish Roast Chicken and Potatoes with Garlic.  The recipe comes from an older cookbook of mine, titled NEW RECIPES FROM QUILT COUNTRY by Marcia Adams.  This is a lovely cookbook with wonderful photos and stories of Amish country.

So let's get started...

 

Peel red potatoes, carrots and onions and cut up into chunks.  Use whatever amount will feed your family...and maybe even a little extra for leftovers!  This dish is just as good heated up the next day.

 

Peel 6 or 7 large garlic cloves.

 

Chop some fresh thyme, the more the merrier...

 

Rinse and clean a chicken well and pat dry with a paper towel.  Place the chicken, breast side up, in a shallow 15" x 12" greased pan.  I like to use my well seasoned terra cotta clay pan for this.  Separate the skin from the breast meat with your fingers and insert a liberal amount of thyme between the two.  Place a handful of un-chopped thyme into the cavity of the chicken.  Place onions, carrots, garlic and potatoes around the chicken.

 Add 1 heaping teaspoon of chicken bouillon granules to 1 cup hot water.

 

Melt one stick of butter.  Mix butter into bouillon/water mixture.

 Pour chicken stock/butter mixture over the chicken and vegetables.

 

Cut a lemon in half.

Squeeze lemon over the chicken.

Tuck spent lemon halves along with the thyme into the cavity of the chicken.

Season chicken breast with chopped thyme and freshly ground salt and pepper.

Place in a preheated 425 degrees oven.  Bake the chicken for 1 1/2 hours.  The chicken should now have formed a lovely brown and crispy skin and the aroma in your house is amazing....

 Now take the chicken and flip upside down.  Yep, this is where my kids got the upside down chicken from!! 

It is at this time that you now turn the oven down to 325 degrees.  The high temp of the oven to begin with seals in the juices of the chicken.  When the chicken gets turned upside down, the fat from the dark meat will now run down into the normally drier white meat, making for very moist white meat....delicious!

Bake upside down for 1 1/2 - 2 hours or until leg easily breaks away from the body.

Remove the veggies and chicken from the pan.  Place veggies back into the oven while you prepare a gravy.

 Let the chicken rest at room temp for 10 - 15 minutes before carving.

Separate the fat from the drippings from the bottom of the pan, saving the drippings

Measure drippings and add enough water to make 2 cups of liquid.  Place in a small stove top kettle.

Add two packets of chicken gravy mix, stirring to mix.

Bring to a boil, stirring until thick.  The lemon, garlic and herbs in the drippings make a delicious gravy...yummers.

Our favorite side dish with this meal is fresh green beans.

And remember those garlic cloves we tucked into the dish?  You get to fight over those...they are wonderful spread on warm-from-the-oven French Baguette bread.

Play for a printable version of this recipe...click the arrow to start.

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Enjoy,

Brenda

Unfinished handework...

We all can relate to those words, right???

Unfinished handework...

We all have them tucked here and there,

in plastic tubs, in cute little zip- up bags, in sewing baskets...

Right?

Just waiting for a cold winter's day to pull them out again,

to get re-acquainted,
if you will...

with the good intentions of,

"thy will be done"

I have many of unfinished pieces of handework of my own.

I've confessed.

I like unfinished work...

  So much so,

that I even enjoy buying unfinished handework,
worked by others...
{sigh}

Here are snippets of an unfinished antique sampler from my collection. 

It has various borders,

motifs, 

alphabet and numbers 

along with the "Lord's Prayer".

Our father

whichart in heaven

hallowed be thy name 


thy kingdom come...
and
as you can see,
whomever was working this piece 
never quite got to the "thy will be done" part,
literally...

I can't help but wonder if the stain on the cloth had something to do with the failure to complete this piece. 
The stain doesn't bother me
and
I hope to some day
do this sampler a favor
and
finish stitching the Lord's Prayer
and re-frame it in a more age-appropriate frame.


I'm drawn to samplers with out-of-the-ordinary motifs...
See the zebra?  
It is the zebra's fault that I now own this sampler.  
See the cute bunny? 
I also love old samplers that contain a bunny.
So it's also the bunny's fault that I now have this sampler in my collection...

And then there are the floss choices,
browns and blues...
a color combination that makes my heart flutter.
I own two antique samplers worked in browns and blues
and they both happen to be
unfinished pieces of work...

  

I also love borders.  Another detail I pay close attention to when purchasing an antique.
  This sampler has varying borders on all sides,
and even varying borders within those sides.  There are 10 different borders used within the four sides of the sampler. 

Some are small and some are very over sized...

The sampler itself is over sized...
See those fingers?
  See those toes? 
This gives you a perception of the size of this piece.
Yes folks, she is a big sampler...
She hangs in my office at Country Stitches. 
I spend many minutes a day
just looking at her lovely 
brown and blue, 
tone on tone
motifs.  
She measuring 39" x 22". 

Here is a better look at the varying borders...
they range in sizes from 1/2" at the bottom
to the 3" tall tulip border at the top of the piece.
  I love the folk-art feel
these mixed borders
give the sampler... 
Design is worked 
on a 28 count linen 
over 2 threads.

I have no plans on reproducing the sampler,
due to the size of the finished piece. 
However 
there is a fun project
in store for 2012,
using bits and pieces of the sampler
worked into smaller samplers,
ditty pockets,
pin keeps etc...
all worked in 
browns
& 
blues.
Plans for this pattern series is due to begin
in October of 2012...
stay tuned for more details.

With thy Needle & Thread,
Brenda

In between fielding phone calls...

(political  phone solicitation,

I must add...)

(in case you haven't heard, our state is hosting the 1st in the nation Presidential Caucus today and our phones are ringing off the walls),

I did get some cross stitching and cross stitch planning done over the weekend,

woot woot!!  

Stitching is progressing along nicely on the Sampler of the Season - Spring.

The house is now done,

and it even has a roof..

The house on this sampler replicates our home,

by the way. 

Here are a couple of sneak peeks...

And

the finishing touches

and floss selections for March's Word Play are done!  

Here is a peak it it's color palette...

March was the month that I had been stressing about most,

but I do really like how it turned out.

It doesn't scream St Patrick's Day,

 just subtle little hints of it

amongst other Springy-Month-of March

motifs...I think you'll really like it! 

Time to tootle off to Country Stitches

and

dig in after my much needed sabbatical,

Brenda

She came home for the holidays...

Truly amazing, gave me goose bumps....

er um,

maybe eagle bumps!

An Iowa news clip for the Decorah Iowa eagles, enjoy!  Click on below link for viewing.

Tracking Eagle D-1

Have a good day,

Brenda

Per Son Matthew's Request...

or a New Years Resolution of sorts,

if you will...

When asking son Matthew what his Christmas gift wishes were,

he requested a book filled with my recipes.

This idea came about a week before Christmas

and it just wasn't enough time to put one together,

yet I knew it was something both of my grown children

would enjoy.

So call this an early, weekly Christmas gift to Erin & Matthew

and also

a New Years Resolution

all rolled into one...

A Resolution to try one new recipe a week,

and if it earns a smiley face

from the Gervais' household,

I'll post the recipe on the blog

and hopefully

my kids will have 52 new recipes to add to their recipe books,
courtesy of Mom's test kitchen!

It's a cold & windy start to 2012 here on the Iowa plains....wow, hold onto your hat!  Looks and sounds more like March, then January...

very very windy and no snow yet on our ground.
They are calling for temperatures of 61 degrees for Thursday...
no complaints from this girl!

There is a nip in the air though, with the wind, and in general is a good soup day.  Today's new recipe try is called Tomato-Basil Parmesan Soup.  A recipe I found while perusing on Pinterest that has earned a smiley face...love the  mellow taste of tomato (not too strong) and the nice texture of the carrots and celery...delicious!

TOMATO-BASIL PARMESAN SOUP

Add two (14oz) cans of diced tomatoes, with juice to large soup kettle.  Mix 4 teaspoons of chicken bouillon into 4 cups of warm water and add to tomatoes.    Finely chop 1 cup each of carrots, celery and onion; add to kettle.  Finely chop 1 T. fresh oregano and 1/4 cup fresh basil; add to soup mixture. 

 

Place over low heat and cook down for approximately 1 hour, or until vegetables are soft.  Take a potato masher and slightly mash down the tomatoes and veggies to smaller pieces (this is optional and was my personal preference)

 

Melt 1/2 cup butter.  Add 1/2 cup flour. 

Stir to mix.

Stir constantly for about 3 minutes.

When mixture starts to turn a golden brown, take off of burner.

Slowly stir in 1 cup of hot soup into butter/flour mixture.

Stir until well mixed.

Add another 3 cups of soup to the mixture and stir until smooth.

Add mixture back into large soup kettle and stir until well mixed.

Add 1 cup parmesan cheese.

Stir to mix well.

Pour in 1 pint (2 cups) of Half & Half

Stir, mixing well.

Add freshly ground pepper and salt to taste.  I thinned down the soup slightly with 2% milk, just before serving as I prefer a slightly thinner based soup and it was delicious!

Enjoy!

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