Heavenly Grilled Chicken!

Alright, I'm not trying to toot my own horn here but...last night I think I made the best chicken I've ever tasted.  Of course I can't really take all the credit.  Google might have had something to do with it!

Have you ever tried grilling a whole chicken?  Not a whole chicken cut up...really whole!  If not, you absolutely must try it.  It's fabulous.

Here's what I did.  I hesitate to call this a recipe because many of the steps are open to interpretation, but you'll get the idea.  It's super easy and so remarkably delicious!  Sorry there's no picture, but we ate it up too fast.

1.  If frozen, thaw your chicken (a pastured chicken from The Family Farm would be best, haha!).  I used 2 chickens about 2 lbs. each.  (We had a number of really small ones from our first batch).  But the method will work for larger birds, too.

2.  Brine chicken in salt water for about 2 hours.  Don't get all worried about amounts here.  Just dump about 1/2 cup sea salt in a freezer bag along with your chicken and add enough water to just cover it.

3.  Rinse chicken and pat dry.  Brush with olive oil all over.  Sprinkle with your favorite herbs and put a few in the cavity.  Again, this is open to what you have on hand.  Here's what I used:

On the outside:
-olive oil
-sage
-lemon pepper seasoning
-Alderwood-smoked sea salt (wonderful stuff, from a local lady who makes spices!)

And the cavity:
-1 sprig fresh rosemary
-3 sprigs fresh oregano
-about 1/4 onion

4.  Preheat grill--gas is best for this.  Light just one side on high.  When grill is hot, place chicken breast down on the unlit side of the grill.  You are essentially making an "oven" with the grill.  Grill with lid closed for about 90 minutes for an average 4-5 lb. chicken (ours, of course, went a little faster!)  Rotate chicken (don't flip it over; rotate like a clock!) halfway through cooking.  Resist the temptation to keep opening the grill lid to peek!  This lets all the heat out of your oven!  Test for doneness with a meat thermomete inserted in the meatiest part of the thigh--you're looking for 160 degrees.  When done, remove and let sit for 10 minutes before carving.

Simply delicious.

Basic Berry Smoothie

Sometimes the best things in life are the simplest!  I've been trying to use up our frozen berries from last summer since spring is coming soon.  It looks like we'll have an early strawberry season this year considering the ridiculously warm weather we've been having, so I need to make room in my freezer for a new season's harvest! The smoothie I made for lunch today was a hit, so I thought I'd share the recipe.  (Keep in mind the amounts here are "suggestions" because I wasn't measuring anyways!)

Basic Berry Smoothie


2 cups frozen strawberries
3/4 cup red raspberries
1 cup plain yogurt
1 cup raw milk (or more, to desired consistency)
1/4 cup raw honey
1 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla


Blend well.  Makes about 4 servings.

Preserving Apples, Part 1

Isn't it pretty?  And they taste a-ma-zing.  Crispy, flavorful, and sweet!

I've been so thrilled this past week with the abundant apple "crop" at our new house!  And you know I can't stand to just let them sit there.  We've been on the run so much this summer that I haven't been able to do much preserving, but I'm determined to get some of those apples stored away, in various forms.

The easiest method I'm trying this year is just packing them away in the basement (which is old, cold, and unfinished).  Hopefully it'll be a good place for them to keep a few months.  I followed the instructions from an article at the Backwoods Home website.  Basically you: 1) select only unbruised, unblemished apples; 2) wrap in black and white newspaper; 3) pack carefully in cardboard boxes.  Easy.  Of course, I still have to see if it actually works!  Hopefully I don't go down to the basement in a month and find a box full of rotten apple mush.

Yesterday I made spiced crabapple butter--one of my very favorite bread-topping treats!  Making apple butter isn't hard.  It's just a lot of work.  The boys and I picked about 1/2 a crate of crabapples (and a few regular apples, just for good measure).  Then I followed this recipe, given to me by a good friend in Bronson. She found it in an "old-fashioned" canning and preserving book.  I like this recipe because you can use if for whatever quantity of crabapples you happen to have on hand.

Wash and cut apples into quarters, without paring or coring.  Place in kettle with just enough water to cover, and cook slowly until tender.  Press through a colander or sieve.  Measure the strained pulp.  Add 1/2 as much sugar as pulp.  Bring to a boil and cook until mixture is thick.  [Stir often or it'll stick and burn!!]  Pack into clean, hot jars.  Seal.

I also added some cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves for a nice spiced flavor.  My 1/2 crate yielded about 10 pints. I would really recommend using smaller jars--maybe 8 oz. jars--since we usually don't go through apple butter really fast, but pints were what I had around the house yesterday!  I also recently discovered a super easy way to sterilize and seal jars for high-acid/sugar foods, from the Blue Chair Jam Cookbook.  You put your clean jars and bands on a cookie sheet into a preheated 250 degree oven for 30 minutes while preparing your food to be canned.  Then, when you're ready to pack the jars, you just pull them out of the oven, fill them (make sure you clean the rims), secure the lids and bands, and put them back in the oven for 15 minutes.  So much easier than the hot water bath method!  The book is simply beautiful as well...highly recommended!

Earlier this summer we also did some bread and butter pickles, thanks to our neighbor who grows veggies for the Clarkston Farmers Market.  We did decide to spare Cornelia the Cuke though, because she was just too cute.

We Have a Winner! ...and a new recipe!

Congratulations to Kim, winner of the first giveaway on Domestic Reformation!  Kim, please email me at domesticreformation@gmail.com to arrange details for delivery!

And for the rest of you...give yourself a little gift and mix up a batch of these scrumptious waffles:

Oh Boy! (healthy) Waffles


Whisk together:
2 1/4 cups milk (we use whole raw milk...)
1 stick melted butter
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 T. molasses

Stir in:

2 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp. salt
4 tsp. baking powder

Serve with butter and real maple syrup for a hearty, delicious breakfast!

"Rawberry" Milk

Well...we've been trying to make a conscious effort around here to consume less processed foods and refined sugar and to eat more whole, raw foods.  Today I had an epiphany.  It probably will seem glaringly obvious to everybody else, but for some reason I hadn't thought of this yet.  Last month I made a whole bunch of strawberry freezer jam, but it turned out a lot more like strawberry syrup because I used WAY less sugar than the recipe called for.  I've been using it to blend into smoothies, on pancakes, things like that.  But today...I had the brilliant idea to blend it with milk and...voila!  Instant strawberry milk, made with real raw strawberries and no high fructose corn syrup!  If you want specifics...I used 1 quart of whole raw milk, 2/3 cup strawberry freezer "syrup", and blended for a few seconds in the blender.  So easy and so yummy!

30 Day Weight Loss Challenge

I've had enough.  Enough of looking in the mirror and saying, "That's not my body".  Enough squeezing into jeans that barely fit because I refuse to buy new bigger ones.  And most importantly, enough filling my stomach with empty calories (at best) and harmful junk "food" at worst.  After boy #4 was born, I did pretty well losing the baby weight at first.  I managed to get down to somewhere around 147 lbs. just with the help of nursing, and I was good with that.  Keeping a few extra pounds on while nursing is a good thing.  Then he started weaning himself sooner than I expected, and by the time boy #4 was 11 months he was pretty much done nursing altogether.  And guess what...from about March until now, my weight steadily climbed up to 155 with no sign of slowing, putting me into the "overweight" category for my height.  It's time to do something.  My goal is to drop 10 pounds in the next 30 days.

In general, I believe in moderation.  A bowl of ice cream now and then isn't going to kill me.  Snacking on chips and salsa isn't all that bad.  But when it's a BIG bowl every night plus a whole bunch of chips and salsa right before bed...that's just getting out of control.  And one thing I've discovered since having kids is that, for whatever reason, I no longer have much self control when it comes to food.  I can't do moderation.  To really see any change I have to do something drastic.

Now, don't go and get nervous for me.  I'm not going to starve myself or anything (I'll show you what I ate for breakfast in a minute!)  My "diet" goes something like this:

1.  Aim for 1500-1600 calories a day
2.  Cut out pretty much all refined/added sugar
3.  Avoid excess carbs.  I know from experience that I have more lasting energy and feel much better when I get most of my calories from proteins and "good" fats, with a hearty dose of veggies to fill me up.
4.  Record what I eat in an online food diary, at least until things are a little more under control.  Having to write down every last thing makes me think twice!

I also plan on exercising daily.  I've been using The Biggest Loser: The Workout - Boot Camp (already on level 2!), plus doing pilates and fitness ball exercises for my abs and core.

I'll also be keeping you up to date once a week on my "stats".  I'm just as excited to see how these numbers change as my weight!  Here's my starting point:
Weight: 155
Waist: 31"
Hips: 42"
Thigh: 25"
Upper Arm: 12"

Anyone care to join me?  My total weight loss goal is 20 pounds, but I'm going to focus on tackling the first 10 right now.  If you want to make a similar decision, please leave me a comment and tell me your goals!  I'd love to have some extra help and support!  Also, here are a couple links you may find useful:

Online food diary/calorie counter
Free Nutrition Type Quiz --very informative, and was really accurate for me.

And, as promised, here's what I ate for breakfast!  I can't really take credit for the idea...I saw it on Food Network a few days ago.  And, by my calculations, it's only about 250 calories a serving!

"Deconstructed" Sweet Potato Hash
Serves 2

1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 medium sweet onion, sliced
1 T. butter
water
salt
tarragon
2 eggs

Melt 1/2 T. butter n a small frying pan, then arrange sweet potatoes in a single layer. Cover with water and bring to a simmer.  Cook gently until water has all evaporated and test doneness (about 20-30 minutes).  Near the end of the cooking time, sprinkle with tarragon.  If necessary, add a little extra water if they need a little more time. Remove to serving plates.

Meanwhile in a separate pan, heat remaining 1/2 T. butter over medium heat.  Add onion and cook slowly over medium heat while sweet potatoes cook.  Put on plate at the same time as potatoes.

Fry two eggs using whatever method you like and add one to each plate.  Season it all to taste and enjoy!

I like my eggs over medium.  Yum!

Caramelized Onion and Rosemary Focaccia

Well, it's another cold and rainy day here in mid-Michigan (big surprise), so what's a girl to do?  BAKE!  I was already planning on making pizza dough for dinner later, so focaccia seemed like a logical next step.  Here's the recipe I came up with, and it turned out delightful!  The food processor has become my new best friend in the kitchen...what a time-saver!

Fresh from the oven!

Caramelized Onion and Rosemary Focaccia


3 1/2 cups unbleached flour
2 tsp. sugar, divided
1 tsp. salt
1 T. yeast (or one package...I buy in bulk to save costs!)
1 cup hot water (120 degrees)
1 egg
1 medium sweet onion
1 T. butter
olive oil
Rosemary seasoning blend or fresh rosemary, chopped small (I used Pampered Chef Rosemary Herb Seasoning Blend)

In food processor bowl, combine flour, 1 tsp. sugar, salt, and yeast and blend for a few seconds.  With machine running, slowly add water and egg.  Process for about 30 seconds to a minute.  This is almost too much for your average size blender, so you may need to stop and poke the dough down a few times.  Remove dough from processor and gently knead in about a tablespoon of rosemary blend.  Lightly coat a large round baking stone with olive oil and place dough on stone, cover with a large bowl, and rest for 5 minutes.  Uncover and press dough out to edges of stone.  Brush dough with olive oil and cover with plastic wrap.  Place in a warm spot to rise for about 30 minutes.

While dough rises, caramelize the onions.  Chop onion into thin wedges.  In skillet, heat butter and 1 T. olive oil over medium heat.  Add onions, sprinkle with 1 tsp. sugar.  Cook slowly over medium heat, stirring occasionally.  If onions are browning too fast, reduce heat.  This should take the whole 30 minutes the bread is rising.

Remove wrap from dough.  With the end of a wooden spoon, poke holes all over the dough.  Brush again with olive oil.  Sprinkle liberally with rosemary seasoning and spread onions over the whole thing.  Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes, or until light golden brown.

Recipe: Rhubarb Bread with Honey Lemon Glaze

I was feeling a little Martha-ish this afternoon, so I decided to experiment with rhubarb a little bit!  My mom teaches my two oldest boys and some of their cousins a group singing lesson, and their recital is tonight.  I thought a nice fresh loaf of bread would be a great little appreciation gift.  My in-laws (where we are still living!) are starting to have lots of rhubarb ripe for the picking!  I decided to try a quick bread and it turned out great!  Here's the recipe:

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sour milk (or buttermilk)
4 eggs
4 cups flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour with great results)
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup chopped fresh rhubarb

Glaze:
1/2 cup honey
2 T. lemon juice

Heat oven to 350.  Grease 3 loaf pans.  Beat sugar and margarine, mix in rest of wet ingredients.  Add dry ingredients and mix just until combined.  Fold in rhubarb.  Bake at 350 for about 50 minutes.  Immediately after baking, poke bread with a fork several times on the top and brush on glaze.  When bread is cool enough to handle, remove from pans.  Makes 3 smallish loaves.  Delicious!  I also found a cute printable label to put on it.

What's been in your oven lately?

Nettle Tea!

I love spring, especially once we get past that "brown" phase and things start to green up!  And boy, is it finally happening here!  I wanted to share this recipe/how-to with you because it helped me so much last spring.  Towards the end of my pregnancy with Percival (I was due around the 1st of May) I started getting this awful, itchy red rash on my arms and legs.  The best thing I could figure out was that it was PUPPS, not uncommon during pregnancy.  It was the most annoying thing.  Ever.  I couldn't sleep (as if sleeping wasn't hard enough at 8 months + already!) and I could hardly enjoy anything even during the daytime because I itched ALL the time.  I showed it to my doc at a checkup and his answer was basically, "Put some steroid cream on it and hope you have that baby soon."  Well, sorry doc.  Wrong answer.  I started researching online and found that many believe PUPPS is caused by an overtaxed liver--your blood volume increases so much during pregnancy that your liver just can't keep up, so those extra toxins start rearing their ugly heads as a nasty rash.  One of the remedies listed on some herbal sites was nettle tea, and we had nettles in abundance!  I started drinking several big glasses of it every day and within just a few days, the rash was almost all gone.  Now a year later, I'm going to try it again just to see how it helps.  I haven't been eating too well lately, so it probably won't hurt to give my body a little cleansing boost.  The taste is just sort of "green". Nettles are LOADED with vitamins: vitamin A, C, B vitamins, and antioxidants. God's natural energy booster! 


Here's how:
Pick a bowlful of nettles.  WEAR GLOVES.  They're nicknamed fireweed for good reason.  And whenever you're going to consume wild foods, make sure you've correctly identified it!  You'll find tons of pics of nettles with a quick google search.
Wash them well.  I use a salad spinner.

Put in a pitcher, cover with boiling water, and steep well.  I prefer to drink it cold.  After a day or so it'll start to turn really pretty bluish.  This is normal and fine!

Naturally dyed Easter Eggs

Easter has totally crept up on us, once again!  This post may be a little last-minute, but hopefully you'll find it in time to maybe give this a try!  We're planning on coloring our eggs on Friday, so these pics are from last year (at our old house...pics coming soon of our new house!)  This is really simple and I thought the eggs turned out quite nicely!  The procedure is basically the same for both blueberries and cranberries:

1.  Put 1 bag/1 lb. fresh or frozen berries in a sauce pan
2.  Add 2 cups water, bring to a boil, and cook and stir for about 5 minutes.
3.  Strain, cool
4.  Add a few tablespoons vinegar to help the dye adhere to eggs
5.  Dip away!  We found it helps to leave the eggs in the dye a little longer than with regular food dyes.

The yellowish eggs were dyed with tea.  Just steep it nice and strong and add a little vinegar.  This year I would also like to try using onion skins...I think they might give a deeper yellow.  We didn't find the tea dye to be very effective...

Let me know if you try any of these...simple, cheap family fun!  And please, whatever you do to celebrate Easter, make sure you share the real meaning with your children.  Easter eggs are fun, but they are only a reminder to us of the real thing: new life in Christ.  Jesus died for us, was buried, and rose again to save us from sin, death and the devil.  Take some time to read about it straight from the Bible and talk about it with your kids.  Your family will be blessed!

Eggs before...

Eggs in process...definitely best done outside!

How to make dandelion jelly

It's almost that time of year again...dandelion season!  At least the snow has all melted finally.  I think the last trace in the yard disappeared sometime this afternoon.  Hard to believe that last year at this time I had already made a batch!  But it's definitely not to early to start prepping.  This recipe is really so easy and the kids love to help.  The same procedure can also be used for violets, lilacs, or just about any edible flower.  Dandelion is delicious though.  The taste is a lot like honey.  Big thanks to my friend Jennifer for giving me the idea last spring!  Here goes...


1. OK, pick about 2 quarts of dandelion flowers, try to get as little stem as possible. Some recipes I read said to actually cut off the petals with scissors, but I didn't bother and it was fine! 

2. Put all the flowers in one big jar or container and pour boiling water over all of them, just enough to cover. Let it "steep" (like tea!) for several hours or overnight.

3. Strain through a jelly bag, pillowcase, coffee filter, whatever...then add enough water to equal 3 cups of liquid.

Combine in large sauce pan:


Dandelion "water"
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tsp. vanilla
1 package powdered pectin
couple drops yellow food coloring, if you want

Bring to a full boil to dissolve pectin, then stir in 5 1/2 cups sugar. Return to a full boil for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Ladle into 1/2 pint jars, screw on lids, and boil in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. That's it! Makes about 5 jars.

My favorite breakfast smoothie yet!

I'm always on the lookout for easy, nutritious, energy-boosting breakfasts, and smoothies are one of my favorites (and the kids love them too!)  Yesterday morning I hit on a real winner.  Sorry there's no picture.  We drank it all up before I had a chance!

1/2 bag frozen mixed fruit
1/2 cup plain yogurt
2-3 T. raw honey
juice of 3 oranges (somewhere around 1 cup or so?)
enough milk to cover the fruit (we use raw milk, but that's another whole post...)
2 eggs

Combine it all in the blender and puree until smooth.  Made enough for me and 3 kids.  For an extra kick of energy and flavor you could add some grated fresh ginger, and I really want to try it with coconut milk.  So delicious!