Friday, February 11, 2011

Happy Birthday!!

To Mums...who is still less than a half-century old (at least for one more year...then we start holding at 49)! Her birthday was actually yesterday (Friday) but my computer was having issues posting, so this post is to be read as if I posted it last night :)

After going into the office this morning only to realize that I was literally the only one there, I decided I would follow suit and work from home. Except that working from home always ends up mean working at home, which is a very different thing. It ends up meaning laundry, grocery shopping, errands, etc... All that fun stuff I don't get paid to do. So in essence we went backwards today. Instead of increasing the bank account, we went in the opposite direction.

So instead of hanging out at the office, I called Mom to see if she wanted to grab lunch (since it is, after all, her birthday). I met up with her and Daddy at Panera and enjoyed my usual favorite "You-pick-two" combo. While we were eating lunch, I all of a sudden feel someone's strong hands on my shoulders, and I immediately jump and turn around, only to be facing a giant sea of blue jacket...leave it to Mr. Hammaker to come up behind me and no one else in my family let on that he was there. I'm pretty sure that Nathan and I see Erica's parents more frequently than she does...and we see her more frequently that they do. - Oh, and sorry, Erica...I mentioned you had a blog, which was a complete surprise to your dad.

After a long lunch, I had my second PT session, which kicked my butt. Leg presses are not cool when your left knee is less than happy to bend for you. It's also never a good sign when your new therapist remarks "wow, your knee cap is REALLY mobile..." I took that to be a bad thing. I don't like when I hear surprise in a physician's voice, as if "wow, we've never seen this before." Novelty is never a good thing when you're the patient in a physician-patient relationship.

After PT, I met Erin to drop off Bo's (or, should I say "George," as he's now referring to himself) LSAT packet for his LSAT tomorrow morning. Only my brother would fly in from DC on Friday night, get in at 11:30 and then get up and take the LSAT the next morning. Being the resident LSAT guru (aka, the only person to have done this before), I volunteered to get his ziplock bag full of permissible items together. I came seriously close to putting all my old Tri Delta #2 pencils or some of my Kate Spade pencils in the bag for him, but I didn't think he'd find that as amusing as I did. So being the thoughtful sister I am, I refrained.

The real fun began as I made my way to pick up Earth Fare's free dinner for 4. While Earth Fare is no Whole Foods (and it's borderline sacrilegious to even compare the two), I love their weekly freebies. As a constant coupon-cutter and a lifelong lover of great deals and organic food, this week's Earth Fare deal is by far my favorite. With a $10 purchase, you get a free whole fryer chicken, one bag of baby carrots, and a container of rustic mashed potatoes. Since I get my 10% student discount, I walked around until I found my $9.99 deal that also had a coupon. It took all of 2 minutes to pick out a bottle of virgin olive oil for $9.99. that also had a $.50 off coupon attached to the shelf. I ended up paying $9.72 including tax. All together, I saved $14.82.


I'm making Lemon-Herb Roast Chicken from a recipe out of my new Bon Appetit Cookbook that my WONDERFUL secret santa got me for Christmas - thanks, Barbara! This is the second recipe that I'll have tried out of this fabulous cookbook, and the other one was divine. Hopefully, I'll manage to pull this one off as well.

It starts with an herb butter. So into my kitchen-aid standing mixer (maybe my favorite kitchen appliance, apart from the Vita-Mix) went 1 stick butter, 2 tsp rosemary, 2 tsp thyme, and 1 1/2 tsp. grated lemon zest.


Next is the fun (read: icky) part. Preheat the oven to 450* and then rinse the chicken; pat it dry, and then slide your hand under the skin of the chicken breast to loosen the skin from the meat. reserve 2 tbs. herb butter for gravy (YAY gravy!). Rub half of the remaining herb butter over the chicken breast under the skin. Spread the remaining half over the outside of the chicken.This is a lot harder than it sounds. The butter tries to stick to your hands, rather than the chicken, so it just ends up kind of in lumps. Maybe my butter should have been more melted?Sprinkle the chicken inside and out with salt and pepper. Tie the legs together to hold the shape. I didn't have any twine, so I used a rubber band...we'll see how it goes.



Doesn't that look yummy? I'm hoping it will later... Place the chicken in a heavy large roasting pan. I love this recipe because it means I get to use my Le Creuset Oval Cocotte - thank you, Lindsay McDonough & family! - which is also another favorite kitchen staple. Then roast for 20 minutes. At which point, the chicken looks pretty much the same...


After 20 minutes at 450*, reduce the heat to 375*. Roast the chicken until juices run clear when chicken is pierced in the thickest part of the thigh (about 1hr. 15 minutes). ** Note: The directions say 1 hr. 15 minutes for a 6.5 to 7 lb chicken and the one from Earth Fare is only about 2.5 lbs. However, I found that it still needed the full 1 hr. 15 minutes, as after 50 minutes it was still not fully cooked. Lift the chicken and tilt slightly, emptying any juices from the cavity into the roasting pan. Transfer the chicken to a platter and cover with an aluminum tent.

While the chicken was cooking I got started on the carrots. Again, another yummy-looking recipe from Bon Appetit: Carrots Glazed with Balsamic Vinegar and Butter. One thing I love about this recipe is that all of the ingredients are things I already have in my "staples." 1 Stick of butter, baby carrots (cut in half), 6 Tbs sugar, 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar, and 1/2 cup chopped fresh chives (ok, so I don't have the chives, don't really care).

After cutting the baby carrots in half (the recipe calls for 3.5 pounds, so I halved the recipe), melt the butter in a heavy large pot - again, love the Le Creuset - over medium heat. Add the carrots and saute for 5 minutes. Cover and cook until the carrots are crisp-tender, stirring occasionally (about 7 min.). Stir in sugar and vinegar. Cook uncovered until carrots are tender and sauce is redued to glaze, stirring frequently (about 12 more min.). Season to taste with salt and pepper - we thought it tasted fine without any additional salt/pepper since we like the taste of balsamic vinegar and sugar. Add chives and toss to combine.


I think the carrots were actually Nathan's favorite part of the meal - they tasted a lot yummier than they look in this pic. While the carrots were still simmering, I took the Roasted Mashed Potatoes and stuck them in the microwave since they came already prepared. Final product:



After taking the chicken out of the oven, you have to let all the juices drain back into the pan. Then put the chicken on a platter and cover with aluminum foil and set aside. Take the pan juices and pour into a measuring cup. Spoon the fat off the top and add 1/4 cup dry white wine to a sauce pan. All we had was a left over bottle of Yellow Tail Chardonnay (since I wasn't about to open a bottle of wine just to get 1/4 a cup) which seemed to work fine. Add in the chicken juice and add enough chicken broth to measure 2 1/4 cups liquid. In a separate sauce pan, melt the remaining 2 Tbs herb butter on medium heat. Add 2 Tbs (or I used a bit more) of All Purpose flour to the melted butter and whisk until smooth and beginning to color (about 3 min.). Gradually whisk in pan juices. Boil until thickened to sauce consistency, whisking occasionally (about 7 min.).


Next, remove the foil from your chicken and place the lemon wedges around it.


So this is what our table ended up looking like:


Everything was delicious - the only problem was that the bird did not exactly come packed with a ton of meat. Or really, any meat. I'm fairly certain that Earth Fare gave these chickens away because they died of starvation... I can't really complain, because it was free. But just in case you're actually planning on feeding a family of 4 with this chicken, make sure you have other options on hand. We barely got enough meat off of it for 2 people, much less 4. Otherwise, Enjoy the free meal!






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