Chicken in a pot with lots of garlic

This is a wonderfully simple dinner. It makes the whole house smell like a hearty meal. and garlic. It comes from a french cookbook John bought me last Christmas by Dory Greenspan but this is kind of my version. For a more simple meal just buy a loaf of crusty bread instead of making one.

Ingredients:
juice of 1/2 lemon **olive oil**2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks **10 small red or white potatoes (if they're bigger, slice them in half **16 shallots (I used them in this one but I rarely do because who has time for all that peeling? Just slice 3 onions into 6 segments**8 carrots, peeled and quartered**4 celery stalks, quartered**4 garlic heads (yes, 4) separated but not peeled (this is wonderful spread on the bread!**salt and pepper **fresh poultry herbs (you can buy that at Kroger or use 3 thyme, parsley and rosemary) **1 whole chicken, 4 lbs, dry and seasoned with salt and pepper**1 cup chicken broth **1/2 cup dry white wine**one recipe of your favorite white bread dough, ready to use (optional)

Preheat oven to 450. heat some olive oil in a large skillet over high heat, add veggies and garlic, salt and pepper and saute until they're browned all over (which I usually have to do in two batches)

spoon veggies into a dutch oven or stock pot with lid and stir in herbs and lemon juice

return the skillet to heat, add more olive oil and brown the chicken on all sides. This is nearly impossible to do without tearing the skin so don't wig out like me if you can't make it picture perfect.

tuck the chicken into the pot surrounding it with the veggies.

mix together the broth, wine, and a tablespoon of olive oil and pour this into the hot skillet that the veggies and chicken were in. Scrape up the good flavor off the bottom of the pan and pour all that deliciousness over the chicken and veggies.
Now, at this point you can just cover it in foil, then the lid and slip it into the oven and serve it with a loaf of store bought crusty bread. (like I did last night.)

I usually cook it for about an hour and 20 minutes because I'm skittish about undercooked chicken and I've never found it to be dry at all after a little longer. (the recipe says 55 minutes)

But, if you want to live on the wild side like me (translation: if you want to make life a little more difficult and stress out your kids who just want to play Chutes and Ladders) then take your bread dough and roll it out into a long snake. Wrap it around the edge of the pot and press down to secure it to the side. Half of the bread will be sealed into the pot, and half out. Press your lid on tightly and keep an eye on it. About half way through baking you'll need to add foil and even then the inside is probably the best part.

The real recipe seals the pot with a flour/water dough that you can't eat. I was seriously let down the first time I read through the recipe to find that out it wasn't eatable. So this is a work in progress. My only extra advice: don't go all healthy and use wheat bread like I did in the picture below. (This whole post is from pictures I took back in March!) It's already hard to keep it from drying out. This isn't the time to use wheat bread. I don't have a picture of the finished product but you'll find that when you break the seal of the bread the most wonderfully cooked chicken and veggies, drenched in tons of juices. Serve this with little bowls for dipping.

Christmas things

As usual, I was spoiled this year by my husband. He gave me many gifts, one of which was a tea brewing/steeping pot and many fancy delicious teas. Kara gave me this adorable tea pot for serving so now I am totally set for my daily cup(s) of tea. If you would like to come join me for a cup of English Breakfast in the Blue Room Cafe(our kitchen's tea party name), Mrs. Girdle-hiker (Nella) and I would love to host you. Hopey got her hands on John Patrick's gigantic gum ball and was chomping away at it while I got my camera....
Here she is trying to keep it away from me when I reached for it. If looks could kill...

The most adorable sweater dress from Noni. This picture doesn't do it justice. I want one. Anella stripped down mid-gift opening and put it on.












If she never grew hair I would be fine with that. Putting bows on her perfectly shaped head makes me happy.

Christmas Eve.

A great quote from Christmas day comes from John Patrick getting a twenty dollar bill from Grandma Dora. He pulled it out and asked, "Is this Michael Jackson?" :-) I figure if Jeopardy is good with people only knowing the last name to be correct, then he's fine.

Happy New Year friends!!

A Review

Dora and I went to the Cincinnati Ballet's New Nutcracker last Thursday and had a WONDERFUL time. I think we'll go again if we can get in on the 10.00 tickets... but... and it's a pretty big but... it was nothing like the old Nutcracker. I'll go ahead and admit I'm always on the side of sticking with what works. Why change things if it's already magical. I'm not opposed to changing the set or the costumes or choreography but a CHICKEN laying eggs in place of Mother Ginger?!? Also, Clara didn't throw her shoe at the mouse king (a serious let down for a 4 year old who has been studying her library book and knows what should happen before Clara does) besides which that whole scene was a little confusing. And the Arabian dancers... oh. my. word. There were two woman wearing next to NOTHING hanging (and I do mean hanging) all over this one man who had an extremely seductive look on his face the whole time. It was soooo inappropriate and didn't even fit the rest of the "whimsical" theme that was obvious throughout the rest of the play. Also, one of the main characters that followed Clara through the whole thing was a poodle. She was actually danced by a very talented little girl but still- a poodle? It just didn't fit. There was a dance of larger poodles also.

I have lots more thoughts but I doubt it really matters all that much to you all so I'll just summarize with this: It was a precious ballet that should NOT be called the Nutcracker. Now Dora and I are going to have to fly to another city to experience the real Nutcracker. If it wasn't for the Arabian and his lady friends I'd say it's still a great ballet, but with them it's just a good ballet. I just wish it was called something else. Like, Christmas from a Poodles Perspective, or something like that.

Sorry if I've offended those of you who loved it. Just keepin' it real. :-)

Check me out!!

Two posts in one week!

I'm trying to get a little caught up here.

December first was our Anchor Storage hanging of the greens/Uncle Jason's birthday celebration. Here is Dora displaying the window decor she helped place. Hope wasn't as entertained by this as I was. I also went to the Creation Museum with John Patrick's class again this year. Let's just say that the first grade field trip was more.... eventful, than kindergarten. One poor little girl was so over excited she had to go home before we even went in because she felt sick.

Here are some of the kids putting together a puzzle in Noah's ark.

I love this picture. At the end of Noah's "talk" he asks if anyone has any questions. Now why would someone program him to ask that? What first grader doesn't have at least 10 questions if they are given the chance? Here is one little girl raising her hand, wondering why Noah doesn't call on her! Don't you love his teacher off to the left covering up her smile? She's so sweet.

Hands stuck in a pterodactyl mouth. It took lotion and tears before they got them back out.

Examining a bug eating plant found on the trails.

Ginger bread man decorating. I decided this year not to do a house. We never have a good spot to display it and it's so stale that I don't want the kids eating it. So, we made these spice cookies and instead of rolling them into a ball we rolled it out and cut them into gingerbread men.

Just for GG

I'll write this as a personal letter just to you Geeg because I'm sure you're the only person reading. :-)

So, here you go! No need to send a coat, just know we haven't fallen off the planet. :-)

Here are some snapshots of our full lives:

Nel's, bouncing as usual. Did you know we got her a mini trampoline for her birthday? She loves it. Hope's birthday cake.
Hope's preciousness

Making pop bead jewelry with Amelia. (yes, I know they're a choking hazard. I can here you hyperventilating from here. I was close by the whole time, I promise.)

A precious friend's baby.

Nella the flower girl. She tried and tried shoving the petals back in the basket, but couldn't get them to stay because they were fake and the static caused them to stick to her hand every time she pulled it out. This went on for a long time... bend over and clean up dropped petals, shove them into basket, remove hand and drop more, repeat... it was so funny!

Kara and I went to Madison Indiana for one night in early Nov. It was wonderfully relaxing.

We walked around the craft shops. You would have loved it! Maybe we could all meet there sometime?

I annoyed the living daylights out of Kara with the pictures. So naturally I took more. ;-) This is at Clifty Falls State Park.

Stayed in the Iron Gate Inn B&B.

More pictures of Kara annoyed because it's worth it every time.

Our room.

A small piece of down town.

Our 9am candle light breakfast. It was lovely.

A few weeks later John and I went to New York City. I haven't done that much traveling without my kids ever! It was very fun but I definitely missed them.

Rockefeller Center.

Central Park. You wouldn't believe how beautiful it is, Geeg. It's so wild that it's parked right in the middle of the HUGE city.

Had to see Macy's at Christmas!

Then to the top of the Empire State Building. Do you see how far away the end of the island is? After this we walked the entire thing!

At the top

We didn't realize the occupy wall street crowd was evacuated from their home in the park as we slept so we unknowingly walked right into the craziness.

Then at the end of the day we took the Staten Island Ferry and got a view of the city at night.

So, here's hoping I can keep this a little more updated. Love you!!