Garlic & Herb Chicken (Crock Pot, Whole Chicken)

I actually call this Wednesday Chicken because I make it almost every Wednesday.  We have church on Wednesday night and I never know what time I will get home from school so it's best to have dinner already prepared!  I prep the chicken the night before and put it in the crock pot bowl and stick it in the fridge.  The next morning I take it out of the fridge, into the crock pot unit and turn it on low.  I let it cook for 7-8 hours and then put it on warm until dinner time.

Because we eat this every week I've had to learn variety is key to this chicken! There are a few different ways I like to make it.  You should try them all!

Garlic & Herb Chicken                  

1 whole chicken                           

1 stick Grass-fed butter, softened             
1 Tbsp minced garlic                   

2 tsp sea salt                                

1/2 tsp pepper                                  

1 Tbsp Parsley                                     

1 Tbsp Basil                                        

1 onion

3 carrots, cut in half

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into fourths

           Mix the softened butter with the garlic, salt, pepper, parsley and basil.  I don't eat the skin so sometimes I will carefully lift the skin and smear the butter underneath it.  Some days, because my husband does like the skin, I'll put it on top!  It's delicious both ways!

Place the veggies at the bottom of the croc pot.  I usually do onion, carrots and sweet potatoes with this but you could use whatever veggies you have on hand.  Place the chicken on top of the veggies and put the lid on.  Cook on low 6-7 hours! Yum! The chicken will fall off the bone!

Sometimes I will also leave a few onions in the juice at the bottom and use an immersion blender to make a gravy for the chicken! You could also use that juice to make a soup, which I do quite a bit! I'll post some of those recipes soon.  Enjoy!

Zucchini Noodles & Sweet Potato

I could probably eat a whole bowl of these noodles for dinner and be satisfied!  Usually I serve them under salmon or spaghetti sauce but they make a great side all on their own! They are pretty simple and quick to make, especially if you have a mandolin or one of these nifty contraptions! 

I just slice them by hand :)  Here's what you need-

4-5 Zucchini

1 Sweet Potato

2 tsp coconut oil

1 tsp salt

 1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp garlic powder

I slice my zucchini into strips,lengthwise.  I know a picture would be helpful but I forgot one! I'll take one next time I make it! Then I stack the ones that are roughly the same size and slice them into noodles, lengthwise.  

It just dawned on me that you could totally use the grater on  your food processor and it would probably work great!  I'll try that as well!

Peel and dice your sweet potato into small cubes.  Careful, they can be difficult to cut raw so make sure you have a sharp knife and decent cutting skills!

Heat your coconut oil in a pan on medium high heat and throw in your sweet potatoes.  Give them a 5 minute head start before you throw in the zucchini noodles.  Once your noodles and potatoes have cooked down to "al dente" add the salt and powders! Give it a good toss and it's ready to eat!

 Bon Appetit!

Everyday Chicken

This is the chicken that we always have in the fridge! I've eaten it for breakfast, lunch, dinner and a snack.  It's good in soup, on a pizza, with eggs or plain! It's pretty much the bomb! And super easy! Here's what you need-

6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cp light olive oil
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
a few shakes of pepper
4-5 smashed cloves of garlic
juice of half a lemon
2 Tbsp dried Parsley

I wash my chicken and dry it but you don't have to if you don't want! 

Simply mix all of the other ingredients together and pour over your chicken.  Cover and marinade for an hour or overnight if you're good enough to remember to do this the night before!

I always grill mine but you could bake it or cook it on the stove-top!  Make sure to let it sit for 5 minutes before you eat so the juices can redistribute!  Enjoy!

Simply Delicious Steak and Onions

The time finally came for us to go pick up our first weeks worth of produce at Madison Creek Farm in Goodlettsville, TN.  We were so excited! We've been doing the Whole Foods/Trader Joe's organic thing for awhile but we were ready for REALLY fresh, organic food that was in season (and that we weren't paying an arm and a leg for).  

The beginning of the spring crop starts off slow but picks up and adds as the season continues.  In this batch we had:

2 heads of Buttercrisp Lettuce

A large bag of spinach

a pint of strawberries

green onions

beet greens

asparagus

Rosemary, cilantro and parsley

Homemade pasta salad

And the dirt and bugs were still on them...mmm mmm fresh! :) We had to be sure to wash everything very well!  Bobby scarfed the pasta as soon as we got home and in case you didn't know, I've started Paleo. I don't like to think of it as a diet, more of a conscious effort to eat things that are natural that people would have eaten 1000 years ago.  It's not for everyone, I get that.  Call me crazy if you want but I'm really enjoying it. 

Buttercrisp Lettuce

Spinach

Fresh Strawberries

Asparagus

Homemade Pasta Salad

On Paleo, they recommend using Ghee, which is just clarified butter.  I use it mostly but also use butter.  For the steaks I pulled out the Ghee got it really hot in my cast iron skillet.

I had 4 pieces of grass fed London Broil.  Let them come to room temperature before cooking.

I generously salt and pepper them.

And throw them in the HOT cast iron skillet to sear each side, about 45 seconds per side.

Then I throw the whole skillet in the oven for 8-10 minutes, at 400 degrees.  We like ours medium rare but just leave it in a little longer to get it more done.

Then grab yourself some garlic!! I love Trader Joe's peeled garlic! They come in small packages with about 8 cloves airtight in each one! It makes life easier :)

Cut up 1-2 onions and throw them in some hot butter and garlic. 

I don't add any salt or pepper but you could if you think it needs it.  I don't like my onions too cooked down, still a little firm.  Make sure you stir them around and keep an eye on them. They don't take long to cook down.

There's a lot of butter in this recipe...I know! You can leave the onions or the compound butter out if you like.  On Paleo, butter is on the good list.  I know everything we read these days says to stay away from it but there's a lot of research that disagrees.... Good or bad, it makes this dish delish! I sliced off a small slice to top the steaks.

You can arrange it any way you like but I did the onions on the bottom with the steak and butter on top! It was a lovely dinner.  Bobby said it beat a steakhouse any day! That's probably because their wasn't a check to pay at the end of dinner. 

Enjoy!

Greek Chicken and Gyros

In 2008 I was able to spend a semester abroad in a small town on the outskirts of Athens, Greece. It was there that I ate my first real gyro. We were living in what use to be a hotel and there was a small gryo shop just across the street. For a few Euro you could get an authentic gyro and drink from the sweetest little Greek lady. Our means of communication were limited but she began to learn our "usuals" as the summer went on. We would take the gyros back to the hotel and sit under an umbrella out by the pool....THAT was the life! Isn't it the Mediterranean BEAUTIFUL!?

This was my first gyro! It was special enough for a picture. They put fries in the gyros, which was super tasty but I'm leaving the fries out of mine today.

Let's start with the Greek Chicken!

You will need -
4 Chicken Breasts
2 Tbsp Greek Yogurt
2 Tbsp Lemon Juice
1 tsp Red Wine Vinegar
3 Tbsp Olive Oil
4-6 Cloves of minced Garlic
1 Tbsp Oregano
1 Tbsp Dill
Tomatoes
Cucumber
Red Onion
Whole Wheat Pita Bread

Mix all of the ingredients up and pour over the chicken.


Let the chicken marinate for 4-6 hours.

and grill!

Allow the chicken to rest for 5 minutes then slice up along with cucumbers, tomatoes and red onions.

I also made a Greek Yogurt Sauce, that's for another post! You could also throw on some Feta Cheese if you like!
Pile all of it onto your fresh pita and enjoy!