Alton Brown's "40 Cloves and a Chicken" Recipe

I've had this recipe in my "to try" queue for a while now, and decided to give it a go on a cheery, beautiful Sunday afternoon.  I had originally planned to just roast the chicken, but then thought, 'Hey. Why not, jack?'  Duck Dynasty is a great show.

The recipe requires olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary, and garlic.  It requires the chicken to be cut into 8 pieces.  I should mention here that I've never cut up a chicken before.  A rabbit, yes.  A chicken, no--I just roast them whole, or buy pre-cut chicken from the store.  The rabbit was part of a program at the McKinnis house, and wasn't that hard to cut--it had already been skinned, so it just needed to be cut into pieces.  Chickens, on the other hand, still have the skin on, and that just makes everything more slippery and, well, icky.  But after much weeping and gnashing of teeth on the chicken's part, I won, and the chicken became eight pieces. 

This is really an easy recipe.  The hard part was peeling forty cloves of garlic, but thanks to a trusty garlic peeler tube thingy that my mother-in-law gave me a long time ago, even that went pretty quickly.  I love the smell of fresh garlic!  And I fear no vampires now (not that I ever have).

You basically cut up a whole chicken into 8 pieces.  I removed the skin on all of the pieces except the wings, since neither my husband nor I like chicken skin, but chicken wings are hard to remove the skin from.

Then, you peel 40 cloves of garlic and set them aside.

Salt and pepper the chicken pieces.  Brown the chicken in two tablespoons of olive oil, and then move the pieces to an oven-safe baking dish.  Everything I have is too small for holding a whole cut-up chicken.  Guess I'll have to go shopping soon.

Pour a half of a cup of olive oil into the baking dish, then add 10 sprigs of fresh rosemary (which I didn't have, so I just sprinkled some of my dry rosemary over the chicken), and add the garlic cloves.

Bake at 350 degrees for 1 1/2 hours, until the chicken is cooked through but still tender.  Goes great with mashed potatoes and fresh green beans.  Everything about this recipe is just so easy!

For the actual recipe, here is the Alton Brown's Food Network page: 40 Cloves and a Chicken.

Crock Pot Chicken and Stuffing Recipe

"A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?" - Ecclesiastes 2:24-25

Several years ago, my husband was given a recipe for a Crock Pot chicken and stuffing concoction.  He brought said recipe home to me and asked me to make it for dinner.  I obliged.  He liked it.  I liked it.  So we put it in our dinner rotation for a while.  Sadly, it fell by the wayside until a few weeks ago.  Hubby requested it for the first time in ages, so I made it last weekend.  It's very good on a cold day, and a great comfort food.  I just had to share it with you!

Ingredients:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves
4 slices of Swiss cheese
1 can (10.5 oz) condensed cream of chicken soup
1 can (10.5 oz) condensed cream of mushroom soup
1 C chicken broth
1/4 C milk (not pictured)
2-3 C Pepperidge Farm herb stuffing mix
1/2 C melted butter
Salt and pepper to taste


Directions:
Spray your Crock Pot with cooking spray to prevent sticking and make cleanup easier.  Then place your chicken breasts in the pot and season with salt and pepper.   Place a piece of cheese over each piece of chicken.  I had to stack mine, since I was using my small Crock Pot.  Pour broth over top of the chicken.

 

In a medium bowl, combine soups and milk.

Pour the soup mix over the chicken and broth.

Sprinkle stuffing mix over the top (I just eyeballed it, and didn't measure out the stuffing).  Pour your melted butter over the top.

Cook on low for 6-8 hours.  Devour.  Super delicious.  (You can also cook on high for about half the time, but just watch it to make sure nothing burns.)

This is a great meal to throw together in the morning before work and have after you get home, or a great Sunday dinner after church.  It's a great comfort dinner!

The Twelve Days of Christmas Recipes, Day 9: Spicy Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork

Howdy!  We're truckin' right along through the Twelve Days of Christmas Recipes.  Hard to believe how close Christmas is!  Won't be long before we're all counting the days until warmer weather and spring showers.  Until then, here is a recipe found on The Pioneer Woman website.  It's so simple--just throw a few ingredients together and stick it in the stove for about six hours.  Think of what you can get done in those six hours while it's cooking...gift wrapping...cleaning...more cooking...hiding from the guests with a glass of wine and your IPod...This is a great recipe for pulled pork, and really, if you need a break from Christmas turkey, this would be a great substitute to serve to your holiday guests!

Day 9: Spicy Dr. Pepper Pulled Pork

Ingredients:

1 whole large onion
1 whole pork shoulder (aka pork butt), 5-7 lbs, bone in
Salt and pepper
1 can, 11oz, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (I don't like really spicy stuff, so I use a 7 oz. can)
2 cans Dr. Pepper
2 tbsp. brown sugar

Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees.  Peel the onion and cut it into wedges, and spread the wedges across the bottom of a large roasting pan or dutch oven.  Salt and pepper the pork, rubbing the seasoning into the meat with your hands.  Pour the entire can of peppers (sauce and all) over the top of the meat and into the pan.  Pour in the Dr. Peppers and stir in the brown sugar.  Place the lid on top of the pot and place in the oven.  Cook for at least six hours, turning the meat over a few times during cooking.  After six hours, remove meat from oven and test with a fork--if the meat pulls apart easily with the fork, then it's done.  If it doesn't, place the meat back in the oven and cook for another hour.  Once the meat is cooked and falling off of the bone, remove the meat from the pan and begin to pull apart with forks.  Discard juice, onions and fat pieces.  This makes a ton of pulled pork, and it tastes incredible!!

To see the original post of this recipe, click here.

Luke 2:15: When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”