Whole Chicken in the CrockPot

I love my CrockPot. I don't know about you, but I simply a~d~o~r~e that thing. It's so nice to have it slaving away all day while I am off doing my own thing. During football season, it's truly a godsend. We get home late in the evening from practice or an out-of-town game, walk in to an aroma-filled house and a dinner that's ready & waiting for us. Oh yes. Love my Crock.

Back in November we received a turkey from hubby's work and I decided I wanted to give it a try in the Crock Pot. I found a really good recipe with easy-to-follow instructions here. I altered that recipe slightly but found it worked beautifully just the same.

Since then, I've done several birds in the Crock. I've probably been doing about one every other week since November. Yep, that's how much we enjoy this recipe! For the most part I do them all the same way, but with slight variations. Here is my basic recipe for doing a whole chicken in the crockpot.

Ingredients:

Whole chicken (I prefer mine without the neck & whatnot, but that's up to you)
A small amount of olive oil (maybe 1/8 cup?)
2 Tbs. butter or margarine, cubed
1 small apple
1 slice onion (sorry, forgot to include it in the photo)
Mrs. Dash (whatever is your favorite blend. Ours is Garlic & Herb)

I took a closer shot of the label on my chicken because I wanted you to see how economical this meal is. I always buy the largest hen my grocery store has, and it's never yet been 6lbs. I always spend less than $6. This chicken feeds my family of 4 for dinner and lunch the next day.


Rinse off your chicken well, just like you do with a turkey. Pat it dry inside and out, just like you do with a turkey.

You want to core your apple. Slice it also. It is stuffed inside your chicken along with the cubed butter. The reason you want these sliced & cubed is because it can be a pretty tight fit. The type of apple does not matter as far as I know. Use whatever you like. If all your apple slices will not fit, take those left over slices and eat them. Go ahead. They're good for you. :-)


Using a basting brush, spread olive oil all over your chicken. Then sprinkle with the Mrs. Dash.


Flip her over and do the same thing on the other side. If you enlarge the above photo and look closely, you can see the green apple barely peeking out of her backside.


Place her in the crockpot. I've done them right side up and upside down. It does not matter. The whole chicken comes out equally juicy no matter what position you put her.

Place your onion slices on top. Set the crockpot to HIGH.

I leave my crockpot on HIGH for 2 hours. Then I switch it to Low for another 6 hours. If you work outside the home, perhaps you could put it on high in the morning while you're getting ready for work. Then switch it to Low right before you walk out the door. Maybe? In any case, mine cooks a total of 8 hours. (If you looked at that Turkey CrockPot link earlier, you noticed she cooked hers for 5 hours on HIGH the whole time). Both ways seem to work fine.


On this particular day I added 4 cups of water because I wanted additional broth for cooking the veggies and stuffing for the meal. I have also done this when I've known I'd be making chicken noodle soup out of the leftovers and wanted that extra broth. But let me tell you, you do NOT need to add any water at all. Your chicken will make LOTS of juicey broth all by herself. Only add water if you are wanting broth for another purpose.

This was Sportster's plate, all dished up and ready to go. The corn, green beans and stuffing had all been cooked using that extra broth I mentioned before. No additional flavoring or seasoning was needed; they were scrumptious just as they were.
The crockpot makes it so easy. I just went into the kitchen a half hour before mealtime, scooped out a bunch of the broth with a ladle and used it to fix the veggies and stuffing. And *bam* a delicious home-cooked meal for my hubby to come home to....with plenty of left-overs for his lunch the next day. (Actually, truth be told, this time around there was even enough left over to feed his partner lunch as well)


Here are some variations I've done with this recipe and have had success with them all:

Don't use an apple at all
Put the onion inside instead of on top (this is when I don't use an apple)
Use a Red Delicious apple instead of Granny Smith
Use minced onion instead of a real fresh one
Sprinkle the top of the chicken with minced garlic

One thing you need to know about this recipe: If you're looking for a beautifully browned, perfectly proportioned chicken for display in the center of your dining room table, this recipe is NOT for you. If that's what you need, then you should probably follow the instructions on that link about cooking on HIGH for 5 hours and then transferring to an oven for browning.

You'll notice I did not post any such pictures. There's a reason. I have not yet been able to get my chicken out of my crockpot in one piece. It all falls right off the bone. Which is a good thing. That's actually what I want, for the meat to be that done.

ALL the meat is incredibly juicy, even the white meat. I no longer have kiddos turning up their noses to dry white meat. And it all falls apart so easily, making the job of separating the meat for future soups or burritos or whatever SUPER easy.

What Do You Think of the New Look?

As you can see, I've been a busy little beaver here in Blogland. I think things are coming along nicely, don't you?

I got the left sidebar added...and managed not to lose the whole kit-n-kaboodle in the process. Yes, Virginia, there IS a God! I've still got to make up new graphics for the sidebars and move some stuff around. I want to add more gadgets too. But, all in all, I am pleased with the progress.

Please do tell me ~honestly~ what you think. Does it look ok on your end? Are things lining up fairly well? Graphics are easy enough to see? I'm not sure yet what to do about the fonts. I enlarged them to make them easier to read, but I'm not sure I like it. What do you think? Any feedback is greatly appreciated.

In the spirit of my at-least-one-picture-per-post rule, I've decided to throw a picture in here of the latest coupon organizer I made...which is much nicer to look at than a picture of me here slaving away on my blog. This coupon organizer was a special request from a previous customer. I hope she likes it.

Click on the photo to enlarge.

(You know, every time I make one of these blue-themed organizers, I can't stop thinking of Cindy. They look to me like her kind of colors.)


Oh, by the way. It is SOOOO beautiful here today! I can't believe it. 70 degrees! I took Chrissy for a walk this afternoon and was burning up! It's freezing in this house, so I'm wearing Long Johns, a sweatshirt and a sweater coat over that. I thought I was going to DIE when I got outside! LOL As soon as we got back, I opened up some windows to let that gorgeous spring-like air thaw out the house. Gee, can't believe it's February still.

Hope you're having a wonderful week!

Pictures for Kelly

I was trying to get caught up on my blog visits when I came across Kelly's post over at Rose Vine Cottage Two. She posted pictures of an antique bedframe she recently purchased. I kid you not, I gasped outloud and surely would have fallen out of my chair if it didn't have arms on it.

Kelly, these pictures are for you, to show you the detail of my bed so you can see. It's just like yours! (In my brain I'm screaming that because I'm really very excited to have finally found another one like mine)


My mother bought this wrought iron bed for me when I was a little girl. My earliest memory of it is when I was in Kindergarten. I'm 38 now...so I believe this bed has been with our family for about 33 years.


I used the footboard as a bar to practice my gymnastic swings, flipping over the footboard or balancing myself above it as if I were on the uneven bars. Such a silly girl, I was.


I recall being afraid of the detail work. It looked like two very stern eyes looking at me, with an almost gargoyle look to it. Why couldn't I have been a happy-go-lucky kid who saw the design as a beautiful butterfly or something?


My mother says when she first bought the bed, it was rusted badly. She spent a great deal of time cleaning it up and then painted it a creamy white. It's been repainted a few more times over the years. You can see some of the spots where the paint has chipped off. I don't mind a bit.



This is the most UNflattering picture you'll see. LOL I had to raise the skirt to show you. Even the joint where the pieces meet match yours.


I've looked at other wrought iron beds over the years. But none hold a candle to this one. It has many MANY years of memories for me. Like I said in my comments on your blog Kelly, I won't let my bed go 'til they put me in a pine box.

I hope yours becomes a favorite in your family too, to be passed down and cherished through the generations.

Help Me, Please?

Remember, you can click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

About 30 years ago my mother made these wonderful pillows for my bed. (Of course, that was about 10 years before I was born. At least, that's my story.)



I've pulled the pillows out of my hope chest and decided to display them on the guest bed. Which just happened to be my bed growing up. I thought it was rather fitting that the pillows return to their original place of display.




They all show some signs of their age, particularly around the middle. And they each could use a bit of a makeover. (gee, are we still talking about pillows here?)



I actually don't mind the general discoloration of the Aida cloth. I figure it just goes with the general older than dirt vintage thing.

But the "K" has a stain that is quite pronounced. It doesn't say "vintage", it says "splat". And I really need to figure out a way to clean it.



So I'm asking for advice. If these were your sentimental childhood pillows, how would you clean them? Or would you?

No, I don't have any clue what the 30 year old stain is.

No, these are not slipcovers over pillows. These are actually sewn on, so any cleaning has to be able to involve the whole pillow getting wet.

They are in excellent physical condition. Really, as good as the day they were made. No wear on the fabric or ribbons or lace at all. Just the discoloration of the Aida cloth. That's it.

Is there a way to clean the spot, but without it looking too clean, if you know what I mean?

Do you think they'd hold up to going through the wash?

Is bleach too harsh on something so old?

What about OxyClean?

Any ideas?

Please?

Any help would be most appreciated.

Thank you!

What Recession?

As you probably know, I am the Wilton method cake decorating instructor at my local Hobby Lobby. Last week I started up the February round of classes. This month I have more students enrolled than I've ever had before.

After class, I always walk over to the Wilton aisle of the store to assist the students with any purchases they may need to make. Many times in previous months I have had no students at all go to the Wilton aisle to make purchases. They've just left the store immediately after class, often opting instead to go to other stores where they know they can purchase the products cheaper. I always feel badly when they do that, but I there's nothing I can do about it. I can't force them to buy Wilton products or to do it at Hobby Lobby.

Anyway, back to this month's class. Last week after class I walked with the students as usual over to the Wilton aisle. I was surprised to find that ALL of my students shopped for Wilton products that evening. And I was even more shocked at the amount of products they purchased. I did some quick mental math while helping one lady, and I figured she was purchasing about $200 worth of Wilton products. Other students were filling up their carts as well. I was really pleasantly surprised. And thought to myself "What recession?"

The other day I went back to the store to turn in my February paperwork to the store manager. (Mucho importante, as this is how I get paid.) I mentioned to him about how much the students purchased. He told me they are finding that sales are actually increasing now as the economy is taking a downturn. He told me people are making more things themselves instead of purchasing ready-made products. And he said they are finding a trend among women to do more "nesting", which is resulting in Hobby Lobby seeing an increase in sales.

I thought that was interesting. And encouraging. After all, we've lost Linens N Things and Goody's here in our town just in the last couple of months. Two perfectly good stores, gone forever. I sure don't want to lose Hobby Lobby. With all the doom and gloom we are bombarded with these days, it is nice to hear that somebody is doing ok.

We don't have a Micheal's here in my town. I would imagine the same would be true for them too, since they're so similar to Hobby Lobby. I sure hope so. I hope both craft stores are able to weather this storm...for the sake of all us nesting women folk. :-)

Cheater, Cheater, Pumpkin Eater

Yep, that's me. I'm cheating today on my own newly self-imposed one-blog-post-with-atleast-one-picture-a-day goal.

I have a post in mind for today. But we've got a storm rolling in. Big time. Tornadoes and all. The lights are flickering; we've already lost satellite.

When these things happen, I shut down my computers and unplug them. Yes, I've got surge protectors, but I don't trust them completely. I can't afford to replace my computers, much less what's on them. So when Mother Nature gets jiggy, my babies get unplugged.

So this is my post for today. To tell you there is no post today. LOL

How's THAT for cheating?! ;-)

See ya' when the sun comes back out!

Preparing for the Worst

In anticipation of everything falling plumb apart when I go to switch my blog template, I've been spending some extra time making sure I've got everything I want to save saved into a separate document. Like the links of everyone I visit. You know, all those Linky Loves I've got in the sidebar.

From what I hear, those probably won't be transferred over automatically. So I'm going through and copying & pasting everyone's URL into a Word document. Figuring I can copy & paste everything back here into Blogger once I've made the change. Ugh. What a time burner!

On the upside, it's good because it's forcing me to update the links. On the downside, it's a real pain.

Am I making this harder than it has to be? Am I being overly cautious? I don't know. I've never re-done my blog like this before. All I know is I've heard horror stories about it from others.


In the meantime, I did manage to get another coupon organizer posted to ebay HERE.



Pretty doggone cute, if you ask me.



This came out a lot cuter than I thought it would. I'm actually liking the whole daisy & tea party theme that's going on with it. And the blue/yellow combination is nice & cheery.


Hope everyone has a Marvelous Monday!

Under Construction

I have been wanting to make some changes to my blog for quite some time now. I've been wishing I would have set it up as 3 column in the first place. And I haven't been thrilled with my graphics. I want to have the same graphics for my ebay and website and this blog. I finally broke down and purchased the graphics from InMyCedarChest that she'd used to make my ebay template a long time ago.

So I've decided I'm ready to take the plunge. I am going to attempt to re-do my blog. *Attempt* being the operative word, naturally.

I'm not exactly sure when I'll get around to it. Hopefully within the next week or so.

Fair warning. If you come by and see things all a-jumble, you'll know why. It's just Kim, doing her tinkering around thing again.

Oh, and here's a little preview...

Pink Saturday - Roses and Bows

It's Pink Saturday again! Woo Hoo! Thank you so much, Beverly, for hosting Pink Saturday for us again.

I love LOVE LOVE Pink Saturdays. Even when I don't have a post up, I still enjoy going around and visiting everyone else, seeing all your lovely pinkies.


Today I thought I'd share my latest creations.



This is a Coupon Organizer. I purchased the graphics, then put them together into my own design.



I had purchased this ribbon a while back. It is what I used to trim out the Christmas stocking for Chrissy. I had some left and just knew I had to add it to this box.



This is the matching Recipe Box that I made.



I've been pleasantly surprised at the response I've gotten so far to the boxes I've made. I've already received requests for custom orders.



I'm ooh'ing and ahh'ing over these. And, as much as I need them to sell, I'm really kinda hoping they don't. LOL



But seriously, I'm hoping and praying the demand keeps up. Not just because of the income factor..but because I really have a LOT of fun making these.

My shameless plug for the day: You can find these & the other tin boxes I've got for sale HERE.


Now let's head on over to Beverly's to see who else is participating today.

And have a WONDERFUL Pink Saturday!

All "Boxed" Up

I haven't taken the time to post in a few weeks. And I really should have. I've been a busy little beaver. I should have been sharing with you all along. It is one of the things I have decided to work harder on: keeping my blog updated. It's just too easy to get behind and let life get in the way and...well, no more excuses. Right?

It all started a few weeks ago when I came across a template for a coupon organizer. I absolutely fell in love with it and really wanted an excuse to make one. So I whipped one up for my stepmother's birthday and shipped it off to her.

(Click on photos to enlarge)

I put a note inside, asking her to give me feedback on how it worked out for her. Because I wanted to make one for myself too. She did give me feedback. She LOVED it.


Then I got the idea to make one and try my hand at selling it on eBay. I tweaked the design a bit and added a bit more embellishment. To give you an idea, here's the one I made for my stepmother:


And here's the first one that went on eBay:


I didn't have the right size box, though. So I had to do some changing of the graphics to make a template that would fit the larger sized box I was able to find. That was a challenge. Still, I think it came out nicely.



Then I made a Recipe Box and listed it on ebay.


Again, larger sized box. Had to alter the graphics. My first tiny taste of "graphic design".


Then I got brave. Or stupid. Not real sure which yet. LOL

I decided to make up my own graphic design into my own template.

And I came up with this:



I purchased the graphics themselves from Daisie Company, then put them together to make the templates for everything here.



It was very time-consuming, especially since I have no idea how to do graphic designs. But well worth it. She went for a pretty penny on eBay.



I did have a hard time shipping her off, though. A part of me really wanted to keep her here in my kitchen, in all her glorious shabby rosey-ness.