Crockpot Moroccan Chicken

Friday morning came faster than I thought it would but I was mentally prepared for the task at hand (touching a dead bird). Athens had a level 2 snow emergency today so Georgie's Wee Wigglers class was cancelled. Initially I was bummed because we love our Friday morning outing but as the morning progressed I was overwhelmingly thankful. Around 9:30 I looked at my email for the recipes that Ben promised to send me. His most recent one had a few extra tips on how to make working with raw chicken easier. He mentioned how it would be easier to have both sinks empty and use them to wash and EMPTY OUT THE CHICKEN's INSIDES! WHAT!? I had no idea I would have to reach INSIDE and touch anything! I was nauseous all morning thinking about it. I put the chicken in the sink, took a few heavy swigs of coffee and started to make the paste that I was going to use to coat the outside and inside the skin of the chicken.

Creating the paste was fun. Here is Ben's recipe. 

paste to put under and on the chicken skin: 3 cloves minced garlic; scrape 2 tablespoons of lemon rind with the cheese grater; 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1 tablespoon salt; 1 teaspoon pepper; 2 tablespoon paprika; 1 teaspoon cumin; 1 teaspoon ginger; 1 teaspoon curry powder; enough half and half olive oil and lemon juice to make all this spice into a paste

You're going to put this paste inside the chicken skin by using your fingers to gently separate the skin from the meat from the head side of the bird (take the giblets and crap out of the bird and throw them away too). get 2/3 of the paste under the skin, and put the rest around the bird. 

"Giblets and crap" ICK! 

As I was finishing the paste Ruthie woke up early and fussy from her nap. G was concerned about her so he was following me all around. I strapped her in the carrier and gave G a hug.

Best part of the whole recipe was zesting the lemon rind. It smelled so good! 

Paste is done now time to take on the chicken....with Ruthie attached unfortunately.

Ruthie screamed as soon as I cut the chicken out of the plastic wrap. NO KIDDING! She hated it just as much as me. At one point I was near tears shushing her, bouncing her, my hands in a dead bird. George was so worried the whole time he kept saying "Rufie cying mama." Then he started his fake cry and attempted to win an Oscar with his over the top dramatic behavior.  Touching the chicken was just as nauseating as I thought it would be. It was cold and for some reason it reminded me of Ruthie when I pick her up after giving her a bath.....which totally freaked me out. This picture was when it was all done and the chicken was in the crockpot. I put the leftover lemon and a whole onion in the bottom of the crockpot per Ben's instructions. Although I saved 1/4 of the lemon to put down our disposal. I read somewhere that helps clean it and it makes the kitchen smell nice. 

After the chicken was in I set the Crockpot to low for 4 hours then eventually would change it to high for 3. 

George and I started phase two. The Hummus!

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/real-hummus/

"Hummus!"

But before we could start Ruthie had a BM and 'lucky me' it was a blow out. Like I said earlier she was in the carrier. We had quite a mess. As I changed her, and cleaned up myself, Georgie said "poop" while pointing to his bum bum.  So, I changed him and then returned to the kitchen with two very happy babies;).

As we gathered ingredients we couldn't find the tahini so we went on a hunt for it and George kept looking into the fridge saying "Hini where are you?"

"Tabe uh oon"

He wasn't a fan of helping push the button.

"No, no"

Prep work is done. Now we wait for the chicken. I will post after babes are asleep to hopefully reveal a successful dinner!

YAY! Everything was delicious! Prep work may have been tough but it was more than worth it. I cut up carrot, red and green pepper sticks to dip into the hummus. We also had some toasted pita bread for dipping. Everyone was satisfied and we have leftovers :). Next time I hope I can be a little braver and get more paste into the chicken's skin. I think it would have added more flavor. I will also make the paste ahead of time so that the morning of things go a little faster. 

Salmon

Ben gave me a break this weekend. He took care of all the major meals and I have to admit at first I was a little bummed. But it was really nice that I didn't have to make a meal until tonight.

On Sunday George, Ruth and I went to a play date in the afternoon and so Ben offered to grocery shop and make dinner. I was a little thrown off guard at first because I have been working so hard to get into my own rhythm with buying the groceries and meal planning. Thankfully, I came to terms with it rather quickly. When the kids and I got home 2 1/2 hours later Ben's first words were "You are going to be so excited when you see all I have done." I have to admit I thought he meant he had cleaned so I walked through all the rooms looking to see if the dishes were done, laundry put away etc. Then he came in and showed me how he had made stir fry and chili for dinner. He made two meals so that we would have extra food for the week. :) I was so happy and thankful but let's be honest I kinda wish there had been one meal and a clean house.

Tonight I made Salmon, mashed potatoes and green beans. Around 4pm I was really worried about whether or not it was going to happen. Georgie usually naps for 2 hours and today he didn't nap at all and Ruthie is teething so every time I tried to lay her down she would start to cry.

Poor sweet girl couldn't stop chewing on her hands.

At one point this afternoon I was trying to get Ruthie to sleep and I came back to the Kitchen to this. "Look Mama, Fall." He was running around making himself slip and fall.

At another point I was holding Ruthie in our bed. I thought G would maybe snuggle up next to us and rest but instead he kept putting his finger to his mouth and saying "Shh Roof Seeping" while in the same minute he would stand up on the bed and shout "JUMP" while attempting to jump.

When Ben came home he played with G but I still couldn't get Ruthie to calm down. At about 5:30 I was finally able to start dinner. Ben and George were both getting really hungry (and whiny). I started the potatoes and Ben entered the kitchen. He thought I had too much cheese laid out for the potatoes so I compromised by saving the extra cheese for my own personal plate. Ben decided to help me because he thought it would make dinner happen faster. I enjoyed cooking with him in the kitchen tonight because he didn't take over and he did give me good advice. Also, if he hadn't been there the green beans would not have been fully cooked. I had no idea they would take so long to get soft!

Dinner was a huge success. Everything tasted great and this was my second time preparing salmon and I felt much more confident this time and next time I think I may even experiment with my own seasoning. The potatoes turned out perfectly but I made way too many and apparently they lacked garlic. Ben asked mid meal if I had put any garlic in them and when I said no he proceeded to tell me how he adds some fresh garlic in the bottom of the pan with olive oil right before he mashes them...Next time......I will also be sure to make about half of the amount I made tonight in the future. I think there were about ten red potatoes for the three of us. I didn't follow a recipe, I just thought that looked about right. Ben made a good point, if we were to eat the potatoes whole I would have probably only ate about 2 or 3 so I should have only used 6 total.  Why can't I think of those things on my own?

I feel so scattered in the kitchen. I am definitely still lost but I don't feel defeated. Although, check back with me Friday. I am planning on making Moroccan chicken in the crock pot. Ben is going to give me a recipe for his blend of spices and I am really excited to learn how to make hummus as a side. However, Ben said that I am going to need to put the spices into the skin of the chicken. I have seen him do this..and it looks disgusting. I was hoping that because I am using the crock pot I would be able to skip that step. But apparently that's the key to making it extra yummy. So, Friday will be my biggest challenge as of yet.

Pork BBQ....Easy?

I thought that tonight would be a boring dinner so I hadn't planned on posting anything. My mom cooked pork, froze it and brought it to us last weekend. So my plan for dinner was just to heat up the pork for BBQ sandwiches and then have some sweet potato fries on the side. Ben has made these fries numerous times and I figured even though I never really paid attention to the details of how he made them, I could probably do it.

This afternoon I looked up a recipe for sweet potato fries. http://cookieandkate.com/2010/baked-sweet-potato-fries/ I was excited to have something easy (sandwiches) paired with a new challenge.

I had the potatoes ready to go into the oven on the counter and the pork was thawed. Ben came home and saw the potatoes. He proceeded to try and tell me about how he makes them. I got defensive and explained how I needed to do this on my own. I was excited about the recipe. Somewhere inside of me I knew he was probably right but I really hoped he was wrong. We had a nice heated conversation about it and the resolution was that I would do them my way and then we hugged. Once G saw our hugging he came running towards us saying "Big Hugs!!" So we had a nice family hug :).

OK, back to the food. I put the potatoes in the oven and started to warm up the pork. Ben gave me a quick and easy recipe for BBQ sauce (1/3 BBQ sauce, 1/3 dijon mustard, 1/3 apple cider vinegar). I added the sauce and successfully warmed up the pork.

Now, I need to admit that while I was preparing the potatoes I didn't follow the recipe exactly as written. Ben is always saying how he "eyes" things like the spices so I thought I would give that a try....In the recipe she says you can use cayenne pepper so I chose that spice. I "eyed" how much to add and I felt pretty good about it.

Ben helped me toast the pretzel buns we added some lettuce and it was time to eat!

I was anxious to try the potatoes and after one bite I knew Ben was right and soon after I also realized that I should NEVER eye a spice I know nothing about. My mouth was on fire. I waited to say anything, but then I asked Ben if they were too spicy. He said no. Then he said yes. Good thing Georgie's sweet potatoes were steamed.

In the future I will use Ben's recipe for potatoes and I will try to be less defensive when he offers advice. All in all it was a success. We ate the potatoes and hopefully no one will suffer any major consequences.

The beginning...

Well here we are, 5 1/2 years into a wonderful marriage and 2 kids later and I am for the FIRST time responsible for all things "Kitchen." It started with the dishes a few years ago. Then once I became a stay at home mom cleaning the areas outside of the dishes were added. Now, I have two beautiful children and Ben is teaching 4 classes so I have to also cook the food that goes into the dishes and dirties the counter tops. This task has me more stressed and overwhelmed than I ever was when pregnant. Now, I should clarify I am only responsible for lunch and dinner. Lunch is easy since it's just G and I and mostly we eat leftovers. So dinner is my main challenge. I also realize that up until this point I have been spoiled. I should have learned/paid attention WAY before now. But that doesn't change the reality that for me this situation is truly overwhelming.

So tonight is the big night. It was supposed to be last night but Ben ordered pizza because I had a busy day so I did a little prep yesterday. Chicken Enchiladas are what's for dinner. Yesterday I cooked the filling and then placed it in the fridge until today. For a side I planned beans and rice but Ben said we don't need rice and since the rice was freaking me out I am more than happy to put that off for another time.

G woke up at 4 from his nap. I was worried it might take me two hours with both kids to make this meal so I went ahead and started prep at 3:30. I thought I could get it started then when G wakes up I could give him a snack and quickly do the dishes and then clean up the play room before Ben got home. WELL, Ben came home early Yay.... Seriously I am so happy he came home early but it threw me. I apologized that the front room was dirty, he said he didn't care, he asked why I was already cooking at 4 in the afternoon, I said I didn't know.... Anyway, Enchiladas are in the oven now they will be ready one hour in advance...hopefully they won't be too soggy by the time we eat them. Beans should be easy..yes?

I will be sure to add more info before bed on how it all went and the recipe. Quickly before I tend to the food and babies I want to add that although this is new to me I am very excited to learn how to be in the kitchen on this level.  I know things won't always go well but when they do I will be so excited and so will Ben! I hope that this blog will help me to save recipes, learn from my mistakes, vent and gather advice from friends and family. Here we go!

I also made "power bars" today. I needed something packed with all kinds of good stuff to keep me going on the run. I am finding myself to be super hungry all the time because of nursing and taking care of G and Ruthie. I forget to eat and when I do it tends to be unhealthy. These bars are delicious and they are full of great ingredients to keep me energetic and BONUS they will help me in breastfeeding Ruthie.
Recipe for "Power Bars"
1 cup old fashioned oats , 1/2 cup ground flax, 1/2 cup toasted coconut, 1/4 dried cranberries, 1/4 dried blueberries, 1/4 cup mini choc chips, 3/4 cup pnut butter, 1/3 cup honey, 1tsp vanilla. Hand mix all the dry ingredients in a med bowl. Pop the p butter in the microwave for 45 sec, add the honey and vanilla to the pbutter mix and pour into the dry. Stir till its coated. place in rectangular dish of your choice, let cool in Fridge and Wallah, a yummy treat. This recipe can obviously be altered in multiple ways. So I plan to have lots of fun with it. 

Well, dinner is over the kids are asleep and I can finally finish this post. As I was writing the above I thought the beans were warming and the enchiladas were heating up in the oven. I thought wrong. I went to check the stove and the beans were cold. The oven lights were on but there was no heat. So I ran downstairs to tell Ben. He pulled out the stove, unplugged it and plugged it back in and it started to work again. Dinner was saved. We all sat down to eat and after our first few bites we both agreed it was delicious. Ben would have been happier if he hadn't gotten a mouthful of onion skin that I missed when chopping veggies but otherwise there were no complaints. Georgie didn't eat very much but as we cleaned up he decided to cook for us. 

Here is the link to the recipe. I made a few alterations; no sour cream, instead of tomato sauce I pureed whole tomatoes, instead of taco sauce I used the leftover filling that didn't fit into the tortillas, I used pepper jack instead of cheddar (which would have been mozzarella if Ben hadn't caught me in time. He kindly explained that mozz is an italian cheese and therefore it would not be good in a mexican dish). We added the "Frog Ranch Salsa" after it was served on our plates. 

I told Ben about the Blog after dinner we both agreed we hope this blog is a "flash in the pan" (pun intended). I hope to Conquer the Kitchen very soon. Feel free to leave me your Chicken enchilada recipes or tips.