I am thinking.....

Nothing good starts from this phrase... but I believe this is going to be good. I eat out a lot when I am at work and am now working in Seattle, I have a feeling I might come across some great restaurants with some great food, if I do I will let you guys know and ....wait for it......try and recreate it!! I work primarily in a Ethnic food area, but will do my best at getting out and about more...this might be fun and challenging as well.... let's see what I come up with.

Butternut squash Cous Cous

Israeli Cous Cous...one of my favorite sides, I have been working on many variations of this and really love what butternut squash brings to the plate and to this tiny vessel of love that is Israeli Cous Cous. This serves as a pillow for any meat, and with enough love and squash can be a main course for the vegetarian in your life.

2 cups of butternut squash, you can get this packaged or fresh
1 cup of Israeli Cous Cous
2 cups of chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees, if you bought a fresh squash, peel the skin off of the whole squash, get rid of the seeds and cut in cubes. Drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic the cubes and put in the oven for 20-30 minutes, check tenderness with a fork, squash is much like a potato and the fork will go right through when done..Simply follow the directions on the box for the Cous Cous, I have never been good at box directions, so I won't try to repeat it here...all I ask is that you substitute water for the broth of your choosing, this all depends on your main course. Use beef broth or stock for all red meat, all white meat varieties use chicken stock or broth, for you vegetarians out there use veggie stock or broth.

Thanksgiving Chicken

One of my favorite foods is a whole chicken, it has so many ways it can be cooked and has a purpose after it has been cooked. I thought I would try cooking a whole chicken the way I did this Thanksgiving turkey. I of course was in charge of the bird this year and I will never let my sister know how terrified I was. I watched cooking channel for 16 hours on my weekend, thank goodness the Seahawks were on a bye-week. I didn't want to brine the turkey and I had already showed my skills and mastery of injecting fowl to my family. So I took a recipe from my new favorite chef Anne Burell and made it fit what I wanted for me and my family.



1 whole chicken, with parts
3 cups of carrots, no need to get fancy here, just rough chop, or use the mini ones like I did
3 cups of celery, same idea as the carrots
7 green onions, reserving 3 for the cavity of the chicken
1 whole shallot, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, smashed and chopped
1 stick of butter
1 tablespoon of sage
1 tablespoon of thyme
1 teaspoon of rosemary
1 lemon
1 Granny Smith app




There is some preparation to this chicken, so this is not for the faint at heart. Don't be afraid! Live dangerously!! First thing you need to do is take out your stick of butter and let it get to room temperature. Chop sage, thyme, rosemary, take 2 of the 6 garlic cloves, mince finely, sprinkle some salt and drizzle a little oil on the chopped cloves smash it with your knife and run the chopped garlic back and forth with the flat part of the knife till they are completely crushed, grate a teaspoon of the lemon rind into the butter, then squeeze some of the lemon juice to flavor it even further. Put this in the butter and mix...do this well in advanced so that it has time to flavor the butter...try to do this at least 2 hours before dressing the bird. Put back into the fridge to get  a bit solid.

Preheat oven 350 degrees, bring the chicken out of the fridge an hour before cooking to come to room temperature. To butter rub a bird you need to get in between the skin and the meat, this is a delicate process. This needs to be done with some finesse ...start with the breast...using your fingers separate the skin from the meat working your way down...do not try to separate both breasts of the chicken in one swoop...they need individual attention....so repeat on the other side, work the butter down to the leg and the thigh...flip and repeat on the back part of the chicken. In the cavity of the chicken put half of the granny smith apple, lemon, 2 cloves of garlic, and the left over green onions. In the pan your planning to cook this magnificent bird in, layer the bottom with all the veggies from above...on top of that include the pieces and parts from inside the chicken that we usually throw way, this will make for some fantastic stock later on. Set rubbed chicken on top of this mountain of flavor and put in the oven for an hour and 15 minutes or so...internal temperature should be 165 degrees. Once this is done..don't be in a rush to cut the chicken open, let it rest for 15 minutes and finish up all the lovely sides you plan for this.

Getting prepared for daily postings

I found a time issue with running a blog, so what I have been doing is getting a collection of recipes and pictures to post weekly, I have about 4 now and by next week will have enough to start posting weekly without going silent for days and days. I also want to hear from you,the people that are looking at this blog...tell me your recipes, post them share them with me and every one that is here. I am going to start doing some vegetarian dishes as well to accomodate my new friends at my new job....although I am a dedicated meat eater, I know that alot of people out their choose differently. So Maggie...for you I will be doing some veggie dishes and think I will start with your pumkin addition to mac and cheese :). Thanks for everyone that has been watching this blog...we are about to hit 1000 hits!!! Have fun and keep cooking, life is delicious!!