Hugs Kitchen » Uncategorized

Nashville in the summertime

cwelch — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 00:12:41 +0000

I love to cook. And I have to admit that I love to eat good food as well. Soon, we’ll be flying off to Nashville, TN just shy of a week. I hope to check some good BBQ while I’m there. And some good music. And some quality time with my very patient husband.

See you soon and will share more information about our trip.

Roasting chickens

cwelch — Thu, 13 May 2010 11:58:37 +0000

After the unseasonably warm temperatures here in Southern Vermont, I realize that Sunday dinner roasted in the oven will soon take a back seat to how to feed the family quickly and without heating up the house.

Chicken roasters are on sale at Price Chopper this week for only 88 cents a pound. I stopped this morning and got two that I’m roasting for dinner. One was 6, the other 6 1/4. I like to roast start the roasting at 400 degrees for 15 minutes, then down to 350 for the remaining time. It takes about 2 – 2 1/2 hrs for this size bird, unstuffed.

Unwrap the roasters. Put the giblets, neck, etc into a small saucepan, cover with cold water and turn on a low heat. Rinse the chicken with cold water. Drain from end to end. Turn the wings under and place in roaster pan. Since I had two roasters, I put them in my great, big turkey roaster.

I love the flavor of rosemary, marjorum, and thyme on the roasters, but some of the folks in the house are food texture picky. They don’t like the texture of the rosemary, especially. So I put them in my spice grinder into almost a powder.

I usually combine soft butter, and some olive oil, then mix in the herb mixture, I put this under the skin and rub all over the chicken. A bit of salt and pepper. And it’s ready for the oven.

Today, I only had some hard margarine. I tried to soften it in the microwave, but it melted. So I added the olive oil. Set up each chicken and poured some into the space under the skin. Set them back down, and then poured the rest all over the chickens. I sprinkled the herb over the top, maybe a little too think.

I covered the roasting pan with aluminum foil. Put in the oven at 350 for 1 1/2 hrs. Then removed the aluminum for the last hour and it came out great. Pictures to come as soon as I get a chance to download them from the camera.

The Big Snow

cwelch — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 13:15:02 +0000

Here I sit in the early am at my kitchen table in Southern Vermont. Cup of coffee next to the computer. Some folks here have gone off to work, the rest are still in bed. Yesterday, we had a big, unexpected snowfall. It is snowing again this morning, and the wind is whipping around what we got hit with yesterday. It is definitely winter here in the sun belt of Vermont.

I can hear the occasional scrape of the snow plow going by, but no traffic. The roads are still snow covered. No salt or sand laid out that I can see. Luckily, we went to Connecticut and saw my father and brother earlier in the week. If we had planned for this weekend, we would have hit the weather in the traveling. I have a little Dave Ramsey-style baby emergency fund but I wouldn’t want to spend it that way!!

Still, I have to admit that the snow is beautiful.

A good day for baking bread, I’m thinking. Back to work tomorrow, so I have to get my laundry done, and I left the kitchen a wreck yesterday. But I’m thinking that the aroma of bread baking is just what we need today.