A Chicken Success!

I had a super success with my cooking this week! I tried a new recipe which entailed slow cooking an entire chicken for 5-6 hours. I didn't have much experience with cooking a whole chicken, but it was actually quite easy.

To begin with, I placed a bed of chopped carrots, onions, and celery in the crock pot. I then stuffed the chicken itself with one chopped lemon and rubbed the outside of the chicken with a dry rub consisting of onion powder, garlic powder, paprika, s&p, and cumin. I then placed the bird on top of the veggies, closed the lid, and let it cook for about 6 hours. I had worried that the chicken would dry out because this recipe in particular didn't call for any broth, but it worked out just fine! It was very moist and falling off the bone by the time it was done.

I carefully pulled the chicken out of the pot (this proved to be very difficult since it was falling apart) and separated out all the good meat (Thomas and I broke the wishbone- he won). I poured the vegetable/broth mixture in a different container and stored it in the fridge to mess with on another day. For the first two nights, we just served the chicken as a part of a salad, which was really yummy. Have you ever tried a spoonful of hummus added to your salad? If not, you should. Its delicious!

Last night, I decided to tackle the rest of the chicken and vegetable leftovers. I was able to make two different dishes. I should mention first that after the veggies had refrigerated at least 24 hours, I was able to open up the container and skim off some of the fat layer that had formed from the chicken. I then threw the veggies in a pot, added a container of vegetable broth, part of the cut up chicken, 1/4 box of cooked penne pasta, more s&p, and let it simmer for an hour.

For the other half of the chicken, I made a cold pasta salad. It consisted of 1/2 box cooked penne pasta, steamed green beans sliced into bit size pieces, 1 small head of radicchio (chopped), dried blueberries, and the leftover portion of the cooked chicken. I toss all of this in a champagne salad dressing made by Girard's, let it sit overnight, and then devour because its delicious!

Here are a few pictures to share-

Enjoy!

Mary's Curtains :)

My sister-in-law Mary started a new job after Christmas- same job (school counselor) but just at a different school that is much closer to home! At her old school, she used to just have a small office and she would actually travel to the kids classrooms for group activities. But at her new school, she has a full trailer where larger groups can come to her. We all remember trailers from our High School days (or at least I do). They can leave MUCH to the imagination. So with the help of my Mom, we were able to make her new curtains for the trailer to liven things up a little bit. It was quite the undertaking (6 windows, 6 lined curtains) which is why I begged Mom to come down and help me. I was feeling a little overwhelmed, but it went seamlessly (pun intended) with her help! She's a great little assistant :)

Here are a few pictures to share!

 A practice hang!

Green ribbon tabs to match!

Finished Product :)

2014 so far...

We've really enjoyed 2014 so far. We haven't done much, but after the November and December that we had, it's a blessing to be able to say that! We'll travel for the first time in 2 months to Hillsborough next weekend for Carly and Jay's Engagement party. We're very excited to celebrate with them and visit with friends and family.

We've had an unusual amount of snow this Winter. I'm sure you've seen us headlined across the news. Those crazy southerners that don't know how to deal with winter weather. It's true though! We just aren't prepared for winter weather. We don't have enough salt trucks on hand and there's way too much ground to cover.. especially in a city like Atlanta. So things tend to shut down for DAYS. Which is exactly what happened- twice. Luckily, we never lost power and the neighborhood kids enjoyed the sledding that only occurs every 2-3 years :)

Hopefully we've almost seen the finish to this winter. We've had a few spring like days and it has me longing for more! I love love love Spring. Planting flowers, opening all the windows, prepping our garden, flip flops and sun dresses - it's all so much fun!

We got a new washer and dryer last weekend! So exciting, right?!? I get excited about these things. I got a vacuum for Christmas one year, which made for a VERY fun holiday break :) Anyway, our hand-me-down set has been very good to us and we were thankful to of had it as long as we did! It was 11 years old and saw us through 5 moves. Crazy right? The dryer is actually still working well- but we were able to get a great deal on a washer/dryer set, so we decided to go ahead and purchase both.

Washer and Dryer shopping can be a little stressful. We went into it with an open mind but they are very EXPENSIVE. We thought we would price both front load and top load, but we quickly realized that the newer front loaders were both HUGE and expensive. We were able to rule them out quickly since our laundry room would not fit them- and neither could our wallets! We went to Sears first, which had a great selection, but we ultimately purchased from a store we have here in GA called Fry's. Its kind of like a Best Buy- mostly electronics, but a small selection of appliances also. They ended up having a great deal on a floor model set that we couldn't pass up. It was literally delivered in less than 24 hours and we were back in business!

Speaking of which- I need to go get some more laundry done! Im still in catch up mode...