Chicken Bog

 

With all of the grandchildren here for fall break, I wanted an easy supper that everyone would eat. Chicken Bog was my plan. Chicken Bog, a South Carolina low-country favorite, is a perfect fall recipe, too. Baby Girl didn't love it but then there are a lot of things she doesn't love yet.

I have posted this recipe before, but this time I increased the amounts by 50%. When I taught home economics to 8th graders, I found myself also teaching a little math. Sometimes you need math in the kitchen. This would be one of those times. My original version served 4. This one is rewritten to serve 6.

Also, because of the little ones have tender palates, I used less black pepper (it's written that way in this recipe) and just left the red pepper out altogether. It was hot enough for them. Make the "heat' suit your family.

CHICKEN BOG

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
13-oz package turkey smoked sausage
3/4 cup chopped onion
3 tablespoons butter
1-1/2 teaspoons Lawry's seasoning salt
1-1/2  teaspoons House Seasoning *
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper, optional (I left it out)
2 bay leaves
6 cups chicken broth (more broth or water, as needed)
2-1/4 cups uncooked white rice

Slice the turkey smoked sausage into rounds. In a stockpot, combine chicken broth, chicken breasts, sausage, onion, butter, seasonings and bay leaves. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and cook for about 35 minutes, until chicken is tender. Remove chicken from pot and let cool slightly. Using two forks, shred chicken and set aside.

Add rice to pot and bring to a boil, stirring well. Boil 10 minutes, then reduce heat. Cover the pot and simmer for 10 minutes, or until rice is done. (Add more broth or water if needed.)

Remove bay leaves. Stir shredded chicken back into the pot. Add more broth if needed.

Serves 6

*House Seasoning:  Mix 1/4 cup salt, 1 tbsp. black pepper & 1 tbsp. garlic powder. Store in an air-tight container, such as an empty spice bottle.


Let me say that after cooking supper last night, I am amazed that Mommy ever gets ANYTHING cooked to feed her family. I know I did it when my girls were little. I know she does it every night. But goodness, how crazy it is to be cooking with two little ones zooming around the kitchen. Understand that there were four adults here watching the two little ones and it was still hard.

How does Mommy do it when it's two against one???

Batten Down The Hatches!

 

I'm sitting here in early morning, making a grocery list. This is a special grocery list. All the grandchildren (along with Mommy) will be here this afternoon and will stay for a few days while their schools are on fall break. This is one of the wonderful perks of their move to a neighboring state.

I was having a hard time thinking of easy suppers to make while they are here. I don't want to spend much time in the kitchen when I could be playing and snuggling and reading storybooks and rocking the baby (well, she's 19 months old.) After coming up blank with meal ideas, it hit me. DUH! Check the recipe index right here on my own blog.

The recipes on my blog are the ones I know my family likes. And I know they work because I've made them all. Sometimes a new recipe can be a "surprise." So this morning, I'll head to the grocery store with a list and a plan. Maybe you can find a supper idea in my plan, too.

It will be cool and rainy here for their entire visit, so tonight I'm making Chicken Bog. Who doesn't like chicken and rice? And it didn't hurt that I have a turkey smoked sausage in the 'fridge that I need to use.

Tomorrow is Big Sister's 15th birthday. She has requested that I make Penne with Tomatoes &  Mozzarella. I'm am totally happy she chose one of my easiest recipes!

Wednesday, I have a committee meeting at church, I am responsible for feeding kids in the children's Bible study and our handbell group has it's first fall practice. I'll be home in time for a slightly late supper with the children. But cooking Wednesday's supper calls for a slow cooker meal or a make-ahead dinner, or maybe soup. I can't think that far ahead this morning!

I'll make Chicken Salad for sandwiches because everyone likes that. And maybe Little Sister and I will bake Applesauce Muffins. If I'm smart, I'll measure the dry ingredients this morning before they arrive and then the mixing will be easy.

What else is on my to-do list this morning? Moving everything laying around up about 2 feet higher—so that Baby Girl's busy little hands cannot reach them. At least I hope she can't!

Every Daybreak Is A Gift

 

 "Whether I retire to bed early or late, I rise with the sun."
-  Thomas Jefferson - Mr. Jefferson rose early everyday for 50 years.

Like Mr. Jefferson, I am an early riser. I was just born that way. Yes, there are a few of us. When we moved here to the farm, I discovered that I had a ringside seat to watch the sunrise every day. So for years now, I have photographed the sky. Mostly in the early morning. Sometimes later in the day if I notice something special. 

Making these hundreds of photographs of the same spot day after day has made me much more aware of the seasons changing. More aware of the weather. More aware of nature. More aware of myself.

All of these photos are from this summer. The final photo is today's sky, just before the sun came up—truly daybreak. If you are not an early bird, here is your chance to see what daybreak looks like. And I love these quotes from a few other "morning people."

  "Angels in the early morning may be seen the
dews among.
Stooping, plucking, smiling, flying.
Do the buds to them belong?"
-  Emily Dickinson

 "The breeze at dawn has secrets to tell you.
Don't go back to sleep."
-  Rumi 

 

"Morning glory is the best name, 

it always refreshes me to see it."
-  Henry David Thoreau  

"When you arise in the morning, 

think of what a precious privilege it is to be alive - 

to breathe, to think, to enjoy, to love."
-  Marcus Aurelius

"The difference between rising at five and seven o'clock in the morning, for forty years, supposing a man to go to bed at the same hour at night, is nearly equivalent to the addition of ten years to a man's life."
-  Doddridge  

  

Vacation's Over

Jessica and I are back at our respective homes and back to a regular schedule. But we brought back wonderful memories. It was just a lazy, relaxing time away. We had time on the beach. Time to read. Time for movies. We watched five of them. Thank you, Redbox.

Time to knit. Notice mine matched the furnishings? It's a new pattern called Summertide, most appropriate for my beach knitting.

Two visits to Brookgreen Gardens—the sculpture garden, the zoo and the butterfly house—provided many paths to walk after delicious meals. Jessica even found the labyrinth to walk.

And we made plenty of time to visit our favorite coastal restaurants. Some were worthy of a second (and one got a third) visit. I have never eaten crab in so many versions--crab cakes, crab nachos, crab quiche and crab hush puppies (or maybe they were shrimp hush puppies?) Every bite was perfect. Of course, there was shrimp, flounder, grouper, and mussels, too. Can we get those seafoods here at home? Of course we can. But it's just not the same as eating it at the beach.

On Tuesday of last week, it felt like we had been there forever with more days stretching out ahead of us. On Wednesday, I could see vacation's end rushing toward us. And on Friday, it felt like "we just got here" and it was time to start packing up.

I'm already looking forward to the next beach visit.

Off To The Beach

I'm taking off to spend some time with Jessica. 

Be back here in a week or so.

Almost Not Cooking #3

We were having BBQ sliders for supper and I wanted slaw to go with them.This slaw only requires a little measuring and dicing one apple and then stirring it all together. If you don't take forever to dice the apple, this is quick to make. I was done in six minutes. It would have only taken five, but I had to refill the sugar bowl.

If your knife skills aren't great, consider taking the free Complete Knife Skills class from Craftsy. Yes, it's free! Even if you only watch the first two of the four lessons, you'll learn a lot. It's like having a front row seat at a cooking class.

This cole slaw is such a light, fresh dish. Different from the mayonnaise based slaw I often make. I like them both. If you aren't a mayo fan, try this one.

APPLE COLE SLAW

14-oz bag cole slaw mix

handful of chopped fresh parsley

1 apple, chopped

1/3 cup vegetable oil

4 tablespoons sugar

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar 

salt & pepper to taste

Toss cole slaw mix, parsley and apple in a large bowl. 

Measure oil in a glass measuring cup.*

Add sugar and vinegar and stir until sugar is dissolve. 

Pour over slaw mix and stir to combine. 

Refrigerate for a while to let flavors blend.

* This time I mixed the dressing in the large bowl and then added other ingredients and tossed. One less thing to wash. 

I cringe when I watch my daughters cut almost anything. It's one of my failures as a mother. I obviously didn't teach them how to use a knife. Okay, daughters! Watch the free class!!! Before you bleed on the vegetables.

Pork Tenderloin And Apples

If I were cooking supper for us tonight, it might be this recipe. Instead I'm cooking for the kids at church. But I'll share this recipe I made last week.

I didn't feel like cooking. Sinus headache. It's that time of year. But we did need to eat. I had printed this recipe out a few days earlier. I had already bought the pork tenderloin. I had everything else here. The recipe came from the Mayo Clinic website. I found it when looking for a low-sodium recipe. I am thinking this might a good meal to share, but I wanted to try it out before I took it to anyone. This was simple enough, even for a night when I didn't want to cook.

If your chopping skills are good, this is really quick to put together. I chopped one large onion and one large apple and minced a little fresh rosemary. That was the hard part. The tenderloin is just browned and popped in the oven.

Let me give you a tip—if you buy a package with two tenderloins in it (that's how ours usually comes) cook the smaller one.  I cooked the larger one and it wasn't done in 15 minutes. Ten minutes more in the oven and it still had not quite reached the proper temp. So I sliced it diagonally and put it back in the oven for another minute or two. Slicing it let the internal temperature reach 160 degrees in a hurry.  (In case you were wondering, I made pulled pork from the other tenderloin from that pack.)

Next time we might just cook it on the grill. Our grill is one step out of the kitchen door, so for us that's as easy as the oven. Either way is fine. The flavor all comes from the sauce.

The sauce was delicious--apples, onions, rosemary, balsamic vinegar. All things I like. Smelled so yummy as it cooked. Daddy-O isn't a huge fan of rosemary. I love it. Another time I might split the difference and use it, but not put quite as much as the recipe calls for. We will do this again for sure. I think the next time I need to take a meal, I will make this—now that I know this is good enough to share.

PORK TENDERLOIN with APPLES AND BALSAMIC VINEGAR

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound pork tenderloin*
freshly ground black pepper
2 cups chopped onion
2 cups chopped apple
1-1/2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary
1 cup low-sodium chicken broth
1-1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Lightly coat a heavy baking pan with PAM.

Heat olive oil over high heat in skillet. Sprinkle pork with black pepper. Brown in oil on all sides, about 3 minutes. Remove from skillet and place in baking pan. Roast the pork for about 15 minutes, until a meat thermometer reaches 165 degrees. (That's for medium.)

While pork is in the oven, add onion, apple and rosemary to the skillet. Saute over medium heat until the onions and apples are soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in broth and vinegar. Increase heat and cook about 5 mintues, until sauce is reduced.

To serve, slice pork on the diagonal and place on a platter. Spoon sauce over top.


*If your tenderloin is larger, allow extra time for cooking. There is plenty of sauce.