Keeping Up With the Allens

For my first food post I decided to highlight one of my favorite meals: roasted chicken with mashed potatoes and gravy. On this very chilly January evening, Alex and I enjoyed this most delicious meal, accompanied by roasted vegetables and a big glass of vino.

In creating the photographs and staging for this post I really gained a lot of respect for food bloggers. Food photography is extremely difficult on its own, but photographing a piece of food I’d like to eat while it’s hot is another thing. It took quite a bit of time, creativity and re-positioning to get a few halfway decent photos, so bear with me while I get the hang of it.

Roasted Chicken

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken – I used a 3 pound chicken
• 1/4 cup onion, large chop
• 1 stalk celery, quartered
• 1 lemon, quartered
• 1 sprig of thyme
• 3-4 tablespoons butter, melted or room temperature
• Salt – about 1 tablespoon
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425.

Remove chicken from packaging, discard giblets/neck packet/loose innards. Rinse the chicken thoroughly then dry the skin with a paper towel. Spray a roasting pan {or deep casserole dish} with cooking spray. Place the chicken in the roasting pan, breast side up. Drop about 1/2 tablespoon of butter into the cavity of the chicken, along with 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Insert the onion, celery, lemon and thyme sprig into the cavity of the chicken.

To prepare the skin of the chicken, slather on the remaining butter – I find it’s easier to use melted butter because it sticks to the chicken better, but you can use  room temperature butter just the same. Be sure to cover all exposed skin areas with butter, then sprinkle on approximately 2 teaspoons of salt. Give the chicken a very light sprinkle of garlic powder and onion powder, about 1/2 teaspoon each.

Now you need to tie up the chicken legs – using kitchen string, make a figure 8 around the legs to pull them up over the breast to protect it from cooking too fast and drying out. Snip off any excess string. I like to make a very small aluminum tent over the tip of the wings to prevent them from burning. Just grab a very small piece of foil and fold it over the tips of the wings.

I find it extremely easy and accurate to use a digital probe thermometer as a way to know when my chicken is ready to come out of the oven. The probe thermometer gets stuck into the bird and then stays there for the duration that the chicken is in the oven – it’s attached to a digital thermometer which stays outside the oven and beeps when the chicken is ready to come out. I set my thermometer to 158 degrees, place the chicken into the oven and remove it promptly when it does reach 158, which will be around an hour if you have a 3 pound chicken. As the chicken cooks, be sure to check on it a couple times and drizzle the pan drippings on the chicken to keep it moist. Let the chicken sit on a cutting board for about 15 minutes before carving to let the juices re-distribute and give you enough time to make mashed potatoes and gravy.

Roasted Vegetables

I typically make roasted vegetables at least once a week using whatever veggies I’ve got on hand. I don’t have a “go-to” recipe or vegetable combination; for this meal, I used carrots, cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms and Brussels sprouts. Chop the desired veggies into relatively similar sizes to allow for even cooking, then place on a rimmed baking sheet in a single layer. Drizzle on 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil, sprinkle some salt and toss to coat the vegetables in oil.

Cook the veggies in a preheated 425 degree oven for 15-20 minutes (some thick/tough veggies, like potatoes, may take longer, and thin veggies, like asparagus, may cook quicker, so peek in the oven every now and then!). Watch for the veggies to get brown around the edges and be fork-tender, then remove and serve promptly.

Gravy

I feel like gravy is an intimidating thing to make from scratch, but quite honestly, it’s one of the easiest things I can think of to make.

Ingredients:

• Pan drippings from chicken (or you can use butter)
• Flour
• Chicken stock
• Salt

Directions:

In a saucepan or the roasting pan you cooked your chicken in (be sure it’s safe to use on the stove), heat the pan drippings from the chicken over medium-low and add the flour. Use equal parts pan drippings and flour – I’d suggest 2 tablespoons each. Whisk these together for a minute or two to make a roux. Slowly whisk in chicken stock. Start with 1 cup and whisk in more to thin out the gravy as necessary. For 2 tablespoons of flour/drippings, you should need 1 cup to 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock to yield a good gravy consistency. Let the gravy simmer on low while you finish the rest of the dinner. Taste it and add salt if/as necessary to enhance the flavor of the gravy.

Mashed Potatoes

My mashed potato recipe is so good that I just can’t share it. Maybe another time after I figure out the ratios… It’s a bit unorthodox the amount of butter I use…

I want to thank our friends and family for being so supportive this week. It is comforting to know that we have so many people who care so much about us and about our sweet puppy. To some, a dog is a dog, but to us, our dog is a part of our family. She means so much to us!

This morning, Aspen woke up and was acting like a crazy puppy. Alex took her for a fantastic walk and she came back and ate breakfast. Then it was like a switch flipped and she became extremely lethargic and has been ever since. She had a short burst of aggressive energy around lunch and ate a bit, but now is back to sleep. Clearly, she is not doing well.

We have a vet appointment this afternoon with her regular veterinarian and have put a call in to another vet for a second opinion. Aspen proves to be a mystery dog, but we are seeing today that she is not doing well. Alex and I are preparing to make some difficult decisions in the interest of our puppy. For now, we are so thankful for the four months we have had with Aspen, but we are just so heartbroken that it doesn’t look like the cards are stacked in our favor for her to grow old with us.

In other news, my grandmother has been in ICU for the last few days with a bleak outlook. She has been given her last rights by a priest and our family who is near has begun to say their good byes. I’m not sure how much longer she has, but she is one spirited, tough cookie, and I will miss her dearly.

It’s times like these when it’s incredible to see my family coming together to support one another. Again, I so appreciate the support and kind words of encouragement. Thank you for helping Alex and me through this tough time.

As we are reflecting on the past and working to resolve some things in our future, I thought I’d put together a collection of some of our years’ memories. We made some wonderful new friendships and turned several acquaintances into incredible friendships. Thankfully, 2012 was a pretty good year for us.

The winter months were mostly spent skiing and wedding planning. That was about all we had time to do this winter. We had record snowfall at our mountains, so it was a great year for us to enjoy. Alex spent a weekend in Vegas for his bachelor party, while I was thrown a bridal shower in Seattle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

April brought our wonderful and amazing wedding. We will forever remember that day and how special it was to spend time with our family and friends in such a magical place. The timing of the snow beginning to fall and accumulate throughout our ceremony was something I know I will never forget.

 

The beginning of summer was mainly spent re-doing our backyard. We tore out and re-built two retaining walls, leveled off our backyard with new soil, planted grass seed, oh, and built a fence. The premise of this project was for our dog. We also took a week off to go back to the Midwest and bask in the glorious heat with our family and friends.

 

 

 

 

August was one of the highlights of 2012 for us. We took a stand up paddleboard lesson for one week’s date night, another week we headed for the mountains and dined atop Crystal Mountain at the Summit House, we toured the Olympic Peninsula and welcomed our new puppy to our household. We also said good bye to Alex’s incredible grandfather.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fall ended up being a whirlwind. If you’ve ever had a puppy, you understand.

 

 

The holidays came and went in a flash. We spent a lot of quality time with Alex’s parents and extended family. We were able to go back to Illinois for Thanksgiving to be with the Allen clan, then Alex’s parents came out to the Pacific Northwest for an incredible Christmas trip to Whistler, British Columbia. We closed out the year with some great friends. Here’s hoping that 2013 is a good one!