Thursday, August 28, 2008, by Leigh Anne
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This week’s Barefoot Blogger recipe is Butterflied Chicken and was chosen by Stefany of Proceed with Caution.
We eat a lot of chicken at our house so this was a popular dish. The recipe calls for using whole chickens, deboned and butterflied. Since I was under a bit of a time crunch - too much “getting ready for college” going on around here - I just used chicken breasts with the bone and skin. They worked great and a lot easier!
I also chose to bake the chicken in the oven - about 45 minutes at 350 instead of grilling it as our gas grill cooks a little hot and fast.
The chicken came out nice and moist and I love the crispy skin! The combination of rosemary and lemon is a favorite of mine. Thanks Stefany!
Butterflied Chicken
Ina Garten
1/4 cup chopped fresh rosemary leaves, plus 2 sprigs
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice
good olive oil
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 roasting chickens (2 1/2 to 3 lbs. each), deboned and butterflied
1/2 lemon, thinly sliced
Mix the chopped rosemary, garlic, lemon zest, lemon juice, 1 tablespoon olive oil, 2 teaspoons salt and 1/2 teaspoon pepper together in a small bowl to make a paste. Place the chickens on a sheet pan, skin side up, and loosen the skin from the meat with your fingers. Place 1/2 of the paste under the skin of each chicken. Rub any remaining paste on the outside and underside of the chickens.Turn the chicken skin side down and scatter the lemon slices and sprigs of rosemary over each chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Roll each chicken up, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.Heat a grill with coals. Spread the coals out in 1 dense layer and brush the grill with oil. Unroll the chickens, place them on the grill and cook for 12 minutes on each side.
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Categories: Barefoot Bloggers, Recipes
Wednesday, August 27, 2008, by Leigh Anne
If things have gone according to plan we are on the road! Beginning our 12 hour drive to Utah. I hope everything fit in the car!
I usually post a recipe on Wednesday but I am hoping you will indulge me a little while longer with my story of woe and misery - sending my daughter off to college.
I want to share with you some remembrances of home I am sending with her. Not that I think she will forget me but I just want her to have some visual reminders of home and those who love her while she is away at college.
In one of those moments when she might feel a little homesick - hopefully one of these items will bring her a little comfort.
Her Quilt - as part of our Senior Quilt Night at church I made a quilt for Cali. All the ladies at church took part in tying it to show their love and support for the girls that were graduating. I hope every time she wraps up and snuggles in this soft quilt she will remember all the women who love her and support her- especially her mom.
Her Graduation Necklace - I gave this to Cali for her high school graduation. I purchased it online at Charming Gifts. The necklace has three charms - a C for Cali, a topaz stone for her birth month and a butterfly. The meaning of the butterfly is :
A new beginning; “If there was no change, there would be no butterflies”
This is a time of change for her, for me and our relationship. But change is good and beautiful things come as a result!
A Dream - Do Notebook - I made this notebook for her and on each page I put a quote about dreaming and doing. She can use it as her To Do list, assignment notebook etc. I hope that each day as she puts her To Do list together she will read that day’s quote and be inspired.
One of my favorite quotes I included is:
“We all have possbilities we don’t know about. We can do things we don’t even dream we can do.”
- Dale Carnegie
Did I Tell You Storybook: I actually put this together for Cali’s 18th birthday. I used the poem by Elizabeth Knapp . I hope this book will be a reminder of the “Life Lesson’s” that I have tried to share with her. I found pictures of Cali to go along with the poem. It is a real tear jerker!
Here is how the poem begins:
“Now that you are almost grown I look back and ask myself, Did I tell you? Did I tell you all that I meant to tell you, all that I felt was important.
Did I tell you or was it lost in the shuffle of our everyday lives, the busy full days when we taught and didn’t know it. What did we teach? Was it strong? Was it good? Will it root you in something real that will allow you to grow with a firm and sound foundation? Did I tell you….”
And finally the gift I will leave with her when I leave her… (O.K. I’m crying already as I write this!!!)…
This great print from Brian Andreas of Storypeople. The print says:
There has never been a day when I have not been proud of you, I said to my daughter, though some days I’m louder about other stuff so it’s easy to miss that.
I hope she will always remember this.
I know I have told her how proud I am of her over and over again but on those days when she may be doubting herself or her abilities I want her to have this visual reminder in her room of how proud I am of her - always have been and always will be.
I love you Cali!
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Categories: Connect, Family
Monday, August 25, 2008, by Leigh Anne
Amongst all the “getting ready for college” that we did this week we were able to squeeze in a few social events.
One night Cali and I gathered with a group of other college bound daughters and their mothers. As a result of the girl’s friendship, the mothers have become friends too. During our evening together the girls gathered in the family room and the moms gathered in the dining room.
I am not sure what the conversation was in the family room but in the dining room the mothers were sharing their concerns, apprehensions and excitement for their daughters and for themselves.
During the years we have known each other some of the women have undergone major life changes - three of them have been divorced, one widowed. Some of us work full time, some part time and others don’t work outside the home.
But one thing we discovered was that despite our differences we have a lot of the same needs - the need for friendship, support and love from other women.
In fact, we even decided to form a support group - gathering together once a month to enjoy being together, putting together care packages for our college girls and of course enjoying some good food!
One thing I was reminded of again this week during our dinner was that…
despite our differences women are more alike than they are different
I believe that all women need support from other women. When our daughters heard that we were forming a “support group” they laughed and thought we were silly.
But as I thought about it I realized - our daughters have formed a support group too. Through their use of Facebook, My Space, email, text messages, instant messaging they stay connected. They communicate with and support one another.
All women need support groups - no matter what their age. Whether your friends are next door or across the country we can support each other and stay connected through technology.
Several months ago my good friend Sherra and I were talking about this very topic - women supporting women and staying connected. During one of our many conversations the idea for an online community for women by women was born.
So today I’d love to invite you to visit our brand new online community
I hope you’ll take a few minutes and watch our short movie which will lead you to our new website and the story will unfold from there!
Every Woman Movie.com
Sherra and I would so appreciate it if you’d share this link with some of your girlfriends too! Help us grow our online community for woman by woman! We hope you’ll want to be a part of it.
Be sure and check out the Sunday Surprise post for a chance to win our first giveaway.
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Friday, August 22, 2008, by Leigh Anne
I think I have mentioned before that I am not a potato fan. Basically, I don’t eat potatoes.
It’s not because I’m trying to cut down on carbs - I just don’t like them. I think it’s more of a texture issue for me than anything else.
Yes, I am married to man from Idaho - a man whose first solid food was probably potatoes!
The first time I went to Idaho to meet Jim’s family I think they were all a little shocked and dismayed (and maybe even a little insulted ) that I did not eat potatoes!
How could their son possibly fall in love with a girl who didn’t eat potatoes!
As I have gotten older I have found a few ways I will eat potatoes.
One of them is as a very crisp french fry! No soggy fries for me!!!
The other way is Patrice’s Potatoes. Patrice is one of my Beach Babe friends and an amazing cook. She is one of those cooks that doesn’t need a recipe - she just cooks!
I first tasted Patrice’s Potatoes at one of our yearly Beach Babes and their Boys Valentine dinners. We have been eating them at the Wilkes’ house ever since. I even eat them too.
They are made from red potatoes and I slice them fairly thin, thus creating a crisper finished product!
You can adjust the “heat” to your liking by adding more or less cayenne pepper and chili powder.
They are pretty much a staple around our house for Sunday dinner.
Guess who eats the extra crispy, almost burnt ones!?
Patrice’s Potatoes
8-10 medium sized red potatoes, thinly sliced
1/2 cube butter, melted
1/4 C olive oil
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cayenne powder
2 tsp mild chili powder
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Mix above ingredients and toss with thin sliced potatoes. Place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 500 degrees for 7-10 minutes, then turn potatoes and bake another 7-10 minutes until desired crispness.
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Categories: Friday Favorites, Nourish, Recipes
Wednesday, August 20, 2008, by Leigh Anne
As I promised yesterday, today I am sharing the yummy dinner we had for Jim’s birthday celebration.
Because of his Meiner’s Disease (an inner ear condition that causes terrible episodes of vertigo and hearing loss) Jim is on a special diet.
The doctor’s have put him on the Zone Diet. If you are not familiar with it, the basic concept is that you always eat a protein, fat and carbohydrate together and you eat 5-6 small meals throughout the day.
The diet has really helped his condition - he was having episodes every two weeks and hasn’t had one since he began the diet two months ago. The side benefit of the diet is that you lower your cholesterol and lose weight! He’s lost over 15 pounds so far.
Cooking for him has become a bit of a challenge. One thing he can eat though is fajitas (without the tortilla).
So for his birthday I made these fabulous fajitas - a recipe I found over at Our Best Bite.
I have made lots of different fajita recipes and I have to say this will now be my “Go To” recipe for Fajitas - they are fabulous!
Fajita marinade
1/4 C fresh lime juice
1/3 C water
2 T vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic , pressed or finely minced
3 t vinegar
2 t soy sauce
1/2 t liquid smoke* (I used 1 tsp.)
1 t salt
1/2 t chili powder
1/2 t cayenne pepper
1/4 t ground black pepper
1/4 t onion powder
*If you’re not familiar with liquid smoke, you can find it near the bbq sauces in a small bottle And please don’t make this without it! It’s definitely one of the key components. It makes things yummy and smoky and super flavorful. And if you’re wondering, it actually is real smoke in liquid form.
For the Fajitas:
Boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 3-4 large ones). Steak is also great.
Bell Peppers (about 3 large ones) I used a red, orange and yellow.
1 Onion, I used a Walla Walla Sweet Onion.
Mix all the marinade ingredients together and place in a zip-lock bag. Before you put the meat in, reserve a little marinade to use at the end.(about 1/4 a cup) Then toss in the chicken or steak, and bell peppers and onions or if you want more marinade for the meat do not include the peppers and onions. Just coat them with some olive oil and salt before griling. Marinade for at least 4 hours, but longer if possible. Then grill outside on the bbq, or indoors on a skillet (cast iron is best) or grill pan. Use the reserved marinade from the bag to baste meat as you cook. (This is not the 1/4 cup you reserved)
Here are some tips from Our Best Bites to help make your fajitas truly fabulous!
1. I usually double the marinade, or 1 1/2 it because I have this weird thing where I like to see my meat swimming. Once it’s all combined, immediately reserve about 1/4 cup, and set it aside.
2. I then butterfly my chicken, or pound it thinner, because that increases the marinade-to-chicken ratio! 3. I toss all of the meat in the bag of marinade, but leave the peppers and onions out. Only reason being that I usually want all of the marinade for the meat (see above weirdness), and the veggies get a splash of it at the end with the marinade I reserved. But if you have enough marinade, go ahead and do the veggies too. 4. I slice my onion into about 1/2 inch slices, and leave the slices in tact. Then I quarter the peppers. 5 When they’re ready to grill I toss the veggies with a little olive oil and salt and pepper if I haven’t included them in the marinade.When everything is cooked slice the meat, peppers and onions into strips. Combine in a bowl and pour in the reserved marinade (do not use the liquid that the chicken was marinading in.Serve with tortillas (I used the uncooked tortillas from Costco and cook them up fresh!)
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Tuesday, August 19, 2008, by Leigh Anne
Today is my husband’s birthday. I’ll be kind and not tell you how old he is. I will tell you though, he is older than I am.
We actually celebrated his birthday on Sunday because early this morning he left on a business trip. We celebrated with a yummy dinner (I’ll share the recipe tomorrow) and a homemade marionberry pie - his request.
After dinner we went to visit my mom and dad as my dad is recovering from surgery. When we returned home we found a surprise waiting for Jim at the front door. It was a birthday note from his good buddy Declan.
Declan’s mom had helped him make the card because, you see, Declan is five years old.
Isn’t he cute!
The inside of the card was pretty cute too…
A picture of Declan, Jim and a pile of mulch!
Declan’s mom had encouraged him to draw a picture of something that reminded him of Jim.
Each spring and fall we have a pile of mulch dumped in our driveway for our garden. When the boys were at home they were Jim’s helpers. Filling the wheelbarrow full of mulch and pushing it to the backyard, trip after trip after trip. They loved it - NOT!
Once the boys were gone from home Jim could never convince the girls to help him, so he was on his own, until….
Declan!
Declan loves to help Jim, each season he anxiously awaits the arrival of the mulch in our driveway. In fact this spring five year old Declan was knocking at our door as soon as he saw it in the driveway.
He proceeded to knock on the door every 20 minutes for several hours to see if Jim was ready to come out and “work”. Jim tried to explain to him that he was working inside right now but would be out in a while.
Finally, on Saturday morning Jim and his buddy Declan spent hours “moving poop” as the boys use to call it. Declan had his own little wheelbarrow and own shovel. He worked hard and Jim was so cute and patient with him. For his birthday, Declan received his own kids sized garden gloves from his buddy Jim.
When they were done working Declan wanted to know when Jim’s “mom” - that would be me - was going to make his favorite chocolate chip cookies.
That is the cutest part - Declan really considers Jim his friend, his buddy, not someone that is older than his own father!
I guess that is one way to feel young - hang out with a five year old!
So Jim - Happy Birthday from your family and from your buddy Declan! We love you!!
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Categories: Connect, Family
Monday, August 18, 2008, by Leigh Anne
Only 10 more days - 10 more days until I have to get in the car and drive my daughter to her new life as a college freshman.
I have been keeping myself busy getting her ready to go. It’s amazing how much stuff you need when you leave home. All that stuff you share with your sister that you now need for your own - blow dryer, straight iron, makeup, shoes, clothes, computer, etc. Tessa is very concerned that half her wardrobe is going to college!
I have a growing pile of “college stuff” in my bedroom - hoping it will all fit into the car.
I don’t know why this is so hard for me - Cali is not my first child to go off to college. I have sent two boys off to college. In addition, I have sent both boys off to foreign countries for two years as they served missions for our church. (That was HARD!) During those two years I only talked with them four times! (Christmas and Mother’s Day)
So you would think that the third time of sending a child off to college, only a few states away, would be easier. Especially since I can talk to her anytime I want, text message her, email her, leave her messages on her facebook wall, keep connected through our family blog and even see her via our computer webcam - but it’s not.
Maybe it’s because she is my first daughter to leave home.
Maybe it’s because it means that more than half of my children have now left home.
Maybe it’s because I know that things are never the same once they leave home.
Maybe it’s because I will now only have one child at home - for only 3 more years (don’t even get me started on that one!).
Maybe it’s because it makes me feel old.
Don’t get me wrong - I am so excited for her. She is going to my alma mater, my husband’s alma mater. She will be at the same school with both of her older brothers. She is going to have so much fun!
But I am going to miss her. I miss my whole family being together - eating together, playing together and yes, even arguing together.
As I was working at my computer the other day I looked out my back door and saw this little tree frog.
He was hanging on …
I feel a little bit like that frog - just hanging on.
I know I will survive this - I have before but tears still fill my eyes everytime I think about her leaving, they fill my eyes as I am writing this post.
In the hopes of easing my pain a bit we have planned a Girl’s Road Trip to take Cali to school. I am loading up my Suburban with woman I love - both of my daughters, my mother, my neighbor and friend Debbie and her daughter Hannah who has been best friends with Cali since they were four!
If nothing else I will have a lot of shoulders to cry on on the way home!
So for those of you who have been through this before too - any words of wisdom for me?
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Friday, August 15, 2008, by Leigh Anne
The temperature hit 100 degrees here in Portland today- at least that’s what my car said and it is suppose to be even hotter tomorrow. Not being a “hot weather girl” I am grateful that we don’t have too many of these days in Oregon each year.
But when it gets hot like it did today nothing sounds or tastes better than ice cream - especially homemade ice cream.
It has been a while since I have shared a lemon recipe so I decided that homemade lemon ice cream was what we needed. We have made this particular lemon ice cream at our house for over 30 years! The recipe was given to us by a friend of my mother’s when we lived in Alta Loma, California.
As you know, I love lemon and this lemon ice cream is perfect. The original recipe calls for raw eggs and I must admit - I make it with raw eggs. I have done so for over 30 years and so far so good. I also eat raw cookie dough!
But if you don’t eat raw eggs you can pasteurize your eggs by mixing the eggs and milk to make a custard base and then cook to an internal temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit, which will destroy salmonella, if present. Use a food thermometer to make sure the mixture reaches the correct temperature. After cooking, chill the custard thoroughly before freezing.
This time I made the ice cream in my table top Cuisinart ice cream maker so I cut the recipe in half - if you are using a full size, electric ice cream maker you can use the full recipe.
I served it with some mini lemon butter cookies I bought at Target - aren’t they cute!
If it’s hot where you are - stay cool! Enjoy some ice cream!
Homemade Lemon Ice Cream
4 eggs, well beaten
2 1/2 cups sugar
6 cups whole milk
2 cups whipping cream
1 can evaporated milk
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. lemon extract
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Add sugar and beaten eggs slowly, beat well. When stiff add remaining ingredients. Mix well and pour into freezer and freeze according to manufactuers directions.
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Categories: Friday Favorites, Nourish, Recipes
Thursday, August 14, 2008, by Leigh Anne
So this is my third Barefoot Blogger recipe. I’m not setting any world records for cooking my way through Ina Garten’s cookbooks but I’m having fun.
So far, 2 of the 3 recipes we have made are ones I never probably would have made otherwise. That is one of the reasons why I joined the Barefoot Bloggers group - it is pushing me outside my comfort zone. Forcing me to try new things.
I have found that it is a technique that works well for me -I commit myself to a group rather than try to do it on my own. I do really well with that accountability thing.
It worked the same way with my book group. I hesitated joining a book group for years but now that I have I love how it gets me to read books I never would have read otherwise.
Have you ever done that - joined a group or organization that pushed you out of your comfort zone, that got you to do things (good things) you wouldn’t normally have done on your own?
So onto the recipe - Panzanella Salad is a traditional bread salad from Tuscany, usually made with day old bread with a combination of tomatoes, basil, olive oil and vinegar. It was chosen by Melissa of Melissa’s Kitchen
The recipe called for yellow and red peppers, I had red peppers on hand so only used those. I used cucumbers and basil out of our garden.
The vinaigrette uses Champagne vingar - I used white wine vinegar.
We were invited to a Barbecue this past weekend so if was the perfect opportunity to give it a try. The bowl was almost empty when we left so I guess that is a good sign!
Panzanella
3 Tbsp. good olive oil
1 small french bread, cut into 1 inch cubes (6 cups)
1 tsp. kosher salt
2 large, ripe tomatoes, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 cucumber, unpeeled, seeded and sliced 1/2 inch thick
1 red bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1 inch cubes
1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and cut into 1 inch cubes
1/2 red onion, cut in 1/2 and thinly sliced
20 large basil leaves, coarsley chopped
3 Tbsp. capers, drained
For the vinaigrette:
1 tsp. finely minced garlic
1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
3 Tbsp. Champagne vinegar
1/2 cup good olive oil
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
Heat the oil in a large saute pan. Add the bread and salt; cook over low to medium heat, tossing frequently for 10 minutes or until nicely browned. Add more oil as needed.
For the vinaigrette, whisk all the ingredients together.
In a large bowl, mix the tomatoes, cucumber, red pepper, yellow pepper, red onion, basil, and capers. Add the bread cubes and toss with the vinaigrette. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Serve, or allow the salad to sit for about half an hour for the flavors to blend.
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Categories: Barefoot Bloggers, Nourish, Recipes
Wednesday, August 13, 2008, by Leigh Anne
A few weeks ago my friend Sherra was describing this amazing salad she had just had at Paradise Bakery. Since Sherra typically doesn’t eat anything green I figured it must be a really good salad if she liked it!
After she described it I had to google it and find a recipe for it. She was right - it is great.
It is a perfect summer salad because it incorporates all kinds of yummy fruit - some canned and some fresh. Not only is it yummy, it is so pretty with all the different colored fruits!
You could easily adapt it to whatever was in season and in the off-season just use canned fruit.
Just customize it according to whatever fruit you have on hand. I used Kraft Poppyseed Dressing.
The Perfect Summer Salad
aka Paradise Bakery Summer Berry Salad
1 lb. romaine lettuce
1/2 cup pineapple tidbits
1/2 cup sliced strawberries
1/2 cup blueberries
1 can mandarin oranges
1/2 cup toasted pecans
poppyseed dressing
Slice fruit and combined with lettuce and dressing. Enjoy!
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Categories: Nourish, Recipes
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