Whole Chicken in the Slow Cooker

Oh my goodness I am almost embarrassed to admit how afraid I have been to cook a whole chicken.

I'm not sure what about it kept me from it the most.

The thought of pulling out the giblets

or the spare hair and feathers still stuck to it

the possibility of missing some of those pesky little bones or what. But to be honest raw chicken in general grosses me out even the boneless skinless chicken boobs. But prices are going up and I hate paying so much more for someone else to do things that I am quite capable of doing myself so I promised myself that sometime in August I would do it. I would buy a whole bird, cook it, eat it and make my own stock. 

I found this recipe on 100 Days of Real Food (one of my favorite recipe sites on the web, oh and did you hear she just published her first cookbook? SOOOO exciting! If you have not discovered her yet head over there and check it out, you will NOT be sorry!

I only modified her recipe slightly because I mean she DID say it was the best whole chicken recipe ever!! But I used red pepper flakes instead of cayenne. Here is the ingredients you need:

• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon thyme
• ½ teaspoon garlic powder
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• ¼ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 large onion
• 1 large chicken

If you plan on making stock also you need

• an additional onion
• carrots
• celery
• bay leaf
• parsley
• thyme
• water

Before you tackle the bird go ahead and mix all the dry spices together in a bowl

 

Peel and coarsely chop up your onion and place it in the bottom of you slow cooker.

Then grab the whole chicken.

Open it up, pull out the baggie of disgusting little bits inside (don't look, just pop it out and hide it under a paper towel in the sink until you are ready to throw all the packaging away!)

If you are not as grossed out as me at this point. Congratulations.

If you are. keep going, you can wash your hands 1000 times in just a minute.

Rinse off the chicken (I also washed out the inside cavity) 

Now if you are a Real Housewife junkie (like me) I would remind you not to clean

your chicken like Adrienne...no soap, just hot water required-

pat the poor little animal dry and then coat

with the dry spices. Rub it in there good trying to cover all the surface area and even getting some into the cavity.

I had a friend tell me to get it up under the skin but I could not bring myself to stick my hand in between the meat and the skin and it came out just fine on top. Perhaps as I get braver I will give that a try but this is all about baby steps!

Once the bird is covered in spice place it on top of the onions in the slow cooker.

close it up and turn it on for about 5 hours on high

or until it starts just pulling off the bone

I left mine untouched about 4.5 hours and when I checked on it I could already see the meat pulling off the center bone so I scooped some of the onion and juices from the bottom on top just to make sure it did not start to dry out before my husband got home from work for dinner.

Once it's all cooked just pull the meat off the bones and enjoy!

The first night we just served this with some brown rice and it was super moist and delicious.

My 6 year old declared it the "best chicken she has ever had in her whole life" so I guess it was a winner! The leftovers we put away in the fridge and used during the week for chicken enchilada's, chicken salad (with mashed avocado instead of mayo) and chicken white bean chili and it tasted great in all of them.

I also decided to give the chicken stock a shot. I left the juices and cooked down onion in the slow cooker, added back in the carcass once we picked all the meat off it, threw in some baby carrots, chopped celery, a bay leaf, some parsley and thyme and a second peeled and coarsely chopped onion. I filled the slow cooker up with water and turned it on low and left it all night. It smelled amazing when we came down the next morning. I would say it was super easy (because it was) but the next step was a little time consuming and messy. You need to drain out all the bones and chunks of veggies and stuff. I found it was easier to do it in a few steps. I used a large colander and drained the biggest stuff out all at once and then poured small amounts at a time through my smaller colander and then measured it by cups into freezer bags that I stacked and put in the freezer to use for fall soups, stews and my favorite pulled pork recipe. We used some of the homemade stock in the white bean chicken chili I made last night and we could all taste the difference in flavor, It was definitely worth the mess of all that straining!!

I am so happy I tried something new. It was delicious, easy and a total hit and will also save me money at the store. WIN,WIN, WIN!!!!!

So off with you- go buy a chicken and try this one at home!!

~eat well, be well

Patty

Keep Those Cravings at Bay

It's 2:30 in the afternoon and I. am. hungry.

What can I eat?

Something sweet? yes. 

Well, maybe. No, no, don't cave.

How about fruit? 

Are you kidding? I don't want fruit.

Something Salty? Eww, no.  All I have is the piddles of my husbands potato chips and those are 3 weeks old. Gross.

Cheese? Crud, I forgot to cut it and that is way too much work.

ROAR!!!!! Must find something to put in my mouth NOW!!!!

Does that ever happen to you?

Because its a pretty regular occurrence in my head.

I am always struggling with wanting to put food in my mouth but not wanting to

make bad choices. I have found that if I try and ignore the cravings though that I over eat at dinner or become a crabby monster that no one wants to be around. 

If I try and push them off by just eating 1 or 2 crackers or sneaking a bunny graham from my son's afternoon snack bowl that I will just keep putting tiny thing after tiny thing in my mouth trying to satiate my cravings and in the end I am still unsatisfied and have eaten more calories with less substance than if I had just made 1 bad choice in the beginning.

So what is a person to do???

There are several tricks I have learned to help me navigate my snack monster attacks

• Pour a glass of water while you try and decide what you are going to have
• Sometimes your body tries to trick you and when you think you are hungry you are really just thirsty. Pour a glass of water or brew some tea or coffee and drink it slowly while you decide  or prepare your snack and you may find you don't really need one after all. Even if you are still hungry it will help you feel full faster and help you avoid overdoing it on the snack.
  
• Think about what you like ahead of time and have them ready to grab easily
• Preparation is such a huge part of success when you are trying to make big changes in the way you and your family eat. Grabbing something quick does not have to mean it is a bad choice.  Keep healthy snack options on hand like raw nuts that are easy to grab a small handful of. Keep cheese cubed in the fridge so it's easy to grab just a few chunks. Pre-slice and wash fruit and veggies so it is as quick to grab a few slices of apples and some peanut butter as it would be to open a bag of processed snacks. Next time you make some healthy muffins or pancakes make extra and freeze them so you have a quick snack to pull out of the freezer when you want some carbs that won't destroy your day. 
• Avoid packaged snacks 
• Try not to be fooled by those 100 calorie snack bags. Check out the ingredients, they are usually super duper processed and or could be low in calories but still high in sodium, carbs, and sugars. BEWARE of the quick fix. 
• Invest some time in yourself and experiment in the kitchen. Maybe try the recipe you pinned 3 months ago for homemade granola bars or that banana blueberry oat bake that looked so good. When you make it yourself you control what goes in, and usually taste a whole lot better anyway!  Plus you can portion it out and freeze the leftovers to make that snack easier to get to the next time you want it- or thrill the neighborhood kids after school when they walk into the "healthy snack lady's house" and find something warm and delicious to try
• Sit down, eat your snack, move on
• Don't eat on the go unless it's necessary. 
• Give your body time to recognize that you are eating and enjoy it. 
• Try not to always eat while you watch a certain show or you will train your body that when that show is on you need a snack (even when you are not hungry at all)
• Eat in moderation
• Whether you choose some nuts and cheese, sliced up fruit, a bit of greek yogurt and granola, a muffin or even decide you can't help yourself and you just HAVE to have some of the chocolate chips that are open up there ( I mean who will notice a few gone, you are the one who does the baking right?!?!) DON'T OVERDUE IT.
• and maybe stop buying chocolate chips unless you need them for something very specific...

So now that I have shared some of my tips here is a small list of some of my go to snacks, if you have some great ideas feel free to share them with me in the comments, I am always looking for new things to try.

•  Raw almonds or pecans and a cup of tea 

•  homemade granola bar 
• (I love Pioneer Women's recipe but there are healthier options out there) 
  
• Greek yogurt with some blueberries 
• sliced apples or pears sprinkled with cinnamon and microwaved for a few seconds
• a cup or grapes or your favorite fresh fruit 

• a slice of homemade bread topped with some homemade peanut butter
• sliced up bell pepper and greek yogurt or hummus
• nut balls 

 

• or try some homemade peanut butter banana muffins like these ones from the Detoxinista

So be strong, be in control and be prepared for those cravings. Ignoring them usually won't do you any good so face them with better choices and than pat yourself on the back for being great today!!

~eat well, be well

Patty

Nut Balls

NUT BALLS!!!!!!

Oh my goodness I seriously laugh every time I say that. I like to keep asking my husband if he wants to try my nut balls. I should grow up but sometimes its just too fun being me.

So seriously, I have had some major sweets cravings lately. I don't know where they came from. We have been eating so good now for 11 months and cut out candies and most sugar and I swear I want to tear into a bag of Hershey's kisses or miniature candy bars...or chocolate ice cream...or some chocolate chip cookies...or fudge...you get what I'm saying. Anyway just because I want it doesn't mean I want to ruin all my hard work or give into my cravings so I went in search of a treat that would feel like a cheat but not REALLY be that bad. and.... I found it! HUZZAH! Nut balls!

Here is what you need:

2 1/2 cup raw almonds

1/2 cup nut butter (almond or peanut-I used homemade peanut butter)

1/2 cup cacoa or cocoa powder (cacoa would be better but this is what I had on hand)

2 handfuls (or so-don't you like my exact measurements!!) unsweetened coconut

1 stick of butter (8 TBS)

4 Tablespoons coconut oil (melted)

ground cinnamon to taste (~1 TBS)

flaxseed meal (optional) ~2 TBS

Put the almonds in your food processor or blender and grind them up 

Pour the ground almonds into a mixing bowls and add the nut butter, cocoa powder

and unsweetened coconut stirring it all together.

Once the peanut butter has been well incorporated add in the softened butter and the coconut oil and mix until the butter breaks down and is evenly distributed through the chocolate mixture.

Add in the cinnamon and flaxseed meal if desired and mix it through.

 

It should look a little something like this:

Form this into 1 inch balls and place on a cookie sheet lined with foil and refrigerate

for about an hour and then enjoy!

(I had a picture of this I swear...but now I can't find it and we ate all the balls...sorry!)

You can wrap them or store in an airtight container in the fridge for about 2 weeks.

If you don't want the messy hands that forming balls can mean I also tried to line a 

baking dish with foil and spread it into bars and cool then cut apart. 

It worked just as well but I did have to refrigerate it a touch longer and then you lose the funny bit about eating the nut balls, but hey- the taste is really what's important here right?!?!

Anyway, the kids liked them and they met my need for a chocolate fix although they are NOT sweet

so just be prepared for that if you are just starting to cut out sugar in your house they may be a bit of a surprise to your taste buds but try them- it is such a great thing to try new things and 

help teach out taste buds that different things can be yummy too!

So go grab some nuts so you can eat some balls.

HAHAHAHAHA...sorry!!

~Eat Well,

Be well

Patty