Organic roasted chicken recipe

I give full credit for this recipe to my pals at Allrecipes.com - where I go whenever I need a good recipe. I really like the site because it not only gives you a recipe, it gives you a rating (out of five stars) and all kinds of comments from folks who changed the temperature, tweaked this, or added that. It's great to look through how everyone did with it, and pick what you want to change.

Here's a pic of my latest chicken and veg:

So here's how it's done:

First thing's first- get yourself a nice little organic chicken. This one was about $17 and ended up feeding four adults and two kids. Not bad, if I do say so myself!!

Ingredients

2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon white sugar
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 (4 pound) whole chicken
5 cloves garlic, crushed

Directions


In a bowl, mix the salt, sugar (I used coconut sugar), cloves, allspice, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Rub the chicken with the mixture. Cover chicken, and place in the refrigerator for 24 hours. You might be best to get out a calculator and make this rub times a zillion because you'll likely want to do this again and again and it will save you time later. I don't always leave it 24hrs either. Whatever you can manage- even if it's only an hour or two- will be great.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C).

Stuff the chicken cavity with the garlic. Place the chicken, breast side down, on a rack* in a roasting pan. Put about 1 1/2 to 2cups water in the bottom.


Roast 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Reduce heat to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C), and continue roasting 15 minutes. Baste chicken with pan drippings, reduce heat to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C), and continue roasting 30 minutes, to an internal temperature of 180 degrees F (85 degrees C). Let stand 20 minutes before serving.
 
You will also notice that I made this a one-pot meal: *I peel big carrots and use them to make a "rack" on which to suspend the chicken. Then I cover the bottom with chopped potatoes and brussel sprouts. If you don't like brussel sprouts, you WILL once you taste them bathed in the chicken juice and the rub. YUM. So put the veg in the pan, add a cup or two of water (it'll evaporate) and then splash some oil over the veggies. Don't forget to baste the veg when you baste the bird.
 
This recipe is awesome and the bird is SO MOIST- cooking a chicken at 350 degrees only dries it out. You've got to cook it high and fast. Brilliant.

Organic roasted chicken recipe

Ready to bake gluten-free foods? Get your lab coat.

Before you start baking "gluten free", you use one flour- wheat flour. Maybe you spice it up and have "whole wheat" flour also. Well, when you bake gluten free, it is a virtual science experiment each time. In the place of one ingredient "wheat flour", there could be any myriad of flours, starches, and of course, a binder like xanthan gum, guar gum, chia seeds, etc.

It is for that reason that as I make my way through countless recipes for bread, muffins, etc., I have trashed many an attempt. See, as I cook, I get to the stage that Mr. Pick it Up calls "throwing everything into the pot". I cook with an outline, but at the end, I start launching countless spices, veggies, etc into the pot and watch 'er fly. But, unfortunately, you can't do that when you're cooking gluten free. Flours and starches can be roughly interchanged based on their weights, but proportions must be very closely monitored or you will end up with something that doesn't cook through (like oatmeal inside and no amount of baking can ever fix it) something akin to golf balls (hard, dry) or something that doesn't rise. I wish I could give you more details on what you can interchange, but I just don't know it myself yet.

So every time I make something, I'm a step closer to become a gluten-free scientist- able to swap ingredients out as necessary (or when I run out!). Meanwhile, here's my advice to anyone who hasn't been baking gluten free for long: follow a recipe- exactly. Use a knife to level off your cups and tablespoons for an exact result. No horsing around, no ad libbing. Just follow it...and see if your hypothesis will translate into a yummy result.

In an attempt to organize myself, I have (in a very proud, Pick-it-Up moment) organized about half of my flours- ones that I use often. Have a look at what one cannister of wheat flour turns into:

Here you see: Sweet white sorghum flour, almond flour, potato starch, xantham gum, baking powder, all-purpose flour, baking powder, brown rice flour, garfava flour, flax seeds, chickpea flour, teff flour, amaranth flour, arrowroot flour, etc. etc. etc.

Yup. Wheat is pretty versatile, huh? :)

Ready to bake gluten-free foods? Get your lab coat.

Just like mom used to make- Gluten free crêpes!

You know I'm not gonna lie to ya...if I try a recipe and it kinda stinks, I'm not going to tout it on here. But let me tell you- I have desperately missed crepes since I stopped eating gluten, and I don't have to miss them anymore. Crepe lovers—listen up!!

To begin my crepe investigation, I started with two recipes- one using millet flour and one using sorghum. I don't know what's up with millet, but those suckers were BITTER and awful. Don't try that at home kiddies. I'm actually wondering if millet should be soaked first like quinoa to remove a bitter outer coat...but when it's ground into flour, perhaps that step is skipped. I digress.

On to the pièce de résistance...

Sorghum crêpes (gluten-free, with casein-free and egg-free options)
1 1/2 cups "Sweet" white sorghum flour (I used Bob's Red Mill)
2 1/2 cups milk of your choice (I used 2c soy milk, 1/2 c vanilla rice milk)
6 eggs*
4 TB butter (I used coconut oil for a casein-free option)
1 1/2 tsp salt

*(for each egg, you can substitute 1 TB ground flax meal with 3 TB warm water- let it sit and get gloppy before adding to the recipe)

Mix all the ingredients (use a mixer or blender or some SERIOUS elbow grease to make sure it's well mixed). Cover and put it in the fridge for an hour.

Now comes the tricky part- finding just the right temp for the pan. You may burn a few before you find just the right temperature.

You need to put a puddle (my pan is big so I was using about 1/3 c of batter per crepe) of batter in the centre of the pan, then roll the pan, tipping it in circles until the batter has spread evenly to the edges of the pan. Flip when the bubbles have risen and it looks a bit dried out.

There is a technique to this...it takes practice. Expect a few awful looking crepes to begin with. It also takes time, so I layer mine on a plate in the oven as I'm making them. You can expect to be standing there for quite a while...But wow, is it worth it!!!

A few options for the filling:

• fresh fruit salad
• sliced berries
• turkey sausages
• or for a dessert option, spread with my chocolate avocado icing and add banana slices.

You can also use these for savoury crêpes and fill them with maybe some kind of creamy chicken and mushroom concoction...mmm...that might be my next stop...

Enjoy!

Just like mom used to make- Gluten free crêpes!

I'm drinking BEER!!!!! (a review of Bard's gluten-free beer)

So, I recently posted about two very dissappointing gluten-free beers I had tried: New Grist and La Messagère. Both SO not drinkable. Then a little angel (also known as "Brian from Bard's") told me that his beer was better. Sure. Yeah. I've heard that line before. I also have swamp land for sale in Florida to sell you...

Well, I stand (sit) here a changed woman. I am drinking beer. Okay, I'm going to be totally honest here. If I were me and it was two years ago, and you asked me if I would start drinking Bard's regularly, I'd say no. It's really okay. It's like, the kind of beer that maybe a friend would have bought and I was happy to have one because I was at their house. Based on taste alone, I wouldn't have sought it out. THAT BEING SAID: when the alternatives are either the two other beers I've tried, that were completely undrinkable, or not drinking any beer at all, Bard's is like nectar of the Gods. It is SO GOOD, I can't even control myself...

Just wanted you to know. Oh, and how did I obtain said nectar? I'm sad to say, for my Canadian peeps that this seems in very short supply north of the border, but our friends at Bard's are apparently working on that. My 'rents went to NY for a visit and my step 'rent bought me an ENTIRE case. Yup...spent all of his cross-border-booze allowance on me- bless his buttons.  I am trying to savour them, but the thought of being quasi normal (in a beer-swilling kinda way) has me pretty pumped so I might have to send them back for another visit soon...

Bard's - GET MOVING ON THE CROSS BORDER SHIPMENTS. The LCBO needs you!!!!

This has been a public service announcements for beer-swilling Celiacs everywhere.
Thank you.

I'm drinking BEER!!!!! (a review of Bard's gluten-free beer)