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Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Baked Stuffed Chicken

Making Baked Stuffed Chicken warms up your house on a cold winter day!!

 http://doreenskitchen.com/SNOWSTORE.html

Get FREE Magic Pan Restaurant recipes with CD Cookbook at

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INGREDIENTS:
whole fryer Chicken, about 3lbs or more
loaf of sliced Bread (white preferrably)
2 sticks of Butter
1 medium Onion, diced up
1 stalk Celery, diced
2 Cups Chicken Broth (or 3-4 Bouillion dissolved in 2 Cups of Water)
Salt and Pepper
2-3 Carrots, peeled and cut in half
3-5 Chicken Bouillon cubes



DIRECTIONS:
Wash out Chicken, remove gizzard, heart, liver, etc. Poke holes on top. Peel Carrots, cut in half, dice Onion and Celery.



NOTE: Some people like to put the gizzard into the pan with water for reasons that are beyond me. I toss this. The heart and liver I boil in water for a few min, cool, cut up and feed to my dog.



Make toast out of 1/2 loaf of bread, cut up into cubes, set aside.



With about a stick of Butter or so, saute the Onions and Celery till soft.
NOTE: It's not necessary to use Celery if you don't have it.



When softened, add Celery/Onion saute and the Chicken Broth to the chopped up toast and mix. When it is cooled down enough to the touch, stuff the Chicken. Put Chicken into roasting pan. Pour a bit of water in the pan so the Chicken doesn't stick to the bottom, or if you want, place on top of a roasting rack. Still add the water though, and add the Bouillon cubes. Put the Carrot's in the pan.
Melt the other stick of Butter, and pour over the Chicken, after poking holes on top so the Butter can seep through. Top with a bit of Salt and Pepper.

Never know which way to put the Chicken in the baking pan? It was a brain fart for me for years, and I was continually calling the Butcher to find out. Finally it sunk in. Put the Chicken in so the wings are pointing UP. I remember it as a flying Chicken; how do the fly? They fly with wings, and the wings make them go UP. Ta Da.
You're going to want to bake the Chicken for about 25 min per pound. So if it's around 3-4 pounds, figure about an hour and 15 min or so. Every 20 minutes or so, baste the Chicken. Add more water if needed. If you do NOT cover the Chicken with a lid or tin foil then the skin will turn brown and crispy. If you don't want it to be browned and crispy, then cover while baking. At any rate, still baste using a baster or a large spoon.
You can basically tell the Chicken is done if one of the leg's pull off with ease. There should be NO pink meat.When it is done, remove and let it sit for a few minutes in baking pan before taking Chicken out.
First then, with a spoon, remove the stuffing and put on a plate or a large bowl. Set aside. Remove the Carrots, cut up into slices and top on dressing.



Now with a large spoon and spatula, carefully lift the Chicken out of the roasting pan, and set on large platter or cutting board for cutting up.



First pull off and plate the wings and legs.



Begin to slice the Breast.




Then slice the slices thinner for individual portions. Don't forget that there is some good meat on the underside of the Chicken. Plate it all, and serve with the juices from the roasting pan in a bowl. You can also pour just a bit of this juice over the sliced up Chicken to make it moist.


HOW TO MAKE CHICKEN GRAVY
Pour out the juices from the roasting pan into a bowl.With a spoon or spatula, begin to scrape off any drippings from the bottom of the pan, but leave in the pan.
Put the pan over your range top. Add a small handful or two of Flour with pinches of Salt and Pepper. Turn the flame on to medium low and whisk the Flour in, adding a bit of the juices while doing so, to thin out and make Gravy.
If you want a creamier Gravy, add more Flour, then alternate adding a bit of WHOLE Milk and juices at a time, whisking till thinned out for Gravy.
You can also save this juice, and make Gravy later. Just add a bit of Butter to a saute pan, then Flour, then Milk and/or Chicken drippings. Top THIS on a Bisquit with some fried up Sausage and you have Biscuits and Gravy!!!

RECIPE HERE



http://www.pinterest.com/pin/461759768015502316/

Sunday, January 22, 2012

STARBUCKS Cargo Container Store

There was an article regarding Starbucks using modified shipping containers for a few of their stores. It's a bunch of fluff, but you can read it here:
STARBUCKS Cargo Container Store
Basically they (and others) purchase used old shipping containers and refurbish them. There are companies out there that will refurbish them for you too.
What this article does NOT discuss is what the health department has to say about these constructions, especially what materials are needed for refurbishing. Nor what kind of permit needed to "rent or purchase" land to put these containers on. Nor what the cost is to have these shipping containers refurbished.
If one rents land to put these "restaurants" on them, how much is it to run utility lines into them?
The old Victoria Station Restaurant(s) had a similar concept using train freight cars, HOWEVER, they sat the customers, and were build around a free standing building that housed the kitchen.
Notice that the boxcar's were for seating and salad bar only. Such things as handicapped bathrooms, gas, water, electric & hood systems were in a BUILDING that had these as part of the construction build out.
The Starbucks version supposedly is not a dine-in, but a type of to-go drive thru. How do they hook up a 3 tier sink to clean, employee hand sink, let alone employee rest room? Do they have a porta potty? Your clue may be as good as mine, because the article didn't delve into THOSE aspects.
Upon further research into companies that sell and/or refurbish these shipping containers, they do not show full service kitchens (at least from what I could find) but instead some photo's of tables and chairs for customers to sit down in. Again, is this dining-in aspect just a take off from the Victoria Station concept?
The article regarding this Starbucks states that they are easy to break down and transport (allowing for other businesses of the same sort to come in and do the same thing).
While this is a good idea to save these shipping containers from land fills and kind of looks cool, at what cost? One still has to have these "restaurants" up to code, as well as purchasing equipment. Doesn't it make better financial success to just lease a free standing building or an outlet in a strip mall?  
I wonder IF one of these "restaurants" (if it's serving food cooked on the premises) HAS to have a free standing building as Victoria Station did, or if there are certain perimeter's that the health department has come up with to have the full service kitchen (hood, grease trap etc etc) INSIDE one of these containers?
When and if Starbucks packs up and leaves with these shipping containers, "allowing" others to come in and do the same thing, will there be yet even more permits for the new business to get before setting up?

View some of my recipes at Doreens Kitchen as well as purchase my
CD Cookbook with BONUS Magic Pan recipes for $12

Vegetable Beef Soup

You can make this hearty pot of soup in easy steps, the longest part is letting it simmer. I topped mine with ORZO (tiny thick pasta), but you can use Rice as well. I also topped mine with a variety of Cheeses (Parmesan, shredded Cheddar & Mozzarella). It's a great and filling meal that warms you up. If you make the big pot, you can freeze into individual portions, and/or take to work for lunch!! (Cost per serving, about $1.25)


For detailed directions and many other recipes, make sure to check out my website: Doreen's Kitchen.
 http://doreenskitchen.com/SNOWSTORE.html

Get FREE Magic Pan Restaurant recipes with CD Cookbook at

http://doreenskitchen.com/SNOWSTORE.html

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Oysters Rockafella

If you want to buy fresh Oysters, it's easy to shuck as the YouTube video shows.
I save my shells, and soak them in a bowl full of hot soapy water overnight, then wash several times in the dishwasher (silverware basket) and dry. That way I can buy pints of Oysters already shucked, and plop them into the shells and make more!!

Friday, January 6, 2012

CD COOKBOOK

CD COOKBOOK $12
Each recipe has:
  • Nutritional values & is based on cooking for one or two people.
  • CD Cookbook can be viewed on your PC for quick reference
  • If you like you can print out only the recipes you like or the entire book.
  • 8 x 10 format for printing OR
  • Index card format included for printing for your recipe box.
  • Over 350 pages, ALL tried and true recipes from European & American restaurants
  • BONUS Magic Pan recipes in the same formats
  • See SAMPLE here