low and slow cooking….

My copy of "The Kitchen Counter Cooking School" came in through interlibrary loan, and that plus tonight's dinner got me thinking about what I've learned lately about low and slow cooking. I'm not talking about the crock pot. That is good for some things, but I'm noticed that it tends to dry my meat out unless there are plenty of moist things in the pot with the meat, ie. soups or stews.

About a year ago, I tried Cooking Light's Beef Daube Provencal recipe, and I fell in love. It made the stew beef that I usually dry out through stove top cooking turn into something that would melt in your mouth. I realized it had to be the process and not the recipe itself, so I tried applying the same cooking method to my usual beef stew recipe. It transformed it.

Here's the method. Get out a dutch oven, some sort of oven proof pot with a lid that you can use on the stove top and then put in the oven. (Mine is a cheapo stainless steel pot with a lid that I got with a set when we got married.) Put your beef into the pot, bring it to a boil, put in whatever else you're using to flavor like onions, broth, spices, potatoes, etc., and then put a lid on it and throw it in the oven at 300 degrees for 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Tonight I applied the same idea using this recipe from Smitten Kitchen. (Hat tip to my sister-in-law, Terri, for the recipe.)  I didn't follow her brining step or make sauce at the end, and I made only 4 chicken drumsticks, rubbed with the seasoning, and then put into a foil packet. Once again, 2 1/2- 3 hours on 300 degrees. The last step of broiling it for a couple of minutes made a great crust to finish. I'm not sure I like the rub that much, but that doesn't seem to be the main component to success with this method. Next time, I may just douse the drumsticks liberally with salt and pepper and maybe a little onion and garlic powder and call it a day.

So, low and slow in the oven. Now that it's getting cooler in these parts, I'll probably be using this technique multiple times a week. Hmm, wonder if it would work on marinated boneless skinless chicken breasts? I think I'll try and find out. :)

My version of one dish chicken, potatoes, and green beans...

Ok, so there's this dish that floats around Pinterest. It involves chicken breasts, cut up potatoes, and green beans. The whole thing is smothered in Italian dressing and baked together.

I decided to make my own version with spices and my own marinade, and I am glad to report that it got rave reviews from the family I delivered it to. That inspired me to make it again for another family that just had a baby. Maybe I'll even make it for us one of these days. ;) Anyway, try it and let me know what you think if you like it.

One Dish Chicken, Potatoes, and Green Beans

3 chicken breast, cut into large pieces
4-5 red skinned potatoes, cut into chunks
a couple of cups of frozen green beans
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
Penzeys Italian Herb Mix (or other blend of your choice)
thinly sliced butter pats

Seasoning:
1 t. crushed rosemary
1 t. basil
1 t. garlic powder
1 1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. pepper
1/2 t. fennel seeds
a dash of dried onion flakes

Marinate the chicken breasts in a mix of half olive oil and roughly half balsamic vinegar with some italian herbs generously shaken in there. I usually marinate for a whole day, and I don't think I've used more than 1/4 c. of each liquid.

Then cut up the chicken (maybe 3 parts per breast?), and lay down the center of a greased 9x13 dish. Put the chopped potatoes down one side and the green beans down the other side. Combine the seasoning mixture in a small dish and then sprinkle it on top of everything in the pan. Cut up a few pats of butter and put on top.

Now, I'm not sure about the baking part. I haven't baked it myself yet. The idea is that it will all come out cooked at the same time. Try 350 degrees for 1 hour, checking the potatoes and chicken especially for doneness.

The week before we start school...

From one of my Wednesdays with One Kid that my in-laws gave us all this summer. I took Seth to the rainforest exhibit at the science museum downtown. He loved it. 

I didn't have a plan today. I'm avoiding all museums and fun places because it's the last week day before public schools start, and I'm assuming that every parent in the local area will be trying to squeeze in one last bit of summer fun. :) I should've just started the summer school I've been doing with Seth some this month, but I read books and took out the kinetic sand instead, and after Ben decided he'd rather destroy his brother's castle than play, I pulled out a short Netflix Lego movie. I need to regroup after this. :) 

But I'm excited because I recently unearthed the Cycle 2 Classical Conversations CD that my sister-in-law gave me sometime last year. Now, listening to the whole thing makes my shoulders tense. BUT, there are some good history sentences on there that we can sing as we're doing SOTW 2. I found them online and copied and pasted them into a Word document. Something to add to the memory binder I plan to pull together this coming week! 

I also downloaded a World Book This Day in History app onto the iPad. I think that will be fun to pull out during Morning Time some days. Hey, look kids! The Bubonic Plague killed 1,000 people on this day in history! ;) 

I also decided to break down and buy the full version of MacPhun's Art Puzzles app. We used the free version some last year during Morning Time, and they loved it. They got to study the details of Starry Night while we put together the simplest version of the virtual puzzle while listening to soothing classical background music.

I've also decided that I am excited about adding "A Child's Introduction to Art" for our art study. I wanted to study some art from the Medieval and Renaissance periods, and this book takes famous works and artists in mostly chronological order. I ordered a set of Monet prints for Charlotte Mason style picture study, but I plan to use this book to supplement as we go along. 

Now to just figure out what poetry and Bible memory I want for us! And what geography and science facts to memorize, if any. I need to make that a matter of prayer. Honestly, I need to pray more over all the school choices I make, but that becomes even more clear when I have lots of choose from and a short amount of time during Morning Time each day. What to choose! There are soooo many good things! 

The Lego men may be quitting on me soon. Gotta run! Happy homeschooling school year planning to any of you who are still doing it, too! 

summer wednesday….

Little man checking out his bowling shoes while the older two talk about their scores…

It's been a great few days. I find that I often think that when everyone has been in a good mood and no one is sick, and it's just icing on the cake if we get to do fun things. 

Monday afternoon, we went to our local kid's free bowling, and then we picked up Chick Fil A on the way to a local park. They spent some time playing and then discovered a grassy hill to roll down. They called it  "parachuting" for some reason. 

Yesterday we went to Marbles, the local children's museum. They played happily, buzzing like bees from farm play to the pirate ship to the train table, etc. and around and around again. I drove us home to their excited chatter in the backseat about their favorite things to play with.

Today I took us off to the downtown science museum. Evan really wanted to see the dinosaurs, though he acted a little intimidated like always when we got up close to them. We went to the morning "Meet the Animals." I love that program. It's such fun hands on science. They got to pet a baby alligator, some sort of African lizard, and a rabbit, while they learned about how each animal is adapted to where they live and what they do. The lady who does it asks lots of questions and does a wonderful job with making it interactive.

I'd packed a picnic lunch, and we stopped at a little playground nearby. I sat under the big, shady trees and watched them dig in the sand. Seth told me that he was being respectful of Ben and including him, and that Ben wasn't destroying his sand boat like usual. :) 

Our summer days are winding down. I had so much energy for planning this coming school year right after the homeschool conference in May, but now I'm a little stalled out. Maybe it's that I don't want to dive in again. Or maybe it's that I mostly know what we're doing this year, and it feels mostly familiar and not crazy complicated to pull together. I'm not somebody who writes down detailed schedules for each day. I know what books we're using, and when we finish a lesson, we move on the next. ;) 

Tuesday or Thursday Tea is on the agenda as something new for this year. (I figure that a day that starts with a "T" will help me remember to do it. :) I'm hunting for a teapot or tea kettle that I can use for that. I'm planning to put out a special snack after rest time, let the boys pick their own tea bags to use, have a little bowl of sugar cubes out, etc. I'm going to light a candle and make it a special time. I plan to put things in this time that I haven't gotten to earlier in the week. We may do picture study and read poetry during this time. It's a very Charlotte Mason idea that I've seen tossed around on the CM Facebook feed, and I'm excited about it. 

Well, I'd better run. I'm cutting up some fresh green pepper and SC peaches for dinner with warmed up taco meat from the freezer. (I do a lot of cut up fresh veggies and fruit for sides in the summer.) And then it's off to the pool for an evening family swim. Ah, summer… I'm gonna miss you.