Honey Curried Chicken & Root Vegetables

It is the first day of autumn and there is nothing better than to fill the kitchen with warm spices and fresh bounty of fall vegetables.

Ingredients:

  • 2 – 2 1/2 pounds of skinned chicken breasts
  • 3 large potatoes quartered or 9 – 12 whole baby potatoes
  • 2 medium turnips peeled and cut into eighths
  • 3 – 6 carrots peeled and cut into large bites
  • 6 – 9 shallots cloves separated and cut in half *
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 1/4 cup whole dijon mustard
  • 2 – 3 tbsp water
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 tsp curry powder
  • 1/4 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/4 tsp crushed dried chiles

Directions:

Place all vegetables in a steamer and steam for about 15 – 20 minutes (you can also boil in a large pot in you prefer).  While vegetables are cooking preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a small saucepan, add honey, water, mustard, garlic, butter, chiles, curry, salt & gingers and bring to a slow boil stirring constantly. Remove from heat and set aside.  

Trim any excess fat off the chicken breasts.  Spray a shallow pyrex roasting pan with cooking spray and lay breasts evenly.  Add steamed root vegetables and fill any open gaps.  Pour 1/2 of the curry honey mixture over the chicken and with a basting brush, spread sauce over the chicken and vegetables.  Bake uncovered for 35 – 40 minutes basting the remaining sauce every 10 – 15 minutes until no more mixture remains.

Serve hot.

* If you do not have shallots, you can substitute quarter chipolini onions or even add 2 tbsp dried minced onions to the sauce instead.

Rising Cost of Food & How To Go Local

My day job has been on major slow-down for the past few weeks and we are paying dearly for the big birthday bash that my hubby was so gracious in letting me put on for myself (he is off the hook for the next 35 years). After gas prices hit $3.35 for regular and one of us has to commute two hours a day we are really starting to feel the pinch. My nerves really started to go on edge when I read this blog post and this article to know that I am not alone.

What does this have to do with food? A lot, really. Food that is imported from other states and countries need fuel for transportation. At the time of this writing, oil is at $117 per barrel!

We are now more determined than ever to make sure the NOTHING will go to waste regarding our CSA produce, and gradually start converting as much as possible to a regional/seasonal diet. I found a very good web page that gives tips this very subject. Mind you, the web page is mainly directed at Northeasterners, such as myself. I also know that going to a more vegan-based vegetarian diet (and we are what is commonly called a semi-vegetarian, meaning we eat fish & fowl) might help with food bill, albeit a very small portion. Good thing we are not allergic to soy and nuts.

Over the next few months I will do my best in posting tips and sites that I find to help stretch your hard-earned dollar bill and ways that will avoid as much food as possible to going to the compost. Here’s a couple of tips off the top of my head that I do or should do.

Tip #1: Start A Veggie Garden
Your veggie garden does not require acres of land. In fact you might be surprised to know that my garden is only 4×4 feet using a method called Square Foot Gardening. I am not as active with the gardening as much as I’m used to since I have been using the CSA, but this can be geared to most people, even those who have no experience in gardening! Before joining the CSA I would have veggies (with the help of a 73 green house over the garden) from April going into November. If you live in an apartment with a balcony, use large pots, plant a tomato plant and add stagger over a week or two a couple of lettuce seeds around the tomato plant and it will love the shade! Instant salad. If you have absolutely no space, find a community garden. You meet some great people and exchange gardening tips and if you must, share your bounty with others.

Tip #2: Buy In Bulk
I do not do this often enough, but right off the top of my head, I would buy my poultry when it goes on sale in minimum batches of 3lb trays and divide them up into 1lb sections and freeze. It is also suggested to also buy flour, sugar, nuts, dried fruits, chocolate chips, and coffee in bulk as well and keep in air tight containers (not zip lock bags as they do not keep fresh and possibly subject to critters).

Tip #3: Save the skin & bones
Want to make some amazing broth and stock? Get out your slow cooker, add your left over skin/bones/meat from your chicken or turkey (never tried beef but can’t hurt, I’m sure) and fill with water. Using a cheese cloth, wrap some fresh thyme, rosemary, 1/4 of an onion, and parsley. Tie together and add to pot. Cook overnight on low. Next morning remove carcass, bones, and spice wrap and strain through a sieve. If you want to remove a goodly portion of fat, no kidding use a non-bleached #4 coffee filter in the sieve. When liquid cannot go through, it is too full of fat and replace with a new one until all the liquid is strained. Freeze in batches of 1 cup, pop out of container and freeze in zip lock bags. Pull out what you need in single cups.

Let’s hear from you regarding your best tips and sites!

Great Menu Planner

I had a conversation with my significant other in which he was concerned about the lack of variety at the table.  Primarily because I make one-pot meals and the kids were getting sick and tired of the same ‘ol same ‘ol, unless of course it is Mac ‘n Cheese (shells only, aged cheddar, thank you).  Never got the hang of the American Old School rule of choosing a recipe from each of the following categories: 

  • Meat/Poultry
  • Starch/Bread
  • Vegetable
  • Dessert  

 Growing up, when my family was not doing one-pot meals, we just pretty much stuck to the meat/poultry and vegetable, and forego the starch and dessert.I have no sense or organizing a menu and a grocery list that goes with it and right now I feel like a deer in the headlights. In scrambling for some menu ideas (tons of recipes in cyber-space, but no complementing food stuffs to go with them), I stumbled across a great PDF file from Menus 4 Moms. Not a heck of a lot of space to write in your intended meals, but it has a grocery list, and it is a good start.  I plan on trying to set something up for a week and see how goes.