Roasted Chicken

For dinner last night we roasted a chicken. Here it is ready to pop in the oven with root vegetables. The chicken was rinsed with cool water, salted, peppered, and saluted with the 21 Seasonings from Trader Joe's. Along with the chicken are golden turnips, parsnips, carrots, garlic, onion, and leeks. A tiny drizzle of olive oil was used over the vegies. In the second pan is a whole beet, cut in half and drizzled with a tad of olive oil. They were all set to roast at 375 degrees for about 2 hours.

After 2 hours of roasting this is what it looked like. There was plenty of moist delicious meat for our dinner with the roasted vegetables. The leftovers will be made into chicken pot pie and I think there will be enough for chicken tacos one night this week too. That is a lot meals from one bird! What do you do with your chicken?

Peach Blossoms

The sky was dark and full of energy as we headed out to the Grower's Market. It rained, hailed, blew, and shined all day long. The pretty pink blossoms against the dark sky were so pretty to see this morning.

All of the Weather of Spring

This has been the range of weather in the past 24 hours! Fog, sunshine, rain, clouds, rainbows!


Fog and rain in the early hours of the day. It was cold, wet, and white! In the stillness of the fog, Canada Geese could be heard honk, honk, honking.


The damp cloak lifted and there was sunshine and clouds! Everything was bright and warm and seemed to dry up instantly.


As evening came, there were thunderstorms along the ridgelines and rainbows showing all of the colors that couldn't be seen in the morning. It was a full day of springtime weather!

Cauliflower Soup

Spring is here and so are the early spring fresh garden vegetables. Dinner tonight is soup and salad!


The cauliflower soup is so easy to make.
Start with 1 1/2 quarts of water and 1 teaspoon of salt
Add
5 carrots chopped
1 onion chopped
1 potato chopped
3 cloves garlic sliced
Simmer for 10 minutes.
Add
1 head of cauliflower chopped
Simmer for 10-15 minutes longer.
Let soup start sit for 5 minutes.
Get out the blender and pour everything into the blender and puree for 1 minute. If there is too much to pour in at once, pour the first batch into a separate bowl and repeat with the blender the other half of tender cooked vegetables.
Add everything back to the soup pot. It will look so smooth and creamy. Now you can add either 1 1/2 cups of milk or 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock. You can also grate some cheese in if you like that. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper and maybe a few chives.


Serve with a fresh salad and some leftover Irish Soda Bread, and there is a complete meal!
~ Happy first day of spring ~

~ Happy St. Patrick's Day ~

Here is a little journey through our day:


This quilt was handstitched by Grandma Wade with scraps from clothes she made for my dad and Aunt Billie Sue. The little photo in the middle of the shelf has my nephew David, Jolene and Karyn playing games through the window shelves at Ganny's house many years ago.


Beautiful roses and carnations were given to me from Tim, along with locally made candies in the Waterford crystal dish from Grandma Kelly. The quilt is a handmade gift from Karyn and has all of the grandchildren's names stitch on it. In the oval shaped frame is our two Irish girls when they were such tiny little people. xo


The breakfast of champions: farm grown sausage links, fresh eggs, and kiwi...well, the kiwi are green! My sister, Trina, can flip the eggs in the pan, but I never developed the proper wrist action. The eggs were cooked in the small iron skillet that was Grandad's and a gift from my mom.


The wonderful collection of cutting boards and wooden handled ulu knives are from Mom and Bob. The are the best made tools for the kitchen. The loaves of Chocolate Irish Potate Bread will be going to the Marks and Brown families. There are chocolate chip orange cookies on the stand.


The Irish Man at work for the college math classes he teaches. See the tree through the window? The moss really is that bright green color! Even walnut trees celebrate St. Patrick's Day!


Our Irish Girl, Jolene, made a special delivery from her cupcake shop, Cocoa. She created Luck-O-The-Irish Pops in a variety of colors and flavors, each one was a delicious treat.


The tasty Irish Pops stood perfectly in the "Maher" mug. Maher is my mom's family name. My grandfather's family ran a pub in Dublin.


The corned beef and spices are put to simmer on the stove top. The smell of Irish dinner fills the house all day long.


Time for a toast with a little Irish, whiskey for himself and a stout for her. The little Irish Shamrock was made by Tim's Irish grandmother, Margaret (O'Brien) Chiappetti.


The table is set and for dinner we will eat corned beef and cabbage, potatoes and Irish Soda Bread.


My Irish Sweetheart, who has the best taste in music. We are listening to Martin Marron with Charlie Austin on the fiddle. The perfect choice.


Slicing the Irish Soda Bread, which we decided we liked best with currants or raisins. Tanks for joining us and a very Happy Saint Patrick's Day to you!