Tuesday catch up

Hello all!

So, it's been over a week since I've talked to you. Oops. Sorry about that. Steve had spring break and there was Easter and we celebrated Ellie's first birthday. It's been a crazy fun week off from the blog.

Here's a quick recap in just a flow of thoughts. Hope you can keep up!

1. I ran 7. 3 miles on Sunday and wish you could have been with me. Sometimes miles get lonely, and other times, I am so glad for a little bit of silence. It's nice to not hear every Fisher-Price/Baby Einstein/Playskool toy song for an hour or so. Granted, I found out that my stride matches "Intergalactic" from the Beastie Boys and "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes". Who knew?!
2. Easter morning with a baby who is actually old enough to enjoy it is a wonderful thing. Ellie loved her dress and basically every fun holiday food. Yay!

Ellie in 2015 (almost a year) and Ellie in 2014 (5 days old)
What a difference a year makes!

3. Ellie managed a perfectly timed "all done" during Pastor S's Good Friday sermon. Of course she did.
4. Steve and I took turns pushing Ellie in her first 5K. Thankfully, Steve did the up hill part!

First family 5K

4.5. I discovered have a really weird race face thanks to the photographer from the 5K we did. I look like I'm grimacing, but trying to concentrate, but not trying to hard. Weird.
5. I have a half marathon on May 2. HOLY MOLEY.
6. I made a semi-awful pasta dish for Easter brunch. You won't see that recipe on here.
7. I made a fantastic tuna wrap for lunch yesterday and a really good chicken alfredo last night for dinner. Those are two recipes you will see on here.
8. Today's e-mail devotion really hit home about friendships and what amazing ladies I have in my life. Makes me all gushy.
9. Handbell festival is this weekend. So. Many. Bells.
10. I had way more thoughts to type, but then I thought I heard Ellie waking up from her nap, and just now, I was holding very still as if she could hear me thinking. Ugh, lost my train of thought.
11. I just thought of another - we had Ellie's 1st birthday party on Saturday and my party theme skillz were awesome. More on that tomorrow.

Here is the recipe for the chicken alfredo I made:

Spicy Chicken Alfredo
Ingredients:
1 pound chicken, cubed
1 Tbsp-ish Wildtree Natural Garlic Grapeseed Oil
1 tsp Wildtree Rancher Steak Rub
1 tsp Wildtree Herb Grilling Seasoning
1 box linguine, prepared as directed
1/2 onion, sliced
1 8 oz package mushrooms, diced (broccoli would be a nice addition too)
4-ish Tbsp butter
1/2 cup milk (any %)
1/2 tsp chili pepper flakes
1 package Chicken Alfredo Extraordinaire
1 huge handful of spinach, chopped roughly

Directions:
Start your pasta water boiling in a large pot while you heat your garlic grapeseed oil in a large pan. Cook the chicken in the pan with the Rancher Steak Rub and Herb Grilling Seasoning blend. This takes about 4 minutes on each side if your heat is at medium high. Toss in the mushrooms and onions until the onions get translucent. Once this timing is achieved, take the chicken and veggies out of the pan and set on a plate for a bit. Hopefully, some of the juices have stayed in the pan.

By now, your pasta is done. Drain and set aside.

In your pan with the yummy chicken, onion, grapeseed oil and mushroom juices, add the butter. When that has just about melted, add the milk and stir to incorporate. Wisk in the Chicken Alfredo Extraordinaire so that there aren't any clumps. Add the chili pepper flakes now if you want it to be a really bright, biting flavor. Add them to the chicken a few steps ago if you want it more infused through the whole dish. We added them back with the chicken.

I'm mentioning this now in case you're all like, "Why? Why would I ruin Alfredo with red pepper flakes?" I'm telling you BECAUSE.

OK, so you've whisked the sauce. Add the chicken and veggies back to the pan and turn the heat to low. Add the pasta to the pan. See why I said you needed a large pan? Toss the sauce, chicken mix and pasta all together. Looking good, right? Wait, it's kind of all the same color...

ENTER THE SPINACH!

Put the rough chopped spinach on top and briefly cover with a lid for about 2 minutes. This causes the spinach to wilt a bit so it all fits in your pan better. Take the lid off and toss, so the spinach is everywhere. It's gorgeous now. I wish I had taken pictures for you!

Your husband, guests, babies (chopped into appropriate sized pieces), kids, parents, anyone will love this dish. Enjoy with a nice white wine or glass of milk. Whatever strikes your fancy!

Making a move and my awesome salad

Hello Crushers!

Today is the last day that I had to pack a lunch for my full-time job with the international medical society that I work for. Tomorrow we are all going out to lunch as a treat, so this is it. I'm sure I will pack a million more lunches in my lifetime between traveling, camping, Steve and our kids. That's a lot of PBJ!

This morning I rushed around the kitchen getting last minute things done (yes, I had to touch up my toe-nail polish) and making my lunch. I did not think very hard about doing it. Mostly this was my inner thought process: I should take an apple. And some cantaloupe before the cantaloupe goes bad. Take the last piece of string cheese - hope Steve doesn't mind! Oh, there's that lettuce from the garden. Steve is going to pick more lettuce, so I should eat that up. What to put on the lettuce? Cucumbers from the farmer's market? OK! Ooooh! There's leftover chicken from last night's Asian Ginger Chicken (Wildtree)! Score! Do I have time to slice a tomato? No. Bummer."

My tomato-less salad.

I will be making a career change to stay at home mom (SAHM)/part-time professor/something new that I'll tell you about soon. The last time I changed jobs, I had more of a "See ya! Don't get between me and the door!" feeling. I was burned out and needed something new. Four years later and I am married with a baby and a much healthier me! I can only imagine what the next four years are going to look like!

This is why I have mixed emotions about leaving my job. I enjoy the people I work with and the tasks I do. I have been able to travel to far-off, exciting places and eat incredible foods (kangaroo anyone?). However, I get to be home more as Ellie's mama, and you can't beat that.

For the men and women who have to work or choose to work and can't be home, I am impressed by everything you do for your family. For the full-time and part-time stay-at-home moms and dads, I'm impressed by everything you do for your family. I'm not judging anyone; this is just what works best for our family at this time. I'm sure you're doing the same.

Before the school year starts again and I go back to being Prof. W, we are going to take some time to relax up at our cabin. My dad is getting to build his dream garage up there and we will be there to help (and shop and swim and fish!). It's the perfect place to recharge out batteries. Hopefully, I will have another career move to share with you soon. More on that later. For now, I'm going to enjoy my salad and stop being so contemplative because really, it's a salad. It's not the first and won't be the last. Plus, I got stuff to do!

In the meantime, here is how I made the chicken:
I followed the recipe for Grilled Asian Ginger Chicken and made it into a freezer meal. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the veggies thawed out. They weren't soggy like I thought they would be. Instead of grilling them because we ran out of time, we just cooked them in a frying pan on the stovetop. They were DELICIOUS with some brown rice and frozen sherbert for dessert. Yum!

Sometimes things work and sometimes they come out of the oven like rocks.

Good morning, Crushers!

On Monday night, I had this delicious menu planned out with broiled steaks, guacamole, a nice salad and brown rice. We're doing doing steak Tex-Mex style. Makes me want some more of the guacamole as I type this...

Anyway, I have only used the broiler setting on my oven(s) to make fish. How hard could it be to make broiled steaks? Steve said his mom did it all the time, and there has yet to be a recipe from Carol that didn't work.

Turns out that these gorgeous looking pieces of steak (on sale!) could become hard as rocks.

Perhaps I should have marinated them?

Turns out that my trusted Better Homes and Gardens cookbook was full of it when it told me to broil the seasoned steaks 4-5 inches from the heat source for 30 minutes, flipping half way through, based on the thickness of the steak (about one inch). Um, no. Just no. I think they could have been nicely done with 10 minutes on each side.

Bless him, Steve ate two helpings. Why? I have no idea. They were flavorful, but so, so well-done.

Last night was better. We had chicken with spinach and feta on the weekly menu. Originally, I was thinking of making Spinach and Feta Stuffed Chicken Breasts, but then I realized that some of my chicken breasts were not thick enough. I guess I got a little overzealous while slicing up the chicken for freezer prep last week!

What to do? Hot spinach and feta side dish? How about adding some red potatoes? No, that's weird. But wait that could work...

That's how dinner made it's way to the table last night:

From the top going clock-wise, Greek Parmesan oven potatoes, spinach with feta sauce
and skillet chicken with feta sauce.

My mom posted a recipe for Garlic and Parmesan oven potatoes on Facebook last night, but with my Greek food theme, I wanted to use some of the Opa! Greek seasoning from Wildtree. Some of that same seasoning made it's way into the sauce too.

Here are the recipes from last night:
Greek Parmesan Oven Potatoes
Ingredients:
2lbs of red potatoes, sliced in thick slices (about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick)
1/3 cup oil (I used veggie oil, but olive oil would have been nice)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 Tbsp Opa! Greek Seasoning from Wildtree
4-5 good shakes from your pepper shaker

Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking pan with aluminum foil (or you could probably use a 13x9 inch pan). Put all the ingredients in a zip-top bag and shake it up! Once everything is coated nicely, spread it out on the pan and bake for 30 minutes.

Oven potatoes in the oven!

While that is baking, heat some oil (about a Tbsp) in a skillet and cook your chicken breasts for about 7 minutes on each side. They should reach an internal temperature of 160 degrees. I sprinkled some pepper and salt on each side. Delicious!

Can you hear the sizzle?

Now, if you can manage it, start the feta sauce while you're letting the chicken and potatoes do their thing.

Feta Cream Sauce
(I modified the recipe a bit since I didn't have evaporated milk. Here is what I did)
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp flour
3/4 cup milk (I used 1%)
1/2 Tbsp Opa! Greek seasoning from Wildtree
nearly 1 cup feta cheese crumbles

Directions: Melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium-high heat. Stir in flour and keep stirring so it doesn't get clumpy or burn. Gradually pour in the milk and just keep stirring. (you may need to go back and flip your chicken over now) Once the flour and milk are all friendly and bubbly, turn down the heat a bit and stir in the seasoning and cheese. Now just keep stirring until the cheese is melted. This will take the rest of the time that the chicken is cooking and your potatoes are cooking. Just keep stirring!

Goes great on chicken and even spinach as a hot dressing! Yum!

So, while one recipe is a total flop, or in this case a total brick, it's nice to know that there's always another recipe to try to redeem a sad, sad steak.

Virtual Running Date No. 44: Ready for Spring and a tip for dredging chicken

Hello!

If we were on a virtual running date, I would tell you that I'm ready for spring. This past weekend, we decided that we are done with winter. Just done. And this is coming from two people who get REALLY excited about snow. You know how cold it was when I woke up this morning? NEGATIVE 3 degrees F. That's cold people.

Currently, it's a whopping 16 degrees F, but the windchill makes it feel like about 5 degrees F. Can we get a 30 please?! It's too cold to run comfortably. Or at least without a lot of layers. Brrr...

Anyway, I decided to "shop my house" a la Kari Anne at Thistlewood Farms for some springy decorations. Remember how I made that St. Patrick's Day wreath last year? Well, I could not find the grape vine wreath that I used last year for anything. I know it made it to the new house, but I'm not sure where. Since it's been so cold, our Christmas wreath still looks pretty green. So I decided to dress that up. I just tore off the pine cones and big red bow and added a few shamrocks. See?

Ridiculous? Yes.
Do I feel like I'm extending the life of my wreath? Yes.
Win-win.

I also decided to take down all the red and white and gold on our mantle from Christmas/winter decorations and lighten things up with some of my grandma's milk glass and tea cups that I inherited.

It's amazing what some fresh white, pink and blue glassware will do for your psyche and mantle!

If this were a virtual running date, I'd tell you that we also figured that we need to put together more baby stuff since our kiddo is due to arrive sometime in the next 5-6 weeks. YES, I said weeks. Yes, that's slightly alarming, but mostly awesome. We're ready to meet our new person, but we're also totally content to wait a few more weeks.

From left: car seat to be installed, pack-n-play, seat/rocker and
hand-me-down stroller that needs to be cleaned up in the background.

We're ready. Heh. Or at least we look ready!

One last thing I'd tell you if we were on a running date? I have been watching a lot of America's Test Kitchen lately. Good old Christopher Kimball and Julia Collin Davison were talking about how to make a really great Chicken Parmesan without it getting soggy or rubbery. They also skipped a step of the flour-egg-flour (bread crumbs/whatever) dredging that you normally do when breading chicken. Instead they whisked egg and flour together for the first step, and then dipped it in the bread crumbs. Um, hello! This is way easier! Plus, it cooked nice and even.

I would show you a photo of that, but mommy-to-be got hungry before she could take a photo. Oops! If you want, head over to America's Test Kitchen and read the recipe. It's so good.

Note: Only the current season's recipes are available online. If you are reading this a few years from now, you'll have to pay to see it. Or you could just trust me and know that it works!

Faith-filled Friday: Moving Part 1

Good morning, Crushers!

As you may have noticed, the blog has been a little light on recipes lately. Well, as you know, we're moving. That means most of the kitchen is packed up. We've been eating off of paper plates and only using one stock pot and one skillet to cook everything. Between random cookware and trying to eat up what's in the fridge, it's like we're living on the Food Network's show "Chopped".

Source

Here's what we've been eating:

• Skillet-cooked BBQ chicken with mixed veggies
• Delicata Squash Gnocchi and jarred red sauce
• Leftovers (microwave quesadillas using up cheese and mixed veggies. FYI - peas are not quesadilla-friendly)
• Leftovers (reheat squash gnocchi for lunches)
• Soup and leftovers

Overall it hasn't been so bad, but Steve knows that this is starting to annoy me. I want my kitchen back! Anyway, he continues to be the most awesome husband ever and is taking me out to dinner tonight. WHOO! You know, before we finish some more packing...

Fortunately, we have amazing friends and family (Thanks Mom and Dad!) who are willing to take us and our stuff (that won't fit in the POD) in for a month or so. I was am feeling really overwhelmed about this. So, what do you do (besides tell your best girl friends and hubs?), dig in to the Bible. Duh. Facepalm.

Source
Caïn by Henri Vidal, Tuileries Garden, Paris, 1896

Psalm 27 is my go-to chapter when I need a little pick-me-up. Of course it would have an appropriate verse about this!

One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple. For in the day of trouble he will keep me safe in his dwelling; he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me high upon a rock. Psalm 27: 4-5

No matter where we go, we should always seek to "dwell in the house of the Lord". That's where you're the safest. It reminds me of a little child who knows that wherever mom and dad are, that's the safe spot. Have you ever seen a small child in a store or at a family gathering bump into a set of legs, look up, and then look scared because those legs do not belong to mom or dad?

When we try and walk around thinking that we're on the right path, sometimes we realize that "whoops", those are not the right legs. We are not on the right path. That is not the path that leads us to safety!

Let's always try to seek God and seek the safety and comfort that only He can provide. While I'm doing that, you can also find me and Steve safe and sound at my parents' house for the next month.

Roasted Chicken with lemon and rosemary

Hello Crushers!

As promised, here is my attempt at Rosemary and Lemon Roasted Chicken. I followed the recipe from Kitchen Crush Ree Drummond (also known as the Pioneer Woman) almost exactly. I encourage you to go check out her recipe in case you'd like to try that and also because she has way better pictures.

Here is what I did:
Roast Chicken with Lemon and Rosemary
Based on the recipe by Ree Drummond
Ingredients:

• 1 whole Chicken, Patted Dry
• 3/4 -ish cups Butter, Softened
• 2 whole Lemons
• 2-3 Tbsp fresh from the garden Rosemary, finely chopped
• 1 Tbsp dried Thyme
• Salt And Pepper, to taste

Gear you'll need:

• Large bowl, spoon, measuring cups, zester/fine grater, baking sheet with sides, heavy duty aluminum foil

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 425 F. Line the baking sheet with aluminum foil. This is super helpful in the clean up! Open up that chicken package and take the baggie of guts out. Unless you're planning on making a chicken liver pate, just chuck it. I'm not into organ meats, but if you are, that's nice. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and then chuck those too. No one wants salmonella poisoning. This is the reason that you DO NOT rinse your chicken. Just pat it dry and lay it on the foil. Let it air out a bit.
 

Zest away, Crushers!

In the mean time, let's get to the buttery goodness. If your butter isn't softened enough, just pop it in the microwave for a few seconds. I mean that. Do not put it in for over 12 seconds at a time or you just melted your butter. Once you have soft butter, zest two lemons over the butter bowl. This will smell so good. Then add the diced rosemary and thyme. As Ree Drummond says, you can mix and match your herbs and citrus, so don't be afraid to try new things!

Buttery lemon goodness!

Once you have all the herb butter mixed up, slather it all over the chicken and make sure to get it in all the nooks and crannies. Yes, even inside the bird. Don't be shy! Just stick your hand in the cavity. You can do it! If it helps, you can pretend that you're putting sun screen on the chicken, so you know you've got to cover everything or the poor thing will burn. Once you've buttered it up, sprinkle lemon juice over the chicken and then cram as many lemon halves inside the chicken. Ree's recipe called for three lemons, but I could only fit two inside, so I'm suggesting that you just buy two.

Buttered up and in the oven!
Note: when you sprinkle the lemon juice on it, some of the butter may slide around.

Wash your hands thoroughly and then pop the chicken in the oven for at least an hour and 25 minutes. It might take longer. When it's all done, the insides won't be pink and all the juices will run clear. 

Yum!

Serve it up with some of your favorite sides (butternut squash gnocchi, beets and green beans all from the garden!), and enjoy!

Sorry for the messy plate, but I was starving!

Virtual Running Date No. 27: Fall running

Hey Crushers,

I'm happy to report that I did not fall while running. However, if this were a virtual running date, I would be happy to run with you through all the gorgeous fall leaves! Thankfully, the weather let up enough over the weekend for a nice long run on Saturday morning.

Where we run along the parkway was bustling with activity between rain showers. Kids were playing soccer, there was a walk for Alzheimer's awareness, a farmers' market, people eating brunch, runners, bikers, and walkers (both two- and four-legged). Steve and dodged the leashes, strollers and leaf piles (they were a little wet, so they were slippery). Nothing like nature turning into an obstacle course!

If this were a running date, I would tell you about the amazing frozen yogurt that we had over the weekend. Imagine this: apple pie flavored fro-yo, topped with chopped nuts, granola and a little (yeah, yeah, a lot) of caramel sauce. Yum! I encourage you to indulge a bit in all things apple this weekend! Sunday night, I had a friend invite me over to have some coffee and apple crisp. Of course I was going to go! Who turns down a good apple crisp in October? No one.

If this were a running date, I would confess that I'm really looking forward to fall break. I'm teaching a college course on top of every thing else, so one day off of teaching sounds like a blessing right now. I can use that time to write the next exam and prepare for the rest of the semester instead of doing it so last minute. How about you? Aren't you looking forward to a bit of a slow down before November and December?

If this were a running date, I would also tell you that I'm so excited to be an auntie again! My brother and sister-in-law are expecting Baby #2 any day now (most likely a week from today). How fun! More baby snuggles!

One more thing: the roasted chicken I talked about in this post? Yeah, it was delicious! Look for it in an up coming post!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend and got to be outside for a bit!

Hummingbird moths and how I accidentally made chicken schnitzel

Good morning Crushers!

On Tuesday night, Steve and I spent some time cleaning up our garden. We cut down plants that needed to be trimmed back and emptied flower pots. Along our garage is a small patch of purple flowers, commonly known as obedient plants, that are a favorite among bees and butterflies. While we were working, we noticed some new creatures over there. At first I thought they were small hummingbirds.

I ran inside to get my camera, and when I came back out, Steve pointed out that our hummingbird visitors had horns! I looked them up online, and they are Sphinx moths or Hummingbird moths. Can you spot them? They're small and striped.

How cool is that?

Before we went out to the garden, I was in charge of making dinner. We had thawed out some chicken, so I figured I'd try and fry it like I saw a person do on "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" with Guy Fieri. It looked simple enough. Pound chicken flat, dredge in flour, coat in whisked eggs, dredge in flour/spice mix and then place in the frying pan. Let cool on a plate lined with paper towels to soak up the oil. Serve with veggies and a salad. Easy peasy.

They turned out delicious! When I started to tell Steve how I did it, I realized this was basically like the chicken schnitzel I ate while in Australia (although I used more spices). After a super easy Google search, I realized that I totally made it on accident. Steve liked it so much, he said that this would be a go-to meal for us when having company over. I agreed!

Since I made it on accident, there were no photos taken before we gobbled it all up. Instead, here are a few great links to other people who made chicken schnitzel on purpose and took photos.

The Shiksa in the Kitchen: Chicken Schnitzel

Rachel Ray's Smokey Chicken Schnitzel

Panko-Coated Chicken Schnitzel

Martha Stewart Chicken Schnitzel

Really, you can just do a Google search and it pops up everywhere. Chances are that it's in one of the cookbooks sitting on your shelf too. So easy and really delicious! Enjoy!

Virtual Running Date No. 17: Bikes, babies and gardens, Oh My!

Good morning, Crushers!

What a weekend! If we were on a virtual running date today, I would have to admit that I didn't do any running all weekend long except to chase my nephew, Ben, in a game of tag. We did however, bike 18 miles! Boo-yah!

Friday, we ran a whole bunch of errands including out to Waukesha to pick up a box that I had left behind at an old apartment. I'm really glad we picked it up for two reasons: 1) it had my college diploma and a few other important things in it and 2) we were near an Outback Steakhouse (gift card!). I had the new Great Barrier Trio. Let me tell you, it was not like dining in Australia, but I would gladly order that again. It was just the right amount of food and the crab and avocado salad was delicious! I need to figure out how to make that at home.

If we were on a virtual running date, I would tell you that I was really hesitant about biking from our house on the northwest side of Milwaukee all the way to the Wauwatosa Farmers' Market. I knew that the terrain was pretty flat except for one big hill. I'm usually a parkway biker and I avoid busy streets as much as possible. Fortunately, we only had to be on a busy street for a little while. Just like I advocate for runners to wear bright clothing, I'm going to throw in an encouragement for bikers to do the same. I try very hard to share the road with all bikers, vehicles and pedestrians, but I know that I'm probably not as vigilant of a driver as I could be when it comes to bikers. I figured I had best assume that other drivers were less vigilant that I can be.

We made it! I have no idea why this picture is blurry.

Dressed to be seen!

Steve in front of the Little Red Store, and yes, he had a helmet.

 Steve, bless him, wore a big-ish backpack for our ride with a soft-sided cooler in it for any/all of our farmers' market finds. We made it all the way without mishap and rewarded ourselves with coffee from the Valentine Coffee Co. I highly recommend their Bering Sea Blend for iced coffee. It was delicious! We also picked up some rosemary sour dough bread from Waterhouse Foods from Lake Mills, WI. They have cooking classes and you can bet that I'm going to jump on that!

The rest of the day was spent celebrating our nephew's 4th birthday, helping mom clean out closets at Grandma and Grandpa's house and then going to meet our friends' new addition, Baby Levi. Adorable! I offered to make dinner for them since sometimes the best way to show people you love them is by cooking them tasty food. My Opa! Greek Seasoning from Wildtree is running low, but fortunately, I happened to have most of the ingredients growing in my herb garden! A little grapeseed oil, lemon juice, rosemary, parsley and ground pepper plus chicken = delicious baked chicken that was juicy and fragrant. Even 2-year-old, Liliana was a fan!

Before: This is when I planted stuff earlier in May.
The big yellow bucket on the left has green peppers and nasturtium.
The one on the right is all tomatoes of different sizes.

Sunday was spent in the garden. If we were on a running date, I wouldn't be able to show you these photos until after we stopped running, but I'm sure I'd chat your ear off telling you about them anyway!

After: Tomatoes

After: green peppers!

This was just one afternoon's harvest. We have three other containers like this already picked.
We probably have to pick raspberries every other day from now until the end of July!

Lots of greens including kale, bok choy, Swiss chard, and arugula 

Our Easter lily that was transplanted to the garden from two years ago - finally bloomed!

Since this is a virtual running date post, please don't think that I've abandoned running entirely. We still get up early before I have to go to work to run. We just didn't run last weekend. It's OK. We'll be back at it soon!

Virtual Running Date No. 9: The obstacle course and marinade

Good morning Crushers!

This morning's virtual running date is going to take you back to the Ice Age Trail, but this time we're running hills in the Monches and Merton segments. I'm not a particular fan of hills, cauliflower, burpees or remembering to floss, but do you know what all of these things have in common? They're good for you!

I will admit that when I can walk up a hill just as fast as running it, I will walk. That usually happens on steep hills unless I'm in the "This is junk. Just let me run up this hill and get it over with" mood regarding a hill. I'm really sorry to say that our virtual running date has a lot of hills, but they will make you stronger! In case you need them, here are some tips from Runner's World.

Back when I did boot camp workouts, we did these exercises called "sleigh rides". Here's how it would work: start with two people face uphill from the base of the hill. The person in front has a stretchy band around her waist. The person behind is holding on the ends of the stretchy band as if they are reins. The first person runs up the hill pulling against the stretchy band that the second person is holding onto and pulling back on. If you are the first person, your goal is to reach the top of the hill and overcome the resistance that you feel.

I remember one fellow boot-camper, Josie, who cracked me up! She hated being the front person because it's harder, but then she thought about it. "Wait a minute guys. You don't want to be the person in the back. Then you're like Santa. You don't want to be the fat guy!" True story.

Anyway, usually, I kill hills, but this last run had some STEEP hills. Gorgeous, rocky hills that ran along the Oconomowoc River. (Oconomowoc is a Native American word that sounds like Oh-con-oh-moh-walk). We started running up and down hills through meadows and pine tree forests (including one Christmas tree farm). After we finished the Monches segment and started the Merton segment, we ran past the bridge where we got engaged. Near the river, it was like running an obstacle course. You had to jump over fallen logs, duck under low tree branches, navigate your footsteps around rocks, roots and low vegetation. We even had to go over a few boardwalks that were so close to water, that it splashed up when you stepped down. The hills might have been difficult, but I felt like I was running through these paths like, and this is going to sound totally dorky, that scene in the beginning of the Disney movie "Pocahontas" when she's bookin' it through the forest to see the ships landing in Jamestown. Or for an even nerdier movie reference, as if you're running through the forest in "Avatar" (same premise, but with blue aliens).

Anyway, as we're slogging up hills, ahem, I mean overcoming the hills on our virtual running date, I would tell you about the baby shower I went to. It was so nice to celebrate the almost-here baby and the mommy-to-be right before Mother's Day! I would also tell you to go to see Iron Man 3. Seriously, I think it's the best one. Oh, and stay all the way through the credits.

If your a mom, a mom-to-be, a godmother or any combo, I would also wish you a Happy Mother's Day! In one weekend, I was lucky to get to spend time with tons of my mommy-friends, my sweet mother-in-law, one of my pregnant sisters-in-law, my own awesome mom, my godmother and my grandma. That's a lot of moms! They are all tremendous people, who definitely deserve a day to celebrate them!

One last thing, I can't close a post without telling you what we had for Mother's Day. Steve and I had my mom, dad, sister and brother-in-law over for dinner. We grilled out chicken (marinaded with Wildtree slow cooker sauce and the Greek marinade below) and brats, veggie packs and made guacamole. We also had store-bought salsa since I ran out of tomatoes. My sister made a fruit salad and wonderful chocolate cake. My mom, even though she didn't have to, made a pasta salad and potato salad. It was delicious and we all got to go home with chocolate cake leftovers!

Greek marinade for chicken:
Ingredients:
1 rounded Tbsp Opa Greek Seasoning from Wildtree (garlic powder, sweet oregano, pepper, and salt works too)
1/4 cup Olive oil or grapeseed oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/8 tsp pepper

Directions:
Place thawed and trimmed, boneless, skinless chicken breasts (up to 6) in a plastic zip bag with all of the ingredients. Squish around so everything is coated and let sit in the fridge for at least an hour (overnight, max). Place on a hot grill and cook until juices run clear and the insides aren't pink. Enjoy!

Spinach and Feta Stuffed Chicken Breasts

Hey Crushers,

My favorite part of reading cookbooks, cooking websites and cooking blogs is when I see a recipe that triggers a meal. The even better part is when I realize that I have the ingredients in my house to make the dish or at least something inspired by the recipe I just read.

I can't remember where I read about spinach and cheese filled chicken, but I did remember to buy spinach and chicken last week, so there's half the kitchen battle, right? Plus, they were both on sale, so it was a win-win situation! Other ingredients that I just happened to have on hand were bread crumbs and feta cheese from last week's Greek Chicken Burgers. I made a few batches of 1, 2, 3 Lasagna using half of the bag of spinach as veggie change-up, but there were about two handfuls left in the bag and that was plenty! Although this recipe sounded fancy when I read it, I was surprised that what I actually did was kind of easy. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Spinach and Feta Stuffed Chicken Breasts
Ingredients:
3 chicken boneless, skinless breasts
1/2 cup feta cheese
1/2 cup shredded Romano or Parmesan cheese
2 handfuls of fresh baby spinach, washed and dried
1/2 medium to large onion
1-2 tsp Greek seasoning (I used the Wildtree kind, but I know Penzey's sells it too)
1 egg
2/3 cup bread crumbs (mine had some Italian seasoning in it, but I don't think that matters too much)

What to have on hand:
Cooking spray, a 13 x 9 pan or dish, two bowls, a really sharp knife and a food processor if you have one.

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Put the two cheeses, onion, Greek seasoning and the fresh spinach in the food processor. Use the pulse button about 10 -15 times or until the mixture is just chunky. If you chop it up too much, all the liquid from the onion and spinach releases and you have a cheesy green soup that's too runny to use. Set it aside while you slice up the chicken. If you don't have a food processor, I bet you could use a blender or just chop it up really fine.

See how it's still a little chunky? That's the consistency that you want.

Tip: Before you slice the chicken and get your hands all covered in raw chicken, set out two bowls. Beat the egg in one bowl and pour the bread crumbs in the other. You should also spray the baking dish with a light layer of cooking spray. This way you can just work from the chicken to the egg wash to the crumbs to the pan without needing to say, "Oh crap, I forgot such-and-such..."

Ok, let's go back to the chicken. Take that sharp knife I told you about and cut each chicken breast in half  the long way. I'm not sure if that makes sense, but you still want two meaty/thick pieces, but you are just cutting them in two big strips. If that doesn't make sense, let me know in the comments. Anyway, once you've got them cut in half, you need to make a slit in the side of the now-halved chicken breast so that it makes a little chicken pocket.

Yes, I know that sounds gross or dirty or whatever, but just go with it

Once you have all of those sliced up, it's time to stuff the chicken. Take a large spoonful of the spinach mixture and stuff the chicken. You can pack the spinach in pretty firmly, but don't over stuff it or it will fall out when you dip it in the egg wash. I held the chicken closed over the spinach and dipped it in both the egg wash and crumbs and then placed it in the pan.

Tip: You might have some crumbs left, so feel free to sprinkle those over the chicken since you'll be baking it right away. Whatever you do, don't save the crumbs or the egg to reuse for another dish. It is contaminated with raw chicken and no one wants salmonella bread crumbs. Ew. Throw it out!

They hold together pretty well, but if you need to, you could always stick a toothpick through the chicken to hold it. Repeat with all of the sliced chicken halves.

Six chicken breast halves ready for the oven!

Bake the chicken for at least 30 minutes. You want the internal temperature to reach 160 and for the juices to run clear. Since the juices will be slightly green from the spinach, you won't hurt the dish by baking it for 35-40 minutes. It'll be fine.

If you have left over spinach and cheese mixture, feel free to pop that in the microwave and heat it up as a topping for the chicken or mix it in some rice like we did. Delicious!

Updated: Going Green (For St. Patrick's Day!)

Good morning Crushers!

Other than Christmastime, I don't decorate our house much for the holidays. The only things I do are set out seasonal kitchen towels, a new front door decoration and update the decorations on top of our TV stand or the coffee table. When the snow is gone, we put out some decorations in the yard and I definitely have planters full of flowers on the front steps to welcome you.

Aren't they cute?

Last night I was feeling kind of "over" my winter decorations, so I thought I'd hit the Dollar Store to see what I could find to "Spring" up the living room. I knew we had a blank vine wreath in our basement, so my goal was to find items that would be removable so I could use this one wreath all year round!

But first, we needed to make dinner!

Chicken legs, rice and asparagus was on the menu. Steve took the chicken that I had prepped at my Wildtree Freezer Meal class and baked that on a greased cookie sheet. Basically, it's chicken pieces (you could use any part of the chicken you like) that marinated in a freezer bag with garlic and herb seasoning and grapeseed oil. While that was baking (45 minutes total at 350 degrees - or until the inside temperature reaches 165 degrees), I made some rice (according to the bag).

Actually, what I did was put the chicken in the oven and set it for 30 minutes. Then we went to go work out in the basement doing some "boot camp" exercises like jumping jacks, push ups, ab work, running in place, and some moves with hand weights. I should have added burpees, but I hate those, so I didn't. Don't judge. Focusing back to the meal, when the timer went off, I stopped the workout and went upstairs to start the rice. When that was going, I reset the timer for both the chicken and the rice to keep cooking for another 15 minutes.

It was time to prep the asparagus! Normally, I just wash the stalks, trim off any woody ends and put them in a pan with a little water, lemon juice (and/or a splash of white wine).

Tip: You can tell how much of the end to cut off by bending the non-pointy end. If it won't snap off, you need to try and snap more of it off. Usually, it's about an inch that breaks off.

However, I have been reading a number of recipes for oven roasted asparagus, so I decided to try that.

Oven-Roasted Asparagus
Ingredients:
As many stalks of asparagus that will fit on a baking sheet without over lapping (about 20)
1 tbsp olive oil or grapeseed oil
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan, Romano or a blend of Italian cheeses
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350. After washing and trimming the stalks, place them on the cookie sheet in a single layer. Drizzle the oil and lemon juice over the stalks. Roll the stalks around like logs rolling down a hill to coat them. Pop then in the oven for about 8 minutes. Sprinkle the cheese over the asparagus and bake for another 2-5 minutes or until the cheese has melted and browned slightly. Serve with your favorite chicken and rice dish! (just kidding on that last part.

Delicious! I just need to work on my food photography...

OK, back to the decorations! Like I said, I went to the Dollar Store to see what I could find and there were these cute foam shamrock cut outs and some shiny shamrock garland. Whoo hoo! I also found a whole bunch of Easter eggs for decorating as soon as we're done with St. Patrick's Day (you know, in just a few days...).

Here is the final product:

Don't you feel all welcome now?

Chicken and dumplings: Soup for a chilly day

Like much of the country, Wisconsin is having one weird winter. We've gotten freezing temperatures in the single digits, then 50 degree F weather, and snow and rain all in ONE WEEK. Then it decides to do one thing for a whole week, but then goes back to freaking out. All of this freezing and thawing is really taking a toll on our roads making driving on the streets like driving in a video game, but instead of dodging cartoon turtle shells, you're trying to avoid potholes the size of a kiddie pool.

In order to have a relaxing evening in, may I suggest a warms-you-up soup like one of my kitchen crushes Paula Deen's Chicken and Dumplings recipe? This soup is so good and it fills a whole big pot so you can enjoy this for a few days or hand some out to your friends and family members.

This recipe is so easy to follow, all you need is patience. My kitchen smelled amazing! There is one warning though: watch the salt!

I didn't read that you just needed a teaspoon of the house seasoning, so our soup was a bit salty, but then you just add more water and you're fine. Whoops!

Again, here is the link to the recipe, and below is my commentary on the directions. Learn from my mistakes and experience and you will probably have a smoother soup experience!

Directions:

Fills the whole pot!

To start the chicken: Place the chicken, celery, onion, bay leaves, bouillon, and House Seasoning in a large pot. 

Note: I didn't use a whole chicken, but instead I used two thigh/leg portions and some extra chicken legs that I had in my freezer. No use in going out to buy more when I've got chicken portions in the freezer!

Add 4 quarts of water and in water and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Simmer the chicken until it is tender and the thigh juices run clear, about 40 minutes. 

Note: This is important because you don't want chicken that isn't cooked through to ruin your soup. Chicken is one of those meats that you should NEVER eat without making sure that it is fully cooked. No one wants Salmonella Soup.

Remove the chicken from the pot and, when it is cool enough to handle, remove the skin and separate the meat from the bones. Return the chicken meat to the pot. Keep warm over low heat.

Tip: I found a really easy way to remove the skin. What you can do is cut a slice down the side of the meat and just peel back the skin. You don't have to wrestle it to get it all off since you're just going to pick the bones clean and chop up the meat. You can toss the chicken bones and skin. You may want to take your garbage out right away, but be sure and tie up your garbage bag otherwise raccoons or cats will be attracted to your garbage can!

To prepare the dumplings: Mix the flour with the salt and mound together in a mixing bowl. Beginning at the center of the mound, drizzle a small amount of ice water over the flour. Using your fingers, and moving from the center to the sides of the bowl, gradually incorporate about 3/4 cup of ice water. Knead the dough and form it into ball.

Note: My dough turned out to be firm, but sticky. You can either butter your hands a bit to keep it from sticking or dust your hands with flour first. It'll help A LOT!

Dust a good amount of flour onto a clean work surface. Roll out the dough (it will be firm), working from center to 1/8-inch thick. Let the dough relax for several minutes.

Note: I read ahead and saw that it said to cut the dough into 1-inch pieces, so I took a pizza cutter and sliced up the dough. That worked nice for a while, but then I ended up just taking a hunk of dough and ripping off small pieces. It was way easier.

Add the cream of celery soup to the pot with the chicken and simmer gently over medium-low heat.

Cut the dough into 1-inch pieces. Pull a piece in half and drop the halves into the simmering soup. (See my note above about ripping pieces - much easier, but not uniform) Repeat. Do not stir the chicken once the dumplings have been added. Gently move the pot in a circular motion so the dumplings become submerged and cook evenly. Cook until the dumplings float and are no longer doughy, 3 to 4 minutes.

Note: In order to submerge the dumplings without stirring them into a goopy mess, I found it easiest to dip my spoon all they way into the pot and gently stir the soup while keeping the spoon in contact with the bottom of the pot. That way it just makes all the soup move together without a lot of fuss.

To serve, ladle chicken, gravy, and dumplings into warm bowls. Enjoy!

I made a few too many chicken legs, so I saved two and added them to our soup bowls. Delicious!

There are solutions in the recipe link for thickening up the soup. You'll want to make sure that your dumplings are cooked before you add the cornstarch though otherwise it'll cling to the dumplings. Then it just gets weird.

Enjoy this soup and I hope you all have had a safe winter so far!

Catch up, not ketchup: Buffalo Chicken Dip

Hi Crushers,
I'm sorry for the delay in posts. I would like to blame my cut finger for the inability to type up some of my latest kitchen happenings, but I didn't cut myself that bad...

Anyway, looking back at the past two weekends (has it been that long?!), I've had some really great food and I'm glad to share it with you! For the Superbowl, I made Buffalo Chicken Dip loosely based on this recipe from Skinnytaste.com.

Please note that cooking with hot sauce with a cut finger could lead to all sorts of disasters and swearing in the kitchen. Thanks to one of my husband's favorite shows, Swamp People, I have picked up on one of the character's sayings: "Dog it" instead of the other word that starts with a d.

Since I wasn't totally invested in either team and our group of friends are all really good cooks, we had a crazy smorgasbord of food. We had two types of guacamole, rice and seaweed snacks, jalapeno hush puppies (SO GOOD my cousin gave me the magazine that it was from), puppy chow/muddy buddies, shrimp with sesame, and all sorts of things. No one goes hungry at these parties. We enjoyed the food, the commercials and Beyonce. Who doesn't love a good Beyonce performance?

Buffalo Chicken Dip
Ingredients:
2 cups chopped cooked chicken (about two boneless, skinless chicken breasts)
1 tbsp-ish olive oil
1 8 oz. package of cream cheese (I used the low fat kind)
1 14 oz (possibly 16 oz, I forget...) tub of Greek Yogurt
1 cup-ish of hot sauce (I used Franks)

1 cluster of celery trimmed and chopped up into dip-able sticks

Directions:
Start getting a frying pan hot and heat the oil. Spread the oil around so your chicken doesn't stick to the pan. Cook the the chicken all the way through. No pink insides! I chopped my chicken up before I cooked it so that it would cook faster, but you can chop it up afterward too. Just be sure to let it cool down so you can handle it.

Lots of chicken!

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and Greek yogurt until it's smooth. Then, starting with about a half cup, mix in the hot sauce until you're at a level of spiciness that you can handle. It's important to know your crowd on this one otherwise if it's too hot, no one will eat it! My crowd included a few people who never break a sweat when eating ANYTHING. I ended up using a cup of the hot sauce. Some people said it made their eyeballs sweat and other people wanted more heat. Can't with them all!

Yes, it will turn that bright orange color!

Once the chicken is cooked and chopped up into small bits, stir in to the yogurt-cheese base. Stir thoroughly and serve with celery. You don't need to heat this up at all. I think the celery and the fact that it's cold help to bring the heat level down for people who can't handle a lot of spice.



Question: Which was your favorite commercial? Mine was a tie between the Budweiser Clydesdales, the Jeep/USO, and Ram Trucks "Farmer". All three of them made me choke up!

Meals for the week

Hi Crushers,
I know I didn't have much to write about last week, but that's for two reasons: one, Steve did most (OK, practically all) of the cooking last week, and two, it was a rough week for my family with funeral preparations for my aunt. One more reason that I didn't cook last week was because it was exam week for Steve's school, so we didn't have as many after school commitments as usual. Also, he makes a killer spicy chili and it's never quite the same.

Hmm, I guess that's four reasons. Anyway, we're getting back on track sharing the prep, cooking/baking, and shopping this week.

Here is the plan for the week, so stay tuned!
Monday: Stirfry
Tuesday: Leftover Chili (with homemade bread sticks from this post) and making some sort of treat for Steve's card night with the guys since I really don't have to cook dinner. Thank you to whoever invented the microwave!
Wednesday: Pasta with chicken tenders from my freezer meal class
Thursday: Chicken and Dumplings
Friday: Up for grabs! Pizza? Fajitas? Who knows...

Coming up this weekend is the SUPER BOWL! Not only is this THE night for NFL fans (unlike the pro bowl...), commercial fans and Beyonce fans, but it is a fun food night. We are going to be attending a party at my cousin's house which should be exciting for a number of reasons:

1. Her husband is from San Fran, so we've all become honorary 49ers Fans.
2. She is a good cook and has invited lots of fun foodie people to the party. 
3. I'm betting that at least 3 people have e-mailed/called/texted her brother/my cousin to make his "bacon-wrapped, chicken bites of holy cow that's spicy". 

I think I'm going to make one healthy option like a spicy buffalo dip with celery sticks and Greek yogurt and then one that is loaded with cheese and such. Any requests? Please write them in the comments!

Smoke Alarm Chicken

I have never been able to live in a home where I didn't have to call 911 at least once, except my current home, but we haven't lived here for very long. Here are the calls:

1. At my parents' house, I called the emergency number because our minivan started on fire in our driveway so we had to call before it set our garage and the neighbor's house on fire. No one was harmed.
2. At my first apartment, I called 911 because there was a big fight that broke out in the parking lot next door and it sounded like someone was going to get their rear-end kicked or worse. I think one guy got punched in the face before the cops showed up.
3. At my second apartment, I didn't actually call the cops myself, but my neighbor did because another neighbor was super drunk and was making a ruckus. My cousin and I took turns watching the action through the front door peep hole and the balcony doors. I think the drunk neighbor kicked a cop, but otherwise everyone was fine.
4. At my third and final apartment before we got married, Smoke Alarm Chicken happened. No one was harmed.

Perfect temperature!

Last spring, my then-fiance and I decided to go for a short run while I had some chicken in the oven. I thought that I had the oven temperature low enough that nothing would happen while we were gone for about 30 minutes. Yes, I know that you're not supposed to leave the oven on and leave the house. Please don't scold me. I learned my lesson, which you will read about shortly.


Anyway, I had placed 3 chicken quarters in a lightly greased baking dish sprinkled with a seasoning of some sort (I'm pretty sure it was Penzeys Forward!). Then I placed it in the oven at 300 degrees. I figured I would need to crank it up to 400 degrees when we got back to my apartment because you need dark meat to reach an internal temperature of 170-180 degrees.

So we left to go running and on my way back, I couldn't help thinking what a dumb thing we just did. I was right. We were a half a block away when I could see all the lights on in the apartment, and I could hear sirens. Crap. Crappity Crap Crap...

My landlord met us at the door. He wasn't pleased with us, but he had also just taken nearly PERFECTLY cooked chicken out of the oven and told me to go talk to the firemen and he left. The firemen entered my apartment while my then-fiance-now-husband was in the living room fanning the smoke detector to get it to shut up.

"Ma'am, is everything OK?" Fireman #1 asked. He sniffs the air to check for smoke, I assumed, and looked around.

"Yes, we just have a really finicky smoke detector," I replied. "It sounds off if I'm boiling water." True story.

"Is that the item that was in the oven," Fireman #1 asked while pointing at the nearly PERFECTLY cooked chicken. Fireman #2 was standing behind him trying not to laugh.

"Yes, I had put the chicken in the oven while we went for a short run. I know I shouldn't have done that because of the fire danger. I'm very sorry," I tell him. Firemen #1 and #2 try to give me a stern look about leaving the oven while it was turned on, but the chuckles and remarks of "something smells good" from Fireman #3 didn't quite make them seem very angry.

After offering them a beverage or some chicken for their troubles (my then-fiance-now-husband was laughing in the other room), the firefighters politely declined saying that they had already eaten. Again, I was told to not leave the house with the oven on, and they left. I popped the chicken back in the oven for another 10 minutes or so to finish cooking. I went upstairs to apologize to my neighbors, who were very nice about the whole thing, and then we ate dinner, which was delicious.

Later that night, I called my dad with a, "You'll never guess what just happened to me!" story. After telling me that I shouldn't have left the apartment with the oven on and laughing at what happened, he said, "You should name this dish Smoke Alarm Chicken!" Thanks for the name Dad!

Last night, my husband and I decided on Smoke Alarm Chicken, broccoli and baked potato slices for dinner. This time we did not go out running or even leave the house to go to the mailbox. See? I learned my lesson.

This is what it will look like when done. New Year's resolution:
Learn better food photography.

Smoke Alarm Chicken and Baked Potato Slices:
Ingredients:
2-3 Chicken quarters, thawed and trimmed (use more chicken if you are serving more than 2-3 people)
2-3 Russet potatoes, sliced (tips on that to come)
2 tbsp olive oil or garlic grapeseed oil
1 tbsp Cajun seasoning, divided (I couldn't find the Penzeys stuff!)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease the bottom of a 9x13" baking dish. Trim your chicken so that most of the fat is gone, but leave the skin on because it keeps it juicy. You can remove it later, which is way easier when cooked. Place the chicken in the dish, bone-side-down. You may need a buddy/sister/parent/brother/husband/boyfriend/wife/girlfriend/neighbor for this next step. From the thigh side, pull the skin up and hold it away from the meat to have your other person sprinkle the meat with some of the seasoning. Put the skin back down to cover the meat and sprinkle a bit more seasoning on it. Sorry, I don't have a picture of this procedure, but my hands were all chicken-slimy, which is why I didn't sprinkle it myself. I don't need salmonella on my spice jars.

Seasoned chicken ready to go in the oven.

Go wash your hands thoroughly and then scrub the potatoes so you get any extra dirt off of the potato skins. The skins are good for you, so leave those on unless you can't stand them. Slice the potatoes into 1/4 inch chips and place on a baking sheet.

Tip for slicing potatoes (no joke, I learned this from Tyra Banks on America's Next Top Model): If you don't have a mandolin slicer or food processor that you feel like getting out (and dirty), take a sharp knife and start slicing the potato at one end. When you get to the other end and you are running out of room to safely hold the potato without slicing off the tip of your finger, turn the end around so the small end is toward the knife and the bigger end is in your hand. Hold it with your fingers curled like a cat claw. This also works for onions or other round veggies. Remember, we don't want to have to call 911 again.

Note how I switched the direction of the potato end.

Drizzle a bit of oil over the potatoes and toss. Sprinkle with seasoning. Place both the chicken and the potatoes in the oven (chicken on the middle/low rack and the potatoes above it with space between). Bake for 30-40 minutes until the potatoes are tender (you should flip the potatoes on the baking sheet about half way through) and the chicken is done. That means NO pink insides, the juices run clear and the internal temperature reaches 170-180 degrees.

Finished potatoes.

Remove the skin (or not if you like it) and serve with some broccoli for bright green veggie goodness (or your veggie of choice). Enjoy the chicken in peace without a visit from the fire department.