Drumsticks, Carrots, and Sandra Lee...

Ok, wow, this is going to be an eclectic post.  I can feel it already.

Today I finished my two-week stint as delivery-girl extrordinaire.  It was fun, and I got a little extra Christmas and cookbook mad-money to stash in the bank.  Oh my...a little rainy-day mommy-fund...for cookbook-buying emergencies.

So, I'm tired.  I've been doing this thing every morning, and this morning it was preceded by a 5:20 AM meeting, for which I had to get up at 4:00.  Hence the scattered nature of this post.  But, I've been doing random things which might be of interest this week, so here goes.

Chicken drumsticks:  for some reason I've been on a drumstick kick lately.  I think it's because they are so quick and easy, cheap (I pay about $7. for 10 of them, organic) and conveniently enough, they bake at about the same temp, for nearly the same time, as a pan of roasted veggies, so when I'm busy and tired, it just gets the job done.  And fortunately, my family loves the silly things, and they go great into the lunchboxes the next day. What's not to love?

I have a friend who is a personal chef.  One day she made the most amazing drumsticks, I figured they must be some sort of complicated chef-wizardry, totally unattainable by the likes of regular moms like me.  So I asked her, and guess what her secret is?  Salt and pepper.  Bake in a hot oven.  Hmm, that seemed doable. 

So here's how I do it, ALL the time:

1.  Wash and dry drumsticks.

2.  Toss with a bit of oil.  (I don't think my friend does this, and actually I'm going to stop doing it...they are plenty fatty on their own, and release it as they bake.)

3.  Salt.

4.  Pepper.

5.  Place on stoneware baking sheet, and bake at 425 degrees (Convection oven) for about 40 minutes.

There ya go, my beloved hard-workin' mamas.  A quick and easy dinner from me to you.  

If you want to flavor it up a bit more you might try Ree Drummond's (Pioneer Woman) recipe.  I haven't made it yet, but if Ree's making it, you know it's good.  And it still looks pretty simple and quick.

On to Carrots...

Busy as I was this week I was still determined to get something put away for winter.  Every market day now I am trying to preserve at least something. 

Can I rant for a second?  Ok, I am sick of getting produce at the grocery store.  In fact, it's my dream, next year, to put enough away, in season, to avoid the grocery store produce aisle altogether.  I'm fed up with boxed lettuce that has nasty, wilted, moldy leaves stuck in the center where you can't see them until you get home and get ready to serve dinner, and carrots with gross, slimy, brown tops.  I want to do something totally radical here...eat completely in season.  That means we get salad when salad greens grow locally, in spring and early summer.  Not in January.  In winter we'll eat our veggies out of the freezer, and canned, and dehydrated, in soups and stews.  Is that just too wild?  Am I crazy?  Our grandmothers and great-grandmothers would say, "well, duh...?"  That's how everyone used to eat before the days of salad in cellophane bags and plastic boxes.  I'm doing it.  I'm done with paying $5. for a box of greens that are wilty and smell gross--enough I say!!!  No more. 

Oh man, that felt good.  Thanks.  You all are good listeners.

Back to carrots.

I know you're not going to believe me, but dehydrated carrots pop right back up when re-hydrated in a soup or stew...you'd never in a million years guess they were not fresh from the ground.  I did them last year, and just about 2 T of dehydrated carrots is PLENTY for any soup or stew.  And when you dehydrate them you can fit about 25 cups of carrots into a single quart jar.  Don't believe it?  Check this out:

Here are 10 cups of carrots, washed, peeled, and chopped into 1/4' coins.  I blanched them in boiling water for 3 minutes.  Then plunged them immediately into cold water to stop the cooking process. 

Simply lay them out on the dehydrator trays and dehydrate at 130 degrees for 6-10 hours, or until dry and leathery.  Mine took between 9 and 10 hrs.  Store dehydrated carrots in a jar in the freezer.  Imagine all the freezer space I'd have to use if I were freezing them instead of dehydrating them.  My freezer space is limited, so I have to try to conserve. 

When you go to make soup or stew in your crock pot this winter, no need to spend time peeling and chopping carrots, just grab out a tablespoon or two and toss them in the pot!  Maybe a tiny bit of extra liquid to make up for the liquid they will absorb in re-hydrating...about an equal amount should do it, a few tablespoons. 

Before....

And after!

Here they are on the tray ready to go into the dehydrator.

All five trays stacked up and ready to dehydrate...

And here's a close-up of what the carrots look like when they come out of the dehydrator.

Now on to my final comment of the day...I am going to try to convert a Sandra Lee recipe for "Brown Sugar Banana Spice Cake" (baked in the crock pot) to gluten free, and I'm also going to reduce/convert the brown sugar to an unrefined sweetener like honey, or sucanat, or pure maple syrup.  Here is the original recipe.  I will update you when I get it converted. 

Let me just say this:  I adore Sandra Lee.  The girl loves her crock pot.  If I could just hang out with anyone on food network, it would be Sandra Lee.  She's fun, has great energy, and the cutest personality ever...totally BFF material. :)  Now her recipes...well, the ones on "Money Saving Meals" are often ones I can use--from scratch, with real food ingredients like meat, veggies, etc.  However her semi-homemade show...well, not so much.  But the table decorations and party ideas are totally fun. 

The shows I record on Food Network are Sandra Lee's "Money Saving Meals"...my fave.  I absolutely love the cost break-down on all the recipes...something about that is exciting to me!  I know it may be weird, but those cost analyses always make me want to pump my fist in the air and exclaim: "YEEEESSSSS!"  I love a good deal on good food, what can I say.  I also record "Ten Dollar Dinners", Melissa D'Arabian--love her kitchen set, and her food always looks really good, and do-able, and she gives great tips.  And finally, "Pioneer Woman", Ree Drummond.  Another BFF candidate!  She's cute as can be, and also very "real"...her food is not usually stuff I would make, but it's fun to watch and I love her set, ranch, and sweet family.  I don't always get to watch all three of these shows every week, but I save them up and slip them in on a Sunday afternoon from time to time.  Those are my favorites...not that anyone cares.  Just thought I'd throw that out there.  How about you?  What's your favorite cooking show?  You KNOW you have one.  Chime in the comments and tell us.