Tasty Tuesday-Balsamic Chicken & Whole Wheat Bread

I haven't posted a recipe in a while, so instead of Food Friday this week (not that I keep anything real regular around here, but hey I'm working on it) I'm going to give you a little Tasty Tuesday! 
Previewing a couple of recent recipes I tried out on the family & we loved!

1st on the yummy schedule (aka: we'll be making this one again & again) is this delicious roasted whole chicken. It was easy, delicious, moist & smelled wonderful while it was cooking; most of all healthy. A 3oz serving with sauce, comes to 182 calories.

The recipe comes from Taste of Home Healthy Cooking (which I LOVE getting), Aug/Sept '10, I didn't have everything on hand when I did it so I'll mark my adaptations with an * .

Balsamic Roast Chicken
1 roasting chicken (6 to 7 lbs)
2 Tbls minced fresh rosemary or 2 tsp dried, crushed*
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
2 medium red onions, chopped*
1/2 cup dry red wine or reduced-sodium chicken broth*
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

Pat chicken dry. In a small bowl combine rosemary, garlic, salt & pepper; rub under the skin of the chicken. Place onions in a shallow roasting pan; top with chicken. Combine wine & balsamic; pour over chicken.
Bake, uncovered, at 350* for 2 1/4 - 2 3/4 hours. Basting occasionally with juices, I set the timer to baste about ever 25 minutes. If chicken starts to brown too quickly, loosly tent with foil. Let stand for 15 minutes before carving. Remove & disgard skin before serving. Pour onion sauce into small bowl, skim fat & serve with chicken.


Thoughts, adaptations & notes:
*Fresh rosemary, I never use an entire container of fresh when I buy it, & I don't have an herb garden yet, maybe someday, so I keep stems in the freezer, they keep pretty well & work just the same.  So yes, I used 'fresh'.
*Onion, I didn't have 2 red onions, in fact I didn't have 2 of any kind of onion. I managed to find about 1/4 of a yellow onion in the bottom of the crisper, so that's all I used, but we really like caramelized onions here, so when I make this again, I'll probably try it with a red/yellow mix.
*Chicken broth/wine, I didn't have either. Seriously when I made this my pantry was slacking seriously. I just threw in 1/2 cup water & 2 bouillon cubes.
*If you know me well, you'll know that I'm NOT a fan of poultry on the bone, for strange odd reasons I'm sure, but this was good & it practically fell off the bones (yay!).
This recipe would work with boneless, skinless breasts too, I'm sure of it, in fact I'll probably be trying it sometime soon.

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Next, I'm going to share a Whole Wheat Bread recipe, again from a Taste of Home Healthy Cooking magazine. This time it's the June/July '10 issue. Throughout this fall & so far mild winter I've been making bread a couple times per month, sometimes a couple times a week. Trying different recipes & styles. This one was YUM-MY!

Whole Wheat Bread
1 1/8 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/4 cups warm water (110*-115*)
1/4 cups packed brown sugar
2 Tbls reduced-fat butter, melted
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 to 2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water*. Add brown sugar, butter, salt, whole wheat flour and 1 cup all-purpose flour. Beat until smooth; stir in enough remaining flour to form a firm dough (will be sticky).  Turn onto a lightly floured surface; knead until smooth, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a bowl coated with cooking spray, turn once to coat. Cover & let rise for 1 hour. Punch dough down & turn onto floured surface; shape into loaf. Place in a 9x5 inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Cover & let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Bake at 375* for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pan to wire rack for cooling.

Thoughts, adaptations & notes:
*Make sure the water isn't too hot, it will kill the yeast.
*SO yummy. Slightly sweet & just really yummy. I'm pretty sure we ate the entire loaf at one sitting.

Give these a try & then come back to tell me what you think. We're off for a little sunshine therapy with friends this afternoon. Who knows I may even be back later with some new images from our adventures today.

Have a great day.

A Sunshiney January Monday

Does that sound as odd to you as it does me?!  Goodness this weather is so lovely & more than welcome to stay, but alas, I know it won't. I'm pretty sure that every winter we get this tiny glimmer of spring, and it comes crashing down accompanied by snow & rain & wind. Ekkk, the wind & cold.

But in the mean time, I'm just going to pretend like it's here to stay & enjoy every degree and ray of sunshine.

On to a little miscellaneous Monday rambling.

We picked up the girls' birthday present yesterday and they are already smitten with him.

 

I've got to pick up a few things for him while I'm in town today, after my proofing session.  He's a sweet old guy for sure. 

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Speaking of the proofing session, isn't this such a great photo of these two?! 

Can't wait to see which ones they choose. 

And with that I'm off to get things accomplished today.

A Little Adventure

Hey!! I'm back..did you miss me?  Did you even know I was away?!?

We spent this past week on a little family adventure. We left Tuesday morning & drove, for about 7 hours, well not all driving time, but total travel time with stops & all. We went to visit my hubs Gramma, whom we hadn't seen since last December when she moved.

It was a great adventure, full of fun, laughs, too much fast food & all the imaginable stress traveling with 2 toddlers (one who is more like a hurricane) & a baby, packed like sardines into a tiny Ford Focus.

We followed & crossed a couple rivers, drove through huge Redwood trees & visited the ocean.

Klamath River, along HWY 96

 Smith River, along HWY 199

(yes it's actually THAT blue & clear & so gorgeous, someday I will photograph it better, this was just on a quick, grab the kids something to snack on stop)

 A scenic side route through the Redwoods along HWY 101

 A stop in Klamath, to drive through a tree.

 Pacific Ocean at Crescent City

We had absolutely gorgeous weather. Mostly sunny, some light morning fog, slight northern breeze that had a wintry bite, but just perfect otherwise.

We spent a little bit of time playing at parks, walked on the beach looking for shells (we actually found 5 WHOLE sand dollars) & just enjoying our time together. It was a rare treat for us to be able to take off in the middle of the week for several days together.

Miss Anna K -- almost 4

My Little Crazy Grace -- almost 2

Mr Sweet & Handsome, Brody J -- almost 1

We're glad to be home, except for the mountain of laundry that exploded into the laundry room. Thankful for our little adventure & even more thankful that we're back. Top that with the oh so beautiful un-January like weather & I'm a happy, mostly productive momma.

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**Speaking of un-January like weather, according to Mr. Weatherman, it's supposed to be sunny & decent for the rest of the week. Seeing so much sunshine the past few days has made me extra cheery, so for this week only, if you book your $75 January portrait special, you'll also receive a $15 print credit.**

{Sneak Peek} Moser Family - Yreka, Portrait Photographer

I had my first official 2011 session this afternoon! We were out and about under grey, misting skies to capture some photographs of a father and son, whom just happen to be my uncle and cousin. ♥

I got some super shots, here are a few that I really liked from my quick overview this evening as I off-loaded them from my camera.

Thank you guys for a great afternoon. I'll be seeing you soon with your full proof set.

Mid-Week Check In

Hello out there!!
It's almost the weekend & I'm here to check in. I have no new photos to post...I'm already failing the 'photo' challenges for the year. Dang it!!  I've got a couple of projects that I'm working on & brainstorming a TON for new, fun & exciting things to come.  I'm hoping tomorrow is another okay weather day & I'll get a chance to get outside with my camera for a few photos.
I really need to get my girls out & dressed up all cute for their Birthday portriats.  There special days are rapidly approaching & I've got lots to do to plan their 'Farm Party'.


I don't know if you've checked out my 'Scraps-n-Stuff' blog yet, but if you have, you'll notice a layout about my plan & focus for growth this year & I know I've also mentioned it here.

Here's a little check-in with the "Growth Plan"

• Focus more on what I LOVE to shoot & what I find inspiring & gorgeous: Wee-Ones & Western Lifestyle

• By wee-ones I mean:  Newborns, Babies, Toddlers, Kids, Family  <----basically I want to be a kick-booty Children & Baby Photographer  (I will still take on other projects, I just really enjoy these ones).

• Western Lifestyle: just what is it?!? Well we live in one of the most gorgeous places on Earth.  I want to capture ranchers/cowboys/cowgirls just doing their thing. (right now this is in the 'vision' stage & will be having some 'portfolio expansion' specials coming soon. E-mail me if you're interested in participating.

• I'll also be defining my 'style' thoroughout the year, putting some emphasis on more candid, lifestyle, everyday type images. 

Thanks for sticking it out with me & check back often for specials, info & more.

Don't forget that for the remainder of January, you can book a full session for just $75.

Another Monday

Another week just flew right by.  Things are pretty much the same around here.  Now that the holidays are over, I'm onto birthday party planning & trying to stay sane in this house, with these children.  Thankfully the last couple of days it has been sunny. Optimistically sunny, yet freezing cold.  Saturday was the first day we'd seen the sun in almost a week, boy was that a welcome sight!!

  

 The silhouette of Black Butte, about 25 miles or so from home. I just love when the sun breaks out of the clouds & we can actaully see some of the gorgeous scenery around here.

The children all have cabin fever & are pretty much climbing the walls on a daily....no more like hourly basis! 

 Grace's just preparing herself for the look of time behind bars. I'm pretty sure she's planning on going there beginning in Kindergarten. Oy!

Brody's newest favorite game is Peek-a-Boo. He really likes putting himself under blankets & popping back out to see who's watching.

That's about it here as we're prepping & planning for the arrival of the girls' birthday present in the next few days (which will require a post all it's own).

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Don't forget to book your session in January for a huge savings. Sessions for the rest of this month are only $75.00*.  

Fog, fog & fog some more

That's about all we've seen since Monday. Fog, fog & more fog. At least at our house, but if we drove into town, we might see some sun. Besides fog the only thing we've seen is frost...lots of frost.
Every rose has a thorn....a thorn of frost that is.

This is how much frost we had yesterday 1/6/2011

This is the amount of frost we had today, 1/7/2011.

Don't let the fog & frost hold you back. Schedule you portrait session with me, for sometime in January for only $75.00 *

*e-mail me for more details on that special offer.

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Anna's attack of the middle sister wound. As she was laying on the couch, just minding her own business watching cartoons, her loving little sister, walked up with a sippy cup & threw it at her head.

This is the loving little sister.

Daddy & his little clone.

Wordless Wednesday

Baby's bath time edition, in B&W:

Some artsy-ish stuff

Although I haven't actually committed to P365 or any other photo projects this year. I have chosen a word to represent all that I want from this year. A word to reflect & focus on. While the idea isn't my own (thanks Ali Edwards & others in the scrapping community that have had discussions on this) it's very thought provoking. I've spent the last few days & maybe even a week going through old magazines & tearing out things that inspire me or I want learn more about, do, etc. It's all part of my words process & I'm sure my husband thinks I've lost my marbles (or maybe he thinks that I'm FINALLY cutting down on some clutter).

So for 2011, my focus is GROWTH.

It encompasses many things, but since this is a blog where I share my photography & sometimes my life; my hope for 2011 is that you all get to watch my photography grow & become more of me.
The last couple of days I've made a conscience effort to take some artsy type photos &/or work on my technical skills. The images in this post are a few that I love from my efforts yesterday.

Brody got stuck inside with me yesterday (trying to get over croup) while hubby & the girls' played outside so he became my little subject. I may be looking through mommy goggles, but there's so much about this little portrait that I love. From those super long eyelashes to the tiny little fingers.

Please ignore the completely dirty window which is behind these gorgeous flowers. Which are the exact same flowers, in the exact same spot as the next image.

I really, really like this photograph. I may even print it large & hang it above my desk, someday soon, as I'm in the process of redecorating our house, from the kids' rooms & moving all my photo displays around to different walls, everything is changing & growing.