Two Birds in One Kitchen

Hi, I'm finally back with a recipe! Well, maybe not an actual recipe but with one of those hacks that would make our lives easier here at the towncasa if I would just take my own advice and do it more frequently. That advice is to keep large amounts of meats and veggies cooked up in the fridge to make meal time faster and easier on weekdays. I must admit that I have been slacking in this regard for a while, so to kick myself in the butt, I decided to cook a turkey breast and a whole chicken!  I think there is some controversy about calling poultry 'meat', but I'll look into that later.

I started out by visiting a local store call The Fresh Market which is almost more a gourmet than a natural grocer, but everything there is top quality and beautiful.  Besides Whole Foods is quite a long way from where we live, so The Fresh Market and Publix, our major, big grocery, just have to do for most days.  But I digress. 

Once home from shopping,  I heated the ovens (more on why that is plural later) to 425 degrees and gathered some salt, pepper, herbs de Provence, olive oil, a lemon and some whole garlic pods along with the turkey breast and the whole chicken.

I love the turkey breast that The Fresh Market sells.  They are cut from a fresh bird and rolled up in this netting that keeps everything together:

See how nice and neat?  I just rinsed, patted dry, and sprinkled this guy with some salt/pepper and set him aside for a bit.


Now for the whole chicken.  This has taken some getting used to for me.  I love Robb Wolf and consider him my absolute Paleo Hero.  His books have taught me that humans must eat meat.  I understand that now, but after NOT eating meat for fourteen years, it is still hard when what I eat looks like the critter it used to be.  Check this guy out:



See what I'm saying?  Legs and wings still make me a little sad to see, not to mention the body cavity. (Thank goodness The Fresh Market did not pack the giblets, a.k.a guts, into that cavity because I would have surely perished.)  Oh well, I just had to get over it.  So here's what happened to the chicken:

Yep.  After a rinse and pat dry, the lemon was halved, stuffed up in the cavity, and his/her little legs were tied up with kitchen twine. Holy smokes. Oh boy. Then I salted and peppered the poor thing all over and sprinkled on a generous amount of the herbs de Provence.  I washed my hands about two hundred times during this process because I have watched The Food Network enough to know that terrible things happen when you handle raw poultry and don't clean up.

 

I placed the respective birds in appropriate roasting receptacles.  I really don't cook with olive oil anymore, but I did give each bird a little coating before they went into their private ovens.

 

 

 

I wish we still had double ovens, but space at the towncasa is at a premium so there is no room in the kitchen.  I am lucky to have a small convection oven that is just the right size for the turkey breast and my favorite green Le Creuset thing.  (I love kitchen stuff; like a true geek for it, srsly.)

 

 

The chicken got the big oven and the turkey breast got the little one.  The garlics went in with the chicken after about 45 minutes.  They roasted for about and hour and ten or fifteen minutes total.  Their internal temperature should be 160 degrees when done; I checked and took them out at about 150ish degrees, covered the pans with foil and let the temps come up:

 

Oh yummy.

 

I can carve up the turkey breast like nobody's business, but  chicken carving still has me a little sad.  It had to wait for Hubs to come home; our dog, Cappi, is always so happy to help out.

 

Cleaning up wasn't too bad for this...it's never going to be the fun part of my day though:

 

 

After all was cooked and carved, we sat down for a delicious dinner of the sliced turkey with roasted Brussels sprouts and a little tomato/avocado salad.  It was nice to know that we had plenty of the turkey and chicken on hand to use in salads or whatever.  (Roasting up some veggies is an idea for another post.  And so is the explanation on why the dog has on a goofy jacket.)  Yay, this is fun...now I just hope to get some readers!

 

 

 

 

 

       

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back on Blogger and Yes, Those Are My Shoes in the Oven

Hi, I'm Kim and I hope to get to know lots of folks here at Barefoot Paleo.
Last year, my husband, Brian (Hubs), and I turned our entire health and diet philosophy upside down. We started eating a Paleo diet and joined up with the insanity that is CrossFit. We no longer consume grains, most dairy, legumes, processed foods, nor most sugars.  We go to the most amazing gym where, for example, last night we did a workout that consisted of 100 slamballs, 100 push ups, 100 sit ups, and 100 air squats.  It has made for the most astounding transformation for both of us and I want to share what we're doing with anyone who will listen.  We both really get lots of questions and are happy talk about what is working for us.
As for being back on Blogger, a  couple years ago, I started a blog about the little townhouse we were building.  Writing was fun and interesting (well at least it was to me), but we've been in what I call the towncasa for almost 2 years. Anything interesting about its construction is long past writing about.  I think I had about ten posts and just drifted away, hoping someday to find some reason to start blogging again.
But Holy Smokes and a Cow...do I have something to write about now!
Brian is a smart guy, who is usually right about almost everything important.  He points out, quite frequently, that I don't write stuff down.  I get  little lectures on how if there is a metric attached to something, I am sure to avoid it.  He also likes my cooking; I am always missing an ingredient or 2 (you got it...because I don't write stuff like grocery lists down) and have to deal with whatever we have on hand.  I forget what I did, of course.  I know it makes no sense to enjoy writing, but never write down important stuff.  I guess that is where the 'metric' comment comes into play.  We're all wired up a little differently.
I will admit that I like to cook and I am a really good at it. I also like to share recipes when I can remember them.
So what a great idea to start up a blog...I get to write, Blogger keeps up with it for me, and maybe I can help some folks out along the way.
Here is the really good stuff:
Hubs feels better than ever, to be sure.  He looks awesome, even though he has always been super cute.  He has embraced CrossFit like no other fitness program he has been involved with and, trust me, there have been many. 
I have had a bunch of back pain for a really long time.  I am pretty much pain free and quickly getting into the best shape of my life. Yep, and at the age of 54, I am in the gym doing my best to keep up with everybody.  In August of 2012, I was wearing a size 12, needing to wear a 14 sometimes but refusing.  Today, eight or so months later, I mostly wear a 4, and you know, resent it if I have to get a 6.  I have no idea how much weight I have lost because, er, that is a metric right?  There be muscles all over me now that I never had before, Matey.  And I am on a mission to get some more.
SO please stick with me here,  because gee whiz, I've told you how old I am.  Seriously, if I can do this anyone can and I hope you'll spend some time learning this stuff with me.
Oh and before I forget.  Those are my very first pair of Olympic weight lifting shoes there in our oven.  They have this special stuff in them that turns to goo when heated.  When you put them on, fresh from baking at 200 degrees, they form a custom fit.
Well, I did say I like to cook.  : )
Take good care, k.