Delightful Chicken Salad

As you may have read in a previous post, I love using leftover chicken to make chicken salad. Last week Lizzy decided to put a whole rotisserie chicken from the grocery store in my fridge, and I knew right away that it would make a great chicken salad. You really just need shredded up chicken and dressing, like mayonnaise, but ideally you'll want to include celery, cucumbers, maybe chopped onion, a little spicy mustard, etc. The combination I whipped up today came out really well, so I want to document the recipe.

• half a grocery store rotisserie chicken (I used the dark meat) OR grill a large chicken breast
• some finely chopped red onion (~ 1/4 C.)
• some finely chopped banana peppers (~ 1/4 C.)
• 1-2 Tablespoons of the banana pepper liquid from the jar
• half a sweet red pepper
• half a cucumber
• 1/2 Tablespoon hot sauce
• 1/2 Talespoon whole grain Dijon mustard
• 1/2 C. mayonnaise 
• 2-3 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Mix together and serve on rye bread topped with cucumber slices.

Essential Oils

When I first made chap sticks last year I purchased two small bottles of essential oils -- peppermint and rosemary. Then, since I had them around, I figured I'd try the peppermint oil in candle making, to give a good, strong scent, and add therapeutic properties. This led me to order several more bottles of essential oils to use in candle making. I haven't used them to make candles yet, but just having them sitting around for a few weeks has triggered a new interest in essential oils and all their wonderful uses. I've already ordered another 6 or 7 bottles to add to the first few I got. I'll list here some of the different ways I've started using essential oils to make my home and life cleaner, fresher, more therapeutic, and less chemical.

Cotton Ball in Vacuum Cleaner Bag --  to provide a fresh scent and antiseptic properties. Try peppermint, lime, lavender...

Air Freshener -- water, vodka and various oils in a glass sprayer bottle

All Purpose Cleaner -- water, castile soap, baking soda, tea tree oil plus other oils for fragrance

Glass Spray Bottles for cleaner and air freshener -- remove the plastic spray cap from a plastic spray bottle and use it in combination with a glass bottle that has a screw top (e.g., from a bottle of soda). I started ordering sprayer nozzles and using them on green glass Perrier bottles. You can use the mineral water to make mouth wash.

Mouth Wash -- 8 ounces of water (try mineral water) with baking soda, tea tree oil, and peppermint oil. Shake and rinse.

Adding to a Hot Bath -- place several drops in water while drawing a bath; try with bath salts. Try ginger for sore muscles, eucalyptus for breathing, patchouli for skin and mind rejuvenation, lavender to soothe and calm the body and mind.

Electric Diffuser -- drop oil on pad; place pad in diffuser; plug diffuser into wall outlet. Try:

stimulating: peppermint, citrus oils

relaxing, sleeping: lavender

better breathing, sinuses: lavender, eucalyptus, peppermint

meditation, rejuvenation: patchouli, frankincense, rosemary
cleaning, clearing the air: 

Inhalation Method -- place a drop or two of oil in palms; rub together, place hands over mouth and nose and inhale deeply 6 times. Try peppermint to wake up, citrus for mood enhancing, lavender to relax!

Apply Directly with a Carrier Oil -- I've been adding a few drops of patchouli and ginger to olive oil and rubbing it all over my dry cracked Winter skin.

Face Wash -- liquid castile soap, water, vitamin E oil, almond and/or olive oils, plus tea tree and other choice of essential oils

Candles

Made some new candles last month.... The bigger (32 oz.) mason jars came out really nice. I made some with wooden wicks, some with hemp wicks, some cotton. I used mason jars, Altoid containers and other former candle jars. The ones I made with the peppermint essential oils do not have a strong enough scent. You need to use about 5ml of essential oil for a pound of wax. Let's remember that next time...

New Batch of Beeswax Chap Stick

Just made 19 new beeswax peppermint-rosemary chap sticks...

New Cast Iron Pot

Cooked my last meal of the year and first in my new cast iron pot -- Man Breakfast!

Pulled Pork and Barbecue Sauce

A few years ago on January 1st I resolved to eat more pulled pork. As tends to happen with most New Year's resolutions, I failed. I did start well -- I probably had pulled pork half a dozen times the first few months of 2012, but have since faltered. So with the new year 2014 > 2015 right around the corner, I thought I'd re-up a little. I had never made pulled pork before although it seemed pretty easy. And I did, in fact, find it quite simple. I even think my sauce turned out pretty well, which I made right in the crock pot mostly with the liquids from cooking the pork, plus a little starch to thicken it.

Start with about a 4 pound pork shoulder or pork loin -- with or without the bone. Rub it all over with a hot-and-sweet spice rub and brown the meat on all sides in some oil with onions and garlic. Then cook the pork (plus onions and garlic) in a crock pot in a tomato-and-vinegar based liquid. Shred the pork and there you have it. Use store bought sauce or the sauce from the crock pot and serve on sandwich rolls with cole slaw or other accoutrements. I'll list my precise ingredients and measurements below for posterity.

   Ingredients

• 1 T butter or oil

• 5 T brown sugar
• 1 T cayenne or paprika
• 1 T cumin

• 4 pound pork shoulder or loin
• 2 medium onions 
• 5 cloves of garlic

• 1/2 C apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 C taco sauce
• 1/4 C soy sauce
• 1/2 C ketchup
• 1 T worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 C honey

Heat oil or butter in a pan. Mix the next 3 ingredients to make the spice rub, and rub it all over the pork. Chop the onions and garlic and add to the pan. Add the pork to the pan and brown on all sides. This whole process should take about 10-15 minutes total. I did mine by sliding the onions over to one side of the pan and browning the meat in the other side.

Next add the onions and garlic to the crock pot and put the meat on top of them. Mix the liquid ingredients together and pour over the meat. It should cover or nearly cover the meat. If the top of the meat sticks out an inch or more, add more liquid.

Cook for about 6-8 hours (on low, or maybe just 4-6 on high) in the crock pot. Once it gets fall-right-off-the-bone tender, remove the meat to a large bowl or plate. Give the liquid a good stir and taste it. Decide if you want to use this liquid as your barbecue sauce. 

If you do, adjust taste by adding a bit more of one ingredient or another. Add more brown sugar or corn syrup if you want it to taste sweeter. Try adding artificial smoke flavor if you want that. Add more soy sauce if it doesn't taste salty/savory/umami enough. If you want to thicken it, mix a tablespoon of corn starch with a tablespoon or two of water (put it in a small container with a lid and shake it up). Turn the crock pot up so the liquid starts to boil, and gradually pour in the corn starch. Stir and let it simmer until it reaches desired consistency. I think I left my liquid in the crock pot for almost an hour after removing the pork since I added some more ketchup and the corn starch.

shredded pork after removal from crock pot -- before mixing with sauce

Shred the pork -- it should fall apart easily. If it doesn't fall apart then it needs to cool longer. Let the sauce finish, or use store bought sauce, and mix with pork. Serve on a sandwich roll with pickles or other desired extras.

New Classic Soup Recipe

I've started making a new -- new to me -- soup recipe since it started getting cold and rainy. Just a basic chicken and vegetable soup -- but I've started adding quick cooking barley at the end to make it a more filling meal. I use the Dutch oven to make it and whatever chicken I have on hand, preferably boneless thighs. I use whole pieces of boneless chicken and shred it right in the soup after it has cooked for a while. Use two forks to sort of stab and shred the larger pieces of chicken after they cook. I prefer mine to cook whole in its own juices before getting separated, but you can always cut up the chicken before adding it. And I prefer a more shredded chicken rather than squarely cut pieces. Also, you can use orzo, egg noodles, macaroni or maybe even rice instead of the barley, or just omit it altogether. The grocery store had canned vegetables on sale before Thanksgiving so I stocked up. You can obviously use fresh veggies rather than canned, though. I would say replace 1 can of veggies with about 2 cups of fresh chopped. When I use canned vegetables I include the juice from the can and then end up using a little less broth. When I use fresh vegetables I tend to add about 2 more cups of broth.

Ingredients & Directions

• 3-4 T. butter
• 1 chopped onion (1-1.5 C.)
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1.5 pounds chicken
• 4 T. soy sauce

Heat butter in Dutch oven and saute onion, garlic, chicken, and soy sauce for 10 minutes. Add the following ingredients:

• 2 stalks of celery, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped (about 2 C.) or 1 can mixed vegetables
• 1 can green beans (with juice) or 1-2 C. fresh
• 1 can corn (with juice)
• 1 can peas (with juice)
• 1 can diced tomato or 1-2 C. fresh
• 6 to 8 C. of broth

Add those ingredients and bring to a boil. Simmer for an hour or longer. Use forks to shred the chicken if necessary. Add:

• 8 oz. quick cooking barley

Bring to a boil after adding the barley and then simmer for 15 minutes (according to directions on barley package). 

Yields 6-8 pints.