Winner, winner , chicken dinner with a side of the strange.

Dejunking - it's a good thing. Dejunking with your family and not falling into a mindset of "my stuff but their junk", even better ! Time taken to make some major areas stop looking like a goat exploded and allow occupants to access more easily if you plan on exercising that day as well- not such a good thing. Experiencing an all day rain while doing it- an added justification to it all. So we sorted, we weeded, we dusted, we washed, be vacuumed, but no "exercise". In my mind all of this was movement, movement is exercise so it's potato, poTAto...

Sunday dinners of late have meant one thing- brined and roasted whole chicken !!

Have you ever brined a chicken ? If not , it is something you simply must try . Take a whole chicken, make a solution of 1 cup kosher salt, 1/4 cup sugar and about a gallon of water ( enough to cover the chicken completely) , place in a container and refrigerate at least 8 hrs. Then remove the chicken, rinse, let it air dry on a rack for 30 minutes and then bake at 350 for 2 hours. This week I also roasted Mr Bird breast side down and it was even better. The chicken seems to be the constant here now, but the sides get mixed up. The two I made this week were nutritious, delicious and something that would not make my body hurt the next day .

 Roast chicken, Garlic linguini with Kale and Zucchini Medley

Garlic Linguine with Kale

  6 cloves  garlic -- crushed ( or garlic powder if you will, to taste)
  1 lb  kale -- stems removed, leaves cut into bite size pieces
  2 tbsp  olive oil
  1 tsp  salt (optional)
 1/4tsp  pepper
3/4 lb  linguine pasta

Bring large pot of water to boil. Add kale and salt. Simmer 1 minute or until kale begins to wilt.
Add pasta. Cook 8-10 minutes or until pasta is al dente. While pasta is cooking, heat oil and garlic
 in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring 2 minutes until heated throughout. Remove from heat.
 Drain pasta and kale. Transfer to serving bowl. Add oil and garlic.  Season to taste with salt and pepper. Toss before serving. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese if desired ( I skipped this for mine- no dairy)

                     
Zucchini Skillet

3 cups  diced sweet potatoes
1/3 cup  bone broth
2 cups  diced zucchini
1 cup  diced red onion
1 cup  frozen corn
1/2 cup  green onion -- sliced
1 red pepper -- diced ( this is a nightshade, but has so much color and flavor I decided to see if I could tolerate it)
1 clove  garlic -- minced
1/4 cup  chopped parsley
1teaspoon  ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon  chili powder

In a covered large skillet, saute the sweet potatoes in water for about 10 minutes.
 Add zucchini, red onions, corn, green onions, red peppers, green peppers, and garlic.
Saute in water until vegetables are tender. Add remaining ingredients and allow flavors
to blend. Serves 6. ( the leftovers will make a nice snack or lunch side)

After the dejunking we were kind of tired out and spent the evening watching some "interesting" tv. TLC, which used to be The Learning Channel, seems to have become "The Looney Channel", featuring just about every strange sub sector of life imaginable.We caught episodes of Extreme Couponing  and debated , then a new series called My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, in which the gowns worn are so big and heavy that the women are often left cut and bruised. And I thought wearing narrow toed shoes and underwire bras were bad...this left me just shaking my head. What fun ! Today the sun is out, we have only a handful of must do things, so it promises to be a fun, interesting day .