Sunday Randomness #101: chicken soup with chicken feet

Two different ways of trying to cut off the chicken feet toenails.

 

Soup with the chicken feet.  I took out the feet before serving to the family.  I was the only one to try the feet.  They really didn't have a taste-similar to unflavored gelatin.  I had a coworker who suggested eating them with lime and that really did improve the taste.

Container with a dumpling, a foot, and some floating carrot bits.

B and B-B took awhile before they figured out that they could eat the raw chicken foot.  I did cut the toenails off before giving them each one.  They played with their feet at first and then eventually crunched them down.  

Cooking with chicken feet was an interesting experience that I will definitely try again.  The chicken feet cooked up cleanly with no weird white foaming goo.  They smelled clean out of the package, smelled clean during cooking, formed a really nice gelatin when cooled.  It was like cooking chicken from when I was growing up and we had our own chickens.  Who knew that I would be promoting chicken feet as a great way to make broth?!?  And, they're easy on the budget.  Yes, there's no meat to really talk about but I just used canned chicken in the soup.  The feet added to the flavor and the gelatin in the feet helped to naturally thicken the soup.

Sunday Randomness #64 : Finally, a decent mainstream organic poultry product!

 Organic Air-Chilled Smart Chicken.  I bought it on clearance to try and we were surprisingly happy with it.  It's the first chicken I've cooked in a long time (decades?) that DID NOT have the gross white foamy gunk floating at the top of the water after cooking it on the stovetop.  We'll be buying more of this brand in the future and not necessarily on clearance although we'll still have to fit it into the budget.  We used this particular batch for chicken soup and it was really good. 

Sunday Randomness #813: Opening a fruit drink and Korean Fried Chicken

We had to use the Robo grip wrench and two people (one holding the bottle, the other holding the wrench onto the plastic lid of the bottle) to get the top off the drink.  

 Tried Bok a Bok Korean Fried Chicken in Seattle, WA.

 Got the house-made biscuit with spiced honey, kimchi mac n cheese, sweet potato tots with Korean chili salt, and chicken breast strips.  It was all good and all spicy.

If you're in Seattle, this is a great place to visit for some different but good food. http://www.bokabokchicken.com/

Chicken Tortilla Soup

 Let the soup season begin! 

Top picture features ingredients.  Second picture is the finished soup topped with cheese and chips.
 

Chicken Tortilla Soup 

(another recipe from our local congregation cookbook that we bought a few years ago)

2 chicken breasts
1 (15-oz.) can stewed tomatoes
1 (15-oz.) can black beans, drained
1 TBSP chopped green chiles, mild
1/2 cup salsa
1 (8-oz.) can tomato sauce
tortilla chips and cheese for topping

Cut chicken into large chunks and place in a large saucepan. Barely cover the chicken with water. Bring the water to a boil and cook chicken until no longer pink.  Remove chicken but do not drain the water.  Shred chicken.  Place chicken back in the saucepan with the water.  Add remaining ingredients and stir until combined.  Heat up and simmer 5 minutes.  Top with chips, cheese, etc...

Author #91 Mary Jane Auch and literate chickens

The Plot Chickens by Mary Jane and Herm Auch.  Mary Jane wrote the text.  According to the back bookflap, "they merged Mary Jane's oil paintings with Herm's digital techniques" for the illustrations.  These are some well-rounded chickens!  In previous books they solve mysteries, perform in ballets, operas and retell fairy tales.  This adventure unfolds as Henrietta writes a story and imparts the wisdom of some basic rules of writing.  An example is  Rule Seven: "Make your story come alive by using all five senses."    Henrietta deals with difficult critiques and critical critics about her story (The Perils of Maxine) and learns that there is an appreciative audience for even the writings of a chicken.  Read more about the Auchs and their works at: http://www.auchbooks.com/

Baked Chicken Breasts

Jessica cooked chicken for dinner last week.

First the boneless, skinless chicken breasts get a mayonnaise sauce topping.

Next they are coated with an Italian bread crumb/Parmesan cheese coating.

And here's the beautifully browned chicken breasts fresh from the oven. Jessica even checked the temperature to ensure that the chicken was cooked to at least 165 degrees F and it actually checked in at 167 degrees F and yes, the juices ran clear. The chicken was moist and tender with a mild flavor enhanced by the Parmesan cheese.

Food Co-op November 2008

November half share $14
2 lbs. Chicken leg quarters, 4 oranges, 6 kiwis, 2 avocados, 1 red leaf lettuce, 1 loaf Stone Ground multi-grain bread, 1 lb. bag rice, 1 lb package cube steaks, 1 bunch bananas, 1 bunch broccoli, and 3 tomatoes.

Order for December due December 5th. www.foodco-op.org

Another healthy side note: Jessica, Eva and Sarah went with me to walk (Jessica ran) a neighborhood 5K on Thanksgiving morning. We all made it to the finish and then walked home. We enjoyed walking with friends. Thank you to Janice for sponsoring the walk and setting it up.

Chicken Thighs-Dark Meat Goodness x 2

Five years ago, a Japanese girl phoned home to get her mothers recipe to share with her Exchange family.
Here is our version with the orange colored glaze sauce consisting of: 1 small chili pepper (Jalapeño) with seeds removed, 1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed slightly, 2 1/2 TBSP sugar, 1/3 cup soy sauce, and 1/2 c balsamic vinegar. Combine the pepper (green jalapeño thing in the pan) with garlic, sugar, soy sauce, vinegar and 1 cup water in large frypan. Add 8 chicken thighs with skin on (for added flavor) and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and continue cooking for 20 minutes. Again increase heat and turn thighs frequently until sauce reduces and forms a sticky glaze. Serve and enjoy. This is a sweet/sour/hot soy glaze that was easy to make with beautiful results.

For the next recipe we did another dutch oven dinner, this time with unpeeled garlic cloves. For about 8 thighs we used about 20 cloves (remember, cloves are the individual pieces of garlic from the bulb or head fo garlic). Along with some lemon juice and oil and other spices comes this dutch oven delight of dark meat. Oh, by the way, the cloves of garlic just slip right out of the skin after they are cooked-I love the beauty of this recipe that one does not have to peel all those cloves.

Delicious Dutch-Oven Dishes (Dish #4)

Baked Chicken thighs in sauce.We had everything from garlic, ketchup, onions, spices, oil, jam (apricot is good with chicken) and some other ingredients. Basically you just make a barbecue sauce like mixture. Place the chicken in a greased dutch oven, top with sauce and bake. We used about 20 coals-7 on the bottom and 13 on the top and let it bake for about an hour or so.
We consumed most of the dish for dinner-leaving only a little bit for Dave's lunch which he said was even better the next day.