If you didn’t know from following our Facebook page, we purchase our whole chicken and eggs from Hawkins Homestead Farm. Rachel and I have been friends for a few years now. I remember when she first had the dorky idea of raising chickens. Now look at ’em go! Consider me the proud sister. We enjoy knowing the care that goes into raising and butchering our food. If you haven’t now is a good time to check out their products.
The Chicken
We love that slow cooked chicken flavor & I personally do not care for standing over a stove so it only makes sense that this recipe calls for a crock-pot.
- Thaw chicken in refrigerator the evening before preparation.
- The next morning, prepare one bundle of Rosemary. No need to pull the leaves from stems. We really like it so we used a large bundle.
- Peel one small onion. Cut in half
Time to Season (always to taste)
- Sea salt
- Pepper
- Five Spice
- Rub chicken down thoroughly with the above seasonings and do not forget the under the wings!
- Stuff Rosemary and onion inside the chicken.
- Place chicken in crock – pot breast side down.
- Set to low and go to work!
The Kale Fries
Something you will learn about us is that we hate to waste anything! We have recently been making lots of kale salad. It requires that you remove the stems from the leaves, leaving you with perfectly good stems. I thought, “Why toss them? There has to be another way to use them.” See, we already use these in our smoothies but I wanted something more! I began to scour the internet for ideas. There were so many ways to cook them so I chose one – roasting.
- Prepare stems by ensuring all leaf bits are removed. We had 1 pound.
- Clean.
- Blanch (Click here for how to blanch).
- Dry.
Time to Season (always to taste)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- Garlic salt
- Toss kale stems in oil.
- Add garlic salt & toss again.
- Spread out evenly, not touching if possible, on a nonstick baking sheet.
- Place in a 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes (depending on thickness of stems).
- Enjoy
