Earth Fare, Desserts, and the Magic Chicken

I discovered that an Earth Fare store was opening in our area by accident.  I was looking up retailers for the amazing, wonderful Alabama's Organic Milk (buy it if you can find it…you will never switch back) and saw “Earth Fare – Hoover…coming soon.”  I had just seen this store mentioned on the 100 Days of Real Food blog and had filed it under “stores that we don’t have around here,” like Trader Joe’s.  So you can imagine my happiness to find an Earth Fare that opened May 30 in Hoover.  I joined their buyer’s club (free) and was able to print a coupon for a free whole chicken and a pint of fresh blueberries, to use if I spent at least $15.  That wasn’t hard to do, and I walked out of the store having spent about $60 but with a lot of good deals on things I would’ve bought anyway – bulk demerara sugar, organic roma tomatoes, my beloved Alabama milk, some Earth Fare brand organic ketchup, and quite a few other staples - plus a fresh chicken and some berries.  Free!

I vaguely recall trying to cook a whole chicken once, in our tiny apartment kitchen, and feeling totally overwhelmed with the task at hand.  So I was a bit nervous but had already decided to make the most of the freebie and cook it in a way that went right along with my real food commitment.  I used my slow cooker to make The Best Whole Chicken in a Crockpot.  I got it all set up before going out to run errands last week, and when I got home, the house smelled wonderful.  The chicken turned out perfect, and we had the larger breast meat portions that I “carved” (it’s a learning process) for dinner that night, the pan juices spooned over each slice.  I also made some quinoa with zucchini and artichoke hearts to go alongside.  So, that’s meal #1 from my Earth Fare free chicken.

I chopped up the chicken that we didn’t eat that I had “carved” (ahem) from the bird, and put it in the freezer to use for chicken enchiladas later this week.  So, there’s meal #2.

That night, I took the remaining…pieces…of the chicken – the bones and such – and put them and the onions that had cooked with the chicken back into the Crockpot.  I added a couple more onions, about 3 organic carrots, the rest of a package of celery, including the leaves, that I had in the refrigerator, one sprig each of my basil and rosemary plants growing on the deck, and covered all of that with water.

I turned the Crockpot on low and let it cook all night – almost 8 hours.

The gorgeous, rich scent literally woke me up the next morning…

Homemade chicken stock!  Nearly effortless and so rich and golden you wouldn’t believe it.

I got this idea from the 100 Days blog – and I didn’t have an appreciation for how simple it would be, and how gratifying it was to make homemade stock.

I got 9 cups of stock, total – packed up in 1 or 2 cup portions and put in the freezer.  Tonight we had vegetable soup made with the broth, and chicken enchiladas made from the rest of the chicken.

After I strained out the stock and removed the bones, I was left with very tasty vegetables and little bits of chicken.  I couldn’t just throw that out.  So, I chopped the veggies up in the food processor, added some water to a pot, and let it simmer.  I cooked some barley in another pot and added that.  Bingo.  Chicken barley vegetable soup that has supplied 4 lunches.  Meal #3.

So due to one free chicken, I got 3 meals (at least) and 9 cups of chicken stock for future recipes.  Not bad.

In the last week I’ve also made a bread pudding with whiskey sauce that was simply glorious.  It came from my old standby Betty Crocker cookbook, but I used whole grain raisin bread, real butter, organic eggs and cream, pure cane sugar and organic butter with the Jack Daniels for the sauce…and let me tell you that a tiny little demitasse-type dish of this pudding with a healthy dollop of whiskey sauce was just gorgeous and such a rich experience.  Sooooo much better than most desserts I’ve thrown together.  Again, there was a ritualistic aspect to serving these little portions, full of rich flavor and so satisfying.

I also made David a birthday cake with whole wheat flour, used coconut oil in place of vegetable oil, and made real chocolate buttercream frosting.  It was a huge hit – no one would’ve guessed it had wheat flour.  While I don’t plan on providing sweet desserts like this all the time, it was a delicious birthday cake, and it had none of the bad crap you get from boxed mixes and those little cans of frosting.  The cake recipe is here:  Whole Wheat Chocolate Cake and the icing one is here: Ghiradelli Buttercream.

I have lots more to share but I’ll stop there for now.  Happy eating.