Self Explanatory

You get it. :D

           Titan
            Rajah
           Sage
           Jasmine

Embroidery

What I've been doing this weekend:

Embroidery! I really just got started on this piece.  I spent most of yesterday running errands, then I traced my designs onto my fabric.

Here's my stash:

I got the cute designs (and helpful tips) from the book

Doodle Stitching: Fresh & Fun Embroidery for Beginners by Amiee Ray






 and





Doodle Stitching: The Motif Collection: 400+ Easy Embroidery Designs by Amiee Ray




The second book comes with a CD you can print and adjust the motifs from. So you could create your own little embroidered scene or just piece together different motifs! They both have many projects in them, although I haven't yet made one. :)



Off to more embroidering!


Alayna

I'm still stuffed

Thanksgiving was terrific. I spent most of the day cooking and when I wasn't cooking I was embroidering or watching movies (or doing both at the same time!).  I cooked my very first bird on Thursday. Since there were only four of us eating this year I opted to go with a chicken instead of a large turkey since we also had a large ham my boyfriend was cooking. I tried a new technique (new to my family) of stuffing a herb butter underneath the skin of the chicken. Holy fish paste was it amazing.

So I started off making my herb butter. I really just added anything I wanted, but if you want to give it a shot here's the recipe:

In a mixing bowl add equal parts oregano, thyme, basil, rosemary, dill weed, and pepper (my butter was already salted). A dash of minced garlic and a dash of lemon pepper.

 (I used two sticks of butter and I had leftover butter. I'm sure you could use just one if you like.)
Make sure your butter has been softened, usually by letting it sit out at room temperature for 30-45 minutes. If you're in a pinch you can microwave it in 15 second intervals. You want the butter to be soft and mixable not melted.

Combine butter and herbs in a mixing bowl and mix thoroughly. You can use you're hands if you're feeling adventurous, I just used a spatula.
Since I made my butter about 4 hours ahead of time ( I had nothing else to do), I put it back in the fridge till about an hour before I wanted to put the chicken in. That give it time to soften back up and will make it easier to stuff under the chicken skin.



While the butter was softening up I started to prepare my chicken. First I took out all the innards and threw them out. I rinsed my chicken with cold water and pat dry with a paper towel.  After drying the chicken I salt and peppered the cavity and stuff it with a small onion (cut in to quarters) and a lemon (cut the same way).
I put the chicken in a dish and poured a little EVOO (extra virgin olive oil, for all you non-Rachael Ray fans), sprinkled the whole chicken with salt and a little bit more lemon pepper. Then I rubbed it all in. Made sure the whole chicken was coated. After that I separated the skin from the meat of the chicken. It was easy, you really just run your finger underneath the skin being careful not to break the skin.
(here's a video incase you need to see it click here )


I then started stuffing my chicken with the delicious herb butter mixture I made. I also slathered some of the butter on top of the chicken because I really had a lot of butter left over and didn't want it to go to waste. (Paula Dean would be proud!)When I finished with that I added some chicken stock into the cooking pan, added my chicken and put some onions around the chicken.

There's the back of my chicken all stuffed and ready to go.
Oh! And don't forget to tuck in your wings or they will get all burned and ugly looking. :)


I set my chicken in the oven on 375 degrees for an hour and it came out perfect. The meat was moist and very flavorful and the skin was a nice golden brown. Cooking times may vary, when the internal temp. reaches at least 165 degree in the thickest part of the chicken, it should be done. The juices should also run clear and not pinkish.
When the chicken is done let it rest for about 10 minutes. Then you can serve your delicious creation!


I forgot to take a picture of the chicken when it came out of the oven, my boyfriend was eager to eat. Haha.



Here's the whole spread. As you can see we are very fond of food in this family :)

I hope y'alls Thanksgiving was as wonderful as mine!






Thanks for reading!


Alayna

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! I hope yours is filled with lots of love, laughter, and lots and lots of food!





Alayna