Crock Pot Chicken ala Renee

This is the perfect thing to make on a weekend because it takes 8 hours in the crock pot, and it's absurdly easy.

What you need:

• A whole chicken
• Salt
• Pepper
• Crock Pot
• 8 hours + chicken washing time

I thaw my chicken in a bowl to keep juices from escaping into the refrigerator, and then I take that very same bowl over to the kitchen sink and set it in there with the chicken inside of it. Saves me having to clean the sink before cleaning the chicken. The first thing I do is take out the bag of giblets, rinse them off, and stick them in the crock pot. I give them to the cats, and they help to flavor the juices for making yummy gravy. I rinse the chicken off in warm water and remove any feathers that were missed by the defeathering process that happened when the chicken was processed. I stick the chicken in the crock pot, skin and all, and then I wash my hands really, really, really well. Then I salt and pepper the chicken, stick the lid on, and put the crock pot on low heat for 8 hours.

Now I've got 8 hours to do whatever I want to do, but first things first. The bowl and all chicken processing equipment such as my scissors to open the bag go in the dishwasher, the sink gets cleaned, and my hands get washed thoroughly once again.

Forward ahead 8 hours. In that time, I've managed to:

• Take a walk with my cat
• Watch Season 5 of Doctor Who
• Catch up some on the Weather Channel
• Poke about on Facebook
• Finish 2 knitting projects for the contest I'm involved in

Say it with me, "slow cookers are awesome!"

I made a batch of biscuits using the Gluten Free Bisquick and substituting Ener-G egg substitute, rice milk, and vegan shortening.

Then, I pulled the chicken out of the slow cooker and placed it on a serving plate. Ok so it wasn't so much a serving plate but a 9x9 baking pan. But whatever, if the chicken fits, and it's dishwasher safe... I fished out the giblets and set them on a plate to cool for the cats. Then I poured out the juices into my Pyrex measuring cup and found out that I had a whole 2 cups of juices - perfect for gravy!

I know that a while ago, I posted about this absurdly easy gravy recipe. Seriously though anything involving making a roux is not easy, absurd or not. I found a much easier recipe online for Microwave Turkey Gravy, but it works just as well for chicken. It's a wheat-free, gluten-free recipe!

Here's what you need:

• 2 cups turkey OR chicken broth (The chicken made 2 cups of its own broth)
• tablespoons Argo® or Kingsford's® Corn Starch (I use Argo)
• tablespoons turkey fat drippings, skimmed from pan (The chicken also made fat drippings included in the broth - there is a method to my skin-leaving-on madness afterall!)

Here's what you do:

• Stir turkey broth and corn starch in a 1-1/2-quart microwaveable bowl until smooth. Season to taste.
• Microwave on HIGH (100%), 7 to 9 minutes, stirring twice, until mixture boils; boil 1 minute. (It never takes nearly this long, so be sure to watch the microwave. I average 3 minutes)
• Remove from microwave. Stir in fat drippings. (nope, I don't have to - included in the broth)

This was a super-easy chicken dinner! Thanks Renee! You rock!

Chicken and Biscuits

Ever since learning about my numerous food allergies, I've had to start cooking a whole lot more. I'd always cooked some but had thus far avoided making a habit of it. Heating packaged foods up in the microwave or the oven came so easy to me. I also ate out at restaurants frequently before my discovery of allergies. Now, I just don't have as many easy to heat up meal or restaurant options available to me. Therefore, I'm cooking.

It's mid-November, and as Wisconsin Novembers are wont to be, it's cold, windy, and damp. In other words, it's the perfect kind of weather for a hot, hearty meal like chicken and biscuits. However, there are a few allergy obstacles to overcome: dairy, eggs, and wheat. I was determined to make it work, allergies notwithstanding!

For the chicken, and this was the easy part, we split a boneless, skinless chicken breast in half, butterfly style, seasoned it with some salt and pepper, and cooked it on the George Foreman grill.

The biscuits were also fairly easy thanks to Bisquick for making Gluten Free Bisquick. All of the dry ingredients contained within are safe for me to eat. However, the cooking directions asked for milk and 3 eggs, so I substituted rice milk and Ener-G Egg Replacer, respectively. For the shortening, I used a vegan vegetable shortening. Making biscuits in this manner produced tasty results. The last time I tried making them, however, I didn't have any shortening, so I used Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks. I do not recommend this substitution because it made yellow-colored biscuits that took forever to bake.

The next challenge was to make a gravy that I would not be allergic to. It couldn't have any flour or dairy products in it. I used Gluten-Free Girl's Absurdly Easy Gravy recipe. I had to modify the recipe some so that it was dairy-free, as her recipe calls for unsalted butter. I turned again to my Earth Balance Vegan Buttery Sticks as a substitution. However, I had to use more rice flour than called for in the recipe because of my substitution. I just added rice flour until the consistency was right. Before this evening, I'd never actually made gravy. Instead, I used to purchase the stuff in a jar or ask my mom or my sister to do it. However, even though it was my first try, and I had to make substitutions, the gravy turned out nicely. It was smooth and tasty.

I served my allergen-free (at least for me) chicken and biscuits for dinner tonight, and both the husband and I agreed that dinner was a success!