Roast chicken with cinnamon?

I made this Simple Whole Roasted Chicken recipe.  Made a double batch of the rub (with half the salt)....and threw it in the oven for 2 hours at 375.  It turned out delicious.  Different in that it has cinnamon and nutmeg and a few other spices in it....I guess it's in the same vein as Chinese Five Spice.  You don't find that ready-made at HEB!  (Although, I must admit to thinking 2 hours of cooking time might not be worth it...and a $5.99 lemon-pepper one might be good enough for me.)

Served it up with Arugula Salad with Citrus Vinagrette (replaced the pear with an apple that I had on hand) and some sauteed yellow squash.  The vinagrette seemed really light....but then I went back and looked at the amount of oil in it, and it's not very "light" at all! 

I try to keep in mind some of the simple rules of the Paleo Diet ('cause I go to this Crossfit gym that encourages it)...and this was *not* a paleo dressing. 

Oh well, you do what you can.  :)

A Pincushion for Kacie

I decided to make my friend Kacie a pincushion for her birthday.  She got a sewing machine not-too-long-ago, and had mentioned she was planning on taking a sewing class, so I thought it might be handy.  (I think I need one now too...)  I followed this pattern that I found via Sew, Mama, Sew! which ends up being by Oh, Fransson! too.  It's a weighted pincushion (I used flax seeds to weigh it down.), has a handy (removable) thread catcher, little pockets for keeping your seam ripper and other small tools, as well as an area specifically for keepin' yer needles.

Chores, chores, and more chores!

Moved into a new house in the last few weeks, so I'm on this kick to try and make things different this time.  I'll admit it, I'm a slob.  Or more specifically, a pile-er.  And who wants to clean when they can be sewing, lifting heavy weights, or just wasting away hours reading random stuff on the interwebs.  ;)

I imagine this may just be another big organizing kick (love these, especially when I need to be doing something else)....which will probably all end up in great planning, but horrible execution.  But funny enough, I sort of enjoy the process of coming up with the plan.

So I started with lists of chores.  I put them up on the fridge, so that Adam (who's soooo excited about this! not really, but he's playing along) can add some as he thinks of them also.  I broke them up into daily, weekly, and monthly chores.

Once we have them hammered out.  I think this could play into the plan.  :)

Apple Cashew Clafouti

I got a copy of Edible Austin in my box of fruits and veggies from Farmhouse Delivery.  Didn't have everything I needed to make anything....but decided to try and use up some apples and cashews making an apple cashew clafouti, based off of Robert Mayberry's Communal Pecan Pear Clafouti.

Here's my recipe:

2 apples, cored and sliced
squeeze of a half lemon
1/4 c. flour
3 oz. cashews, chopped till crumbly-like in the processor
1/4 c. and a T. of sugar
3/4 tsp. baking powder
pinch of salt
2 large eggs beaten
1/2 c. Coffee Mate Gingerbread creamer
1/4 tsp. vanilla
4 T. butter
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat oven to 425.

Bowl 1 - coat apples in lemon juice
Bowl 2 - combine flour, half of the cashews, half of the sugar, baking powder, and salt
Bowl 3 - Mix till smooth - eggs, creamer, vanilla, and 2 T. of butter (melted)
Bowl 4 - Combine leftover sugar, cinnamon and cashews.

In a pan, saute the apples in 2 T. of butter, until they are hot and sizzling.  Pour into a baking dish.
Stir eggs/creamer (bowl 3) into flour(bowl 2) until just combined.  Pour over the apples (do not stir).  Sprinkle sugar-mix (bowl 4) over top.
Bake for 30 minutes.

It's very moist and not terribly sweet (which I like).  Not bad for random stuff in the kitchen (and no baking soda).  :)